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GARAGE SALE
The words were written on a large piece of cardboard and taped on the rear window of Seongwoo’s neighbor’s car out on his driveway. Next to the car was the sale itself, consisting of various items, such as furniture, kitchen appliances, and clothes.
Mr. Choi, his neighbor, got up from his seat behind his little table setup when he saw Seongwoo.
“Seongwoo!” he greeted with a big smile on his face. A man in his fifties, Mr. Choi was known to always be in a good mood, kind and engaging to everyone he crossed paths with.
“Hi, Mr. Choi,” Seongwoo said before greeting the man with a formal bow.
“Went grocery shopping, I see?” the older man asked, attention directed at the canvas bags in Seongwoo’s hands.
“Oh these?” Seongwoo looked at his bags. “Yeah, I didn’t have class today so I thought I’d get some grocery shopping done since my fridge was looking a little empty.”
Mr. Choi’s eyes light up just then. “You know what would go great with those groceries of yours?” He gets up and moves over to a spot on the ground labeled “KITCHEN APPLIANCES” then points to a crock-pot, which also happens to be placed next to a ouija board.
“Is that a ouija board?” he asks absentmindedly.
“Yes. I’ll throw it in with the crock-pot for ten dollars.”
It didn’t take Seongwoo even a second thought before he took his wallet out and handed Mr. Choi a ten dollar bill. “Sold.”
Once Mr. Choi bagged up the crock-pot and ouija board, Seongwoo made his way to his apartment, not having a single regret about his recent impulse purchase.
@ongongong: i hate flexing on twitter but I just bought a crockpot and a ouija board from my neighbor’s garage sale for only $10 so if anyone wants to come over and summon evil spirits while I slow cook vegetable stew for us...
It was only noon when Seongwoo got home so he assumed most of his friends were still at school, meaning none of them would be available for a couple hours.
While eating some leftover reheated pasta for lunch, Seongwoo scrolls through a couple online blogs for a crockpot recipe he could use for dinner. He knew it’d take a couple hours so he hoped maybe Jaehwan would be free for dinner later that night, maybe get up to some spooky shit while they’re at it too.
After going through a handful of sites, Seongwoo settles on a recipe for chicken tortilla soup. It was easy to make, only needing five ingredients, all of which just needed to be layered upon each other in the crockpot.
Once he finished his pasta, Seongwoo set up his crockpot next to his rice cooker then gathered five chicken breasts, taco seasoning, a jar of salsa, chicken broth, and a can of black beans. He placed the chicken breasts inside the crockpot after spraying on some cooking oil. When that was all settled, he sprinkled some taco seasoning over the chicken and poured in a jar of salsa (he almost didn’t do this, but then he remembered he bought two jars of salsa earlier that day; he loves his chip and dip). After draining the can of black beans, he poured them over the rest of the food already in the pot before putting the lid on and turning the dial on medium to cook.
The rest of the day was spent at home doing a combination of catching up on readings and assignments and getting a head start on next week’s work.
Around a quarter after six, Seongwoo’s phone started ringing. There wasn’t much surprise as to who was calling him.
“Hello?” Seongwoo answered.
“Got any veggie stew left?” Jaehwan asked.
“No veggie stew, but I made chicken tortilla soup.”
Jaehwan made a weird sound over the phone. “That sounds even better. I’ll be there in ten.”
After the phone call, Seongwoo went and prepared the crockpot. He didn’t want to keep Jaehwan waiting too long for the food to cook since he sounded pretty hungry over the phone.
Jaehwan arrived at Seongwoo’s front door about ten minutes later with a bag of drinks in his hands. “Got some drinks,” he says with the biggest grin on his face.
“You shouldn’t have,” Seongwoo cooed as Jaehwan entered the apartment.
