there was another baby on their way to their lives. an extension of the love nayeon has impulsively nurtured over the years for jihyo. so, how could nayeon ignore, or even be angry, when jihyo, despite hiding it from her, carried the extension of them? nayeon can’t resist her, and then all it takes for jihyo to make her speak again is the sweet promise that, if nayeon talked to her, she’d receive an even sweeter apology. of course jihyo appeals to nayeon’s weaknesses: her voice drips like honey against nayeon’s ear, and she’s beautiful. dolled up for nayeon, because nayeon deserved it. an hour without hearing nayeon’s voice had been just enough for jihyo to get ready for her.

moving backwards, to when nayeon had deafeningly rushed down the stairs with jisoo in her lap, nayeon was thrilled. she had cried and hugged jihyo tightly then, squishing jisoo between them, and only stopping when their angry baby (she definitely got that from jihyo, nayeon thinks) bit her. the pain was, in no way, felt by nayeon, who was numbed by sheer happiness. still, nayeon pulled away, only so to avoid jisoo from biting her again, as the grown baby’s tiny bunny teeth had already left scars on her before.

it was only after putting jisoo to bed that nayeon suddenly gave jihyo the cold shoulder.

“why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

jisoo is fast asleep at that time, and the both of them were ready for bed. words don’t instantly come out from jihyo at nayeon’s grumble of a question, instead she presses her lips to nayeon’s puffed cheek and straddles her, perching on her lap prettily, because that was what she had promised nayeon she would do. give her a sweet, sweet apology that would make nayeon feel everything — but betrayed.

“should i be honest?” jihyo’s head tilts slightly to the side, like the angle was better to inspect nayeon’s face. it wasn’t, jihyo convinces herself it was, but she was all but preening for nayeon, with her hair down and big, doe eyes staring into nayeon’s. both devilish desire and intrinsic innocence were in jihyo’s eyes — she was beautiful, even without makeup. especially without makeup. nayeon loved to stare at her bare face, instantly fixated on the mole at the center of jihyo’s nose.

“yes. why does everyone know? even soo knew before me!” nayeon grunts, irritated. or she pretends to be — she definitely does, jihyo knows, because nayeon’s hands on her waist are as soft as they always were, showing no signs of imminent anger. nayeon is exhilarated. “it’s not fair, ji, they got to meet our baby before i did.”

jihyo is left out of words then, taken aback. “im nayeon,” jihyo calls. she exhales, the corners of her mouth raising in a subtle smile. “you are so cute.”

as quick as a blink, nayeon forgets about the main topic of their conversation. “well, that’s obvious.” nayeon brags, her ego hitting the sky at jihyo’s smallest praise. instead of rigid, the way her body had stayed when she was aiming for a serious talk with jihyo, nayeon becomes soft, arms readily encircling jihyo’s thin waist. “you fell for me because i’m cute.”

“no.” jihyo promptly denies. that too, im nayeon, jihyo thinks. if jihyo wasn’t ready for something else, something other than the pillow talk — that could happen later — she would’ve told nayeon that she was, in fat, the most incredible person she’d ever met. not to feed nayeon’s already big ego, but because nayeon was, truly, the best person in her life. but the pregnancy hormones were starting to be a bother, and jihyo almost can’t hold herself back when nayeon frowns and her bottom lip sticks out. nayeon was so cute that it aroused her. “i fell for you because of this.”

nayeon groans, not expecting jihyo to palm her so abruptly over her pants. looking down, nayeon confirms that jihyo’s hand was there. she was feeling the tight grip well enough, but looking at it seemed to make the feeling even better.

“ah, that’s a lie!” nayeon pulls away, hands finding support on the mattress, right behind her. the way she poses makes jihyo fall again — because, as shameful as it was, she loved how convinced nayeon was, how much of a show-off she could be, charmingly arrogant on that matter. with a sly smile and her tongue between her teeth, nayeon looked like a dream. “you said ‘i love you’ way before you even saw it.”

