Ever since you entered the old quarry home, you had been enduring restless nights. Tossing and turning, running hot then cold, sleep had become fitful. In among all the frustrating moments at night, two things remained constant, however.

The caretaker’s sombre look within his dark eyes, and the house but back in its heyday. You were certain it was the quarry house that gleamed under the sun, proudly standing tall and mighty each time it appeared in your dreams. And just as you got close enough to the front porch, the door would open, sending such a dark chill into your bones that you would wake up with a start each time.

“I need to go back.”

“You absolutely do not,” Eric countered, shaking his head adamantly. “That house gives me the creeps.”

“I didn’t say you needed to come with me,” you remarked, and Eric gaped at you. “What? If you’re scared-”

“It’s not about fear, Y/N,” Eric answered bitterly, focusing less on the files he was putting away in the cabinet and more upon your face. “It’s the principle. We told that caretaker we’d never return.”

“You told him that. I said nothing.”

“You’re infuriating, you know that?”

“I’m aware. Being your friend this long, and having you tell me it almost every day, it’s one fact about myself that I cannot forget,” you shot back with a smile. Eric rolled his eyes. “However, if there’s one thing that I pride myself on is my tenacity. I wouldn’t have been able to start this business without possessing such a trait.”

“You’re lucky I adore you as much as I do to follow you into this world and to this town.”

You smirked. “Eric, you begged me for the job.”

“I didn’t want to stay in my boring nine-to-five back home, that’s for sure. Besides, I have a pleasant phone manner and the disposition to talk my way through any mishap you cause for others along the way.”

“The perfect assistant and best friend,” you agreed.

“So, when are we going back?” Eric asked glumly, and you shot him a bright grin.

“How quiet do we have to be?”

Glancing at Eric later that afternoon, you frowned. “Quiet?”

“Don’t ghosts rest during the day so they can haunt at night? If you wake them early, they might get mad.”

“Isn’t that vampires?”

Eric shrugged. “All supernatural beings make me wary.”

“This place isn’t haunted. You’d be able to tell,” you mentioned airily, striding up the hallway towards the staircase. In the daytime, the house was more magnificent. You could see further craftsmanship in the door headers along the way, marvelling the details as you went by. You would stop on the way back to document those as well, but for now, you were more than intrigued for a closer look at the nursery walls.

By the time you reached the room again, you were excited. Until you noticed the door was shut.

“Eric, wasn’t this open last time?”

“Yeah. You dived in there before I even got a chance to stop you,” Eric confirmed.

Your eyebrows knitted together. “Maybe it was the caretaker.”

“Maybe you are right.”

“Oh my God!” Eric squeaked, turning around and holding his chest in his hand. “You really need to stop sneaking up on people like that.”

“Equally, you should stop sneaking around my home.”

“Listen, I know we’re trespassing. Again.” You tried to placate the dark look in the man’s eyes with a polite smile. “I’m Y/N. I’m an interior designer, and I’ve been in awe of this house for the last three years of living here. This house is beautiful.”

His stare flashed with a sense of interest before turning hard. “I’m not interested in whatever it is you want to do to my house.”

“Your house? I thought this belonged to the Galloway family.” The caretaker took a step closer to Eric, who shrunk back, intimidated. “Or not. I’m sorry, it’s just the rumours that-”

“Out. Now.”

Eric was obedient, dashing down the hallway for the stairs. He stopped before going out of sight, darting his focus back at you. “Y/N! You heard the kind man. Let’s go!”

“No.”

“No?” the caretaker repeated, a small twitch to his lips provoking you on. “This is my house.”

“Please, I just want to look at it. One more time.”

“I have a feeling if I allow you to do that, it won’t be just once.”

“I can be somewhat persistent.”

“You’re not frightened of me like your friend is.”

“I’m not one to believe in ghost stories. I’m just here because I found the blueprints to this home in the local library. They were well-detailed, including parts about the wooden panelling in four rooms of the house. The sketch beside the nursery layout intrigued me, and-”

“You know where the blueprints are?” he asked, surprised.

Nodding, you pointed vaguely in the direction of the town’s library. “They’re in the Galloway archives.”

“They have no place being there,” he responded with a grumble, glaring at the wall. And then he looked at you in earnest. “If you take me to them, I’ll show you what you want.”

“Really?!” you asked, biting your lip to stop an elated giggle leaving you. “Deal.”

“Let’s get going then before your friend passes out down there. He seems agitated.”

“He’s worried about waking up the resident ghost,” you remarked with a light chuckle, and the man walking beside you gave you a wry smile.

“He ought to be. I hear he’s not very charming.”

“So, you believe in the stories too, huh?” you asked and then stopped at the top of the stairs. “By the way, I haven’t yet gotten your name.”

“Son Hyunwoo. And you should dismiss everything you’ve heard about this house, apart from it being haunted.”

“Have you seen the ghost?”

Hyunwoo smirked. “Most days.”

“And you’re not scared of him?” you wondered, waving at Eric, who was bouncing out by the car in hopes for you to hurry up.

At first, Hyunwoo was silent. And then he shrugged. “I’m the caretaker of this place. It would be a bit weird if I were scared of a ghost, don’t you think?”