Chapter 1

New House

“Have you heard of the news?” One girl said, to her friend during lunch.

 

“What news?”

 

“A new family moved into the neighborhood, with a pregnant man!” She waited for her best friend’s reaction, which came in less than three seconds.

 

“No ing way, get outta here! You’re not going to fool me like that. A flying pig might’ve been a lot more convincing of a prank. Che! Loser…”

 

“I swear girl! The bump is even as if of eight months of pregnancy. One does not simply blot out this much out of ED. Look! He’s nowhere near chubby and yet his bump is all that big.” She stretched her hands out in demonstration.

 

“So what, that doesn’t make him pregnant! Maybe he has some disease. !”

 
“I hear his baby isn’t even human,” the girl continued, loving the new look of spookiness on her friend’s face. “Who knows how this baby got inside him, or what kind of supernatural power this man has — he might not be even human himself! Gosh.” She started rubbing the chill off her body, when she noticed someone coming through the door.  “Quick! Pretend to be busy, he’s coming this way, I think he knows that we know. Oh God, please let us be safe!” She prayed in dread.

 

A young man stood five feet seven, approximately one-hundred and forty pounds—excluding the massive bump—with dark black shoulder-length hair and extremely beautiful feauture that made girls jealous. An angelic smile showed when he showed manners, and he wore simple fashion which just added to his beauty. Today he wore a pair of dark denim jeans, a loose-fitting black t-shirt, and carried a backpack. He seemed extremely decent even though some girls thought he could use a haircut, but… with a bump like that, not many girls felt encouraged to go and talk to him. They all just secretly sneaked some glimpses as they ate.     

“Coffee won’t be a healthy choice for you, cutie,” some stranger yelled in the background. The two girls giggled, knowing exactly to whom these words were directed. Donghae looked at them, and their giggles died, replaced by coughs and sounds of throats being cleared. He forced a tired smile before he turned away and left.

The danglers announced Donghae’s departure, and just as they no longer felt his heavy presence, the two girls and the three strangers broke into mutual laughter altogether. All five of them got introduced afterwards, they sat at the same table and formed a bond, a club of which those who knew of the new neighbor secret gathered. It was a cool club though, if you take away the fact that they were cracking jokes every five seconds about the pregnant man in town.
 

****

Fallen tree limbs littered the ground. Between the gnarled old trees laid the lawns wild weeds; ones that poked in every angle of the thick clumps and uncut grass.

 
The new family’s house was nearly as wide as the yard. Its gray shingles were stained with brown streaks and were weather-beaten. The dark window shutters were peeling. Several were missing. Two upstairs windows appeared to stare back at Donghae who looked up with big, sad eyes. This wasn’t the type of house he wanted, definitely not the type of people he wished to live with either.

 
Now, don’t get him wrong, Donghae loved his parents, very much if you insisted, but he also loved his fiancé. He loved Eunhyuk more than he’d ever loved anyone on this planet—he did not even come to love his own being as much as he loved his partner. Granted, it irked Donghae to no end, having the love of his life him and then get thrown in jail for it. But he was just not about to hate his lover for it, for he knew Eunhyuk was seemingly possessed when he did it, and since that was the case, Donghae figured that, maybe, he might just…  

“Oh my God!” said Donghae’s younger brother, Donghwa, clasping one hand against his face in mocked shock, “that has got to be the tiest of all ty houses I’ve ever seen. Can’t wait to get all settled in that pile of , really! But tell me Mom, where’d you find such a fancy house, Crap-lord?”

“Language,” Donghae’s Mom, Lee Misun, said sternly as she checked the broken fence.  
 

This family reunion was just about the most awkward reunification in all history. Donghae sighed.
 

No one was willing to speak to him, yet they all gathered for just about the same reason, surprising much, they happened to gather over to take care of the pregnant man while his fiancé served time in jail. They were told that Donghae needs a special care and mighty protection, though, from what, and why? They never really knew.

 
Misun, swept her dark hair behind her slender shoulders. She felt a cold shiver run down her back. It was such a beautiful, sunny day, as she could see, staring up through the thicket of trees. Yet no sunlight filtered down to the house. No light at all. It was nearly as dark as night in this yard, making the house look so cold and uninviting. She gave off a shiver of fear, luckily, nobody caught on it, each absorbed in their own thoughts and wonders.
 

“Looks like a damned, old house,” said Lee Daniel, her husband. He could see everyone simply agreeing that it seemed damned. “It’s going to take us some hard work, but it is okay. After all, I have two firmed boys to help out an old man…” Daniel soon trailed off when he remembered his older son’s situation. Pregnant didn’t match well with chores. Especially, men chores, even if it was at their will; it was just impossible to get someone who’s pregnant to work like a maniac. Daniel sighed knowingly; he knew Donghae will be excluded off these tasks at any rate, so he didn’t say anything.

 
“It’s a cool house, though,” Donghae said, surprising even his own self, voice calm and not belonging, almost as if he himself was possessed. All eyes were on him as he chimed in. He picked up a piece of gravel from the driveway and heaved it at a fat tree trunk. The stone made a loud ‘tonkk’ as it hit. “Get those worried expressions off your faces,” Donghae said. “Come on in, we’ve bought the house already, and I don’t think we can take the cash back from those pathetic-looking landlords.”


Misun nodded, and turned to Donghwa, smiling, “We’ll work on this house until it feels like home. I bet you’ll like it here Donghwa since there are fewer hoboes in the area. Finally, you’ll get to hang out with normal-looking teens. And… you finally get to have your own room. How does that sound?”


“I’m taking two rooms since this house is massive! How does that sound to you, Mom?”

 

“Two?” Misun laughed. Donghwa shrugged as he chimed in after his brother. She looked at Daniel who just shook his head. “Once we get settled in, honey. Once we get settled in…” he promised to deal with their stubborn son, and even though they both knew it was going to be hard, mostly because Donghwa wouldn’t let them do it, the vow seemed to calm her.
 

* * * *

 

Once inside, the mother walked around, opening every window she met. “The first thing we need to do is cut down some trees and let the light in. A house without lights is just a dead house.”
 

“It is dead house, Mom. It’s haunted, I can feel it,” Donghwa tried to state a point.
 

Donghae was still a little jumpy at the thought of ghosts. He’d been walking in the shoes of a Ghostbuster long enough to know better than to freak out at any false mention. He bit his lips while telling himself, ‘No, this house was not haunted’ –or at least he wished.


His mother caught up on his reaction. Quickly she reacted, gently hitting Donghwa on the back. “You and your ghost-talks! I remember you even thought our old house was haunted, turned to be a squirrel trapped in the walls,” she said, and then Donghae, finally, resumed breathing.


“But this house is old, creepy, and definitely haunted,” Donghwa insisted, “Lots of houses are haunted by the spirits of the people who used to live in them,” he justified.
 

“Donghwa, stop!” his father said, firmly.  But Donghae wanted to know more, he turned around and looked at his brother, “Do you think my old apparetment was haunted? You’ve visited us a before.” Donghwa shrugged and then bit on his bottom lip. He then looked at the ceiling as if trying to remember any epic encounters that happened at that house. He looked back at Donghae, his eyes glinting and big, pleased to have finally found an answer. He nodded, and Donghae’s face fell.

 
“I think a guy named Gyu was killed there!”