Kibum had almost expected there to be at least two people in the room when he woke up but to his surprise it was empty. He squinted a little in the light coming through the windows and found that even Jin was gone. He let out a sleepy groan and turned around to lie on his stomach, burying his face in one of the hundreds of pillows that were on the bed. Then he arched his back, much like a cat, and sighed in satisfaction as he felt his joints pop.

However, he didn’t have enough time to enjoy his moment alone before he felt another presence in the room. Even though he couldn’t see them he could feel the small wind caused by someone appearing in a puff of smoke and he turned his head.

Taemin's big, toothy smile greeted him and he almost rolled his eyes.

“Oh, so you were awake.” He said cheerily.

Kibum snorted. “Yes. Did you want to watch me sleep or something?”

Taemin let out a tinkling laugh. “No, I was just wondering if I should wake you up.”

“Is breakfast ready?” Kibum sat up on his knees.

Taemin nodded and, after a meaning glance from Kibum, turned around so that the other could change. As soon as Kibum was in his clothes Taemin skipped over to him and took his hand.

“Can I try something with you?” he asked and leaned in to put his face closer to Kibum's, searching his eyes.

“As long as it’s not something erted.” Kibum joked nervously. He had a bad premonition about this.

Taemin smiled at him again and Kibum suddenly had a very strong urge to ask him if he would ever stop. Then the boy grabbed both of his hands tightly.

“Please don’t freak out or have a mental breakdown.” He said and raised his eyebrows. “I want to see if I can take you with me.”

Kibum swallowed uncomfortably, knowing full well what that meant.

“And why in the world would you want to do that?”

“Because we’re best friends!” Taemin exclaimed as if it was the most obvious thing there ever had been. Then his expression turned a little guilty. “But I might get scolded for it.”

Kibum couldn’t help himself and chuckled. Taemin worried about the smallest things.

“Do you really want to?” he asked although he wished Taemin really didn’t. He knew he wouldn’t be able to refuse the boy.

“Yes!”

Kibum bit his lip, contemplating for a second.

Well, the worst-case scenario would be that his body scattered everywhere.

Kibum mentally rolled his eyes at his pessimistic thinking and tried telling himself that it couldn’t be that bad. Then he nodded.

Taemin's eyes lit up and he took a deep breath. “Okay, here it goes.”

Kibum suddenly felt and saw nothing. He tried to move his hand in panic but couldn’t find it. It was as if he had become one with the air around him and he didn’t know where the rest of his body was except for his head. It felt like his limbs were floating out from him but still connected together in the strangest way. Then there was a loud swooshing sound in his ears and he was standing in the dining room, beside the fireplace.

His knees gave out from under him and he sunk to the floor, holding Taemin’s hands so tightly that his knuckles whitened.

I am never doing that again.

In that moment Kibum realized that he actually liked walking quite a lot and stairs had now become his second favorite thing in the world, after Jin.

“Will you do me a favor and check if all of my body is in the right place.” Kibum asked Taemin weakly.

Taemin laughed a little and pulled Kibum to his feet, steadying him when he wobbled and holding him up with an arm around his waist while flinging Kibum's arm around his shoulders.

“It worked!” he said brightly.

Kibum let out a puff of air and tried to straighten himself.

“I am never doing that again.” He repeated out loud, brushing a few strands of hair out of his eyes.

Taemin laughed again.

“What are you never doing again?”

They both turned around to see Kangin holding a pile of plates with narrowed eyes, scrutinizing their faces.

“U-um…” Taemin stammered, his cheeks becoming red with guilt.

Kibum glanced at him before he set his jaw determinedly and broke free from Taemin's hold, although his legs still felt like jelly, to face Kangin, putting the boy in protection behind his back.

“I asked what it felt like to travel the way you do and Taemin was kindly showing me.” He said with a steady and sure voice, staring Kangin straight in the eyes without any hesitation.

After all, he was an accomplice since he had allowed it. And he couldn’t let Taemin, who was the sweetest kid he’d ever met, take all of the blame.

Kangin raised his eyebrows at him skeptically and Kibum had no doubt he knew the real reason, but thankfully he didn’t say anything. Instead he turned towards the table and put the plates in his hands on it.

Kibum and Taemin looked at each other and shrugged, then they sat down to wait for the others. Kibum let his eyes sweep the room, looking for signs of Jin. Not that he was especially worried, he knew Jin could manage on his own, but he just wondered if he would have to go on another search-party in the snow for him again.

Jinki entered the room and greeted them cheerfully.

“So you decided to stay?” he asked.

Kibum started and Taemin immediately turned his head to look at Kibum in shock. He couldn’t meet his eyes out of guilt.

“How did you know?” Asked instead concentrating on Jinki.

He smiled at him. “I went and talked to Sekyung last night.”

