Garden of Fallen Angels {seongjoong} [COMPLETED]

-8-

Location: Earth

Hongjoong

Now that the feeding of the animals is done, I can finally get on with the tasks that I actually need to do. Hey, I know what you're thinking and no, I'm not a mythical, or in this case real, creatures farm owner. I'm actually a caretaker, hired by the land owners to maintain the property, mainly the garden, even though they're never around. It seems ridiculous to me. If they aren't around, and no surveillance cameras installed, how will they even know the state of the property and if I'm doing a good job? I guess I'm quite the trustworthy person.

So anyway, I head back up to the house, with Jongho pattering ahead of me, leading the way back. I open the rear kitchen door and let the baby dragon slink in ahead of me. He plops his whole body onto the floor and rests his head on his tiny paws. Cute. Instead of resting, however, even though I wish to, I open the cleaning supplies closet and pull out a broom, a rake and a couple of large black trash bags. I rest the broom on the corner of the stove top, tilting it so it doesn't topple, grab the rake and go outside once again.

The air is warmer now compared to the cool morning air from earlier. I open one of the trash bags and place it on the porch. Next, I climb down the few steps constituting the staircase and walk over to the corner of the garden. Starting from the corner, I rake up all the fallen leaves into a pile in front of the porch stairs. Then, I take the bag I opened earlier and scoop up the pile of leaves I just took care of. The garden is quite big, so I end up using three trash bags to contain all the leaves, and leave those out at the front of the house for the garbage collectors to clear.

Now that the outside chore has been completed, it is time to tackle the interior.

I place the rake back in the cupboard and grab the broom I had left in the kitchen. Thankfully, the baby hadn't knocked it over. He wasn't even in the kitchen, having already made his way back to his cave. I look around the edge of the corridor to see what he was up to. Unfortunate, but in a cute way, he had been so tired that he managed to get all the way to the living room but not into his cave. He lay on the carpet just outside the cave entrance, in a deep sleep, his soft breathing echoing through the living room. I smile at the sight.

Walking over, I pick him up and slowly, so as not to wake him up, slide him into the cave. It might be big enough for a baby dragon, but it's a tight squeeze for me. Still, I lie down flat on my stomach and shove myself through the opening and into the cave. I place Jongho lightly on his pillow-bed and stroke him once before inching my way out of the cave.

Without the baby dragon playing around, I can get my work done faster. Don't get me wrong, I do love him with all my heart, but he sometimes causes trouble due to his playful attitude, as you can tell from what happened this morning.

The house is actually quite big, almost the size of a mansion, but has the vibe of a cottage as it has a rustic, homely feel. It consists of two storeys: the living room, kitchen and one bedroom with an en suite bathroom on the first floor, and a couple bedrooms and bathrooms on the second floor. Currently, only the bedroom and bathroom on the first floor is utilised. The second floor is completely vacant. However, it is under my duty to clean the entire place, so...

I start from the living room, sweeping up the place, picking up all the dust bunnies and dropped food. Then, I continue on to the kitchen, followed by my room and the upstairs rooms and corridor. After sweeping up the whole house, I head to the bathroom and get a mop and pail, filling it with soapy water. I start the entire process again, starting from the living room all the way to the corridor upstairs. It's a tiring process, but it isn't that tedious, so I finish up in no time.

Next, I head back to the living room and vacuum the carpet, the only part of the floor that I cannot sweep or mop. I turn on the machine, and the loud whirr of the vacuum startles the sleeping baby dragon in his cave. He lets out a shriek of terror that startles me just as much as the vacuum startled him. Oops. I forgot he was resting. I mean, he is still a baby, and he does need his rest.

I kneel on the carpet and press the side of my face against the floor, looking into the small cave entrance. Jongho was now awoken from his slumber. From his bed, he glares at me with annoyance. "Sorry," I whisper. "It was unintentional. I kind of forgot you were sleeping." I stand up and adjust the vacuum dial to the lowest setting. Then, I continue my vacuuming, with the noise levels much lower now.

I prefer starting the cleanup early so I have the rest of the day to myself. Don't get me wrong, it is nice to sleep in and all, but I do have a duty and responsibility, especially when it comes to the care of the animals.

Speaking of the animals, they don't actually belong to the owner of this house. In reality, they're all adopted by me. They were all found in dire straits, and I helped nurse them back to health. Take Jongho for example, he was abandoned by his family. The poor baby was born without any wings; a crippled dragon. His family took off and left him because he couldn't fly with them.

I found him crying in the woods a few days later, starving and covered in bruises and cuts. My heart broke from the sight, and I immediately took him home. He's been staying here ever since.

He was my first adoption, and clearly it didn't stop there. I asked the owner if I could convert the old barn at the back of the property into a stable, and thankfully he agreed.

Now, the stable is inhabited by the five other creatures I fed this morning. And it looks like they aren't going to leave either. We're all just one trouble-filled but happy family.

I started getting lost in the maze of my thoughts, and I probably would have stayed there longer if it weren't for the sudden crash.

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I will be going into more depth on the backstories of the other creatures in a later chapter! Sorry if you expected it in this chapter.

Anyways, thanks for reading this story and hope to see you in the next chapter! :)

~cey