;;;;;

Zhoumi opened his eyes. It didn’t take long to realize that he’d knocked out on the floor in his room. He could barely recall anything these past few days. Other than the night when he’d pleaded to the spirit in him not to harm Leeteuk he didn’t know what he’d been doing. He glanced at the ceiling above him then felt a cold wind sweep by. Glancing by the window he saw her again. She looked frail yet beautiful and sad. She turned slowly to look at him.

“No, not anymore. Please.” he begged. “I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“Please…” her voice spread over him like a trance. “I still need you. Don’t give up on me yet.”

The mansion was empty. Neither Junsu’s loud voice or Gyuri could be heard. Each and every room he passed by was clean of human air. Zhoumi walked down the halls, his footsteps becoming heavier with each step. Pausing before a specific hallway Zhoumi made his way toward Leeteuk’s bedroom. One touch and he knew that the door had been securely locked. Touching the knob once more he unlocked it and twisted the doorknob open. Inside Leeteuk lay curled up on his bed under the covers.

He was sure to close the door after he entered so no one would suspect anything. Shuffling his feet over to Leeteuk he drew the covers from over his face and in that moment Leeteuk turned to look at him with open eyes.

“What are you…” Leeteuk started but the door opened interrupting him.

Siwon and Taeyeon appeared looking quite anxious and out of breath.

“Zhoumi?” Siwon asked.

Zhoumi turned from where he was standing putting hands in his pockets.

“I was just making sure he’s alright,” Zhoumi coolly answered relaxed.

“What are you doing in here?” Siwon continued.

“Like I said. Making sure he was alright.” Zhoumi explained.

They continued to stare at him without being convinced. No one said anything and Zhoumi walked out stepping pass the two of them.

“What’s going on?” Siwon asked.

“I don’t know.” Leeteuk replied lost glancing at his friend then to Taeyeon.

“Did you lock your door?” Siwon continued asking.

“Of course, I don’t know how he opened it.” Leeteuk explained. “Are you going to tell me why you two appeared looking so out of breath?”

Siwon and Taeyeon glanced at each other.

“Nothing,” Siwon told. “We just had a talk.”

“About what?” Leeteuk asked.

“Don’t worry about it,” Siwon assured.

Leeteuk looked at them. “If you say so.”

;;;;;

Jang Hyuk led them down the longest hallway Gyuri had ever seen in her life. It made her wonder how many rooms existed on that second floor. There were humongous windows staring outside down at the large green yard they’ve not stepped on. Were they walking in circles? Gyuri was not sure.

“It’s here.” Jang Hyuk told opening a door.

It was a guest bedroom with a four poster bed and a small chimney next to the bed. Bookshelves lined the walls with books neatly stacked next to each other. A circular table had been placed in front of the long rectangular window with the drapes open. She imagined have a cup of coffee in the morning after washing up. How nice it seemed.

“It’s be awesome living here,” she heard Junsu gasp from behind.

However, when Jang Hyuk pulled open a door that she would assume led to the closet, she felt shocked to see a staircase. A hidden staircase? Were these staircases supposedly hidden all over the mansion?

“It takes us up to the third floor?” Seungho asked not quite believing it.

“There’s a library and other guest rooms up there,” Jang Hyuk told leading the way up.

Gyuri felt her jaws drop when they reached the top. Large metal shelves were lined up in neat rows from that side of the room to the other end of the room. Thin and fat books were wedged into each space that had been made available.

“Encyclopedias, fiction, autobiographies. I wonder how much money it took to get all these,” Junsu wondered glancing at the books before him.

“There’s a door over here,” Jang Hyuk pointed down to hall.

Gyuri began wondering about what she had been planning to discover up there. The questions she had were now all harder to solve.

Following Jang Hyuk down the library they found themselves standing in a hallway identical to the ones on the second floor. Doors lined up both sides of the walls.

“Are they really guest bedrooms?” Seungho wondered.

“Then are you going to use your own time to look through each and every one of them?” Junsu teased.

“Well my guess is most of them are guest bedrooms.” Jang Hyuk added from where they all stood.

“Have you looked through them?” Gyuri questioned.

“Well…” Jang Hyuk paused. “The first few and they were all bedrooms really.”

“Do you think anybody ever stayed in these rooms?” asked Seungho. “The third floor is quite strange, don’t you think? There are many ways to get up here and back down.”

“Why don’t you ask the architect who built this house,” Junsu told.

“How do we get back to the second floor? And is there another way to get up that you know about?” Gyuri asked.

“These are the only ones I know about unless the others know about it,” Jang Hyuk replied.

Jang Hyuk led them back down but when he opened the door he found Zhoumi sitting at the round table waiting for them with a small smile.

“Zhoumi?” Jang Hyuk called while the rest froze behind him.

“I waited quite a while.” Zhoumi greeted.

Gyuri stared at him puzzled.

“How’d you find this room?” Jang Hyuk asked.

