Dream Catcher

Chapter 13

"Why the fuck," I groaned as I heaved a box of books into the back of my small car, "Do you have so many of these!?"

Minji threw a bag of clothes into the backseat before shooting me a frown, "Do you want me to move in with you or not?" She teased.

"And by the way," Her frown turned into a small smile, "Thanks for that book you got me. Its the third installment to a series I've been obsessed with since I was a kid."

I grinned at her and gave a quick wink, "You're welcome."

Minjis playful mood soon disappeared and was replaced by a serious one. She frowned down at her feet before hesitating to speak, "Jiho."

"Yeah?" I asked, panicking internally.

The constant fear her regretting this decision was always in the back of my mind, torturing me.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" She murmured, "I-I mean sure, I'm having trouble with my mom but I can't just get up and leave. I want to at least try to work this out with her."

Her voice got more panicked as she spoke, "Plus, y-you have an apartment of your own, do you really want to just drop it and leave?"

I cleared my throat awkwardly and rubbed the back of my neck, "Actually I sort of got kicked out of there."

Minji gasped, "What?"

"I guess paying rent just wasn't my thing." I shrugged.

"Is that why you're pushing me so hard to do this? So you won't be homeless?" Minjis voice was thick with offense.

My eyes widened at her accusation and I was quick to defend myself, "What!? No, no, of course not! I swear! Please don't turn this into something it's not."

She bit her lip and looked at me with worried eyes, "You're sure? I mean, you won't get anything out of this."

Chuckling, I pulled her into my arms, and rested my chin on her head, "Silly goose, I've never been so sure of anything in my life. And I do get something out of this, I get you."

*

"Have you seen it? The house?" Minji jumped in the seat next to me.

We'd been driving for a while now and were approaching our destination, according to the GPS on my phone.

As we turned into a deserted neighborhood, I gave her a sheepish grin, "Actually no. I just drove down to the real estate office and paid for it."

My response caused her to gasp in horror, "Wait what!? Jiho, why would you do that!? What if it's falling apart? What if it has mold or what if it's i infested with rats. You should've called me, that was really irresponsible of you, Jiho!" She scolded me.

I scoffed, "Why do you could hang up on me? Besides, the pictures on their website looked perfectly fine."

"Those pictures could be from 1997!" She cried.

"Shouldn't you be calling your mom or something?" I rolled my eyes. She exhaled and leaned back in her seat, pouting.

After a few minutes she sat back up, "Are we there yet? Is it any of these?" She pointed at the two story houses we passed by.

I snorted a laugh and shook my head, "Not on my budget, honey."

The navigation system took us past that neighborhood and to a street where the sea was visible through small trees along the side of the road.

From there we drove up a hill and pretty soon it was just a small metal railing that separated us from the eighty foot drop.

"It's just up this road." I grinned at Minji as the car curved with the road, climbing higher and higher and giving us a clearer view of the ocean.

When we finally climbed the top, we drove through a small wooded area before pulling up into a driveway full of tiny pebbles that crunched under the cars tired.

Both Minji and I almost choked from shock as I parked the car.

"Please tell me this is a joke, Jiho." Minji gawked at the building, barely standing in front of us.

It was a small house, one story and painted what used to be white but was now dulling into a pale grey. The windows looked stained and shingles from the roof laid scattered on the ground surrounding the place.

Behind the house, the ground ended in a cliff. To the right was nothing but trees that seemed to last for a while.

"Relax," I tried to keep my cool in front of Minji, though inside I was just as freaked out as her, "It's not that bad.. Look at that beautiful view of the ocean." I pointed past the house that was now ours.

She stared at me with a horrified expression. "How much did you waste on this piece of junk!?"

"Th-That's not important." I cleared my throat, "Let's take a look inside before we decide to hate it, okay?" Minji hesitated for a minute before giving a small nod.

I turned the car off and got out, gesturing for her to follow. With my arm resting on her shoulders, we both walked up to the door.

It took me a minute to unlock the deadbolt. Once it clicked open, I pushed open the old wooden door and we were bombarded with dust, causing us to cough.

The floor boards creaked under our feet as we walked into the house, where we were met with a huge living room with a wide window that illuminated the place with sunlight.

To the right of the living room was the kitchen, equipped with a rusty refrigerator and a pretty decent microwave.

Across from the kitchen was a hallway with two doors on either side, which I assumed were the bathroom and bedroom.

"See?" I grinned at Minji, "S'not so bad. We just have to clean the place up a little and replace a few things." I walked up to the kitchen counter and blew the dust off the surface.

"I-I.." Minji stood there looking around, her expression unreadable. She walked deeper into the house and opened up a door in the back of the kitchen. I followed her and looked inside what turned out to be the laundry room. Where a semi-new washer and dryer stood.

She stared at the two machines for a moment before turning around, a small smile on her lips, "I think I can live here."

I took her by the hand, leading her out of that room and towards the one we would be sharing.

The room was humongous and airy, a giant window was set on the wall that faced the ocean. "Jiho, look!" She walked up to it and gazed down.

I copied her and gasped. We couldn't get a clear view from here, due to the small ledge placed there to separate the house from the deadly cliff, but we could easily make out the drop leading down to the ocean that was filled with hundreds of menacing and pointed rocks.

She seemed completely unfazed by the view, while I on the other hand felt nauseous just by looking down.

"How do you open this?" Minji muttered to herself as she fingered the small locks at the sides of the windows.

"Hey, what are you doing?! Are you trying to die?!" I grabbed her wrist and stopped her.

She pouted at me, "There's a ledge big enough for both of us, Jiho. I can bring some pillows and blankets on there and it'll be the perfect place to read!"

I couldn't help but smile at her excitement.

"Let's go unpack, and begin to move in, okay? We'll discuss this later."