;;;;;

“What…what did he say?” asked the old woman sitting in the rocking chair in front of a large framed window with see through curtains.

“He’ll watch the house, mom.” Leeteuk’s mom replied. “It’ll be ok, right mom?”

“He’s big now. It’s been a decade too long. I trust that she would have forgotten about him already.” grandma nodded. “We have a Buddha nearby and he’ll keep the house clean while Teukie stays here during the summer.”

Leeteuk’s mother nodded. Half of her hadn’t wanted to ask her son to come, but grandma had insisted that it’d be fine. If the treatment for grandma went well she wanted to come back straight away and take Teukie away from the area. Hopefully no harm would be done during his stay.

;;;;;

After enjoying a long hot shower until the warm water almost went cold he finally stepped out, dressed, and dried his hair. He’d skipped lunch and had been browsing through the boxes he’d brought with him at the beginning of the semester. All he found were useless items. He had nothing relating to the huge mansion his grandma owned.

“Well, I’m not very surprised. I’ve never been in there once,” Leeteuk told himself. “I must be the last resort of they couldn’t find someone else to look after that house.”

Checking his watch he got up and walked out of his dorm and headed across to the street to the other dorm building. Making his way down to the basement he recognized blasting music and could make out the aroma of various kinds of foods. Pushing the pale ugly green door open the flashing TV screen greeted him so very kindly. Leeteuk looked around to see the sitting room packed with students. They were watching a horror movie. Not really interested Leeteuk made his way over to the pizza on the table, picked one up, and began eating it.

“Ah! You’re a bit late!” someone called.

Leeteuk waved in the direction of a boy wearing a cap. “Yo!” Quietly he thought to himself then raised his voice, “My grandma’s giving her mansion to me for the summer. Does anybody want to go stay with me?”

Everybody turned to stare at him and only a loud scream came from the girl in the TV.

“What?”

“Mansion? Cool!”

“Why?”

Looking around feeling half dumb he turned to see a girl quietly sitting on a chair against the wall. Her hair trailed along her shoulders and he remembered her as the girl Yoona had been hanging out with earlier in the day.

“Do you want to go?” Leeteuk asked her.

She turned to look at him but they were interrupted.

“Why? Is your grandma’s house haunted?” Siwon asked.

Turning back to them Leeteuk felt thoughts arise in his mind, “Would you come if it was?”

“No way!”

“You’re creepy, Leeteuk!”

Laughter filled the room.

“Can we party? Are we allowed to do whatever we want?”

“They allow me to bring a group if I want.” Leeteuk explained.

College students are wild. They’re supposed to be wild. He supposed that partying a bit and drinking a bit at the mansion wouldn’t leave it too hurt.  

“Lets go! We can get away from living on campus the whole summer!”

“Cancel summer classes!”

Crazy chatter filled the room again.

“Yoona lets go!” Siwon suggested.

Yoona looked over at Taeyeon sitting on the chair.

“Yah, do you want to go?” Yoona asked.

“I don’t know anyone though…” Taeyeon told.

“Cause you study too much! I’ve told you before to get out some more,” Yoona said, “lets go this summer, ok? You can forget studying for the summer just this once. I’m pretty sure you won’t regret the decision. I’ll go with you, ok? Ok, Taeyeon?”

Taeyeon frowned a little deep in thought. “I don’t know…”

“It’ll be fun. We’ll be the only ones there,” Leeteuk nodded toward her, “you can do whatever you want there. Just for the summer.”

“Taeyeon…” Yoona tried.

Taeyeon looked away. She had to weigh the decisions and the consequences in her mind first.

“It won’t hurt to take a break,” Leeteuk added.

“Unni.” Yoona called again.

Taeyeon kept her eyes on them for a long time. Something about it didn’t feel quite right. She didn’t feel like she could trust whatever decision she’d make. There was something in her that was telling her not to go, but she couldn’t arrange her feelings into words.

