🔰A NEW START🔰

🌼Aerin's P.o.v🌼

Wednesday morning, birds chirping, my room glowing, thanks to the glaring daylight streaming through the windows, making it unbearably hot. What a start to the day. I just sit there, not moving, simply staring at my toes like a dazed person. I just don’t know what to do with my life.

My thoughts were interrupted by a woman who suddenly banged open the door and stormed in. “Take a shower before you turn into a grilled chicken!” she barked, tossing a towel onto my face. “You haven’t showered for…” she started counting on her fingers like a preschooler learning to add. “Three...four...five days!” she screamed angrily. Given everything we’ve been through, I expected her to be mad.

I stared at her, expressionless, letting her vent her anger on me. “I just want you to come…” she began, but I cut her off. “No, Aria, we discussed this last night. I don’t want to come. I don’t know anyone there, and I prefer staying here. Do you understand?” I demanded, storming out of the room and into the bathroom. I could hear her footsteps behind me, but I was fast enough to close the door before she could follow me in.

On the other hand, I am truly tired of trying to make her understand. We are the best friends everyone dreams of having. We fight, yell, and throw things at each other, but this fight? I don’t know how long it will last. We’ve been arguing for a month, haven’t hung out since then, and every time we face each other, it turns into an argument. That’s why I’ve confined myself to my room. She is my closest friend, who understands me better than I understand myself. “I’ll be there, isn’t that enough for you? Mom wants us to come home,” she yelled from outside the bathroom.

I genuinely didn’t want to go. We’ve been living in Australia for 19 years, and I’ve never left the country. Meanwhile, Mom and Dad live in Seoul. We both did our schooling in Australia, and we also graduated high school here. Now it’s time to go to university, and Aria decided we should study in Seoul together. “But Aria, what about the house? I don’t want to leave,” I questioned, hoping to stay.

When no one was there to take care of me, this house refreshed me with joy and happiness. When nobody was there to listen to my tears, this house listened to me in the dark, even though it was silent—just the kind of silence I craved the most.

My father built this dream house based on a drawing I made when I was just five years old. This house is my everything. "I’ve asked Rene to take care of the house, so you don’t need to worry about that," Aria clarified. "She said she’ll clean the house every month and has also arranged for the maids to stay here and take care of the farm," she continued. Wow, everything has been taken care of—she left me with no reasons to worry.

I still tried to think of something she might have missed. There’s nothing! "Okay," I finally conceded, giving up. I continued washing up. "Kerry, help me pack the bags and also ask Rene to finalize our tickets," Aria shouted.

Why am I so reluctant to leave this place? Why am I so terrified? Buckle up, it’s storytime. My name is Aerin. I’m an orphan and an only child. My mother disappeared the day I was born, and I lived with my dad for five years until he disappeared too, leaving me with nothing but this house he built for me. I don’t recognize my mom’s face—there are no pictures, no portraits. Their disappearance remains a mystery. Some say they’re dead; others say they ran away with money.

I have no idea what to believe. Mr. Chan, Rene’s dad, took care of me and signed me up for adoption the day before someone—someone I think I knew—tried to push me off a bridge. He said I would be safer with a real family, and that’s when Aria’s parents adopted me.

Sarah and Grey, the coolest parents in the universe, but their busy schedules didn't leave much room for improvement in our daily lives. They were always occupied, especially Dad, who was constantly on business trips. They left Aria and me in this house and visited us once every three months. They took care of our needs so well that we never had a reason to complain, and they even gave me more attention than Aria, just to make her jealous.

Those were fun times. They used to play with us and help with our schoolwork, especially Mom, while Dad was busy intimidating any boys who came over for group assignments. I've lived in Australia my whole life, and I hope I’ll do alright in Seoul.

After getting out of the shower, I put on my unicorn pajamas and went straight to my room. Aria had packed my suitcase. “Should I pack your laptop too?” asked Kerry. “No, I’ll keep it with me,” I replied, taking it from her. “Where is Aria?” I asked Kerry as I dried my hair with a towel. “She’s downstairs with Ms. Rene,” she responded.

I went downstairs to find all the staff members sitting in the living room, listening to something Aria was explaining. As I approached, I heard her say, “Please keep this house clean, don’t allow any strangers, get your payments from Rene on time. If anyone wants to leave, speak to Rene. We’ll be back for vacations,” she finished, handing Ms. Rene some documents.

She came towards me as soon as she saw me. "I am so excited, Aerin!" she squealed and hugged me tightly, making my ribs ache. "Me too," I mumbled. "Our flight is in an hour. Just get dressed; I'll wait for you in the car. I need to pack my chocolates too," she said, sprinting to her room.

I went up to my room and changed into a t-shirt and jeans. Kerry brought out my coat and helped me put it on while I struggled with my unicorn pajamas. I tried to stuff them into my bag, but they were stubborn and wouldn’t fit.

"Unnie, give them to me. I'll put them in your suitcase," she chuckled, yanking the pajamas from me. I followed her downstairs, and she ran outside to our car, shouting at her dad to get my suitcase out of the trunk. She quickly stuffed the pajamas in and placed the suitcase back. "Come on, Aerin, let's go," Aria said, breathing next to me. "Yeah, let's go," I replied.

"Have a safe journey," Kerry exclaimed as the car started. All the staff and other workers waved a beautiful goodbye, and my house faded away as Mr. Ducey drove out of the gate and onto the road.

I’m not feeling okay, but let new adventures begin.

♧♤♧♤♧♤

House her father made 😉😙

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I prefer to keep this book aesthetic so I hope I don't bore you guys with the number of pictures I'll post in the forthcoming chapters.

This chapter is a just afresh start, sort of bore for me because I read it more than 50 times, nevertheless wait till Aerin and Aria confront the other characters.❤💕

Do vote and comment ❤

Word count - 1296

The beginning chapters might be common and slow but the other chapters are lit AF and it's a slow burn which means a book that doesn't try to surge itself or keep escalating things as the story goes on