Embracing Power. ✅

House hunting

Three days later, Tae and Hobi drove to the edge of town to meet the realtor to see the first house on the list. The outside was lovely, with a light natural stone facade, a beautiful porch spanning the house's length.

"So this house has four bedrooms and three bathrooms, and it's sitting on 8 acres. The master bedroom is on the first floor, and the laundry room is located right off the kitchen. There are hardwood floors throughout, except for the bedrooms, of course. And the kitchen and bathrooms were updated about four years ago." The young lady rattled off the house specifications from the paper in her hands as she unlocked the door and let them in.

"Can we look around ourselves?" Tae questioned.

"Oh, of course! If you want, you can meet me back in the kitchen when you're done. Take your time."

He and Hobi wandered through, going room by room, and rating the pros and cons of each room, even going into the basement, which was extremely dark and slightly damp. Venturing out to the backyard, Tae noted there were no woods but plenty of room to build what he wanted to be built. There was already a patio attached, but the wood didn't look very sturdy in some places, so that would have to be fixed so it wouldn't be a safety hazard for anyone.

Walking back to the kitchen, they took a look around, speaking to the realtor about the things they like and didn't like.

"Well, this one falls right in your budget Mr. Kim. What do you think about it?"

"Overall, it's just okay for me. I was hoping for a few more rooms and a lot more land. And the woods are non-negotiable; I absolutely want woods on my property. I think I'll have to pass on this one. It's just not what I'm looking for."

"Ok, then let's go check out house #2." She locked up after them, and they drove the twenty-minute drive to the second house.

This one was slightly better. It was a three-story dark brick house with a circular driveway out front. The porch was rather small, only having steps right outside the door, but the black shutters that bordered each window were something Tae didn't even know he liked.

"Ok, so this one has 6 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, and a finished basement, so you have extra room down there as well. The kitchen was redone just last year, so that has nice modern appliances for the cook in your family. There is an inground pool outback, but it's not closed in, so that would be something you would have to do later. The house comes with twelve acre's and half of that is just woods, so you have plenty of trails you'll be able to make on your hikes."

They did the same thing in this house that they did in the last one, noting the pros and cons.

Hobi and Tae were standing in the master bedroom on the second floor when Hobi made a realization. "This room is massive, Tae. Even with a King size bed, and dressers there would still be so much room in here. And the separate shower and jacuzzi tub in this bathroom is, shit, I would come over to use that bathtub."

Tae just laughed. "Well, if I decide on this house, you're welcome anytime, hyung. But I don't know. There's no patio, so I'd have to build that, then I'd have to build a room over the pool and a greenhouse. Plus, yea, the basement is nice, and it would make an excellent movie room, something I didn't even know I wanted, but I'd have to completely redo it because I don't like the carpet or the color of the walls." He ran his hand along the beautiful wood doorframe. "All the carpet needs to be ripped up too; the only place I like carpet is in the bedrooms. No one likes waking up in the morning and putting their feet down onto cold floors."

"But the amount of land is nice."

"Oh god yeah, the land is amazing. And I love all the woods I would have to explore, but the rest of it I don't know hyung."

"Ok, well, you know what you like, and you know what you don't like. Why not design and build your own house Taetae?"

"Uh, because that will take forever, and I don't want to impose on you any longer than I have to."

"Tae, you could quite literally move in with us forever, and we would have no problem with it at all."

"Awww, I feel so loved, hyungie." He sassed, "But no, I want to do this. She has one more, so let's cross our fingers that has everything I want."

After telling the poor realtor the bad news, they went ahead and traveled over to the last house for the day. It was also the furthest from town, the drive being about a 45-minutes. But once they pulled up into the massive driveway, it took everything in Tae to keep his face straight and not squeal. Even just the outside was gorgeous. Two stories, a pale, pale brick, and while there was no porch to speak of, the front of the house was gorgeous.

"Ok, so this one is over your budget, I'm not even going to lie to you, but it has everything you've been wanting, and possibly a few things extra. It sits on 30 acres and has 8 bedrooms and 10 bathrooms. The house itself is almost 10,000 square feet. There is a full finished basement that comes equipped with a second kitchen, and the rooms are big and dark, perfect for that movie room you said you liked from the last house. There are two bedrooms downstairs that would make excellent offices or even a library if you wanted. The master bedroom is upstairs, and it is a tiny bit bigger than the master bedroom from the previous house. So if you want to meet in the kitchen, you two can go look around."

Hobi and Tae wandered the house, exclaiming quietly to each other all the things they loved, and they eventually found themselves in the massive master bedroom.

"Wow, she wasn't lying. This room is bigger." Hobi turned a circle in the room, his arms outstretched.

Tae was over at the window, looking at the backyard and everything that was out there. "Hyung, check this out. There is an actual greenhouse here already. It's not huge or anything, but it should be big enough to let me bring my babies into a warm climate in the winter. And check out those woods; they seem to go on forever." Hobi stood behind Tae, placing one of his hands on the younger man's waist.

"Wow, it is gorgeous, and check that out; there's already a covered patio. You could still have your firepit and not worry about getting rained on!"

"Plenty of room to add a covered pool too." Tae shivered slightly, feeling Hobi's breath on the side of his neck where he placed his head.

"What about the budget Tae? She said it was over what you wanted to spend."

"So worth it, hyung, so worth it. And did you see that kitchen, Jin hyung would kill someone to have that kitchen."

"Yeah, probably one of us," Hobi joked, squeezing Tae to him tightly in a hug. "So you like this one?"

Tae paused, butterflies taking flight in his stomach. "Yeah, I like this one. It has the wood floors I like. The basement made me want to drool, honestly. That second kitchen would be amazing to hold the snacks and beers for movie nights. Or if we wanted to cook pizzas during the movie, no one would miss anything. And having the extra rooms for an office and library are just amazing. The only thing I would have to add is that pool, and I already figured I would have to do something like that anyways."

"So this is the one you want?"

Tae turns and gives Hobi a dazzling smile. "Yeah, this is the one I want."

"Then let's go buy you a house, Taetae."