Stepping out of the car, Jimin runs his fingers through his blonde locks as they enter a hotel. Walking up to the registration area, a middle aged woman greets them and they return it with a bow.
"One room for the lovely couple?"
She says with a large smile and pink tinted cheeks.
"Yes please."
Jimin says as he feels his face burning with the blush that erupts on his skin.
"Enjoy your stay!"
Jimin and Ara enter their hotel room as Ara sighs and plops down onto the soft bed.
"God I love hotel beds.."
"Me too, they're very sustainable for rough guests."
Sitting up with furrowed eyebrows, Ara's eyes widen as the hidden meaning of his words hit her.
"Perv!! I meant soft for sleeping!"
"Riiiight.."
He says, stepping into the bathroom as Ara rolls her eyes.
"Hurry up, I want to shower too!"
she yells after him and he responds from inside.
"Would you like to join me?"
The hint of sarcasm and double meaning dripped with his words and Ara knew he had a full smirk on display in there.
"No."
She says abruptly and leans into the bed, stretching over to take the television remote and turning it on.
←~←~→~→
"Is this the place?" Ara asks, her eyes scanning the old building.
"I can't believe he would live here." She says, scrunching her nose at the musky smell that danced under their noses as they entered the house.
"I remember this house.. I used to come here a lot when I was younger. All my cousins and their siblings would have family meet-ups here, and all you could hear was the sound of our laughter. He left this place to rot after he found a new one closer to the city."
As they stepped in, the first thing that greeted them was the living room. Tick, tock, tick, tock. The old clock hung on the dreary wall still kept time in a house that was no longer alive. No sunlight danced in through the dirty windows, and cobwebs draped down from the cracked ceiling. The door creaked on its rusty hinges with the wind that blew in, creating an eerie atmosphere around them.
What used to be white, yellow and red roses on the walls of the exterior side of the house was now blanketed by a thick layer of weeds. But the house had not always been void of life and chubby, happy children had run through the velvet carpeted halls. Grass covered the lawn without an imperfection. Young maidens were wooed in the house and garden. Marriages and feasts took place inside the large house.
You name it, the house was filled with the hustle and bustle of a united family. But the house's days were past. It was an old, long forgotten, abandoned house now. It was broken down with disrepair and weeds filled the garden where once the grass has been as soft as a blanket. Birds no longer sang in the trees, and even the insects had largely left the house.
Jimin couldn't believe the state it had become and sighed as he stepped into the next room. Ara's gaze was fixed on the now dried lawn but was quickly brought back to reality with the crunch of dried leaves. Her head snaps to the direction of the sound and notices a canopy of trees near the house that stood alone on the open field.
The trees hovered over the house, as though they were protecting the old thing from nature's harsh times. But Ara had no time to admire their beauty as her sense of hearing heightened and fear stung her heart. She strained her eyes to scan every inch of the forest that she could see. Her eyes paused on a bush that seemed suspiciously still among the others that swayed in the wind.
She gasped when her eyes met with a cold pair of ebony orbs, staring at her from behind the leaves of the bush as she turned to look inside the house, eyes desperately searching for Jimin.
"Jimin? Jimin! Where are you?" She yells, taking rushed steps into the next room before colliding into his chest.
"What's wrong?" Jimin asks with concern. Her eyes focus on the window as she quickly walks to it, looking out into the forest. Her gaze falls on the same bush as before but now, there were no eyes staring back at her and the bush gently ruffled and swayed with the wind.
"Ara, what is it?"
Jimin asks, taking his place next to her as his eyes follow her gaze.
Ara lightly shakes her head, the thought that her mind may have been playing tricks on her reassured her as she turns to Jimin.
"I-its nothing now. I'm fine."
Jimin knew that was a plain lie directed to him and he could see right through her.
"You're pathetic at lying to me, Ara. Tell me, what is it?" He asks, tucking a few strands of hair behind her ear.
She sighs, eyes continuously being drawn to the dark forest as she says,
"I think we're being followed."
Jimin looks out the window with her, resting his hands on the window sill.
"Did you see someone?"
"I think i did.. My mind must be playing tricks on me. It's fine, Jimin."
Without another word, he spins around, taking fast but heavy steps down the long hallway before stepping into a room at the end of the corridor. Ara stands at the entrance as she watches Jimin frantically search for something on a bookshelf but cursing when he didn't seem to find what he wanted.
"What are you looking for?"
He walks over to the desk sitting in the center of the room with a layer of dust covering it and opens the drawers, rummaging through it and banging his fists down onto the table at a failed attempt of finding something.
"Jimin-"
He straightens immediately as his eyes slightly widen. Ara had been with him long enough to know that that face meant he had figured something out or at least thought he did. He hurriedly walks past her and reaches the end of the corridor before taking a sharp right. Following him mindlessly, Ara furrows her eyebrows when she sees him standing in front of a white door that had the symbol of the moon on it.
"Uncle would always disappear in here during the day and forbade anyone from entering this room. Not even my mother or father. One day I was curious enough to enter the place to see him holding a suitcase of some sort, talking to a man that we didn't see enter the house. I managed to overhear their conversation but I was too young to comprehend or even remember what was being said. Now it makes sense."