The two walk to the kitchen, Seongwoo trailing behind Jaehwan. The younger proceeded to place the six pack of cokes he bought in the fridge. Seongwoo, feeling a little sentimental and in a cuddling mood, wraps his arms around Jaehwan’s upper body, the latter still standing in front of an open refrigerator.
He smelt like a mixture of the convenience store a couple blocks away from Seongwoo’s apartment and the air conditioning of the music department’s old building. Odd, but comforting.
“So about that ouija board…”
Seongwoo doesn’t expect those, of all words, to come out of Jaehwan’s mouth while Seongwoo’s cuddling him. “So that’s why you’re really here, huh?” Seongwoo asks while raising an eyebrow.
“Well that, and the fact that I’m hungry.”
When Seongwoo doesn’t respond, Jaehwan smiles awkwardly. Rather than say something, Seongwoo just pouts his lips.
Without fail, Jaehwan kisses him. It isn’t much, just a quick peck, but it’s enough for Seongwoo.
“Okay, are we done?” Jaehwan asks. Seongwoo shows no sign of budging, his arms still locked around Jaehwan.
“Hyuuuuuuung,” Jaehwan whines.
The two were only a year apart, but Seongwoo found a personal enjoyment whenever Jaehwan acted like a baby around him. At that point Jaehwan tried squirming out of Seongwoo’s grip but both of them knew the older was much stronger. Admitting defeat, Jaehwan frowned and rested his head on the top of Seongwoo’s shoulder.
Accepting victory, Seongwoo gave Jaehwan’s body one last squeeze before relieving him from his grip. Jaehwan’s body immediately loosened up and he glared at Seongwoo, to which Seongwoo responded by squeezing Jaehwan’s cheek. “You’re so cute when you’re angry.”
“Why do you enjoy provoking me so much?” Jaehwan asks pitifully as he makes his way towards the couch.
Before Seongwoo’s able to answer, he goes to his room and grabs the ouija board from his desk. “Because it’s fun,” he finally answers once he’s back on the couch. He places the board on the little table before them. Next to him, Jaehwan’s completely in awe. He’s got his head close to the board, analyzing every inch of it.
“You can touch it, you know,” Seongwoo says humorously.
Jaehwan picks up the board and analyzes it again, flipping it around to see every corner. “Do you know how to use it?” he asks.
“Good question. I don’t, at least not how to start. All my knowledge comes from what I’ve seen in movies.” Before Seongwoo can say or do anything else, Jaehwan’s already got his phone out, most likely looking up how to use a ouija board.
“Alright,” Jaehwan starts. “According to this website, we should first the mood. Do you have any candles?”
Seongwoo thinks. “Uh, let me go check.” Seongwoo gets up to see if he still has any more emergency candles in one of the cabinets in his kitchen.
“Found it!” Seongwoo grabs a handful of candles and grabs a lighter from one of the kitchen drawers and goes back. Before he sits down, he places the candles and lighter on the couch then proceeds to move the table away from the center of the living room but not too far so they can use it to hold the candles and illuminate their seating area. “Bring everything on the floor then hit the lights,” he instructs Jaehwan.
Seongwoo lights the candles then places them on the table before Jaehwan turns off the lights. Once the two are seated in front of each other cross legged, Seongwoo sets up the board between them. “What next?” he asks.
Jaehwan looks back at his phone. “I guess we just go for it.”
“Okay,” Seongwoo says. He follows along when Jaehwan puts both index and middle fingers on the planchette.
“It said one of us should be designated to ask questions,” Jaehwan says.
“Do you want me to ask the questions?” Seongwoo responds.
“I mean, if that’s what you want then go ahead.” Yeah, he definitely wants Seongwoo to be the one asking the questions.
They start of slow, asking basic questions.
“Are there any spirits in the room with us?” Seongwoo asks first.
Both of them nearly jump when the planchette moves towards “YES” on the board.
“What the fuck was that?!” Jaehwan cries. “Stop fucking around!”
“You stop fucking around!” Seongwoo yells back.