“did i?” jihyo asks as she makes her way off nayeon’s lap. nayeon doesn’t have to answer her question, it is nothing but jihyo’s way to dismiss the sudden topic, but as jihyo kneels in front of nayeon, nayeon thinks about many ways she could proudly tell jihyo that her cock was great, but she had definitely fallen for her cuteness first.

the answer never comes out, because soon the very subject of their conversation is in jihyo’s mouth, making nayeon forget once again where they should have been going with their late night talk — what was once a discussion about pregnancy. it doesn’t matter anyway, because nayeon would rather have her cock sucked, keeping her eyes on jihyo’s with rapture as she received her deserved apology.

so far, their youngest baby was doing well, resting calmly in their warm nest, not giving jihyo any trouble. compared to when she was pregnant with jisoo, not a lot had changed. the baby growing in her womb didn’t seem like they were going to be troublesome, and jihyo hoped things stayed like that until the end — she was still prepared for further turbulences, pregnancy was unpredictable, but up to that point, both jihyo and their baby were getting along well.

with pregnancy, some things change for the better, while other things leave jihyo with mixed feelings. if nayeon was already overly protective over her, it gets twice as worse. it’s cute, jihyo wouldn’t contest, receiving nayeon’s calls randomly throughout her days, having nayeon constantly checking up on her, wanting to be sure that jihyo was doing well, that the both of them were doing well. at times it becomes a nuisance: when nayeon forgets jihyo had already been there and that she knew how to take care of herself.

‘so far, so good’ is what jihyo answers as a reflex when she is asked about her pregnancy. the things that bothered her, she kept to herself and to nayeon, though some of her worries were still be sealed for herself only.

it was still too early to tell if her body was going to change the way it did with jisoo. jihyo worried, not about the eventual stretch marks that would appear on certain spots of her body or the weight gain, but about how she would feel when those things became her reality again. she wasn’t prepared for another baby — her body was, jihyo had never felt more whole, sincerely fulfilled with her small family, but the pregnancy was still sudden, and jihyo still had a lot to think about her current situation.

it’s overthinking, jihyo knows, she should be happy, and she was happy. at the same time, small things about their routine start to bother her.

the first time it happens, jihyo is dressing jisoo up for a birthday party, while she herself is wearing what she deemed being rags. the twins had been invited by a friend, and the chances of them going without their best friend jisoo were shallow — it was even better if they could bring more kids, the parent organizing the party had told jeongyeon.

“baby,” jihyo calls, gentle as she brushed jisoo’s hair. to jihyo’s relief, jisoo enjoyed having her hair at a shoulder length, short enough for jihyo not to have a hard time brushing it, but long enough for it to be styled diversely. “will you want pigtail braids or buns?”

jisoo is teetering between jihyo’s knees, standing just like nayeon — unable to keep still. jihyo had tried to convince her to sit down on a chair, with the argument that it would be better for brushing her hair and styling it, but jisoo was full of energy early in the morning. she’d been babbling to jihyo about what she and the twins had been up to at school while still deciding if she wanted her mom’s lap or to stand up and keep swaying back and forth.

“buns.” jisoo answers shortly after being interrupted in her little vent about how kyungwan, no, wannie, had learned how to fish after a camping trip with his moms and beom, and that she wanted to learn too. “why don’t we go camping too? mama told me you used to do that a lot, but you never took me with you!”

jihyo laughs, sensing jisoo’s pout despite not being able to see her face. “we did. you were an even smaller baby back then.”

jihyo wonders if she should break it to jisoo that they couldn’t fish at all. maybe nayeon would attempt to learn if jisoo really wanted it, but there were other activities, easier ones, that jisoo could engage with when they were camping, especially now that she had grown. she’d grown only a tiny bit since they last went camping, but a considerable bit. enough to help on basic tasks.

“can we go again?”

jihyo frowns at what she’s looking at — she could have sworn she’d do a better job with the buns, but while one looked perfect, the other bun wasn’t coming out the way she wanted.

