Ravenwood Manor ӏ ATEEZ

CHAPTER

Wooyoung didn't like lying to his father and he would usually avoid it as best he could, and if he was forced to lie, he would almost always confess to his lies right after getting caught doing whatever he had lied about. And so, he had told his father he would be staying over at Seonghwa's house since both his parents were on call at the hospital tonight. He had sent a time and place text for the meet up and was finishing getting ready before leaving.

"Flashlight, charger, phone, snacks, rope. I think I'm good" he said taking another look around his room, what else could he need for tonight? Should he take his computer? No, it's not like he would be streaming or anything. "No computer"

Shoes on, coat on, beanie on, he was ready to go but something stayed his hand as he was about to leave. Was this a bad idea? Should he call the whole thing off and really go spend the night at his friend's house? His eyes wandered around the living room, there were buckets of candies next to the door, a stack of dvds on the coffee table next to the remote and a bowl of popcorn.

"Dad?" he called out and heard a faint answer coming from the kitchen.

"Yeah?" his father's head popped out from the arc.

"I see you're going old school tonight" he said pointing at the retro technology display on the coffee table.

Mr. Jung smiled, shaking his head in disbelief. "It's Halloween, I got to go "old school" to put it your way. It's the only way to enjoy it"

"Well, I hope you really do enjoy your night, dad"

His father raised a questioning eyebrow, perplexed by his son's behavior. "Is everything okay with you, son?"

"Yeah! I guess I just want to make sure you're not mad I ditch you every Halloween"

Wooyoung couldn't quite explain why he felt so much guilt tonight, it wasn't his first Halloween out of the house but for some reason, a big part of him wanted to cancel with his friends and stay at home watching old movies with his father.

He remembered the holiday when he was little, his parents would wake him up in the middle of the night to go watch fake scary movies or animated Halloween features while binging on candies. Next day at the Jung household could be mistaken with the rise of the undead.

"I'm fine, don't worry about it" his father said. "I've celebrated my share of Halloween. I like staying at home and feeding the cute kids who come at the door"

"By the way, where's your costume?? You always dress up" Wooyoung pointed out.

"Couldn't think of one this year and all the basic ones were already taken" Mr. Jung looked at his watch. "You should go meet your friends, didn't you say you were meeting at nine?"

The ravenette nodded his head. He grabbed his keys and wished his father goodnight before walking out the door. He got in the car his father had bought him in advance for his eighteenth birthday and drove to go pick up Seonghwa before going to park in front of Ravenwood Manor, where they waited for Yeosang.

Wooyoung saw his friend looking left, then right then left again, repeating the pattern over and over.

"Will you stop it already? I feel like I'm at a tennis match with your back and forth staring" the younger groaned.

"Where is Yeosang? Are you sure he didn't get cold feet?"

"Not while you're here" Wooyoung muttered but the elder didn't catch it. They had been waiting for a bit more than ten minutes and the boy was still nowhere to be seen. And it wasn't that Wooyoung was scared of getting caught that had him jittering but rather the cold that has started getting to him about five minutes ago.