Baekhyun’s pencil flies over his sketchpad so quickly he is afraid the point might snap, but he is too engrossed in his work to care much. It’s a lovely, warm afternoon and he’s out in what had once been a magnificent garden behind the hotel.

Ever since he and Chanyeol had managed to convince Taeyeon Kim to live peacefully with them in the hotel, the renovations have been going better than anyone could have hoped. Chanyeol is hopeful that they’ll have the hotel up and running in under six months, though Baekhyun is a bit afraid that’s wishful thinking.

He’s currently out in the overgrown garden, trying to imagine it the way it would have been in the hotel’s heyday. It isn’t hard to do, actually, because Sehun is standing at his shoulder, whispering instructions in his ear.

“There used to be one of those what-do-you-call-ems over there,” he says, pointing to a spot of weedy grass out in the middle of a swampy section of pond. “Like a little house but with no walls.”

“A gazebo?” Baekhyun suggests.

Sehun nods eagerly. “Yeah, one of them. It was there, painted white, with a black roof. People used to feed the ducks in the pond from it. Oh yeah, there were definitely ducks there.”

Baekhyun hurriedly sketches out a gazebo into his picture of the gardens. “Like this?” he asks, showing the picture to Sehun.

But Sehun shakes his head. “Almost, but not quite.” He points to the low walls of the gazebo that Baekhyun had sketched in. “You’ve drawn these as solid walls, but they weren’t. They sort of laced back and forth in a pretty pattern.”

“Like it was thatched?” Baekhyun suggests, and, after an earnest nod from Sehun, he quickly fixes the pictures.

“Just like that,” Sehun says, pleased. “Now over here was this really big tree – it’s still here, can you see it on the other side of those bushes? – and it had a swing on it. We used to play there when I was a kid.”

“How would you know what the hotel looked like in its prime?” a female voice says suddenly, and Baekhyun really does break his pencil tip this time.

He glances up to find two young women standing there, with long dark hair and long, faded dresses. Baekhyun doesn’t even have to ask to know that these girls are long dead.

The younger girl folds her arms and glares at Sehun. “You weren’t even born until the 1960s. How would you know what it looked like?”

“I was born in 1959,” Sehun corrects hotly.

The elder girl scoffs. “We were born in the 1880s.”

Sehun isn’t impressed. “Which is still thirty years after the hotel was built. Besides, it wasn’t even a hotel when you guys were here. It was a makeshift hospital.”

The younger girl flutters her hands at Sehun. “I think we’re more equipped to help Mr. Baekhyun than you are, kid. Go ahead and scram.”

Sehun rolls his eyes but disappears.

Baekhyun clears his throat. “Sorry, you seem to know me but I’m afraid I don’t know you,” he says.

The elder girl smiles a bit flirtatiously. “Jessica Jung,” she introduces herself. “This is my younger sister, Krystal. We’re much older than Sehun. We can help you a lot more.”

“Did I hear Sehun say that this place wasn’t even a hotel when you were here?” Baekhyun asks.

The younger girl, Krystal, sits down on the cracked stone bench beside him. “It’s true,” she admits. “In fact, we were only here for a few days before we died.”

“I hope I’m not being too forward here, but how did you die?” Baekhyun was infinitely curious. Though thus far he and Chanyeol had seen many more ghosts, he hadn’t had the opportunity to really speak with them.

Jessica jumps at the opportunity to share their story, however. “It was the plague,” she admits with a sigh. “The hotel was closed down at the time, just sitting here all empty, so when the San Francisco plague hit, they used it as a makeshift hospital for the afflicted. We were already really sick when we got moved here, so we didn’t last more than a few days. Our bodies are buried over there, actually.” She points to a far corner of the garden, where wildflowers are blooming in abundance.

“Anyway, we’ve been in this garden a lot,” Krystal continues. “And we’d really like to see it become beautiful again. I know we weren’t around when the hotel was in it’s prime, but please let us help you.”

Baekhyun can’t refuse. “I’ll take all the help I can get,” he admits.

So Jessica and Krystal lean over his shoulder, whispering advice. “This should go here,” and “Why not plant some shrubs here? It looks a little bare?”

“That’s a great idea,” Baekhyun says.

“Who are you talking to?”

Baekhyun jerks to attention, breaking his second pencil. Chanyeol has just entered the garden, following a man with muddy coveralls and thick gloves – the owner of the gardening service they’d hired.

Baekhyun looks around the overgrown garden again; Jessica and Krystal have vanished into thin air. “N-nobody,” he chuckles awkwardly. “I-I like to talk to myself when I’m designing sometimes.”

Chanyeol bites back a snicker and says, “Why don’t you show Mr. Lee your designs for the garden, Baek? I know you’ve been working hard on them.”

So Baekhyun shows several pages of designs to the gardener, who flips through them with interest. “These designs are a bit old-fashioned,” he points out. “I can see this as a nineteenth century garden, not a twenty-first century one.”

“That’s sort of the point,” Baekhyun says, relieved that his intentions have come across in his drawings.

“We want the hotel to look the same as it did back when it first opened,” Chanyeol explains. “We want guests to feel like they’re having an authentic experience when they stay here.”

Mr. Lee hums thoughtfully. “Interesting,” he says. “That’s a unique sales pitch. I think you’ll do well in this part of town.” He glances at Baekhyun. “Do you mind if I make copies of these sketches? I want to make sure to get every detail right.”

Baekhyun beams. “Sure, we’ve got an old copier in the office. If you’ll follow me, I’ll show you the way.” 

Sorry for such a short chapter!