“we can, baby. i bet your mama wants to go too. it’s been so long,” jihyo sighs, knowing that she wouldn’t achieve perfection for as long as jisoo kept standing unsteadily. “can you sit on mommy’s lap, baby?”

jihyo eventually gets what she wants, and jisoo looks like the cutest baby jihyo had ever seen — and the fact that she was her baby had nothing to do with it. even jeongyeon melted when jihyo showed up at the party with jisoo, and she only didn’t squish jihyo’s baby and filled her with kisses because jihyo didn’t want jeongyeon to ruin her hard work.

nayeon wasn’t there with them because she had to work. it wasn’t often that jihyo got a lighter schedule than nayeon, and jihyo wasn’t acquainted with hanging out with other parents. not as much as nayeon was, at least. perhaps she should have let jeongyeon take jisoo along with the twins and avoided the party, because it’s then, when they’re already there, that jihyo realizes that all of the other kids’ moms were terribly well dressed for a kid’s party, while jihyo had barely any makeup on her face and wore the simplest clothes she could find.

that is not what jeongyeon pays attention to, or anyone else but jihyo.

how the moms holding their newborns looked pretty, dolled up even, when jihyo hasn’t thought about ‘looking pretty’ in a while. what shouldn’t be a problem becomes one when jihyo realizes it had been weeks since she last wore makeup, which was something she liked to do, but had neglected because her time was short. impulsively, she had been paying more attention to jisoo, nayeon and her worries to realize that she had been repeating a situation that had already happened — when was pregnant with jisoo.

jeongyeon’s voice takes her back to the party. jihyo, who once had been quiet and observant, stuck in her own thoughts, looks at her friend, who had made her a question.

“for how long do you think she is going to take that bunny everywhere with her?” jeongyeon sounds interestingly curious as she looks at jisoo, who was playing with the twins and the birthday kid.

jihyo’s worries are no longer there when she catches her baby with a concentrated frown, small knuckles squeezing the blue bunny hard by its ears. jisoo was starting to hate losing, indicating jihyo and nayeon’s failure as mothers on that matter, but she looked adorable when she was upset with her scores. memory games have never looked so thrilling as it did when jisoo was playing them.

jihyo smiles, both at jeongyeon’s question and because of jisoo. “until nayeon gives her another bunny.”

it’s christmas when the first week of jihyo’s fourth month of pregnancy is starting.

at the living room of the house of the ims, there was jihyo and jeongyeon, who were both taking care of the decoration. at some point, jeongyeon asks to see how her youngest niece, or nephew, was doing, and so there jihyo was: standing with her (nayeon’s) hoodie lifted up to her ribs, showing jeongyeon her growing (barely) tummy.

“it’s uncomfortably small.” jeongyeon rants, kneeling in front of jihyo, face to face with her bare tummy. she doesn’t touch it, instead inspects it, like jihyo had an odd irregularity, doomed to having small bumps during her pregnancies. the cooing makes jihyo embarrassed and her lower lip puffs out — out of everything jeongyeon could have brought up to poke fun at her, she uses the one thing jihyo can’t control. “are you sure they’re im nayeon’s baby? they’re so shy!”

 “did you come early to make fun of my bump again?” jihyo lets out a huff of an answer, covering her stomach again. she watches as jeongyeon gets up, with an annoying smile, and almost bites jeongyeon’s hand when she reaches for her head, patting it softly, proudly, tender in a way that makes jihyo lose the pout.

“that was one of my goals,” jeongyeon teases. she leaves one last pat at the top of jihyo’s head, like jihyo was a baby cat who had done an adorable thing and deserved praises and pets. she’s like that because jihyo is pregnant, surely. jeongyeon definitely wouldn’t be that soft otherwise. it was not like she found jihyo genuinely cute and deserving of such treatment. “i think you’re becoming an adult, park.”

jihyo crosses her arms under her chest, eyes narrowing as she studies jeongyeon’s face, searching for any hints of sarcasm.