“And how did she know?”

Jinki tilted his head a little. “She didn’t tell you? She knows everything. But sadly she can’t put what she knows into words until after it has happened.”

A shiver went down Kibum's spine. That information was somewhat unsettling.

Then he frowned. “But isn’t that kind of useless?”

Jinki nodded. “Now that she is trapped in the mirror it is. Before she could at least be at the right place at the right time.”

Taemin nodded, seemingly over the small shock he had received. “Well, I’m just happy that you’re staying.”

Kibum smiled a little at him before turning to look at Jinki with narrowed eyes. There was something he needed to bring up for the benefit of his health.

“But I do have a few conditions.”

Jinki raised his eyebrows, looking amused. “Oh?”

“This place needs to be cleaned up.” Kibum said simply.

The other two looked at each other a little confusedly.

“But…” Taemin said slowly. “We haven’t cleaned in here for… I don’t know how long.”

Kibum nodded. “I can see that and it is precisely why I want it to be cleaned. No, I demand that it be cleaned. It’s not healthy.”

Jinki burst out into laughter. “Okay, anything else?”

Kibum opened his mouth to inquire about the piano room but got interrupted by Seohyun who opened the kitchen door.

“We’re ready to serve breakfast now.”

Jinki nodded at her.

“Good.” Then he turned back to Kibum, smiling. “Well, how about we eat first before getting to work?”

Taemin agreed cheerfully, leaving Kibum no choice but to save his question for later as the room filled with people.

As soon as the plates were empty Jinki stood up and cleared his throat. When all eyes turned to him Kibum realized that Jinki was almost like some kind of supervisor, although he didn’t fit the role. Everyone seemed to obey his orders without complaint.

“I just felt the need to inform you that we have a day of work ahead of us as Kibum has asked me if we could clean this mansion.” He started.

A murmur went around the table.

“But we haven’t cleaned this place in forever!” A blonde girl beside Nicole spoke up with a frown.

“I said the same thing!” Taemin exclaimed cheerily and Minho raised his eyebrows at him.

Jinki smiled at the girl. “I know, Jessica, but I actually think that it’s a good idea. It might lift our spirits and make this place a little friendlier.”

Some around the table groaned and Kibum raised his hand hesitantly.

“Um,” Jinki turned his attention to him, as did everyone else, “I never said you needed to do the cleaning for me. I could help.”

He nodded. “If you want.”

Kibum smiled a little and Jinki stared at him for a moment before he turned back to the rest of them.

“So, the one on duty for the dishes can do that, the rest of us will be divided into groups for each floor, understood?”

A mumble of ‘yes’ flowed through the room and Jinki started counting heads so that he could divide them evenly.

Kibum was put into the group cleaning the library on the second floor and they immediately departed once all the members were gathered. He didn’t mind although he’d rather be in the group going to the third floor.

In his group were of course Taemin, who had whined to Jinki to ensure he was in the same group as Kibum, the girl named Jessica, another black-haired girl named Yuri and a young brown-haired man named Kyuhyun. Kibum felt a little awkward with the other three since he had almost never spoken to them except for when they had told him their names. However, they treated him as any old friend and soon there was a lot of joking around as they cleaned their way through the big room, he, Kyuhyun and Jessica dusting the shelves and Taemin and Yuri scrubbing the floor with sponges.

“Kibum, watch this.” Kyuhyun whispered to him after a few hours of cleaning. They had almost made it halfway through the library.

Kyuhyun made a small ball of his dusty cloth, winked at Kibum and threw it at Yuri’s back. Then he grabbed Jessica's cloth that was lying on the shelf in front of him where she had put it when she turned around to inspect the work of the others for a moment.

Yuri rounded on them with burning eyes that zeroed in on Jessica as soon as she saw cloths in both Kibum's and Kyuhyun’s hands. She got a mischievous glint in her eyes and dipped her sponge in the water bucket before she threw it at the back of Jessica’s head as soon as she had turned back around looking for her cloth. The blonde girl let out a high-pitched scream and turned to the other with a murderous expression.

“You did not just do that!”

Taemin, Yuri and Kyuhyun erupted into loud laughter at the same time. Kibum was looking at the black-haired girl with big eyes and a smile playing in the corners of his mouth. Jessica glared at all of them.

The whole thing led to a declaration of war against one another and soon they were running around the large library, throwing wet sponges and dusty cloths at each other, laughing until their bellies hurt and they couldn’t breathe. Kibum found himself having more fun than he could remember. He had never done things like that since he’d had no friends back in reality. But here it was like he was another person. He had always been confident in his own way and said exactly what he thought and here he was appreciated for being himself whereas he had been alienated for his behavior and opinions back home.

