Chapter Text
The weird thing about vacationing with friends, is the fact that you can never truly expect how things might turn out. It’s been barely fifteen minutes since you picked them up, still in that short amount of time, they managed to argue about three different topics five different times, and honestly, you were getting tired of it.
You wish you could say you expected it, that you’re used to it, but you know no one can get used to this madness. The only thought coming to your mind is- if I can’t handle just the two of them, any more is going to be a nightmare.
See, you love your friends, obviously. They’re your safe zone, they make you happy and all that. But damn it, they’re loud.
"How did you not bring the flat iron? I literally sent it to the group chat this morning!"
"If you didn’t wait ‘till the morning to pack, we wouldn’t be having this conversation." Ava mumbled into her chin. Claire is, in fact, always waiting till the last minute.
"Still doesn’t mean you should ignore your messages on the day of a trip, there could’ve been an emergency." Shockingly, Claire is right too.
Can it be counted as correct when they’re making excuses for themselves? I don’t think so. But their arguments still stand, I guess.
"Also, I checked, we are not the only ones arriving today." Ava said, looking up from her phone. "Since the season basically ended, there are seven other people coming, so a total of ten."
"Ah, now you can check your phone." Claire muttered, no longer grumpy but still willing to tease, as usual.
"Shush, just put on some music and stay quiet."
The rest of the ride was shockingly fun, they sang and acted out the lyrics, laughing at each other.
The place, a beautiful three-story mansion with a big balcony on the top floor, seemed luxurious yet cozy even on the outside. It was a gray brick building with a white roof, a beautiful garden and you can proudly say pictures didn’t do it justice.
This was surely the place you wanted to spend your college-free period in.
By some dumb luck, you found this place for a funny price. The vacation season was over, so not many people traveled, but this place stayed in business. And for broke college students, it seemed perfect.
Well, you weren’t exactly completely broke, as you decided to stay at this place with your friends for the whole two weeks, but still.
When you arrived, Ava texted the contact the owner gave her. Not even a few minutes later, a blonde woman in a white suit walked out to greet you.
"Hello, dears, let me help you, let’s bring that inside." Her voice was very gentle, almost motherly, "We are the only ones here right now, so we are going to struggle with the baggage together." She joked, a slight smile on her face.
"Please,” Claire stammered, “you don’t have to, we can handle it ourselves, but thank you." Claire was the biggest softie that didn’t like feeling like a burden, but you had to agree on this one. This woman is too nice to be bothered with their baggage.
"I’m currently the only one here, and the other guests are out till afternoon, so there’s not much I can do, but you will probably see that bunch soon." She mentioned as she opened the door for them, "But don’t worry, other guests are also coming today and they'll be arriving this afternoon."
The lady, whose name you found out was Seoyeon after a bit of chatting, seemed pretty welcoming, so you had to say you were glad to have her as a host.
“The bunch that went out today, amazing boys, I gotta say, they’ll be here soon-” she lost track for a second, “they arrived three days ago, trust me when I say they’re a joy to be around.” She sang as she was showing you around.
“I will show you to your rooms after dinner, for now your stuff can stay in the spare room next to the dining space.”
As the three of you went to leave your stuff where Seoyeon told you to, she started preparing the table for dinner. As soon as you left your stuff, you hurried to help her.
“Claire, dear, can you check if there’s silverware in that cabinet?” Seoyeon asked over her shoulder as she was spreading the tablecloth. “Yeah, how many sets should I bring?”
“four… plus three…” she mumbled. “Bring seven, sweetheart!” You could basically see Claire melting from the nickname. Lord, you barely knew this woman and yet all three of you already loved her like a mother.
Just as you finished warming the food up, the door opened. In walked three boys, somehow feeling familiar but at the same time not. You stood there, waiting. For what? You’re not so sure yourself, but what’s new?
You heard a chuckle. Looking up, you saw the shortest boy of the bunch smiling at you, like he was waiting for you to finally, finally realize. “Hello, it’s nice to meet you all.” He said through a grin, and you swear that, at that moment, you knew your vacation was damned.
“Oh my god-“
You sighed. “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”
“Hello to you, too.” He snickered, seemingly surprised himself. “Who would’ve thought, huh? After what happened last week, here we are.” While you were cursing the universe, the boy in front of you seemed to have the time of his fucking life. How rude.
“Oh- what happened last week? What happened? Tell me!” The ever-curious Claire started attacking you with questions. “Do us all a favour and stop humouring him,” you glared at her, “and you-“ pointing finger, accusingly, “should be ashamed for your sins, not making fun of me, man” you attacked, but still feeling amused.