“i’m 30.” jihyo replies, categorically. there is a box with the decoration left sitting on the ground. jihyo kneels and searches for tree ornaments inside the box, and soon golden and white decoration is suddenly thrown at jeongyeon. “do something useful, yoo jeongyeon.”

nighttime arrives along with sana and tzuyu, who were the last guests to make their appearance at jihyo and nayeon’s house.

they didn’t always have their friends around on christmas, but that year jihyo figured dahyun and mina would like to have them around at that date. with that, she also invited the rest of her friends. thankfully, nayeon was too busy with dahyun and mina’s baby to pay attention to the fact that she was, once again, in the same room as minatozaki sana.

“how can she be so calm with you?” dahyun lets out a frustrated noise. kazuha had been irritated since the night had arrived, refusing to eat but pouting at the discomfort of sheer hunger. not even mina managed to get her to feed and they were starting to worry, until nayeon became aware of their problem and solved it as easily as she did everything else.

“she just loves auntie nayeon,” nayeon brags.

nayeon is standing as she keeps kazuha held firmly with one arm, the other guiding a bottle filled with warm milk to the baby’s hungry mouth, cooing at the little sounds kazuha made of content, lips wide as she smiled. nayeon had missed that experience — she thinks about jisoo, remembering the time when jisoo was as small as kazuha, her chest burning when she realizes that she would soon have that again in her life.

“no, i’m serious, unnie, what did you do to make her like this?!” dahyun asks, almost desperately. kazuha looks at her mom while vigorously sucking the silicon material at the top of the bottle that replaced mina as a food source, unaware of dahyun’s frustration, enjoying being held by nayeon so much that she accepted the food.

“i’m just too good, hyunie.” nayeon boasts about her baby whisperer abilities, laughing when dahyun lets her body weight fall fully against the couch, releasing what would be the cutest ‘unnie!’ nayeon had ever heard if it wasn’t for jihyo. “all you need to do is hold her right. as a fluent speaker of the baby language, i can translate what this little girl was whining about to you earlier. it went something like this: ‘mom, quit being a dumbass and hold me like pretty auntie nayeon does!’”

mina laughs, resting on the couch next to dahyun — she’d been quietly watching their interaction. mina earns a frown from dahyun, and in order to make up for laughing at nayeon’s silly antics, she holds dahyun’s hand, kissing her temple softly after muttering a small apology.

“do you want to hold her?” nayeon offers before dahyun gets to sulk, despite not really wanting to let go of the baby in her arms. as kazuha was dahyun and mina’s, the question had to be made, but if nayeon could, she’d gladly borrow kazuha for until jihyo was in labor. 

“won’t it bother her?” dahyun asks, reluctant after spending minutes trying to get kazuha to feed. “she looks so peaceful.”

nayeon shakes her head. “she will be fine. come on, stand up.”

while nayeon busies herself giving mina and dahyun the ultimate baby guide, at another corner of the room, jisoo is distracted with jeongyeon, momo, tzuyu and the twins — much to nayeon’s relief, because jisoo could be jealous when it came to her or jihyo with other kids, unless they were interacting with the twins.

jihyo is talking to sana somewhere else, not joining the others, because sana had questions for her. they were mostly about pregnancy, like sana was trying to get her information from the best person, but jihyo was far from being an expert regardless of having had jisoo and being currently pregnant.

what was once an in-depth conversation about what pregnancy felt like and how it affected her physically turns into jihyo sharing worries about having a depressive episode again. with sana, jihyo can talk about it without being pushed to tell nayeon whatever she was feeling, unlike jeongyeon, who would make jihyo open up. jeongyeon would do it only for jihyo’s best, of course, but sana allows jihyo to talk before she gets to say anything, which jihyo appreciates.

“i’m trying to prevent that from happening,” jihyo explains, trying to find the right words to express what she felt. “i’m not bothered with anything right now, because this time i was able to detect my mistake soon. like, a couple of weeks ago i was getting lazy with things i like to do, so i watched out for that, and i’m no longer forgetting to take care of myself too.”

“so there’s nothing wrong, right?” sana asks, careful as if she was dealing with a bomb that could burst at any second. nobody except nayeon knew what it was like when jihyo was at her worst while pregnant with jisoo, but their friends knew that it had a lot of impact on her. so sana is careful because she’s afraid of the answer she could get. her kind hand squeezes jihyo’s shoulder, as if giving her support, encouraging her to talk.

