[Hellion Brothers: Book #5] Verglas

Thirteen

The rest of our morning went by really slowly since the location was way too far from Seoul. We stopped by a public bath in order to let me finish my morning routine before we went any further. I came outside in comfortable and warm clothing, so that I wouldn't have to end up shivering in case the weather got any colder.

By the time we reached, it was already afternoon. Everyone seemed tired, even though all we did was sit in one place and stuff chips in our mouth. I stretched my hands above my head as I stood outside the bus, looking at the cottage in front of us. It was big, but old fashioned and abandoned. It looked like the type of accommodation the characters of a horror movie would find in the middle of a forest.

"I don't like this one bit." Chen frowned.

"Hyung, why would you book such a creepy place for us to live in?" Baekhyun asked as he turned to look at Suho.

"We needed a quiet place that isn't visited by too many people. This was the best I could find. The expensive and luxurious ones had staff that would be around all the time." Suho explained. "This place isn't even a lodging. The owner lives in the city, so I thought we could rent it for a few days."

"I like it." Maeji beamed. "Let's go inside." She dragged her bag against the unpaved road, heading towards the entrance. The key of the door got stuck in the entrance and Tao had to struggle with twisting and turning it before he finally pushed it open. I just knew we were going to have a fantastic time here.

The interior was much better, probably because they must've gotten it tidied before we came here. In all honesty, I didn't hate it. The wooden furnishings blended well with the creamy walls that would look beautiful if they had been repainted by the owners. There was a small dining table with four chairs surrounding it. The old clock hung against the wall had stopped at something around 6:30 and it was still 1:10 on my phone screen. Whoever left this cute little cottage must've left the clock behind because no one uses clocks to check the time anymore.

The house somehow reminded me of my grandparents' house. They lived in the countryside where they had their own farm. Grandpa would take me to the farm where we would pick fresh vegetables to bring back home. According to my vague memories, he was a really warm and loving person. I visited them every year during my vacations, but we stopped the year before my parents got divorced. I never met them after that. I didn't even have the address to at least go back by myself, ask them if they were doing well, if they would like it if I visited often. Heck, I didn't even know if they were alive or dead anymore.

I missed them.

"Does anyone have a signal on their phone?" Kai asked, his eyes still focused on his phone screen. I decided to check mine and the four bars in the corner were completely dim. I also realized that I must've drained the battery while listening to music in the bus, so my phone was almost dead.

"I need to charge this." I announced.

"There are very few plug points here, so you guys need to adjust a little." Suho said as he took my phone. "I'll be keeping it there. Take it once it's done." He pointed at a small table beside one of the plug points in the living room.

"Thank you." I said and looked around, wondering which room I should take.

"This one is mine!" Baekhyun announced from one of the rooms on the ground floor. There were around nine rooms in the cottage, probably built for different purposes but all of them had a bed and it was all that mattered. I chose a room on the first floor and I was more than happy to find out that Gwen was my roommate.

Gwen was the only person among the Hellions that I genuinely appreciated. She wasn't the nosy or annoying type of person that liked prying into other people's lives. She minded her own business.