The building looked just as advertised. The only difference was that it was now decorated for the holidays – and quite tastefully so. Fir garlands wrapped around the huge window panes by the entrance. A large evergreen wreath adorned with red ribbon and numerous golden and silver balls hung over the guest house’s main door. The building looked cosy and nice enough in the photos she saw while searching for a place to stay at, but now as she stood in front of it, it seemed even more pleasant and welcoming, with its façade glowing warmly from string lights that abounded the place.

After a moment of admiring what was to be her home for the following couple of weeks, the girl finally drew in a long breath, and with eyes sparkling with excitement, she grabbed her luggage and took eager steps towards the waiting doors of the guesthouse.

*

“W-what?”

Yejin could only gawk in disbelief at the woman in front of her. Surely she had heard wrong. After all, she wasn’t all that confident in her Korean skills since she practically lived abroad all her life, so she must have misunderstood at some point when she thought the lady said that there had been a momentary glitch in their online booking system, and two reservations were made for the same room on overlapping days. She must have misunderstood when she was told that she was one of those two who reserved the room – when she was told that the other customer booked for a day earlier, and therefore, claimed the room before she did. It was all a misunderstanding. It had to be.

As if reading her mind, the apologetic-looking woman, who had introduced herself as Kim Jieun, the guesthouse's owner, began to translate everything she had previously said to English with her thick accent, taking the girl’s silence for lack of understanding.

“No, I got it,” Yejin finally spoke, earning a sigh of relief from the other who was struggling with her own words.

The good news was that her Korean comprehension skills was apparently trustworthy enough for her to get by on her own. The bad news was that she was pretty much doomed.

“But since I did make a reservation – and I have the proof right here – can’t I just get another room or something?” Yejin’s tone almost sounded pleading, and quite rightly so; whether or not she’d have a roof over her head that night depended on it, after all.

“Unfortunately, we’ve already been fully-booked since a month ago. It’s the holiday season, you see, and it tends to get really hectic around this time of the year…”

Yejin felt more and more helpless as she listened to the manager. She, herself, knew all these and therefore made her reservations as early as months prior to make sure she secured herself a spot. Finding a place to stay in right then and there would be next to impossible, and at this rate, it seemed like she’d have nowhere to stay for the next couple of weeks. She had visited her native country with her family multiple times in the past, but a situation like this never occurred before. Why now when she was traveling alone for the first time? Meeting the oppas as a homeless person was definitely not part of the plan.

Maybe she should just camp outside the Woollim building – or even outside Infinite’s dorm. Fans do that all the time, don’t they? Of course there’s the possibility of her turning into a popsicle stick with the state of the winter weather outside, but if left with no choice…

“Shin Yejin-ssi?” There was a look of genuine concern in the guesthouse manager’s eyes as she waited for her to answer.

“I… I understand,” Yejin mumbled dejectedly. “I guess I’ll look someplace else, then.” With a resigned sigh, she gave a half-hearted bow before heading for the door. At least she might catch a glimpse of the boys while they travel to and from the building–

“Wait!”

The girl stopped on her tracks, turning to look at the manager who seemed to be having an inner debate with herself. Finally, the woman spoke.

“Well… We do have this one other room left…”

Yejin’s eyes immediately widened at her words. Why didn’t she say so earlier? All the drama for nothing.

“It’s very different from the room you reserved, but-”

“I’ll take it! No matter how small or how shabby, I will!”

A look of hesitance crossed the owner’s features for a moment before she finally waved over a younger woman who had been sprucing up the Christmas tree while half-listening to the conversation.

“Sooyoung, can you guide our guest to the vacant room on the fifth floor?”

“Ah, of course – What?” The younger’s eyeballs all but fell from their sockets as she gaped at her superior. “But – Jieun-ssi, that room –”

“We’re responsible for this mix-up, so the guesthouse has to take responsibility and compensate for our mistake.” With a firm nod, the manager gestured towards Yejin who was only watching them with a lost look on her face. “I’d show you to your room myself, but I’m running late for an out-of-town trip, so… Sooyoung, please accompany Shin Yejin-ssi. I’m sure she must be tired after all this confusion.”

The younger of the two promptly nodded and began to guide the confused girl towards the elevator at the other end of the lobby. Although still unsure about what just happened, Yejin followed her, dragging her luggage behind. Whatever the case, she was just relieved that she actually had a place to stay in now.

After the short elevator ride, the doors slid open to reveal the fifth floor, and Yejin couldn’t help but look around in surprise. Contrary to her expectations, there was no hallway with doors leading to several rooms. In fact, what greeted her were blank walls and an empty corridor leading to who knows where. The stark emptiness and silence of the area contrasted greatly with the festive feel downstairs, and the whole floor itself seemed completely unoccupied.

