Well, here is the first chapter like promised! Please read on and comment your thoughts below!

“Guys, come on! I know it’s summer and we’re free to do all we want, but that doesn’t mean we can trespass on private property.”

“Oh, take a chill pill Hyo Joo! This is a haunted house, remember? Even the police don’t bother with this place. We’re not going to get caught,” claimed my friend Yi Jung.

“Live a little, won’t you?” Yeon Ah added with a grin.

I tried to resist as my two friends pulled me toward the haunted house. No, I wasn’t afraid of the haunted house itself per-say, even though it may have seemed like so to my friends. I just didn’t want to get in trouble. However, despite my resistance, they both managed to drag me to the entrance and opened the door before entering the house.

They both spoke excitedly while walking ahead, leaving me behind as I admired the portrait on the wall, something that caught my eye first as I entered reluctantly. The man depicted had small almond-shaped eyes, a high nose bridge and full lips. His face was oval shaped and his brown hair was combed meticulously. Although his face was relatively stoic, I could see that the artist didn’t miss the hint of humor in his eyes as he sat for the portrait.

Turning around, I was shocked to connect gazes with the same man that I had been admiring just moments before. I gasped and stepped backward quickly, trying to widen the distance between us. Unfortunately, I miscalculated my step and ended up tripping over my feet. I felt myself falling and closed my eyes to wait for the impact. However, after a few seconds of not feeling any pain, I opened my eyes slowly to see what had happened.

He had stepped forward to catch me about the waist to prevent me from my fall. Despite my attempt to widen the distance between us, we were closer now than before. My eyes locked with his and I began to drown in his warm brown orbs.

“Are you all right?”

“Sorry?”

His eyes flashed with humor and mirth as his lips formed a small smirk.

“I asked if you were all right.”

“Oh. Uh, yes, of course. Thank you.”

He put me back upright and slowly pulled away his arms.

“Yeah well, it’s never really a normal day unless I sweep at least one girl off of her feet.”

I felt a flare of jealousy rise up, though I didn’t really know why.

“You’re…joking, right?”

His face turned blank for a couple seconds before bursting out in laughter. It seemed that something I said was extremely funny; he was even holding his tummy and breathing out in gasps after his laughing bout was over.

“Sorry, but I don’t really see what’s so funny about this.”

“Your reaction; your facial expression was priceless.”

“All right…it’s obviously not a normal day unless I get one guy to laugh at my face.”

I turned and began to walk away, but didn’t get too far until a hand reached out to stop me.

“Hey, I’m sorry if I offended you.”

I sighed and gently pulled my arm out of his grasp. It was seemingly cold, though I didn’t let on that I noticed.

“It’s all right.”

It was then that I realized this house was his, and I was just caught trespassing on it. Bowing down ninety degrees, I began to apologize profusely.

“I am so sorry! I know I shouldn’t be here, but my friends insisted on coming. I’m sorry for trespassing but please forgive me. I’ll leave right away!”

“Woah, woah, woah! It’s okay. Calm down.”

I stood back up straight again, looking at him strangely.

“It’s...okay?”

“Of course.”

I was still a little wary of him, but decided to return his smile with a small one.

“If you say so…”

“I do!”

An awkward silence followed before I held up my hand.

“I don’t believe I’ve introduced myself. I’m Park Hyo Joo.”

“I’m…Onew! Nice to meet you.”

I noticed he hesitated before telling me his name, and a strange one at that. He then shook my hand quickly before letting go.

“Onew? That’s a unique name.”

“Yeah…it’s…a nickname that stuck.”

“I see…”

Suddenly, I heard a call from down the hallway.

“Hyo Joo! Where are you?!”

“I’m over here!”

Upon hearing my voice, an echo of running footsteps could be heard through the hallway, and soon enough, Yi Jung and Yeon Ah emerged around the corner with worried faces.

“Hyo Joo! There you are! We realized a couple minutes ago that we’d lost you, and then something else happened that was really scary!” said Yeon Ah.

“What are you talking about?”

Yi Jung spoke up. “The chairs in the room we were in started to float!”

“Are you sure it wasn’t your mind playing tricks on you? I know you said this house was abandoned, but it couldn’t possibly be. I just met one of the tenants.”

Yi Jung looked at me strangely before answering my question.

“What are you talking about? It’s been empty since 100 years ago.”

“You mean you don’t see the guy behind me?”

I turned around to point at Onew, but was surprised to see he had disappeared.

“I guess you really don’t see a guy behind me.”

“You saw someone?” Yeon Ah asked.

“Yeah, I apologized for trespassing and he told me it was all right.”

I turned back toward them and saw that their faces were stark white.

“Hyo Joo, what did he say his name was?”

“Onew. It’s a little strange, but unique.”

“You mean, Lee “Onew” Jin Ki?”

“Jin Ki?”

“The one who died in this house 100 years ago? The one who caused this house to be abandoned? That Jin Ki,” Yi Jung answered breathlessly.

“So…are you saying I saw a ghost?”

