Junghoon POV
on a quiet evening.
Too quiet.
The house was restless. I could feel it watching us from the walls, listening too closely, its whispers sharp with suspicion. Sunhee sat on the living room floor, folding laundry that wasn't hers, humming softly under her breath. The sound settled into me, warm and unsettling
"You don't have to do that," I said.
She looked up and smiled. "I like helping."
That smile did something to me.
I stood there longer than necessary, watching the way the lamp light softened her features, the way her lashes cast shadows on her cheeks when she looked down. My chest felt tight, like something inside me was trying to escape.
"Why do you look at me like that?" she asked gently.
I swallowed. "Like what?"
"Like you're holding yourself back."
The house creaked.
A warning.
I stepped closer anyway.
"You shouldn't be here," I said quietly. "This place ruins people."
She stood, close enough now that I could feel her warmth. "You live here."
The words hit harder than any accusation.
"I'm not good," I whispered. "I've done terrible things."
"I know," she said.
That was when it happened.
Something inside me snapped not violently, but desperately. I cupped her face before I could think, before fear could stop me, and pressed my lips to hers.
The kiss wasn't rough.
It was shaking.
It tasted like restraint breaking apart.
For one terrifying second, I thought she would pull away.
She didn't.
Her hands rose slowly, uncertain at first, then resting against my chest like she was testing whether I was real. The world narrowed to that single point of contact soft, hesitant, aching.
The house screamed.
Lights flickered. Walls groaned. Shadows thrashed.
I pulled back, breath uneven, horror flooding me.
"I'm sorry," I said quickly. "I shouldn't have I didn't mean to"
She touched my cheek.
"Junghoon," she said softly. "Look at me."
I did.
"I'm not afraid," she continued. "And I don't regret it."
My heart stuttered.
"I don't understand what I'm feeling," I confessed, voice breaking. "But when I'm near you, the noise stops. The house stops. And I"
I closed my eyes. "I think I care about you. More than I should."
She smiled not bright, not playful but real.
"I care about you too," she said. "I think I already did when I saw how lonely you were."
The house slammed a door upstairs.
Sunhee POV
I knew kissing him would change everything.
I felt the darkness inside him not evil, but wounded and sharp, like broken glass turned inward. But I also felt his restraint, the way he fought himself every day.
When he kissed me, it wasn't hunger I felt.
It was fear.
And longing.
And hope.
"I'm not going anywhere," I told him. "Not because I don't see the danger. But because I see you."
His eyes darkened not with cruelty, but with resolve.
Together
After that, something shifted.
He stayed closer to me not possessive, but vigilant. If the lights flickered, he stood in front of me. If whispers rose, he answered them instead of letting them reach me. He stopped sleeping properly, choosing instead to sit outside my door at night.
"You don't have to guard me," I told him once.
"I do," he replied. "I want to."
We shared small, stolen moments quiet conversations, hands brushing, shoulders leaning together. He smiled more often now, though carefully, like he didn't trust happiness yet.
The house grew furious.
One night, a spirit lunged at me from the hallway wall.
Junghoon didn't hesitate.
He stepped between us, shouting my name, taking the blow meant for me. The spirit's claws raked his back before vanishing.
I caught him before he fell.
"Why?" I whispered.
He met my eyes, breathing hard.
"Because if this place takes you," he said, "there will be nothing left of me."
The house howled.
It had lost him.
And it knew it.