“Leeteuk!” Siwon nudged him roughly.

Leetuek turned to look at him.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Leeteuk lied. “I just spaced out.”

Almost half an hour later they were gathered in the kitchen. All the various dishes on the table left Leeteuk drooling.

“Unnie said she’ll be arriving in a bit.” Yoona explained. “Should we surprise her?”

“Well, it’s not like we have any birthday items.” Seungho told, his attention only on the food.

“Lets turn off the lights and shout ‘Happy Birthday!’ when she walks in,” Jang Hyuk suggested.

“That could do,” Gyuri agreed.

“Aren’t you scared you might see someone other than Taeyeon?” Zhoumi asked. “With the lights off I mean.”

“Shut it.” Junsu warned.

Zhoumi turned away to look at the others.

“It’s just for her birthday. It’s not like this is a horror factory,” Yoona pointed out. “Ok, guys! Kill all the lights in the mansion!”

;;;;;

“Come by when you’re free,” Changmin told with an arm around her shoulder. “Or I’ll come look for you when I’m bored.”

“Thanks a lot. Try not to get in trouble with your mom.” Taeyeon advised. “She’s just worried about you.”

“I’ll try to talk her into letting me out,” Changmin said.

They stopped at the edge of the road and turned to each other. The sky was dim and the sun was almost hidden out of sight because of the tall trees.

“Sorry, I can’t walk you back.” he apologized.

“I’ll be fine on my own. Take care,” Taeyeon said hesitating to turn around and walk away. “You…you go first.”

Changmin laughed with a smile putting his hand on the top of her head in a playful manner. “You…go first because I say so.”

“Pst…” Taeyeon grabbed his hand and took it off her head. “Alright. I’m going.” Taeyeon turned and took a step forward before turning around. “Bye!”

Changmin waved at her before Taeyeon really began walking off. It wasn’t the kind of goodbye she wanted or had imagined in her head. But since he said he’d snuck out she didn’t want him to get into any trouble. His mother must be restraining him from meeting her. Taeyeon gulped suddenly remember the monk’s “word of advice”. If the monk knew that she hadn’t taken his advice seriously would they be really angry? In the end Taeyeon just shrugged. It wasn’t her fault because they hadn’t given her a clear reason about why she should stop meeting up with Changmin. If they had given her a reason she would have taken it into consideration about not seeing him anymore. She should rebel as long as she was able to and with that she smiled triumphantly.     

However, after quite a few steps she felt as if there was a presence with her. Slowly coming to a stop she turned her head around expecting to find Changmin playing with her, but instead no one was behind her. Turning around she began walking again but then it really felt like there was someone there. She could sense that someone was there and she could feel the warmth of someone from behind her. Turning around more quickly this time she still found no one there.

“Quit it, Taeyeon.” she told herself.

After continuing on her way she began to hear the noise of rocks rolling on the ground after someone had thrown them. Taeyeon slowly turned around again first glancing at the ground to find nothing then looked to find nothing or no one there. Taking a deep breath she quickened her pace feeling her blood rushing through her veins as she rushed toward the mansion. However, when she reached the house and threw the doors open she found that the lights were off.

“Guys?” she called as she stepped in.

Walking in further she did not miss the paper they’d stuck up on the wall in front of her, which read “Head for kitchen”. A smile erupted on her face out of delight before she made her way through the dark. However, as she headed down the hallway she caught something from the corner of her eyes. One of the doors had been left open and she thought she’d seen a shadow standing upright in there staring at her. Coming to a stop Taeyeon turned to her right to see that the room was empty. Pressing her nervous lips together she quickened toward the kitchen with the thought that someone was chasing her from behind. When she stopped before the kitchen the lights came on and everyone jumped up from where they were.

“Happy birthday!!” they screamed in unison.

Taeyeon moved her head back a little before a smile lit up on her face.

“Wow,” she clasped her hands together. “this looks awesome!”

“Unnie, happy birthday,” Yoona said putting an arm around her shoulders.

“Ok! Lets eat!!” Siwon clapped his hands together loudly to catch everyone’s attention.

“Since there’s no place to shop around here you’re going to have to excuse us for not getting you any presents,” Jang Hyuk told linking an arm over Taeyeon’s shoulders.

“Yea, once we get back in Seoul I’ll get something for you,” Seungho added.

“It’s alright, I don’t need anything,” Taeyeon replied with a wide grin.

“Cut the cake birthday girl,” Yoona cut in between Jang Hyuk pushing him away from her friend.

After cutting up the cake and handing it to everyone else Taeyeon felt someone nudge her from the side just when she picked up her plate of cake.

“Hey,” it was Leeteuk.

“Oh…did you get a cake?” Taeyeon asked.