"But do you think he would have left anything behind?"
"Only one way to find out." He says glancing at her and wrapping his fingers around the rusted knob, twisting it and pushing the door open to be met with an empty room. The only thing that gave the room a sense of belonging were the paintings that hung on the dreary walls.
"How come nobody in your family found this suspicious?" Ara asks and Jimin replies with a sigh,
"They thought that this was his way of dealing with his wife's death. He would crowd himself with work to take his mind off her, so nobody disturbed him or even bothered to ask."
"Do you think your Aunt's death is connected to Nyx?"
"I'm not sure.. We can't jump to conclusions but I have my suspicions."
He replied, walking over to the dusty painting that hung on the paint chipped walls.
"Is that her?"
Ara asks, looking up at the large portrait of a woman with ebony hair that fell down her shoulders, resting on the light blue dress that hung gracefully on her. She looked like she was in her late 40's, but still had that youthful, kind glow that radiated from her even though it was only a painting. Her high cheekbones, and olive green eyes complemented her kind aura and added grace to her posture.
Jimin lightly traced his fingers down the painting, he paid no attention to the dust collecting on his fingers only dusting it off when he stepped back from the painting. Ara's mind was being drawn out the window, scanning the perimeter around, now doubting the fact that her mind may have been playing tricks on her.
She swore she saw something move in the thick darkness that blanketed the forest, but she still had no clear confirmation on what it was.
Jimin had moved closer to the painting now, trying to study his late Aunt's face more carefully. She was a cheerful person, a good mother too from what he saw. They were a happy family....until she was gone. Her cheerful and carefree personality was what kept his Uncle and their kids going, but when she died a part of them died too. His cousins managed to move on somehow, but his uncle took it the hardest.
He was a man who mostly kept to himself, he had strict rules and morals and was known to be uptight. But surprised everyone, when he came home with a woman as bubbly and cheerful as his aunt. It was like they were polar opposites, from two different worlds but somehow fit perfectly together like a puzzle piece.
She was his other half, she brought out the brightness in him and made him happy.....just like Ara did to Jimin. And Jimin knew for a fact that if he ever loses her, he would become cold and distant just like his Uncle.
While Jimin was having a mini revelation, Ara's eyes were still trained on the forest. Her body was on high alert, eyes glancing back and forth between the trees. Her body slightly flinched when she thought she saw something move in the inky darkness.
Her hands went defensively to the side of her hip where she usually kept her gun, but slightly hissed when she remembered she didn't have one on her. Jimin looked back at her with a raised eyebrow, nudging her tensed figure with his arm.
"Mind still playing tricks on you?"
"Someone's here, we don't even have our guns on us. We need to leave. We can come back here tomorrow."
Lightly nodding his head he turned back to leave as Ara looked back to the forest, hoping that they would have better luck the next day.
↞↞↠↠
*??? P.O.V*
I step inside the building to be stopped by a guard.
"Oh come on man, you see me everyday!"
I whine, pulling down my turtleneck to expose the crescent tattoo engraved on my neck.
"Happy?"
The guard moves aside without another word as I open the door, walking down the long hallway filled with different kinds of weapons. The noise of hundreds of people talking at the same time rang in my ears as I glanced around at the people making the weapons.
I nod to the people that bow when they see me and stop when I'm met with the 15 foot door and another bulky guard.
"I have information for him."
The guard nods, opening the door to reveal him sitting behind the glass desk.
"What is it Bill?"
His deep baritone vibrating through the silent room sent shivers down my spine. I know that this man can become dangerous at times and he even kills someone that screws up.
"I was on patrol and I saw two familiar figures at your old place."
Leaning forward in his chair, his eyes; a well of jet black ink, held a gaze more fearsome than that of a hungry tiger as he held a cigarette between his lips, a small trail of smoke escaping from the corner of his mouth danced its way to the ceiling above us.
I gulped, suddenly not finding my voice to say what I wanted to because I knew he was in one of his mood swings. In one hand a gun lay loosely, his finger gently pressed against the trigger sending a bullet millimeters away from my face and onto the wall behind me with a bang that echoed throughout the room as I flinched with the sudden action.
"My patience is wearing thin. The next time I press this trigger you will have a bullet in your skull."
"I-it's him.. And his fiancé, they were searching for something."
"And what were they searching for?"
"I-I don't know. The girl was on my tail and they left. But she said they'll return tomorrow."
He smirks and leans back into his chair, exhaling a puff of smoke that twisted upwards.
"We have them where we want them.. You know what to do."
He says in a low rumble with a gaze that held a beast trapped in a cage, waiting to be released.
I nod, remembering the plan and bow.
"Yes sir. I will not let you down."
A/N P.O.V: For the readers that are here, thank you for taking the time to read the book till now and stay tuned for better upcoming chapters :)
Don't forget to vote and follow us on this account as well as our individual ones that can be found in this account's description and in chapter 1. Borahae!
Lots of love,
Shradh & Kim