The House on Mass. Avenue | Rensung

Untitled Part 5

Jisung held a mug of tea in both of his hands and he absentmindedly blew some of the steam off of the surface of the warm drink that was curling up and dissipating into the room. He tugged his beige turtleneck's sleeves over his hands more in order to keep himself from burning his hands on the warm mug.

On top of the beige turtleneck was a plaid sweater vest whose grey color matched that of his pleated pants. As opposed to what one would assume, Jisung was not, in fact, going anywhere. Rather, this was just the way that Jisung dressed most of the time. It made him feel fancy and it helped with his lower energy days if he felt that he was putting an effort in.

Blowing on his drink again, Jisung's eyes focused back into view and he shook his head slightly, trying to pull himself back to focus. Glancing around the empty kitchen, Jisung finally took a sip of his tea. As his head tilted back to take a sip, his eyes glanced over the clock and he saw it was a little after 8 pm.

Placing the full mug back onto the counter, Jisung straighten up from where he had been leaning against the counter top and let out a deep sigh. He glanced over at the island briefly, still a bit nervous from when he had almost sat down on one of the stools earlier.

Rule #10: Do not sit at the counter except for breakfast.

It had thrown him off a little bit, and it didn't help that he had been feeling a bit off today, a kind of a creepy feeling resonating throughout the house. Like he was being watched but he knew there was no one behind him.

The problem was, Jisung had always believed in spirits and ghosts, whatever you wanted to call them, since he was little. He always used to complain that he saw shadow people standing around his childhood house, sometimes seated at the table with him too when he ate. But his mother simply told him that it was just his imagination and told him to go write about it instead of bothering everyone else.

Shivering slightly, Jisung felt that feeling brush down his spine and lift the hairs on the back of his neck. Maybe getting out of the house and walking down to the beach would help him to feel a bit more relaxed.

So, walking out of the kitchen and grabbing his light wear jacket by the front door, Jisung exited the house and crossed the empty street. Upon reaching the border separating the sidewalk and the sand, Jisung paused for a moment to tug off his shoes and his socks, carrying them in hand as he stepped onto the sand.

The shells and rocks scraped at the bottom of his feet and he made sure to walk gently on the sand. It was dark out, the last remnants of the sun showing a light blue just on the horizon line, the stars already blinking into existence in the darker sky. Jisung walked further towards the water but not so that he was standing in it.

The wind was like it always was and Jisung began to hum a childhood lullaby to himself, surprised that the old and childish melody had popped into his head. The ocean looked different at night, not that he hadn't expected it to be. It was just...more peaceful.

Unlike the stark and brazen day, filled with masculine light from the Sun which worked hard to provide the Earth it's warmth and life, the feminine glow of the Moon seemed to float down across the ocean surface. It gave the environment a nice and peaceful aura, and Jisung felt himself grow calm at the lulling crash of the waves as the Moon shone down on him. It was energizing.

"I haven't seen you in the area before."

The curious voice scared Jisung and the young boy jumped, dropping the shoes in his hands as he looked to the left, eyes wide and chest heaving as he made eye contact with other person. He hadn't even heard him coming.

The person had natural brown hair and it was a bit wind-blown. He was wearing a normal outfit: a more simple pairing of jeans, a white t-shirt, and an adidas jacket. His hands were shoved into his pockets and he had a pretty cute face, although his eyes were also widened — apologetic — at having scared him.

"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, really," the other boy apologized profusely and Jisung just held his hand up to stop the older, leaning down to pick up his shoes. "I've just been in the area for a while and you seem like a new face."

"Yeah I just moved here," Jisung started, pausing to wonder if he should be telling a stranger this information but then deciding that the stranger was around his age and looked completely harmless. Maybe he could even tell him any weird rumors about the house "Actually I moved into that house over there." Jisung said innocently, turning to point at the house nestled into it's spot across the street.

"Oh wow!" The boy exclaimed and Jisung turned to him with a wide-eyed curiosity, wondering why exactly that had elicited that response. The boy shook his head, his eyes turning up into little crescents as he smiled, "I live there too which much mean that you're Jisung."

Jisung's eyes widened, a bit surprised to be meeting another one of the house's residents this way. The resident moved closer to him, sticking his hand out in a formal way of greeting. "The name's Lee Jeno, it's nice to finally meet you. I'm sorry I haven't introduced myself earlier, been busy with work and all."

"Oh, it's nice to meet you Jeno," Jisung smiled, shaking the boy's hand, looking over the boy's facial features with a bit more attentiveness. He really was pretty cute.

Then a strong gust of wind blew across the beach, flapping through both of their jackets and messing up their hair so they could only laugh at the end results before smoothing out their appearances.

"Let's get out of the cold and talk inside," Jeno suggested and Jisung nodded, the two pausing for a moment before looking around in the sand. "God it's so hard to find shells in the dark, isn't it?" the other boy laughed and Jisung smiled, crouching down as he continued to paw through the sand, finally picking out a shell.

"I think I've been getting better at remembering this rule, but some of the other ones are hard," Jisung commented as he turned the shell over in his fingers, Jeno straightening up too as he picked out a shell. Jisung watched as Jeno held the shell up to the sky, the moonlight glinting off of the grainy, white material.

"Yeah, but it gets easier, I'm sure the others have told you the same," Jeno said plainly, looking at the shell in a sort of a daze, "Have you run into any trouble?" Jisung frowned a bit at the tone of voice, not entirely sure what seemed wrong with the sentence. Jeno pocketed the shell and looked towards Jisung, his back to the moon and his face masked in darkness.

"No, at least not yet," Jisung admitted and Jeno nodded, the corners of his lips turning up into a smile. 

"That's good," Jeno commented, the conversation lulling and the two paused for a moment, staring at each other as the wind pushed against their jackets. "Then let's go back inside hm?" Jeno finally interrupted the silence, "I can make us some tea, deal?" 

"Sounds good to me," Jisung agreed and Jeno smiled again, this time with his teeth. And, again,  Jisung was more than intrigued by the boy's alluring smile. It seemed to reach across his entire face and it made him seem as though you had just made him the happiest person in the world. 

Jisung let out a sigh at the thought. It was so curious as to how all of these young residents all ended up together to make a unique group of people under one house.

And now he only had four down and two to go.

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