Kibum was hiding together with Taemin behind a curtain when he felt the other tense up and disappear. A little confused he peeked out from behind the curtain and saw Taemin reappear not far from their hiding spot, standing in front of someone he didn’t recognize as if he was a soldier on duty. Soon the other three had done the same and Kibum hesitantly made his way towards the little group, wondering what on earth was going on.

“Guys, what…?” his voice died out.

They had gathered around a man, that didn’t look much older than Kibum but was a little shorter. Something tugged at Kibum's memory as he saw the dark brown hair and toned body beneath the black shirt and pants.

“What are you doing?” The man asked. It sounded more like an angry demand than a question.

None of them answered. Instead they all mumbled an apology, looking down at the floor. Kibum's eyes widened a little in surprise.

“Hey, what are you apologizing for?” He asked, sounding astonished. They had just been cleaning and then taking a play-break. Shouldn’t they at least be allowed that if they were going to clean up after them?

The man looked up at him then, their eyes locking. Kibum drew in a sharp breath and his heartbeat sped up.

“You!” He pointed at him and took an unconscious step forward. “The sniffer!”

The man looked different from the other time Kibum had seen him, as there was no darkness or shadows around him, but he was sure it was the same person. It was the eyes that convinced him. The eyes that held so many emotions.

The man glared at him and the other four before him tried to hide their smiles.

“I beg your pardon?” He growled.

“I’m right, aren’t I?” Kibum continued loudly raising his eyebrows. “May I know exactly why you did that?”

The man narrowed his eyes, looking slightly dangerous.

“No.” No he said curtly.

“But why couldn’t I see your face before?” Kibum said to himself, forgetting to pay the other any attention. Then he looked up at him. “Who are you?”

The man looked at him as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing and the others snorted with laughter. He silenced them with a glance and they went back to look like soldiers. Kibum frowned.

“Isn’t that my question?” The man asked.

Kibum crossed his arms and lifted his chin.

“I think you already know who I am.” He said defiantly.

Judging by the sniffing and the things Jinki, Nicole and Taemin had said.

The other looked incredulous for the second time. Then he put his fingers to his forehead and let out an irritated sigh. The others glanced at Kibum, expressions turning worried, before they looked back down at the floor.

“Yes, I know.” He muttered as if Kibum was an annoying little child whining to his parent. Kibum's cheeks became a soft pink at being treated that way. “The question is, why are you here?”

The heads of the other four snapped up to look at him in surprise. Kibum raised his eyebrows at them, although they couldn’t see.

“Weren’t you the one who let me take him in?” Taemin asked, looking confounded.

The man frowned at him. “No. He went through he barrier without my awareness.”

Kibum didn’t understand what they were talking about.

“But,” Jessica said, “Taemin managed to take him in after a few minutes of begging.”

“Yes, I can see that!” The man snapped. “But it was without my knowledge!”

The other four looked at each other in bewilderment.

“Then how…?” Yuri said.

The man looked at Kibum again and suddenly he started to approach him slowly. Kibum's body became nailed to the spot and the coldness that seemed to always be around the man enveloped him again. But it was different this time. The cold was less intense and the man wasn’t emitting any foreboding shadows.

Kibum found himself get caught in the man’s eyes again with their many expressions when he was close enough, forgetting about everything else. It was almost like an enchantment. The man didn’t look hostile, as Kibum had expected him to. Instead a pondering expression fell upon his face and his eyes looked Kibum up and down. Kibum blushed a little, embarrassed at being examined like that so closely.

“Why?” The man murmured, leaning closer and staring into Kibum's eyes. It seemed as if he was talking to himself although everyone in the room heard his question.

Kibum didn’t know what he was asking for and he couldn’t ask him to elaborate either since he suddenly somehow forgot how to speak.

Then the expression on the man’s face changed. All of a sudden he looked very afraid, like Kibum was threatening him with a gun or the like. He took a few quick steps backwards and disappeared, before any of them could react.

Kibum blinked and his eyes managed to re-focus on the others who had been standing behind the man’s back, looking at them. They stared at him, expressions as confused as he felt.

“Should we go back to cleaning?” Jessica asked after a few moments of staring quietly at each other.

The others nodded simultaneously and went back to work in silence. However, Kibum was making a plan. He would sneak up to the third floor again, as soon as he was done, because right now he wanted to get all the answers he could. And Sekyung seemed to be his safest bet at the moment.

A/N: I don't know...

It's late and I'm tired so I don't think I'll write much in this author's note xP

This story seems as if it's becoming stranger and strander to me :/ Don't you think so?

God, I feel like a whiny kid.

Anyway, thanks to all you readers, subscribers, commenters and whatnot. I'm too tired to make any sense right now. >_<

I hope you enjoyed, comment if you like and have a great timezone thingy! ^_^

Goodnight and bye! <3