•Areum's POV•

"I can't believe you're leaving us."

"You're going to come back and visit right?"

"How am I supposed to go through sophomore year without you?"

I blinked back at the clutter of voices coming from all of my best friends. It was my last day in Seoul before my aunt would move me to live out in the country by myself until I was accepted to university. Not that I was a delinquent, in fact I was far from a trouble maker if I do say so myself. Although, I admit that my grades were slipping because of the various distractions in Seoul like the all night partying, clubs, karaoke, boys...but I didn't know that my aunt was serious about moving me. 

"I'll be back for university, remember?" I piped and gave them the biggest smile that I could offer.

Victoria huffed, "So basically you're telling us that you're not coming back for another two years."

I winced, but continued to smile apologetically, "You guys are going to do fine without me! What's two years compared to the rest of our lives that we'll spend together after high school?"

"We don't know what's going to happen in the future Areum...If only your m-" Krystal stopped speaking mid-sentence and looked down at the floor immediately.

My smile faded a little but I refused to show my friends my weak side, "I know. If only my mom and dad were still alive right?" 

Krystal shifted uncomfortably and blinked guiltily at her words. I sighed and placed my hand on her shoulder, 

"If only I wasn't stuck with my aunt. If only my parents didn't go on that plane and stayed home with me that winter break..." my heart hurt to speak about my parents, but everything that I was saying was the truth. I exhaled and shook off the negative thoughts, my smile emerging once again.

"How can you continue to smile like that?" Sulli asked softly. 

"It's called it up I guess," I shrugged and patted Sulli on the back, "I'm going to need it when I start attending the school in the country too." 

All five of my best friends blinked back tears, and I could feel my own welling up inside of me. Then, Amber pulled all of us together for a tight hug, giving me the last push to start breaking out into tears.

"I'm going to miss you guys so much," I sniffed.

"You have to promise to visit us as many times as you can okay?" Luna sobbed onto my shoulder and pulled me tighter. 

"I promise." 

Suddenly, we heard the screeching of tires and a loud blare of the car horn, indicating that the time had come for me to part with my friends. I pulled away from the girls, giving them one last smile and waved goodbye as I backed away slowly and entered into the car. I couldn't stop looking out the window, seeing all five of the girls with tears staining their faces, waving to me continually. 

"Stop waving like an idiot Areum, it's not like you're parting with them forever!" My aunt snapped and threw my luggage onto my lap, making me yelp. 

*How did I get stuck with her mom? How are you and your sister so different from each other...* I bit my lip to restrain any more tears from falling, knowing that I would be scolded from them. I looked out the window one last time and waved goodbye to the girls before my aunt had stepped on the axle, making my body lurch forward from the force. The girls were still waving at me, and now the distance between me and them was growing by the second. 

"Now that you're going to be away from any distractions, I expect you to grow into a young adult. This is a privilege being in this town, and until univer-" 

I stopped my aunt from going any further, "I know. Until university, I got it." I leaned back on the car seat, feeling even more exhausted than ever and watched as the tall buildings began to disappear, and the land was beginning to fill with forests. Before I knew it, I was asleep, and at peace, away from my aunt's dreadful voice.

"Wake up you stupid girl!" 

My head rolled onto the side of the car door as it swung upon with such a force, waking me up from my dreams instantly. Still being half asleep, I blinked groggily at my aunt who was now holding my bags and glaring at me fiercely.

"Where are we?" I asked, still not completely awake.

"Where do you think we are? You can be such a pain sometimes Areum," my aunt threw my bags onto the grass and hopped back into the car. 

I lifted my body off of the car seat slowly and climbed out of the car, being greeted by a grassy field. *Nothing but grass, just like I suspected...* I thought bitterly. My eyes roamed around the field, until something stood out to me. A grand house stood in the middle of the field, but this house wasn't anything ordinary. I was stunned by the size of my new home that took up at least half of the field and gave off an antique vibe that was drawing me to it. It wasn't until I heard the engine running from my aunt's car that I had realized that she was already planning to leave me.

