"Chay, seriously ? Everybody in this town knows that rumor and we've been talking about it for centuries. Your house has always been known as Ashton's infamous haunted mansion and you're telling me that you don't believe in it at all ?"

Chay frowned and rolled his eyes after hearing his new friend - Chester repeated that exact sentence for the 5th time that day. He has been receiving the same concern from several people he met around the neighborhood and in class, they just, pretty much, used different word choices.

"Oh c'mon Chester, I swear everybody is just being too dramatic ! I haven't seen anything 'paranormal' since I moved in, okay ? I can assure you that if you ask my brother, he'll tell you the same thing ! Maybe there used to be spirits who lived in my house but I'm pretty sure they moved out to somebody else's already. I bet it's because no one with sanity would want to live with my chaotic brother except my poor self. Or maybe... the ghosts moved on to another place. I mean, they probably moved in with you and you just have no idea about that !"

His facial expression relaxed and a mischievous grin appeared on his face when he saw Chester's face turn pale after his joke.

"I swear to God, Chay ! You are the worst !"

Their conversation came to an end when Porsche arrived in front of them on his favorite motorcycle. Chay waved Chester goodbye before getting on the back of his brother's vehicle.

They moved to this beautiful town about one month ago, and Porchay didn't really have any problems getting to know this new place. The only thing that gets on his nerves is just the mansion he's living in is rumored to be haunted. Some incidents were reported to have happened on the property years ago, and people are still talking about it. "The murder house", they called it. The news said that back in the 1800s, this place used to be a coven for witches to gather and practice witchcraft. Then years after that, in 1945, an orphanage was built on top of the vestige of what was once a coven. The locals called it "Heaven's Gate" because of the fact that the orphanage would take in unfortunate children around the area and give them a place to settle in.

Things just took a darker turn when sometime around the 1960s, this house witnessed the inhuman crimes of a serial killer who was known as 'WIK'. There were rumors that WIK was actually the only son of the head of the orphanage - Maggie. No one knew exactly what happened that led him to brutally end the life of his mother, then continued chasing down all the former employees and staff of the facility. It doesn't matter how far they ran away from the town and the orphanage, WIK would be able to find them one by one. He would then take them back to the old facility and put an end to their misery. No one made it out alive. When Maggie was still alive, she never allowed WIK's face to be published on any form of paper. People didn't get to know how he looked, except the people who worked or lived within the mansion. The only thing people knew about him was that on a gloomy Saturday, after the bodies were discovered by police, WIK just vanished into thin air and no one had heard anything more about him since then.

Rumor has that WIK is still wandering around, silently watching this property waiting for his next victim. Porchay is definitely not a scaredy-cat, but he's not fond of these types of topics either.

When they arrived at the front gate, Porsche told Chay not to wait for him tonight because he had some stuff that needed to be taken care of and wouldn't be back on time for dinner.

"Buddy, order yourself something good and take a rest, okay ? It's Friday anyway so don't stress yourself out thinking about school stuff. Don't forget to lock the door when you need to go back to your room. I love you !"

Porsche placed a kiss on Chay's forehead before heading out of town. Watching as his brother's silhouette slowly disappeared at the end of the road, Porchay unlocked the door and got back inside his house, not knowing that from afar, somebody had been eyeing him with interest since the boy got back.

'Angel, you're finally back. This time, no one can take you away from me anymore. I promise you that !'

Said someone whispered under his breath, the shadow's gazes filled with unexplainable longing and despair. As if he'd known Porchay for a thousand years.

Getting back into the mansion, after what seemed like an hour battling with himself whether he should go for fried chicken or pizza, Porchay decided that he was craving for chicken more than anything else. So pizza could wait. He picked up the phone and placed an order, then casually scrolled on TikTok while waiting for the delivery guy to arrive with his beloved deep fried chicken.

'Knock, knock, knock'

Three loud knocks on the door startled the boy and almost made him jump out of the comfortable sofa.

"Geez, that was fast !"

Porchay mumbled to himself before excitingly pacing towards the door to get to his delivery.

"O-oh hi ! How may I help you, sir ?"

Unexpectedly, behind the door wasn't a face that Porchay was familiar with. The boy stopped on his track when he realized that the man in front of him was not the delivery guy he'd been expecting. But Porchay was taught to behave better than just being an impolite brat, so instead of rudely closing the door on the stranger's face, Porchay stood still next to the doorway, carefully watching the guy, wondering who he was.

The stranger dressed fully in black, a black velvety long sleeve suit jacket, black loose pants and a black see through shirt hidden behind the expensive suit vest. His hair was long and silken dark. A few strands of hair fell over his face. The man had sharp features, mesmerizing obsidian eyes, a pretty nose and a hypnotic smile. The unexpected guest looked like he just came straight back from a fancy night party. Too formal for Porchay's own preference to be honest, but it didn't seem bad at all to the stranger. Porchay had to admit that he was pretty attractive.

"Sorry for bothering you this late, I'm Kim, I live in the house down the street. I just came back from a long business trip and my brother told me we have new neighbors. I guess I just want to come by and say hi !"