Yeon Ah’s eyes widened, as if she couldn’t believe I had just asked that question. “Yes!”

“But, he touched me. He felt human all right.”

“He touched you?!”

“Well, he kept me from falling after I tripped.”

They all stared back at me with fear in their eyes and suddenly dragged me out of the house. They kept on looking back at the house as we left it and after crossing the street and arriving back in our neighborhood, they stopped and turned to look at me.

“Look, Hyo Joo. You saw a ghost in there for sure, and assuming that you said his name was Onew, it was the Jin Ki who died 100 years ago,” explained Yi Jung.

“We don’t know why or how he was able to touch you, but that probably means something bad,” added Yeon Ah.

“We’re sorry for dragging you there, but we won’t do that again. Hopefully he won’t follow you out of his house to haunt you.”

I started laughing and stepped away from them.

“Come on guys. Aren’t you both being a little bit extreme? I’m pretty sure that guy I saw wasn’t a ghost, and even if he was, he was a really nice one. You don’t have to worry about me, but if you decide not to trespass anymore, than I’m glad. “

I looked at them with a smirk as I crossed my arms.

“Besides, if he really were a ghost, he’d probably go after you guys for having the idea to trespass in the first place.”

“We give up. Hyo Joo has been possessed…”

“Yah!”

And we laughed it all off. However, even though they had decided not to go back to that abandoned house, I sure was ready to. I heard what my friends had to say but I still wasn’t so sure that what they said was true. If he was a ghost, then how on earth were we able to make contact? Shouldn’t he have gone through me?

Going home, I said a hurried “hello” to my parents and rushed up to my room, turning on the computer and searching up “Lee Jin Ki”. Sure enough, articles concerning a death of a man popped up. I didn’t want to read in on the details, but looking at the picture of the victim, I was sure that it was the “Onew” that I saw an hour before.

The only explanation that I could come up with was that I was a mediator…right? I mean, I had read books upon these subjects, but they were fiction for goodness sakes!

Stepping away from my laptop, I went to sit on my bed and then fell backwards onto my back, sighing in the process. I guess the phrase “anything is possible” really does apply now. Still, the knowledge that Onew might be a ghost still didn’t scare me. I was more curious now than ever, and despite what my friends told me, it certainly wasn’t going to stop me from going back, even if everything my brain was telling me not to.

The next day, I left the house under the pretense of going for a walk, but didn’t tell anyone where I was really going. Turning several blocks here and there, I finally caught sight of the so called “abandoned house” and looked around to see if anyone was present before crossing the street. Walking up to the door, I hesitated before knocking on the door. I knew the door was unlocked because of yesterday, but I felt like it would be rude to intrude a second time.

Stepping back, I shifted my weight from one foot to the other, waiting to see if Onew would show up. After a few seconds, I heard his voice.

“The door’s open!”

I opened the door slowly and stepped into the house, glancing around before closing it after me. I didn’t really get to see the house yesterday, but when I looked this time, I saw that there was a lot of dust on the furniture, though the design and arrangement was impeccable despite its age. I heard someone coming down the stairs and looked up to see Onew.

“So you came back, huh?”

I tried to force down my blush and ended up shrugging in response.

“Something drew me back.”

Wryly, I corrected myself in my head: someone drew me back.

Onew grinned and walked up to me.

“Well, it’s good to have you back.”

“Thanks,” I said with a smile.

I began to wander around the living room and touched things here and there, examining things with interest.

“Looks like you don’t really clean things here, do you?”

A silence met my ears and I stayed silent, continuing my way around the room before turning to look at Onew. His face was clean of emotion and it was almost scary for a second.

 “Hmm,” I said, not acknowledging anything. “Well, it’s your home, and you’re entitled to do whatever you want with it. I’m not the one who should tell you what to do, right?”

Drifting to the hallway, I spied his portrait and stood in front of it again. This time looking closer, I saw the date in the bottom right corner. It was dated May 25^th, 1913. 100 years ago.

“This artist captured you very well.”

I heard him walk up behind me but didn’t turn around to face him.

“You think so?”

I smiled and pointed at his eyes.

“He, or she, saw the humor in your eyes.”

He placed his hand on my shoulder and turned me around slowly. I looked at the ground before looking up at his eyes.  They were staring intensely back into mine, and no words were exchanged between us for a little while.

“Why are you here?”

“I’m here because I want to be.”

“Aren’t you scared?”

I knew he was referring to himself being a ghost, but I shook my head.

“If you wanted to do something to me, you would have done it already.”

His hand reached up to brush away strand of hair before sliding down to cup my face.

“I’ve never met someone like this before.”

I smiled and looked back at him amusedly.

“I could say the same thing about you.”

He smiled back before his mouth turned down into a frown. He withdrew his hand and stepped away from me, avoiding my eyes. Slightly miffed, I shook it off never the less and cleared my throat, offering a smile.

“Well, it was nice seeing you again. I have to go now, so I’ll see you around.”

Stepping around him, I walked toward the door and saw myself out. I ran back home and composed myself before walking into the house.

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<3 WinterRose