“nothing is wrong.” jihyo replies, her answer carrying certainty, honest as she speaks. “it’s just hard to think about the past knowing it could happen again. i don’t want to go through that again.”

“you won’t,” sana assures. like a magnet, she hugs jihyo. it’s as protective as when she hugs tzuyu, because that was sana’s way to comfort people. jihyo nods in her embrace, trusting everything sana told her. “it’s normal to worry, but you shouldn’t keep thinking about that. just keep being jihyo and you will be fine. and talk to nayeon. always.”

“it’s hard,” jihyo lets out a whine of an answer. “she will be worried too.”

“that’s what a wife is for,” sana pulls away, with a smile on her face. “better than anyone else, you know nayeon would want you to share what you’re feeling with her. so do that.”

jihyo sighs in defeat, about to say something when she feels a pair of arms around her waist. it was nayeon, of course. jihyo knew by heart.

“do what?” nayeon asks, holding jihyo protectively in her arms.

sana bites her lip mischievously before answering. “leave you and marry me, im nayeon.”

nayeon frowns at that, attempting to let go of jihyo, but jihyo grips nayeon’s arms before she gets to intimidate sana. “jihyo!”

“sana, i think tzuyu is calling you.” jihyo says, ignoring nayeon’s irritated whine. sana winks over nayeon’s direction before she leaves, and only when she joins the other girls does jihyo lets nayeon set herself free. “she was just playing around. it’s christmas, don’t sulk, im nayeon.”

“you let her tease me but you don’t let me fight back.” nayeon mutters grumpily, circling jihyo’s waist with her arms again once jihyo turns around to face her. “you’re lucky i’m madly in love with you, or else i’d be hurt.”

“i am very lucky.” jihyo bumps her nose into nayeon’s. her arms found themselves wrapped around nayeon’s neck the moment she was embraced by her, like it was her body’s nature to be with nayeon in that way. “will you build gingerbread houses with me, unnie?”

nayeon feels like her heart wouldn’t resist and erupt in her chest the longer she stared at jihyo and her big, starry eyes, which blinked adorably to persuade her. the sweet question is followed by a word she hasn’t heard from jihyo in way too long. unnie. jihyo does that on purpose, in order to make nayeon susceptible to be easily manipulated, and nayeon doesn’t attempt to fight it.

“i’ll do anything with you, babygirl.” nayeon relents.

“unnie,” jihyo does it again.

it’s late then and their friends were already gone — nayeon had a hard time giving a sleepy jisoo a shower, and she only did it because jihyo wouldn’t let her baby sleep unless she was clean. as a reward for her hard work, nayeon able to join the jihyo in the bathtub.

jihyo’s back is against nayeon’s front. there’s a silly duck floating on the water of their bathtub because nayeon had mistakenly taken it to their bathroom instead of putting it somewhere else to dry. jihyo was entertained with the toy, so nayeon wasn’t bothered enough to take it out of the water, letting jihyo stare at it as she rubbed her tummy.

the warmth is comfortable — the water is warmer than nayeon expected it to be, and allowing her muscles to relax felt like a prize. having jihyo in her arms made it all better, truly the best alternative to taking a shower by herself.

none of them wanted to leave the cozy place and jihyo didn’t want to disturb their silence, but she wouldn’t be able to sleep unless she spoke to nayeon about a certain topic. so jihyo moves her hands to nayeon’s knees. she’d been sitting snugly against nayeon, between her legs and the tender touch makes nayeon lay a kiss over her head.

“unnie, we need to talk.”

nayeon sighs. the tone jihyo uses leads nayeon to think she might have done something wrong — it’s the same voice she uses when she has to talk to jisoo about her behavior.

“before you say anything, i didn’t mean to snub momo and jeongyeon’s house,” nayeon refers to when they were playing with shaped biscuits and candy earlier, building their gingerbread houses. “i know you don’t like it when i, uhh… teach? these things to jisoo. but they were making fun of our house too!”

 jihyo can hardly stop herself from laughing. what nayeon says takes her by surprise, as she didn’t remember nayeon saying or doing anything bad towards their friends — nayeon had just turned herself in, willingly. but jihyo doesn’t lose her focus.

