◇ Chapter 4 ◇

»» — [The Mansion] — ««

Jungkook awoke with a beam of sunlight in his face. The curtains were ripped, and the sunlight got through the holes and into the room. He sat up and looked around. Oh yeah. That's right. They got caught up in a storm last night and went to stay at an old mansion. He felt like today was going to be a good day, so he hurriedly got up and changed without waking up the others. His phone still didn't react when he wanted to see what time it was. Looking at the old clock, he read 9am. Maybe he should wake up the others too. So he walked up to the the old curtains and pulled them to the side with a swift movement. Behind him he heard morning moans and annoyed exclamations as the others woke up by the bright light flooding the rom. Jungkook didn't turn around to look at them though. He had been completely dumbstruck by what he saw. The mansion had actually been located on the top of a hill, and you could see far across the forest. To the south he could see the mountains and the valley they had been heading to originally. The morning sun was shining brightly, and Jungkook thought that if they got up early enough, they would be able to see a gorgeous sunrise from here. This room had most certainly been built facing the south-east because of this view. It was absolutely amazing. And the fact that it had been raining all night made it even more gorgeous because the whole forest seemed supernaturally green and alive.

JK: "Guys. Come see this!"

JM: "Wow... This is-"

TH: "-beautiful!"

NJ: "I knew this would have been beautiful to have outside these windows, but I didn't actually expect it to be true. Or to be this amazing."

YG: "I didn't even know this view was here."

SJ: "Of course not. There were clouds blocking the view yesterday night."

HS: "What do you guys say? We get some breakfast and then move on?"

The rest: "YEAH!"

They took out some of the food they had brought and sat down together on the floor.

TH: "Why don't we stay here a little bit longer. This seems like a huge place, and I would love to go explore it."

NJ: "Do you think it's a good idea?"

TH: "What could happen? No one lives here, so it's all ours right? For now at least."

NJ: "I guess you're right. Let's stay then."

After their small breakfast, the exploration started.

They went to the entrance hall first, and gazed around. It felt and looked different now that it was daytime. This room had also had large windows though which daylight could get into the spacious room. The main hall had two grand staircases that curved around, along the walls. They met at a broad balcony, where a set of big doors had been placed, most certainly leading into the rooms on the upper level. The railing on the stairs were neatly done in in a bronzy colour, with ivy and some flowers engraved into it. There were dark markings on the redish-brown walls where paintings had once hung. At the centre of the room, below the balcony, was a circular platform. This platform had most certainly been used for big a statue, at the size of a human or even larger. To the right of the main entrance was a small table with a small vase. A dead flower stem was left in the vase. Above the table was a big mirror.

If you turned to the left of the entrance you would reach the big room, in which the boys had slept in. And if you turned right, past the mirror and through the doors to the right, you came to a room that looked like a real ball room. The floor was made out of marble, and the roof was painted with pictures of angels. There were seven angels in total. They had been painted in a circular formation, around the centre, holding flowers in their embrace, each angel with a different type of flower. A line of painted flowers and feathers ran along the edge of the ceiling. The mansion was old, so the images were blurry, and the angels' faces were indecisive. There were seven big windows, and along the inner wall were seven half pillars opposite the windows. Different flower veins of stone wound around those pillars too. In one end of the hall, was a big piano on raised ground. They moved on through a passage at the other end of the ball room. Here they found a series of smaller rooms. Well, they were only small compared to the great hall, because each room was larger than any room in a normal house. These rooms consisted of meeting rooms, gathering rooms, small living rooms and children's rooms. Further down the corridor were a bunch of diverse bedrooms in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Nothing particularly special.

They headed back to the entrance hall and went to the other side this time. The big room they had slept in had only one entrance and exit. And that was the one that lead to the entrance hall. Instead there was a set of doors next to that room, by the stairs that lead to another corridor with similar kinds of rooms as the ones they had found in the other end of the mansion. Nothing special here either.

Eventually they decided to go back to their room and eat since they had spent hours on exploring the ground floor of the building. They stayed there for another span of time before deciding to move on to the upper level.

After scaling the stairs and pushing the heavy doors open, they entered a big room once again. This wasn't actually a room. This was mainly a hall where doors on either side lead away to other places. The room was large, but nothing compared to some of the other rooms. There was nothing of interest in it. It was quite dark, since there were no windows other than one wide window in the ceiling and one in the floor. The glass was very dirty and it gave the room a greenish hue, and you couldn't see through any of them. The rest of the floor was made out of some dark marble like material. On the opposite side of the room was a smaller door. They opened the door to find a tiny balcony looking out over a huge garden. A broad path from the big doors downstairs led down the hill, on which the mansion was situated on, and into the main part of the garden. The garden itself, was arranged neatly with hedges separating the garden into small areas, and a diverse variety of flowers in all kinds of shapes and sizes. At the very centre was a fountain with a circular base. The fountain wasn't active since water didn't spur out of it. An ornament with one sun and two moons was located at the very top of the fountain. The water in it was so still and so clear that it almost looked like a mirror. The rest of the garden was filled with trees and flowers. Each of the small areas had a tree, and loads of flowers. The trees and flowers in each area was of a different kind and arranged around the fountain with small paths leading from it and into them.

TH: "Wow. They really love to arrange everything in seven groups here."

HS: "That's random. Anyways. It looks great so I don't mind."

They all went back inside and continued through the other doors. Many rooms upstairs were neatly arranged like the garden. There were statues and paintings everywhere. It was almost like being in a museum. They continued to explore and roam around the mansion for the rest of the day.

When they finally went back to their big room in the evening they were all tired. They had raced back to the room from the other end of the mansion. After sitting still and chilling for a while, they ate some food, before having a pillow fight. At last, when they stopped, it was late and they decided to go to sleep thereafter.