"Going so soon aunt?" I whipped around to catch her before she drove off.

"Stop acting like you want me to stay," she scoffed, "enjoy the new home brat." And with that, she tightened her grip on the steering wheel and drove down the long driveway to leave me standing in the field alone.

I looked over at my bags, lying on the ground so lifelessly. *Here's to a new life* I sighed and picked up my bags to enter my new home. The stairs creaked with every step that I took and the front porch was anything but welcoming. I looked over the house one last time, noticing that the door was already open and waiting for me to enter it. I gulped and opened the door ever so slightly, and was stunned by what was now my home.

The interior was much more welcoming than the exterior, with a white as the base colour for the walls and banisters, as well as accents of gold. From the ceiling hung a fragile chandelier that swooped over middle of the hall, and a painting that was painted on the ceiling. 

"Wow...I get to have this place all to myself?" I thought aloud and settled my bags on the ground to explore more of my mansion. "But wait, why would aunt spend this much money on me if she hates me so much?" I was puzzled, but other thoughts immediately occupied by head when I roamed around the rest of the house. 

The mansion had over ten bedrooms, five bathrooms, a grand dining hall and recreation rooms as well. I noticed that the entire house was already furnished with vintage furniture and the only problem I had with the home was that it was filled with dust, but that was nothing that a feather duster couldn't fix.

I climbed up the porcelain staircase and decided to settle down in the first room of the hall since there were so many more rooms that I could choose from. I dropped my bags on the bed and sprawled, exhausted from my little tour of the house already. Just then, my phone began to ring from inside my pocket.

"Hello?" 

"Areum! Is that you?" I immediately recognized the husky voice that was speaking.

"Amber? Of course it's me!" 

"Good, I thought you changed your number or something since you moved out to the country"

I laughed, "I moved to the country, not to another country"

"Whatever, I just called to say that I miss you already!"

"Already? It's only been like a couple hours since I left Seoul" I furrowed my eyebrows and observed my new room while doing so. 

"I know, but in that few hours a lot of stuff happened here already" she sighed into the phone.

As I was analyzing my room, I noticed that the curtains on the window were fluttering in the wind, leaving a cold draft in the room. *That's weird, I don't remember the windows being open when I came into the room...* I walked over to the window and shut it to block off any more wind that could enter. 

"Areum? Hello?" Amber called.

"Sorry!" I snapped back into it and shook my head, "What happened in Seoul?"

She sighed, "Well, you would never believe who snagged your ex..." 

Suddenly, a slam came from inside of my closet, making me jump. I approached the closet carefully and slowly, opening the doors to reveal the inside of it. I peered inside and realized that there was nothing in the closet at all except for an old pair of shoes with the initials M.K engraved on the tip of them. *They must be the old owner of the house's shoes...* I moved the shoes to the side of the closet rack and shut the closet quickly.

"AREUM!" Amber's voice wailed, making me snap back into reality.

"S-Sorry! Something weird just happened so I was-"

"Save it girl, I think you need some time to get used to your house so I'll call you some other time," the line went dead, leaving me even more confused as ever. 

I groaned and began to unpack the bags that were lying on my bed. *Why can't these just unpack themselves?* I pulled the first bag filled with my skin care bottles and makeup, and ped it to place the products on the dresser. While I was unpacking them, I suddenly felt a gust of coldness on the back of neck. I whipped around to find nothing behind me, but the window that I had just closed moments ago was hanging wide open. *What the heck?!* 

This was getting way too strange. I went over to the window once again and pulled on the frame to close it, but I felt a strong force pushing the window, making it hard for me to close. *There's no wind outside anymore though...* I waved my hand over the screen of the window, noticing that there was no gust of wind pushing the window against me. I pushed with all of my might, finally shutting it firmly. 

Just as I was about to turn around to get back to unpacking, I felt warmth on my collarbones. The warmth didn't feel like it was coming from inside the house however. It felt like a person's breath.