“If you’re a college student you can’t miss hanging out with your friends for the summer.” someone said.

She turned to look at Leeteuk again. Something solid was amiss from the fact that he needed a group to go stay with him at his grandma’s mansion.

Not hesitating she asked, “Why?”

Someone laughed. “You’re asking why? We’re just going to have fun and you’re asking why?”
 
Taeyeon ignored him. “What do you mean you’re allowed to bring a group? I mean why do you want to bring a group with you? It’s your grandma’s mansion not an ordinary cabin for hangouts. Is there something wrong with the mansion…is that why you don’t want to go alone?”

Leeteuk stared at her. Her questions sent mysterious chills up and down his spine. The strange mansion he’d never stepped in. The mansion his mom was suddenly letting him step into…why? He couldn’t answer the questions either.

“You’re quite nosey for someone who doesn’t know Teuk.”

“What’s wrong with going with him?”

“Yea!”

“Girl, you don’t know the definition of fun,” that someone who had laughed at her before said, “I bet you’ve never tore off that innocent image of yours. You’re a good-goody, aren’t you? You have to shed that once in your life. Why not just go with us and take off your clothes over there for entertainment?”

An expression of shock about the way he was speaking to her lit up her face before she glared at him.

“Yah!” Yoona screamed standing up from where she was sitting. “Don’t talk smack to her like that! For all you know no one here is as dirty a as the girls you sleep around with! Go bury your head into a pit hole and don’t come out until the devil tells you to!”

“What?” the boy said getting up. “You want to say that again?”

“You want to hear it again?” Yoona tilted her head up at him from where she was standing.

“Hey, hey stop it!” Shindong said standing up between them with both his arms extended out to make sure they would run at each other. “Dude, get outta here. You’re drunk as heck.”

The boy still remained there until another student grabbed his arm leading him out of the basement.

“Yah,” Shindong told turning to Yoona, “you’ve got a tight mouth.”

“You making fun of me?” Yoona asked with a small frown.

“Calm down,” Siwon clarified nodding toward her, “it’s a compliment from him.”

Yoona glanced at them then walked over to Taeyeon grabbing her arm and stepped through the doors.

“I’ll go with you Teuk.” Siwon said turning to Leeteuk.

“Me too.” Shindong added.

Leeteuk nodded toward him. The mansion still stuck in his mind. He hadn’t seen that place since he was 12 and even if he’d been in the mansion before he was 12 nothing in his memory told him anything about that house.

;;;;;

Yoona sat down on her bed and glanced at Taeyeon who sat at the chair by the desk.

“Sorry,” Yoona apologized, “I hadn’t expected there to be a jerk like that. Lets not go. We can stay here and still have fun as if we were in the states.”

Taeyeon smiled, “I didn’t take it seriously.”

Her rebel days rung in her mind. She’d spoken to no one about her past or her family. It wasn’t a secret totally, but it was something she’d like to keep quiet about.

“No, lets go,” Taeyeon said staring at the wall ahead of her biting on her bottom teeth. “I want to see that house now.”

“What?! If you’re bothered with that jerk’s words then forget it unni,” Yoona said. “I know you know what fun is, you don’t need to prove anything to him.”

“Not his words,” Taeyeon replied her voice all too serious with no excitement whatsoever apparent with the way she was speaking, “the mansion. If it’s haunted I’ll know why that kid needs a group to go stay with him and if it’s not I’ll find out why he wants us to go as a group. If it’s haunted, don’t you think it’ll be fun?”

Yoona frowned at her friend, “Is something wrong with you?”

“Ask Siwon when we should get packed up.”

Yoona frowned again at Taeyeon before she walked out of the room. It was the first time in her life that Taeyeon was actually making a move on doing something rather than just sitting there reading her books all day long.

***What Taeyeon says to Yoona about the mansion being haunted...do you think she actually means it? Or is she being sarcastic? I leave it up to you to interpret it