“That wasn’t me!” Jaehwan screams.
“Then who was it?!” Seongwoo questions. “Don’t tell me there’s an actual spirit in this room?!” It takes him a couple seconds before he realizes what he just said.
“Oh my god, is there a spirit in this room?”
Jaehwan’s jaw drops. “Bring the planchette back in the middle. Ask it to do something to prove it’s real.”
“Shouldn’t we be asking it questions though? What if we upset it by asking it to do too much?”
“Hm,” Jaehwan thinks. “Ask it if it can do something to prove that it’s real, that way it’ll answer yes, and then maybe it’ll actually do something.”
“Uh, alright.” Seongwoo clears his throat before speaking. “Are you able to do something to prove that you’re real?”
They grow skeptical when for a couple seconds nothing happens. Seongwoo’s about to accuse Jaehwan of making it seem like there was a ghost in the room, because clearly it wasn’t Seongwoo, when suddenly the planchette starts moving. Both their eyes widen as the planchette lands on “YES” again.
“Okay, tell me that wasn’t you,” Jaehwan says.
“I swe - ” Seongwoo’s cut off when the lights go back on.
Both of them shriek immediately.
“There’s an actual spirit in your apartment,” Jaehwan declares. The thought doesn’t really sink into Seongwoo’s mind, at least not until the lights shut back off again.
“Holy shit, you’re right. There’s a fucking ghost in my apartment.”
“Ask it what it’s name is!” Jaehwan says excitedly. Clearly he’s gotten past the initial freight stage and now wants to engage in more paranormal foolery. “Is it a girl or a boy? How old is it? Where are they from?”
“Calm down now, let’s not overwhelm the ghost.”
“You’re right, you’re right. I was getting too ahead of myself.”
Seongwoo waits until he feels his body physically calm down from the initial shock before asking another question.
“Okay, now that we know you’re real,” Seongwoo starts, “are you a male or female? Use ‘m’ if you’re a male and ‘f’ if you’re a female.”
“That’s smart, I never would have thought of that.” Jaehwan acknowledges.
The planchette moves again, landing on the letter ‘M.’
“Male? Nice.” Jaehwan responds.
“What is your name?” Seongwoo asks. Immediately the planchette starts moving again.
“R, I, C,” the two of them start saying out loud together, “H, A, R, D.”
“Richard,” Seongwoo says.
“For a second I was gonna say ‘what kind of name is Ric Hard?’ Thank god I didn’t or else I would’ve made myself look like a dumbass in front of Richard.” Jaehwan says.
“Well.”
Before Jaehwan can say anything in protest, Seongwoo starts up with more questions.
“How old are you?” Seongwoo asks
“Do you mean like, how old is he now or how old was he when he died? The latter would be more appropriate, right? Considering when you die you’re kind of that age forever?”
“Hm, good point. How old were you when you died?”
The planchette moves to the numbers “3” and “2.”
“Aw, poor guy died pretty young,” Jaehwan responds.
“Are you from around here?” Seongwoo continues.
The planchette moves toward ‘YES.’
They continue on like that for a while, asking Richard random questions. He spelled out the word “car” to indicate how he died, he wasn’t married or dating when he died, he didn’t die a virgin (Jaehwan’s question, of course), he doesn’t haunt people, and that he misses his family but does visit them often.
The last question about Richard missing his family appeared to affect Jaehwan on a deeper level seeing as how he was blankly staring at the board, presumably to be deep in thought. Seongwoo was aware of how sensitive Jaehwan could get sometimes on the topic of family, so his quiet reaction to the family question didn’t surprise Seongwoo that much.
“All good?” he quietly asks after just a couple of moments.
Jaehwan remains still for a second, but then he straightens up his back and nods his head. “Sorry, yeah. All good.”
“What should we ask next?”
Before Jaehwan can respond, a ding! sounds from the kitchen. “Oh? I think the soup’s done.”