“The room that’s hidden between the millions and millions of other rooms?” Zhoumi seemed to be poking fun with them.

“Uh…yea…” Jang Hyuk frowned. “Umm…are you ok? The way you’re talking seems to be off.”

“Oh, yea. I’m quite fine, really.” Zhoumi smiled getting up from where he’d been sitting.

Junsu, Gyuri, and Seungho backed up behind Jang Hyuk. Zhoumi noticed and smiled away.

“Well…I’ll be heading out first. Have a good night everyone.”

When Zhoumi was finally gone Seungho exhaled loudly.

“Did you see the way he looked at us?” Seungho questioned. “Oh! I was so scared!!”

Gyuri glanced at the door where Zhoumi had exited and glanced at the door behind them. When would Zhoumi stop acting so strange?

;;;;;

Taeyeon lay calmly on her bed in her dark room. The picture on the third floor flashed into her mind. The little girl’s face. Her smile. It haunted Taeyeon. She couldn’t dispel herself of the things she knew. It was forever engraved in her memory and she knew it’d be with her for the rest of her life.

Kang Shin Ae.

Would Taeyeon’s heart really die before she left the town? She didn’t know so she felt afraid. She had no clue about what was to come tomorrow or the day after. What would happen? How would she deal with it? How was she to protect Changmin and Leeteuk’s smiles?

She awoke the next morning deciding that a morning jog before anyone else woke up sounded perfect. When she headed for the door she found Leeteuk tying his shoes on the front doorstep. He looked up at her then smiled.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“I was thinking about a jog.” Taeyeon replied.  

“Oh, really? I was going for a walk. Want to join me?”

She couldn’t deny him. She’d feel bad if she had disregarded his offer. Instead of feeling the breeze fly pass her that morning as she ran she found it calmly floating by with the summer sun high in the sky. They continued in silence and turned with the curb.

Butterflies flew pass in couples chasing one another. The green grass waved along with the wind encouraging her to keep moving forward until she reached the finish line. There were more bends in the road as they walked further on.

“Do you know where you’re going?” Taeyeon wondered.

“You can’t get lost if you keep going with the road. You’ll only get lost if you decide to get off the road.”

Taeyeon turned to look up at him. What he said just sounded like some kind of quote. A sarcastic one.

“Is something the matter?” Leeteuk wondered. “You’ve been very quiet.”

Taeyeon wanted to smile to assure him nothing was wrong but when she looked at him again she couldn’t find the strength anywhere inside her. For some reason it was hard to even pull a fake one.

He reached his hand forward to put it on her face but Taeyeon found herself turning away. To have him comfort her wasn’t something she wanted at the moment. Taeyeon decided she didn’t deserve any type of comfort from him.

“I’m sorry.” she found herself apologizing.

“Why are you apologizing? You said it yesterday, too.” Leeteuk wondered. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

Taeyeon glanced at the ground coming to a stop. The truth was…she wasn’t alright. Nothing was ok. Everything she knew just worsened everything else. She almost couldn’t bear looking as his or Changmin’s face. Why had she decided to get to know them over summer?

“Your friend…” Taeyeon changed the topic.

Was she afraid to even say her name? The name that would kill her heart?

“Who?” Leeteuk asked.

“The girl you’ve been seeing,” Taeyeon told.

“Shin Ae?” Leeteuk said. “I’m not seeing her.”

Her name made Taeyeon flinch then she began wondering if she would appear to her right then and there. Would she come and try to meet with Leeteuk again that day?

“Have you found out who she is?” Taeyeon said her gaze far from Leeteuk’s.

“Of course not. If I knew you’d be the first to know.”

Her heart ached happily and painfully. She felt she didn’t deserve to hear those words from him. Leeteuk was too nice. If he knew about her, if he really knew about her he probably wouldn’t say those words.

Gyuri had started breakfast by the time they returned. One by one the others arose from their beds and entered the kitchen. That was one of the only abnormally normal days they had at the mansion.

;;;;;

“Where did you come from?” Changmin’s mother’s strict voice questioned him as soon as he stepped into the house.

“I just took Dark out for a stroll.” he innocently replied.

His mother observed him for a long time in silence as if looking for any speck of dirt on him as evidence that he had really just took the dog out.

“What?” Changmin asked in an annoyed tone.

“Pack your things. You’re leaving.”

“What?” he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“You heard me. Now get on it this instant.”

“I’m not going anywhere!” he stated as his mother began walking pass him. “Why should I leave? I’ve done no wrong.”

“If I say leave, then leave. Your uncle is coming for you in an hour.”

“Mom!” he shouted then smiled as if he had caught on. “You said something to her.”

“Don’t be making assumptions.”

“She’s going to tell me what you said. You’re afraid so you want to get rid of me then you’ll call me back once everything calms down.” Changmin said. “What did you tell her? One of your dark secrets?”

“Shim Changmin!!” she shrieked.

“I don’t know what you have hidden but I’m not leaving.” he stated with a glare before heading out the door.