𝔇𝔢𝔞𝔯 𝔏𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩𝔶 ᴊᴇᴏɴɢᴄʜᴀɴ

t w e l v e

"This is odd..."

A man flicked all the power switches, soon filling the entire mansion with light.

"Someone seems to have messed with this," Chris told his father while the electrician worked to fix everything.

"Messed with? You mean someone's here?" His father straightened up.

"Yeah, most likely. Our power has never malfunctioned before, and it even looks like someone fiddled with the switches and wires," Chan said, rubbing his hands together as fog formed from his breath.

"I'll go check on Jeongin, Dad. Get a security check; it could be a small-time thief or a dangerous enemy."

Jeongin was growing more panicked with every passing minute. Why was it so quiet? Where was everyone?

He almost buried himself entirely under the blanket until he heard the clicking of light switches and the familiar sound of the heater in the walls.

"Oh, thank god!" he sighed, his anxiety slowly dissipating with a sense of relief. It had been terrifying. He got up and ran to the door, stepping into the hallway to look for Chan, even though he wasn't quite sure why he felt compelled to.

The boy bumped into Chan near the stairs, while Chan himself was rushing back to their room.

"Jeongin!" Chris exclaimed, surprised to see him almost running.

"What's wrong? Did you see someone?—"

"No! You—you're back!" Jeongin sighed in relief, which Chan could clearly see.

"Sorry, darling. It took me a while," Chan said, putting his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Let's go back to our room, yeah?"

"Oh... okay."

"So, what happened?" Jeongin asked hesitantly.

"Someone might have tampered with the power," Chan replied. He knew telling Jeongin about a break-in would frighten him, but he was definitely onto something.

"A break-in?!" Jeongin asked, completely alarmed, just as Chan had expected. But all Jeongin got in return was a small chuckle from the older man.

"You don't need to worry, darling. I'll protect you," Chan said with a smirk, looking back at Jeongin.

That didn't make Jeongin feel much better.

"I'll be right back, baby. I need to catch the thief," Chan smirked again. Seriously, what was up with this guy? Jeongin thought.

"There's a bodyguard by the door, so don't leave until I say so," and with that, Chan left again.

Yea, turns out, it was just a thief trying to steal Mrs. Bahng's expensive jewelry. It was worth a lot, and she probably would have killed the thief herself if they had succeeded. Just a dumb thief who tried to break in. Once again, everyone returned to their rooms after that intruder wasted their time.