“This way, Shin Yejin-ssi”, the girl named Sooyoung spoke, breaking Yejin’s momentary trance. She followed her as she stepped out of the elevator and to the right, walking down the corridor that stretched to the other end of the floor. Upon reaching the corner, they then turned left towards another hallway with large windows on the right giving her a glimpse of the street in front of the guesthouse.

“Ah, how lucky~”

Yejin was surprised to find her guide with a dreamy look in her eyes as they stood in front of a door – the only one in the whole corridor, apparently. Upon noticing the questioning look on Yejin’s face, the girl chuckled sheepishly.

“This room is really the best. How do you guys call it…” she mumbled, brows creasing in thought before her face lit up in remembrance. “Ah- Suite!” She exclaimed the word in English, sounding quite pleased with herself as she held two thumbs up, and Yejin realized that the girl was probably only around her age. “Very good! This is the only room here, so you’ve got the whole floor to yourself.”

A suite? It sure sounded expensive, and Yejin wondered if it was the reason why the owner was so hesitant to give her the place. She could only take the key card that her guide offered towards her, and with a careful swipe over the lock, she slowly pushed the door open.

To her surprise, Sooyoung immediately stepped into the room, oohing and aahing at practically everything she saw. Yejin raised her brow skeptically. Sure, the room was at a different level from what she had originally reserved, but it wasn’t exactly luxurious enough (or at all, if she had to be completely honest) to deserve the other’s reaction.

In front of her and right across the door was a quaint sitting area with quite a nice view provided by the windows lining one side of the room. A small television and media set stood against a wall decorated with a few framed black and white photographs of streets and train stations, and further to her right was a kitchenette complete with a small refrigerator and a stove. To one corner of it was a glass door that lead to a small balcony. A small dining table of sorts separated the sitting area from the kitchenette. To her left was a wall where a couple of monochromatic abstract paintings hung, and a leaning bookcase stood against it, its shelves decked with several books, CDs, and a variety of decorative things. Tucked into either ends of the wall were two unassuming doors which, she presumed, led to the bedroom and the bathroom. The whole unit was actually pretty plain. However, despite the minimal decorations and mostly monochromatic palette, Yejin could still feel a sense of warmth and cosiness in the room. It had a simpler, almost masculine feel to it compared to what she had seen so far of the guesthouse, but it still retained a similar pleasant feeling of being lived-in – in fact, it seemed more like an apartment for long-term use rather than a guestroom to be rented out for a few days.

“But why isn’t this room taken?” she couldn’t help but wonder aloud. “I don’t even think I saw this room on the site when I made a reservation…”

Sooyoung finally took a moment out of her overly-zealous exploration, turning to look at Yejin with a giddy grin on her face. “It’s kind of like a VVVIP room,” the girl explained enthusiastically, making sure to emphasize her V’s. “So we don’t advertise it and such. Actually, this is the first time I stepped inside this place since I started working here. Jieun-ssi always fixes things up here herself.”

“Really? Why’s that, though?”

“Well…” For a moment, the other’s expression faltered and she seemed to hesitate before she spoke again. “The owners have their reasons. But anyway, you’re really lucky to get this room, Yejin-ssi,” she vaguely concluded, and the wide smile quickly found its way back to her features.

Yejin wasn’t quite satisfied with the answer. The way Sooyoung worded, it was as if the room was haunted or something. But that couldn’t be possible when the place seemed so warm and inviting. In the end, she decided to brush it off. After all, she already got this room which was probably way more than what she bargained for. Her guide was right: she sure was lucky.

“Anyway, I’ll leave you to settle in. If you need anything, I’ll be around until 12 midnight. I’ll probably be downstairs or - Oh! I haven’t introduced myself yet, have I?” The girl laughed sheepishly before giving a small bow. “I’m Park Sooyoung. I’m… the receptionist, I guess? I’m in charge of the lobby and pretty much everything around the guesthouse. If there’s anything you need help with during your stay here, please don’t hesitate to approach me, alright?”

Before she finally left, Sooyoung handed her a small pamphlet which contained more information about the guesthouse along with some basic house rules. After briefly reading through it, Yejin tucked it into her coat’s pocket along with her key card. She was yet to enter the bedroom, and so, with her suitcase in hand, she made her way to the door at the further end. She carefully turned the knob and pushed the door open to reveal what was indeed a humble-sized bedroom, and just like the rest of the unit, it was plainly decorated yet had a warm welcoming air to it. The walls were painted a simple white, although signs of the passing years were beginning to show through the paint, and a fluffy white bed with a black leatherette headboard was tucked into a corner, facing the windows. A chrome and glass round nightstand with a table lamp atop of it sat right beside the bed, and in another corner stood a medium-sized dresser.

