This must be the place || PURINZ

II

Chaewon hated the house. The longer she stayed there the more it pressed on her, the more the perpetual gloom tugged at her cheerful disposition, the more the creaks of the floorboards and groaning of the pipes seemed to be specifically aimed at keeping her awake. It had electricity now but even with the dull yellow bulbs lit, the rooms seemed filled with odd shadows and dark corners.

A tiny, irrational part of her mind had become convinced that whatever ill will her grandparents had borne her and her mother - whatever it was that stopped them from coming to get her when her mom died - it had festered here, becoming more pungent with time as it rotted inside the walls.

It wasn't logical, Chaewon knew that. It didn't even hold up to close scrutiny, really, because her grandparents had left her the house when they died, it was the only reason she was here at all. That wasn't always easy to remember though in the early hours of the morning, when the comforting noises of the wildlife outside had dwindled into almost nothing, and the silence was as thick and oppressive as the heat.

Things were better when Yunjin was there. There was something about her new neighbour's practicality and efficiency that made it easy to forget the niggling four-in-the-morning anxieties and turn instead to the state of the roof or the cost of timber or whether the floors needed to be replaced. Yunjin had been there every day since she agreed to help, making lists of equipment and tasks in a notebook, measuring and examining and checking each decision and cost diligently with Chaewon.

It only took five days before her hybrid pickup was rumbling over the grass and weeds and into Chaewon's driveway loaded up with building supplies. Chaewon had spent the morning out on her collapsing porch with her laptop, beginning her initial stages of research for Yujin's project, but she slammed the computer shut as soon as she heard the engine. It was the kind of clear-sky day that would normally be enough to lift her mood instantly, and she had dressed that morning with that specific goal in mind: to feel good, to muster the relentlessly cheerful energy that used to irritate Randall and Zori.

She didn't really feel it though until Yunjin was shading her eyes from the sun as she stepped out of the truck and waving Chaewon over to help her, and it was made even better when Yun's eyes flickered down to the neckline of her shirt for a fraction of a second and away again.

The feeling of being hot was ruined the second she got close to Yunjin though, and a far-too-big yellow hard hat was placed on her head.

"Are you kidding?" she asked from under the brim, watching as Yunjin put on her own, perfectly fitted one.

"Safety is paramount, Chaewon," Yunjin informed her primly.

There might have been further argument, except Yunjin chose that moment to sling a toolbelt around her hips, and Chaewon had to look away for a moment and decide very firmly that she wasn't going to think about any other tools Yun might wear around her waist.

Then Yunjin began directing her on how to safely unload the truck with an easy authority that Chaewon could put to much better use if she was given half the chance, and it became clear that this was going to be a very, very long building project.

It was only once the truck was virtually empty that Chaewon began to look around at the neat stacks they had made with a sinking realisation.

"We don't have anything for the windows," she pointed out, "I was kind of hoping we'd do that first." She'd been counting on it, in fact - if she had to live any longer in the light that crept in between the patchwork of boards she thought she might go crazy.

"The roof is the priority," Yunjin told her, her eyes on her little notebook as she checked off everything she had listed there, "I know it's clear now but the summer storms can roll in unexpectedly, and we need to make sure it's watertight."