He didn’t even have the chance to shot back before Seoyeon called you to the table and told the boys to go clean themselves up.
You all decided to wait for them before starting, so you started chatting and joking around.
“-yeah it was totally weird, i never expected that to happ- Oh finally, y’all are back.” Ava teased as she was helping Claire get a piece, “I think now is a good time to finally introduce ourselves.”
“I guess i should start,” the short boy said as he smiled. “I’m Jake, I actually go to your university and the lady over there holds a grudge against me because she tripped on me yesterday.”
“Dude, why do you sound so proud? I can’t with this...” Holding his head with one head, second one muttered. “I’m Jay, nice to meet you all.” Looking up from his hands, he smiled gently. He seemed nice, giving you a ‘best older bro in the world’ feel. Just what Jake needed you guessed.
“Nice to meet you, Jay, Jake, third dude- sorry, I’m Claire, it’s my pleasure.” She beamed at them, already enjoying the company.
“Well, I’m Sunghoon,” the ‘third dude’ said, seemingly entertained although shy, “It’s nice meeting you all.” He looked neat and almost elegant, yet with a boyish charm. You could bet he was a gentleman. Seriously, what a bunch.
“I’m Ava, and this is Jane,“ she said, while pointing at you, “she is just pretending that she’s grumpy, it’s a defense mech for when she feels shy.” Why do you keep making fun of me, Lord.
“Okay, okay. It’s nice to meet you all, I hope we will have bunch of fun.” You laughed, already seeing this is going to be one hell of a vacation. Had you only known.
After the dinner it was already dark out, and the boys decided that they will be the ones to clean up, since you all put up the table. Jay was washing the dishes while Sunghoon and Jake were cleaning up the rest. You sat with them to chat for a little bit, already getting on quite well. You were laughing until you heard Claire gasp from the living room window.
“What happened?” Ava walked up to her, and Jake, who was cleaning the table, was right behind her. “I saw someone outside, they were looking in here.”
“Are you sure?” Sunghoon asked from the kitchen, and you could tell he found it a bit weird. You had to agree, the mansion was quite far from the main street, and there were no houses around. Someone must have arrived with intention.
“Do you want me to go check?” Jay walked out, drying his hands on a towel. “I can go with you,” You said, already on your way to get your shoes. “we can just walk and check around the garden, maybe they got lost.”
Jay asked Seoyeon for a flashlight, and then walked right up to you, “We will walk around the main path together-no separating, and if we don’t see anything, we’ll just come back, deal?”
“Deal,” you attempted, obviously very worried. “If we don’t find anything at first glance, then it’s not meant to be found.” Muttering to yourself, you finally turned the doorknob.
Jay was right next to you, scared shitless but ready to protect you, as he shone the light onto the path. “Careful with your steps, you might trip on something.” He mumbled as he was pushing into you, trying to be as close as possible.
“I’m gonna trip on you before I trip on anything else, Jay...” You replied jokingly, trying to get him to calm down. He’s terrified yet he’s trying to protect us both, what’s up with that?
“There’s nothing her-“ “Wait, point the light there.” Catching a glimpse of something, you called out. “...what the hell is that?” You both moved closer, trying to inspect the object on the grass.
“What’s a ski mask doing here?”
“A ski mask? Really?” Jake muttered as he was pacing around the room. “In the middle of the fucking summer, no less? What, are we in Russia?”
“Jake, Russia is not cold all year around.” Jay facepalmed, obviously stressed out. Is he the holder of the brain cells? “Try Canada, that might make more sense.” Oh, so he’s not.
“Jay, don’t get distracted,” Sunghoon was, for the lack of better words... in panic. And honestly, you related. Why the hell would someone carry a ski mask in 20°C weather? They couldn’t possibly have good intentions.
“So basically, it was laid out flat, like on a display, on the grass?” Ava asked, confused. “Yeah, it seemed like it was placed there, not thrown down.” You mumbled, while Jay just nodded.
“Why didn’t you just bring it inside?” Claire commented, while sitting cuddled up on a couch. She was obviously very worried, after all she was the first and only one to see something outside.
“How could we possibly bring it inside? Lord knows where it went and what it has on it, it’s not exactly safe.” Jay explained, while sipping on his tea. “We didn’t want to put anyone in danger.”
Seoyeon stood up, stretching. “For now, let’s just rest, we will check tomorrow morning if it’s there.” Everyone started getting up, except for Claire. “But what if it’s still there in the morning?”
“Claire, I don’t want to stress you out, but… that would be the best case scenario.” Great job, Jake. Scare her a little more, why don’t you?