Where It All Began
The Haunted Mansion
--Flashback--
1887
“It’s a girl!” Mrs. Choi happily announced. She cleansed the newborn baby and wrapped it in cloth before handing it over to its mother. Hwang Yuri heaved and panted for air. Her delivery took longer than expected.
Choi Minho paced back and forth in front of the door. His legs were trembling. His heart was beating restless against his chest. Beads of excitement and anticipation trailed down the sides of his face. “I’m finally becoming a father.” He thought to himself over and over again with a nervous smile.
The door finally opened and he met his mother’s eyes. For a moment there, Minho forgot how to breathe. His eyes begged his mother for answers. Mrs. Choi smiled at him and gestured the young man to come inside.
As he got closer to his bed-ridden wife, he heard the cries of a baby. His baby.
He stood next to the bed, not knowing what to do next. Slowly he sat next to his wife and looked intently at the angel she held in her hands. “S-she has your nose.” Minho laughed nervously to which Yuri replied with an unsure smile.”Can I hold her?” he nervously asked.
Yuri hesitantly gave her husband the baby. Her whole body ached with guilt. How was she to tell her husband the truth?
“Hyoyeon.” Minho called the baby as he nuzzled his nose gently against her soft, pink cheek. “My beautiful little Hyoyeon.”
---
“Minho, please, I can explain!” Yuri begged Minho as she followed him around the house. He went to Yuri’s closet and threw her clothes aimlessly across the room. “Take everything that’s yours and LEAVE MY HOUSE! YOU ARE A DISGRACE!” Minho shouted at his wife who was now almost kissing his feet for forgiveness. She winced loudly in pain when Minho kicked her away from him.
“I did everything for you, Yuri! EVERYTHING!” Minho roared. Baby Hyoyeon who was supposed to be fast asleep in the nursery started wailing. The couple looked at the door as they heard. Minho strode towards the door to Yuri’s horror. She wrapped her arms around one of Minho’s legs.
“No Minho! Not the baby, please! She didn’t do anything!” Minho shoved her away with a kick, as if she weighed nothing. He flew out of the room to Hyoyeon’s cradle.
Yuri stood up and went to the nursery as fast as she could, and found Minho lifting the baby by the arm. Poor little Hyoyeon’s wails got louder as Minho mercilessly stared her down. “This isn’t mine.” He said with his darkest tone. Yuri’s eyes dilated in great fear as she reached out her arms in surrender. “Please Minho, come to your senses! You can do anything to me. Just don’t hurt her, please!”
Minho stared at the helpless creature he held by his hand before he shoved it into Yuri’s embrace. Yuri’s relief as she hugged her baby was soon cut off when she felt Minho grab her hair and dragged her out of the nursery. He threw them out of the house. “Don’t even think of showing your face to me ever again!” He shouted before slamming the door in Yuri’s face.
---
Yunho opened the mansion’s big front doors to be greeted by his sister who was covered in mud. In her arms she cradled Hyoyeon who was fast asleep. “Oppa” Yuri cried. Yunho didn’t need to ask. He pulled his baby sister in a tight embrace as she cried her heart out. Hwang Yunho knew everything. He knew about his sister’s relationship with Zhou Yu, a Chinese lieutenant at the time. He knew Yuri loved him dearly.
He was also very well aware about the curse that his family carried. And so it was then that he introduced Yuri to Choi Minho: a very decent young businessman who has fancied Yuri for quite some time. He did everything he could for his sister, just like Minho. He did everything to prevent Yuri from falling into the curse. But the bond between Yuri and Zhou Yu proved to be difficult to break. Now, Yunho couldn’t do anything anymore for her. Do nothing except to wait for what lies ahead for his sister that he desperately wanted to protect.
---
“Yuri?” Yunho said as he knocked on the door to Yuri’s room. “Yuri, sweetheart, open the door.”
He jolted as he heard a loud thud coming from inside, followed by Hyoyeon’s loud cries.”Yuri!” he called, but his sister didn’t answer. He opened the door wide and searched for his sister. He had no time to attend to Hyoyeon’s cries at the moment. “Please, not now.” He thought fearfully. He walked briskly towards Yuri’s bathroom.
To his dismay, he found what he dreaded not to.
On the bathroom floor laid his beautiful sister. Yellowish foam oozed from . With a small empty bottle of rat poison in her hand, she laid there, to Yunho’s dismay. Cold. Lifeless.
Dead.
---
After dismantling the music box, Luhan found a gold antique key.”It really is here.” He said. “It really does exist.”
“Great! Now where’s the keyhole for that?” Chanyeol asked. Luhan looked at everyone and slowly dragged a smile from ear to ear. Everyone anticipated a positive answer.
“I have no idea!” Luhan laughed, but all of you were anything but amused. You gave yourself a face palm.
“What does that have to do with Tiffany anyway?” D.O. ask
Comments