03. Not What It Seems

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The fact he lived in the wood wasn't shocking

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The fact he lived in the wood wasn't shocking. Everyone knew that.

It was the fact that he lived in the haunted woods that made him strange to everyone after all. Sure, it was one of the many rumours surrounding the man, but the fact he lived in the woods the height of those rumours.

Now, from everything I've heard of the infamous Mr. Ong, I didn't expect to walk -okay be carried - where Antieno took me.

I guess I shouldn't have been half as shocked after actually meeting the man. He was contradicting everything I thought about him with his mere presense. But do excuse me. It hasn't even been half-an-hour since I met him.

In all honestly, I expected a rundown shack of a house. I had even made myself ready not to judge or react no matters what condition his house was in.

The last thing I imagined was the gorgeous wooden villa in front of my eyes. It looked like it belonged in the streets of Italy or even Greece. Not smack-dab in the middle of the woods in little PyongHo. Our town didn't even show in the South Korean - much less the Jeju Island - map for crying out loud.

Covered in larch boards, stone and glass, it was a three-storey building, done in a contemporary fashion. I could make out the open kitchen from where we stood. The kitchen and a room on the first floor directly above the kitchen. The angle we stood allowed me no glimpse inside though. I could just make out the solar panels on the roof, if I tilted my head at a certain angle.

Breath catching on my throat, I stared with my mouth hanging open. I forgot whatever it was that we'd been talking about when he stepped out of the tree line.

"Did we step into a portal and somehow end up in Italy when I wasn't paying attention?" I asked, gobsmacked. I even looked over Antieno's shoulder to make sure we were still in the woods. That was how stunned I was at seeing his house.

So much for not reacting when I saw his house.

Antieno laughed at my question. Shaking his head, he continued on his way inside.

"I'm afraid we are still in PyongHo." He said.

Grinning, I played along with him. "Hmm... too bad. Italy is such a lovely place. Your Villa looks equally amazing."

"You speak as if you've been to Italy."

It was a statement not a question. Yet I still decided to grace him with an answer.

"I have. Last summer I think it was, had to go with my family. Only don't ask me to speak Latin. Mine's rusty at best."

"So a vacation or family trip? And just so you know, at least you know Latin. I don't speak a word."

"It was... a vacation and family trip of sorts... I guess" I shrugged my shoulder. Not wanting to dwell too much on that with a stranger. He may be a handsome stranger. One who looked like an angel. Yet a stranger nonetheless.

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