Wasting no time, Yejin plopped face-first into the bed, a contented sigh leaving her lips as she rolled around on the soft mattress. Unpacking could wait; all she wanted at the moment was to sink into the softness of her bed. It had been a long day, starting with the long flight to South Korea, but tomorrow would be even longer, as she would officially begin to take steps towards the primary reason for her lone journey to Korea in the first place: to meet Infinite, up close and personal. Or at least, as close and personal as a fan like her could get. And with these half-conscious thoughts, the girl slowly drifted into a peaceful sleep full of dreams of her beloved oppas.

*

Yejin woke up with a start. She had been sleeping peacefully when the sound of a door closing brought her to consciousness. Fumbling for her phone in her pocket, she groggily checked for the time. 12:22 am. Had she really slept that long? With a yawn, she pushed herself up into a sitting position, stretching her arms above her head.

Wait- A door closing?

She froze in place and blinked herself awake. According to the pamphlet that Sooyoung gave her, the staff leaves the guesthouse at midnight. The owner lived somewhere nearby and visited the guesthouse daily, but she remembered Kim Jieun-ssi mentioning that she would be out of town. If so, then who in the world was wandering around in her room at this time of night?

Drawing in a long breath to calm herself, she carefully tiptoed towards the closed bedroom door and pressed her ear against the cold wood, listening keenly for any other sound. From outside, she could hear what seemed to be the footsteps of someone walking around the living quarters. A heartbeat later, the sound of the kitchen cabinets being opened and closed could be heard along with the incoherent words of someone mumbling things to himself.

And that someone was, apparently, a man.

Despite her attempts to keep herself composed, fear started to creep into Yejin as she crouched behind the door. How did a man get inside her room? After a moment of inner debate, she finally decided to check with her own eyes.  Soundlessly, she pushed the bedroom door open just a crack to take a peek. From her viewpoint, she could see a man clad in all black standing by the kitchen counters with his back turned to her. Upon further observation, she realized that the door to the balcony was wide open, and she barely supressed a gasp as the pieces began to click together in her head. The thief must have forced his way in from the balcony, and judging by his rushed movements, he seemed to be searching for something as he opened and closed the overhead cabinets. Was this the reason why this room had been unoccupied? Because the security around the place was faulty?

Without warning, the thief suddenly turned, surprising Yejin who ended up pushing the door shut in her panic and quickly flicking the lights off. Unfortunately, the carelessness of her movement caused an obvious noise when the door closed, and the girl’s eyes widened in horror when she realized that the sound of stealthy footsteps was coming closer and closer. With no time left to think of an escape plan, she quickly reached for a sturdy-looking umbrella resting against the wall and braced herself for battle. After a few heart-stopping seconds, the bedroom door finally creaked open.

“AAAAAAHHHH! HELP! THIEF!” Yejin screamed as she whacked the man with the umbrella’s handle. It didn’t take more than a couple of hits before the thief was down on the ground, apparently having the lights knocked out of him.

Still shaken up, the girl stood frozen as she stared wide-eyed at the dangerous person in front of her. She kept a firm grip on the umbrella, just in case. Since she was the fifth floor’s only occupant, the chances of someone coming to her rescue was slim. She needed to go downstairs and ask for help, but if she left the man alone like this, he might end up escaping and–

Yejin blinked to herself. The room was too dark for her to tell for sure, but something about the thief seemed awfully familiar. But that was absurd. Why in the world would a thief in Seoul be familiar to her when she came from another country, thousands of miles away? Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling, and she squinted in the dark as she tried to make out the man’s features. Finally giving up, she found the light switch on the wall and flicked it on.

The umbrella fell to the floor, followed by her jaw.

For on the floor, lying unconscious after the vicious attack, was not just any thief but Infinite’s leader, Kim Sunggyu.

A/N:

Here you go. Merry Christmas! ^^

Thanks to everyone who subscribed so far. I noticed that most of you are old subscribers from Chasing After My Fangirl Dream. It's nice to see you all again~ I hope you enjoy this as much as CAMFD. To the new readers, welcome! It's still a little slow right now, but bear with me please. We're just starting. Oh and btw, do you guys have any suggestions for the guesthouse's name? Also, as you can see, this story doesn't have a poster yet. If you or anyone you know is willing to lend their photoshop skills or their poster shop expertise (I'm really no good at either lol), it'll be the best Christmas gift.

As always, your comments feed my soul (~* *)~