Leeteuk looked to the cake then back to her, “Um…I want to apologize…”

“For what?” Taeyeon had forgotten about what had happened before she’d met up with Changmin.

He seemed embarrassed and said in a whisper, “What happened earlier…”

Taeyeon finally caught on after a moment, “Ah! That! It’s ok. I’ve forgotten all about it. If it bothers you, you can pretend that it never happened.”

“Unnie! They found a LIFE game board! Lets go play!” Yoona called interrupting them.

Taeyeon turned away from him and headed out of the kitchen to join Yoona.

;;;;;

She didn’t seem to care as if it didn’t bother her. Leeteuk decided it shouldn’t bother him either then. He didn’t think about it and their relationship returned to being strangers just as before. And Leeteuk was the only one who wanted to be friends. Without paying anymore attention toward Taeyeon Leeteuk sure enjoyed his night while they played various games all night long.

Leeteuk awoke early enough just to see Taeyeon heading out the door happily. He walked toward the living room window and glanced outside to see Changmin waiting at the end of the drive. A smile lit his face as soon as Taeyeon reached him and they headed down the road together. So they were going out together. Turning away from the window Leeteuk didn’t know what to feel.

“What are you doing out here?” Siwon questioned walking toward Leeteuk.

After a late lunch Leeteuk had gone outside to study the mansion. He’d become curious about something suddenly.

“The mansion,” Leeteuk began, “grandma surely said that there was a third floor we’re prohibited from going to.”

Siwon followed Leeteuk’s concentrated gaze toward the third level windows all lined up next to one another, however, the white curtains certainly did not allow anyone to see what was inside.

“She did say that,” Siwon agreed. “But what about it?”

“If you’ve walked around the whole second level there’s really no way you can go up to the third floor,” Leeteuk explained. “So how come there’s a third floor?”

“Are you sure?” Siwon asked turning to look at Leeteuk.

“Yes, you can go see for yourself,” Leeteuk told.

“But why would you be curious about it?”

Leeteuk shrugged, “It just suddenly came to me.”

“Well, your grandma’s mansion wasn’t a normal one to begin with,” Siwon started, “right?”

Leeteuk chuckled, “I guess so.”

“What are you guys doing?” Taeyeon asked walking up to them from behind.

The both of them turned around half surprised.

“We were studying the mansion,” Siwon replied.

“What about it?” she asked joining them naturally as if they were all already close friends.

Leeteuk couldn’t help but wonder what she and Changmin had been doing because her face was glowing so brightly.

“You see that there’s a third floor? Leeteuk says he can’t find a stairway that leads to the third floor,” Siwon pointed out with his hand.

Taeyeon immediately turned to Leeteuk as if surprised by his discovery. Before she could go on Siwon cut in.

“Besides where did you go?”

“Didn’t Yoona tell you?”

“She did but I’m just wondering what you did.”

Taeyeon smiled, “Changmin was showing me around.”

“Changmin?” Siwon repeated. “The kid from next door?”

Leeteuk turned away from Taeyeon at last and began walking toward the house. Always Changmin. Whatever she spoke about or wherever she went, it was Changmin. Was there actually anything else that she could speak about?

Once Leeteuk stepped into the house the sound of thunder striking the sky echoed through the house just before Taeyeon and Siwon came running in.

“Whoa! Anyone would think we’re living a cliché life in a horror movie,” Siwon commented turning around to glance at the bucket of rain heavily pouring down just outside the open door. “Sudden rain pouring down and a thunderstorm on the way. The only other thing we need is a blackout.”

“Are you jinxing us?” Gyuri asked walking pass them to close the door.

“It was a joke,” Siwon clarified.

“Anybody got flashlights?” Junsu’s voice rung in the air.

“Not to mention candles,” Jang Hyuk added.

“Don’t joke around guys,” Zhoumi warned, “doesn’t it feel like something’s going to happen tonight?”

“Don’t start with that,” Seungho told switching to the weather channel. “Oh! There it is! Nice going guys! Jinxing everything!”

“What, what?”

“Severe thunderstorm warning,” Gyuri read off the screen.

“Great,” Junsu turned to Leeteuk, “what’s wrong with this village? Getting so many storms especially when it’s summer? Don’t tell me this mansion also gets hit with blizzards in the winter?”

“Blizzards in summer?” Leeteuk asked clueless as he hadn’t been listening.  

Junsu just frowned at him, “Forget it.”

***A cliche horror life...Siwon doesn't even know that they're all living one xD

***Someone always ends up jinxing the rest, and of course in the next chapter they live through a night of horrible blackout

***Sorry for not updating as I haven't had any time at all. I shall start writing again when I come back from class!