Seongwoo’s about to get up when Jaehwan stops him. “Wait! Don’t move.”
“Why not?”
“Ask Richard if he’s alright putting him on hold while we eat dinner for a bit.”
Seongwoo does exactly that. The planchette moves to “YES.”
“Sweet!” Jaehwan exclaims as he immediately gets up and heads towards the kitchen. Seongwoo follows behind after turning the lights back on. He passes a bowl and a ladle to an overly eager Jaehwan, who immediately starts pouring the soup into his bowl once the utensils are in his possession.
When he’s done pouring soup into his bowl, Jaehwan takes the bowl from Seongwoo’s hand and pours soup into it. “Aw thanks, babe.” Jaehwan giggles then smiles back playfully.
They go back to the living room and sit cross legged on the floor again. Out of laziness, both of them eat around the candles on the small table Seongwoo had moved previously.
“Oh, I forgot the drinks!” Jaehwan says. “I’ll go get them!”
As he’s on his way to the fridge, the lights shut off again. “Uh, what was that?”
Seongwoo’s just as confused. “Was that Richard?”
“Flicker the lights twice if that was you, Richard,” Jaehwan says. The whole situation they’re in feels so ridiculous to Seongwoo he really can’t believe any of it.
Things get creepier when the lights flicker not once, but twice.
“Jesus, I just got goosebumps,” Jaehwan whispers. He proceeds to quickly grab two cans from the fridge then goes back to sit on the floor. “He’s really here!” he says to Seongwoo.
“Why’d you think he did that?” he asks before taking a sip of his soup.
“I don’t know,” Jaehwan responds. “Maybe he’s bored?”
“Maybe. So how was class?”
“Well -” Jaehwan isn’t even able to finish his sentence when the flames on the candles before them blow out. “Oh my god?!”
“Is he gonna let us eat in peace?” Seongwoo asks.
“I sure hope s- ” Jaehwan’s sentence is cut off when the candles start floating.
“Come on, man! We’re trying to eat dinner here.” Seongwoo whines.
The candles drop onto the table immediately, some of the leftover wax messing up the tabletop. “Thanks,” Seongwoo says defeatedly.
“Richard seems playful, like a puppy almost.”
Of course Jaehwan would compare a nearly hyperactive ghost to a puppy.
The remainder of the night goes quite smoothly. The two of them were able to finish their dinner in peace without any more disruptions. Jaehwan went on to talk about his day full of classes, how he got his essay back on contemporary music and received a grade better than he expected, and how the lady who rang him up at the convenience store said he looked ‘bright and refreshing’ that day.
“Alright, back to Richard,” Jaehwan says when they finish cleaning up after dinner.
They light the candles and turn the lights back off before sitting on the floor again.
“Did you miss us?” Seongwoo asks. The both of them giggle together.
As expected, the planchette starts moving. This time, it moves towards the word ‘NO.’
“Ironic coming from the same guy who wanted to keep playing with us while we were trying to have dinner,” Jaehwan scoffs playfully.
The lights flicker in response.
“Someone’s sensitive,” Seongwoo says.
“Will you talk to us if we use the board again?” Jaehwan asks. “Shit, my bad. Got so comfortable with Richard that I forgot we had a designated communicator.”
“Again?” Seongwoo asks, completely disregarding the second thing Jaehwan said. “Who said anything about again?”
“Oh come on, don’t tell me you wouldn’t do this again,” Jaehwan pouts.
Seonwgoo’s easily convinced. He wasn’t sure if it was because he couldn’t deny that he didn’t have a great time with Jaehwan summoning a ghost, or if it was because Jaehwan was pouting. He really couldn’t resist Jaehwan’s pouts.
“Is my pout working?” Jaehwan cooes.
The planchette moves towards ‘YES,’ taking both of them by surprise. “Richard agrees! Which means, we will be doing this again!”
