He stepped inside his new home, taking in the heat that he yearned for ever since they were in the car. This place was warmer, and before he knew it, he was going from the cold front porch steps to the fireplace. It was almost winter and though it still wasn’t, Taehyung felt cold. He didn’t really like the cold, but he just endured it all this time, like how he endured the pain he felt inside ever since he lost his parents – the only people he ever had. And now they were gone. Forever.

“Are you feeling alright?” his mother asked, worried, rubbing his back reassuringly as he continued to bury himself in the warmth that the fireplace was giving off. “I can make you a cup of hot chocolate if you like,” she smiled at him, only to get a small smile from Taehyung as he looked up, diverting his gaze from the burning wood in the fireplace, to her, as he nodded, happy that she volunteered to make him one – he loved hot chocolate. She bent down and sat next to him, laying her head on his shoulder as he heard her slow, steady breathing. “Everything will be different from now on. We love you and we want the best for you,” she whispered, and he couldn’t help but let one teardrop fall from his eyes, down to his cheek. “You do know that we love you, right?” she said with a small smile, mirroring his. When car keys were heard being placed on the nearest table, she knew his father had parked the car outside already. “I prepared your room for you,” his mother kissed him on the forehead and she stood up, proceeding to the kitchen to make Taehyung his favorite hot chocolate. Now it was his father’s turn to talk to the boy who was silent during the whole car ride going home.

“Son, our Taehyung, please get some rest. You must be tired,” he sighed, patting Taehyung’s back as he laughed. “I’m okay, I think I’ll drink my hot chocolate before I take a rest,” he told his father and that earned him a big warm hug from him. Taehyung felt safe. He felt secure. He felt loved. This was it: his new beginning. He, slowly, placed his arms around his father as well, and they swayed and swayed, and this, Taehyung told himself, felt different, and he felt welcomed. “I was worried that you didn’t talk that much in the car, and I thought that maybe you didn’t really like us, and that-” his father got cut off when Taehyung squeezed him tighter, as if he wanted his father to drown in his warm embrace. “-I don’t just like you all, I love you,” he corrected his dad, looking at him this time, seeing tears in the corner of his father’s eyes. The middle-aged man was shorter than him and the wrinkles at the side of his eyes as he smiled at Taehyung were the images that Taehyung took in as he smiled some more. “Now please, go rest, father, I don’t want you to be more worried. I’ll bring my bags upstairs and just call me when you want to talk to me, okay?” Taehyung said and his father nodded, saying, “Okay, son, I’ll call you when I need you, and oh, when you go up the stairs, you’ll know it’s your room because we left the door open,” and then he smiled, letting Taehyung go up the staircase with his bags in hand.

As Taehyung went up the long staircase, it reminded him of how small his house used to be before and even the staircase wasn’t this long. When he finished climbing up the stairs, he noticed that there was only one hallway and he was hesitant at first because he felt somewhat eerie since they didn’t switch the lights on, but silently, he thanked God for the light that was peeking through his window at the end of the hallway to his left. It was late in the afternoon and the sun was setting, but the beautiful colors of the sky and the last rays of sunlight still greeted him from outside the window and he couldn’t help but smile, and because of the small light that could be seen, he lifted up his bags and continued his journey through the long, dark hallway, passing by family portraits that he took a second to glance but didn’t really pay much attention to. He was too busy feeling scared. Yes, he said it – he was scared, and he didn’t care because he knew if guests would come visit and they’d see this, they’d feel scared, too. What shocked him was that when he reached the end of the hallway, it split into two different hallways, one going left and one going right, and he didn’t know where to go. He looked to his left and saw that the hallway was split into two as well, and he guessed that maybe his parents’ room was there as well, along with the other guest rooms. When he looked to his right, the hallway was longer than the previous one he had been to, and though he didn’t know why, he let his feet guide the way and there, he saw light coming from one of the rooms and he knew it was his room. Carrying his heavy bags and letting the others touch the floor while he dragged them along, he went into his room and immediately took note of the vanilla scent coming from the scented candles that were placed in front of his windows. He liked this, he said to himself. Not long after he settled into his room and unpacked, his back facing the door, he felt an uncanny feeling that he was being watched. It sent shivers down his spine and chills down his body and he fought the urge to look behind him to see who it was, or what it was, but his thoughts were immediately cut off as he heard a scoff.

“You’ve finally arrived,” this man said, his eyes fixed firmly o