The guy who claimed to be 'Kim' finished his introduction with a bright smile, and Porchay's heart suddenly thudded loudly inside his chest. Seriously though, is this guy even real ? How could someone be this handsome ? Porchay felt a wave of intrusive thoughts come crashing through his mind within a few minutes.

When he finally lifted his eyes up from his own bunny slippers, his big eyes met with Kim's burning gaze. Porchay couldn't really explain why but something about Kim's look sent shivers down his spine.

"I'm Porchay. Nice to meet you, Kim !"

Chay replied softly, nervously licking his bottom lip without even acknowledging it.

"Your name suits you well, gorgeous !"

Kim smiled again, and Porchay felt his cheeks turned as red as a tomato.

"You look like you just came back from a meeting, did you eat dinner ? I'm waiting for my dinner to be delivered, you can stay and have dinner with me if you want !"

Okay, Porchay almost screamed and slapped himself when he realized he literally just said that. They had just met for a few minutes and he fucking offered the guy to stay for dinner because that guy was cute and attractive ? What if Kim thinks he's a weirdo ?

"Sure, I would love to ! It seems like you're completely alone and your brother is not anywhere near here anyway !"

Kim face went blank for a second when he realized he just said something he was not supposed to.

"Hmm... how did you know that my brother is not home ?"

Porchay asked with some suspicion in his tone.

"Well... it's just my brother told me that you moved in here with your brother and since I'm not seeing him around from the moment you opened the door, I assumed that he must be somewhere else."

Kim tried so hard to make his answer sound natural, and when he saw that the boy's face relaxed a bit, Kim secretly let out a sigh of relief.

"Alright, come in. It's cold outside and I definitely don't want you to catch a cold later. I don't know what type of food you will like, I didn't expect any guests when I bought my dinner so I just ordered some fried chicken, I hope it's okay with you."

Porchay rambled when he closed the door after Kim. Kim took a look around the mansion, his eyes fixed to the staircase that leads upstairs.

"Porchay, everything will be okay for me ! It's my pleasure you offer me to be here for dinner. Actually, I need to fix my outfit a little bit, would you mind if I borrow the restroom ?"

Kim asked, and Porchay nodded in response.

"Of course, the restroom is upstairs, the second door to the left !"

Kim left a "thank you" before he quickly disappeared above the stairs. Porchay was downstairs talking with the delivery guy, Kim could still hear his angelic and delightful voice echoing from the distance. Only God knew how much Kim missed hearing it.

Walking along the empty corridor, Kim didn't stop at the second door on the left. Instead, he walked toward the end of the hall, then in the next second, the slender man vanished inside the wall like a trail of smoke.

When he arrived at the secret cabin hidden behind the printed flowery wallpaper, Kim stared at the bloody creatures who were crawling in the dark, his face showed no emotion. Some of the creatures had their faces completely destroyed and turned into a mess of rotten flesh, some of them were missing an arm or a foot. Hearing the eerie wailing and scratching noises coming from the throat of the creatures, Kim didn't even flinch. He looked back at them with disgust and anger before kicking their hands that were holding on too tight to his feet. The man finally spoke up, but his voice was as cold as ice.

"Listen carefully, you scumbags ! Angel is finally back, and this time, I wouldn't allow anything and anyone to hurt him. So if any of you dare to approach and scare my beloved angel away by any means, I'll make sure your suffering lasts till eternity !"

A young boy appeared from the darkness of the corner, he happily skipped towards Kim and held his wrist. Seeing that the boy was the one who was coming, Kim let out a warm smile, he gently patted the younger boy's head before pulling away.

"Brother Kim, you said you would come back soon. And I waited for eleven years, having to spend most of my time with these annoying animals !"

Kim huffed out a light chuckle, looking at the boy who was pouting like an upset child whose toys were taken away from him. His gaze turned gentle as he looked inside those beautiful gray eyes.

"Ludovic, I won't ever need to leave this place again. Angel is back ! Soon, we'll reunite and become a family again ! But for now, I need you to keep an eye on these old hags. They already wasted too much of our efforts and our happy time !"

When his eyes turned back to look at the crawling creatures, the fury and hatred came back once again. Kim proudly gave an approving nod as Ludovic tightened his grip on the chains that were tied to the necks of the crawling creatures. He waved Ludovic goodbye, seeing that the boy also delightfully waved his hand back at him.

Not having any more mercy to spare, the man left those scarred creatures behind and went back down stairs.

From the top of the stairs, Kim saw Porchay, who was too focused on setting the dinner table to pay attention to his guest. He couldn't help but feel more desire to hold the innocent young man in his arms.

"Look how sweet and naive you are. You invited a stranger into your house without any hesitation. Now you're turning your back against the stairs, not paying any attention to your surroundings. How can I ever feel relieved enough to leave you alone to fend for yourself in this twisted world ? But it's okay, my love. Because we all know that sooner or later, you'll forever be mine, Angel !"

He whispered under his breath, making sure no one but himself was able to hear it.

The man's cold fingers danced on top of the railing following every step he took. Just like he was playing some types of mysterious melody on an invisible piano.

Kim put up another fake genuine smile on his face as he slowly walked toward the innocent boy. And little did Porchay know, he was destined to fall in love with the devil.