Seongwoo raises an eyebrow at his boyfriend. “Easy for you to be excited when you’re not the one who has to keep the board at their place.”
“Hey, I still live with my parents. Why would I risk bringing a ouija board into my house?”
Seongwoo’s eyes widen in disbelief. “Uh, for the same reason I don’t wanna keep it in my apartment?”
Jaehwan just pouts his lips again. “If I stay the night will it convince you to keep the board.” He lets go of the planchette and bends over the board, bringing his face closer to Seongwoo’s. This time Jaehwan’s smiling, his lips pressed tightly together so his dimple shows.
Unable to resist, Seongwoo places the palms of his hands on Jaehwan’s cheeks and gently squeezes them before bringing Jaehwan’s lips to his for a kiss. Their lips just remain pressed momentarily until Seongwoo drops his hands, allowing their mouths to move more freely against one another.
Jaehwan’s got his hand running through Seongwoo’s hair and before they can take things any further, the lights start flickering rapidly and frequently, causing the two love birds to separate.
“That’s Richard talk for ‘get a room,’” Jaehwan comments, earning a chuckle from Seongwoo.
“Shall we say bye to Richard then call it a night?” Seongwoo asks.
Jaehwan furrows his brows, “It’s like, only 7 PM though?”
This time Seongwoo’s the one leaning forward towards Jaehwan, “Yeah, and I was thinking,” he’s got his mouth next to Jaehwan’s ear now, “we could use this extra time to...” then he backs away.
“Do what?!” Jaehwan asks.
Seongwoo only smirks. “You’ll find out.”
Jaehwan starts bouncing in anticipation. “Okay okay, let’s wrap this up!” He puts his fingers back on the planchette. “We just have to bring the planchette over to the ‘GOODBYE’ then we’re done.”
“See you later, Richard,” Seongwoo says while looking around, hoping his greeting was formal enough for Richard to not haunt him later on.
“Bye, Richard! Nice communicating with you!” Jaehwan says excitedly, his body still bouncing.
They both move the planchette to ‘GOODBYE.’ “That’s it?” Seongwoo asks.
“Pretty much. Okay to the bedroom!”
Jaehwan jumps to his feet and starts heading towards Seongwoo’s room. “Wait!” Seongwoo yells, causing Jaehwan to hault in his tracks. “How do I store a ouija board?”
Jaehwan reappears in the living room. “Were you given a case?”
Seongwoo shakes his head. “Nah.”
Jehwan pulls out his phone and starts scrolling again. “Uh, put it in like a bag or something. Make sure to keep it separate from the planchette.”
Seongwoo makes his way to the kitchen and starts looking for plastic bags to use since that’s pretty much all he can think of putting the board and planchette in for now. “Where should I store it?” Seongwoo calls out. He looks to see where Jaehwan is but of course he’s out of sight, probably in bed already.
He decides to store the board and the planchette in separate cabinets in his kitchen. Before meeting Jaehwan, he blows out the candles then returns them from where he stored them.
Once that’s all done, Seongwoo finally meets Jaehwan in his bedroom.
He enters and sees Jaehwan lying on Seongwoo’s bed scrolling on his phone. Seongwoo jumps and lands back first on the bed next to Jaehwan. He immediately throws a leg and an arm over Jaehwan.
“You’re cuddling me too tight,” Jaehwan protests.
“And?”
Jaehwan looks away from his phone and at Seongwoo next to him. “Nothing,” he says nonchalantly. “So are we getting it on tonight or what?”
Seongwoo gives him a skeptical look for a brief second.
“Come here you big baby.”
Seongwoo moves his arm and leg off of Jaehwan, who in turn gets up and straddles Seongwoo. He quickly presses his lips against Seongwoo then trails his kisses down Seongwoo’s neck.
Jaehwan pauses for a second, sits up then looks at Seongwoo. “I’m your baby?” he asks with the most innocent expression.
“You’re my baby,” Seongwoo says softly.