Mr. No || NCT || Completed

42 - Where Renjun finds a broom

It was obvious that no one had lived in Chen Guilin's house in a very long time. The air was thick and stale, a layer of dust had set on every surface and window, and most of the furniture had been covered with sheets. Renjun felt like he had disturbed the slumber of an ancient being just by stepping over the threshold. The wooden floor sighed and creaked underneath their footsteps as they walked deeper into the house. They had found some old slippers that smudged on the dust matting of the floor.

"Dad comes here once a year to check that it hasn't burned down or anything", Chaewon spoke in hushed tone and pulled one of the sheets away, uncovering an old cabinet. She placed her handbag on it and looked around in the living room. "Maybe he feels guilty about deserting grandmother and can't get himself to sell the house."

Renjun stood by the wall while she walked from one window to another, opening them to let in the cool autumn air. Her hands were gentle as if she was treating a wounded animal, further cementing the sensation of them being somewhere they weren't supposed to be.

"I haven't been in this house in a long time so it's odd to be back." She uncovered a striped, lumpy couch that had been covered with yet another white sheet. "It's been over fifteen years, I think."

"Fifteen?" Renjun echoed. "The accident happened twelve years ago, though."

Chaewon nodded. "I know. But for the past couple of years of her life, dad never allowed my brothers and I to join him when he visited grandmother with mom."
"Why?"

"That's one more mystery to be added to the ever-growing pile." The girl shrugged and moved past him away from the living room. She traced the grey wall with her fingertips. "Maybe we should start labelling the mysteries to keep track of how many we have to solve."

She showed him a small room, her dad's old bedroom, where he could leave his stuff.
While she was in her grandparents' old room, Renjun turned on the kitchen tap to let out the water that had been in the pipes for a long time. Then he searched for a broom and swept the kitchen and living room floors. If they were planning to spend the night in the house, he wanted to minimize the risk of developing asthma or dust allergy.

By the time he was done with his speed-run cleaning and had sat down in the living room with the papers and files they had accumulated throughout the trip, he realized that he hadn't seen Chaewon in a while.

Maybe she was taking a nap? Renjun shuffled through the stack of papers in his hands. The trip had been emotionally taxing so it wouldn't have been a surprise to feel the need to take a break.

Or maybe she had tripped over something and hit her head?

Sighing, Renjun stood up and walked over to the closed door leading to Chen Guilin's old bedroom.

He knocked. "Are you there?"
"Where else would I be?"
"How would I know", Renjun mumbled to himself and pushed the door open.

He found Chaewon sitting on the floor in front of a dresser, surrounded by notebooks that lay scattered around her. Dust had already covered her pants and there was some on her face as well.

"What are you doing on the floor?" Renjun could barely stop himself from fetching the broom.

"I found my grandmother's diaries." Chaewon motioned towards the notebooks. "I looked around and found so many. She was clearly diligent about writing things down, so maybe I can find something useful from these."

Based on the number of diaries on the floor, it would take her a long while to read through them all. It was already on the tip of Renjun's tongue to say that he would help when he realized that he wouldn't have allowed anyone to see his uncle's journals.