“it’s not about that.” jihyo reassures. only then, jihyo notices nayeon had tensed up upon her call, because nayeon relaxes once she knows she’s not going to be scolded. “i wanted to tell you…” jihyo stops, and reformulates what she wanted to say. “share with you something that you should know.”

“is everything alright?” is the first thing nayeon asks, moving back just slightly to fix her posture. jihyo lays her head against nayeon’s shoulder, the position too comfortable for her to change it.

“mhm. it is. i figured i should tell you that i was feeling down recently,” jihyo continues. nayeon’s hand on her belly makes her feel safe to say anything — and it’s not like she’d ever not be safe with nayeon, but feeling nayeon that close, protecting her diligently, encouraged jihyo to speak. “i noticed that i was keeping myself busy with work, and jisoo, and you, so much that i was starting to stop doing basic things that i like to do.”

“baby,” nayeon says suddenly, tensing up again.

“it’s not what you’re thinking.” jihyo says in a hurry. she is forced to change her position to sit on nayeon’s lap, because that would be the only way she’d be able to look at her. there was nothing but care in nayeon’s eyes, jihyo observes as she fixes herself in a better position. “i’m talking to you about this because, in the future, i might forget that this pregnancy isn’t everything there is about me. i need you to check up on me, make sure i won’t go back to that place.”

nayeon nods, like she was letting jihyo know she understood her. nayeon was still concerned, her face no longer relaxed the way it was before. “are you sure that’s all?”

“that’s all.” jihyo answers sincerely. “nayeon, i don’t need you to worry.” warm fingers find themselves against nayeon’s neck, thumbs supporting nayeon’s chin, making nayeon look at her. “what i need is for you to make sure i won’t stop being me.” jihyo sighs, frustrated when she can’t find better words to tell nayeon to take care of her. “just… be im nayeon and make sure i’m park jihyo.”

“im jihyo.” nayeon corrects.

“im jihyo.” jihyo gives in. “do you understand what i’m trying to say?”

nayeon knows exactly what jihyo is trying to communicate to her — she will still be worried, that’s how nayeon was when it came to jihyo, but she wouldn’t let her worries consume her. that was just what nayeon was. she made things easy, which was exactly what jihyo needed in her life. someone to look at things from a brighter perspective.

nayeon lets out an agreeing hum. “do not worry. praise the babygirl. encourage her to do the activities she likes.” she makes a list, counting on her fingers the tasks she had to complete starting from that moment.

“that’s a way to put it.” jihyo smiles softly. “i love you, nayeon.”

“not more than i love you.” nayeon mutters, inching forward to kiss jihyo’s lips — she knows that once jihyo pulls away, they’d argue about who loved the other more, so nayeon makes the kiss longer, drowning in the sweetness of jihyo’s lips when there’s nobody (but a goofy yellow duck on the water) to witness it.

“minji.” nayeon says, suddenly, when they’re in bed and ready to bid their goodbyes to christmas. “i want our baby to be called minji.”

jihyo shakes her head in disapproval, her head against nayeon’s chest. the baby bump hardly prevents her from cuddling snugly with nayeon — what jeongyeon liked to constantly remind jihyo was true, it was small, barely noticeable, but the baby was healthy regardless of that.

“no. we already have a ‘ji’.” jihyo argues.

“but i like the ji!” nayeon whines. “how about yunjin?”

“we can have the yun, but not the ji again!” jihyo says, fatally determined. “what about yuna?” jihyo suggests. “wait… why are we fighting over girl names if you wanted a boy?”

“we need to think about two names. so if they’re a girl, i want them to be called either minji. or yunjin. oh, how about kyujin? i like that one! there’s also jiwoo…” nayeon rambles as fast as she possibly can, excited with the idea of collecting ‘ji’s in her life. “if they’re a boy, his name can be just jin! or jinyoung, if we want something more elaborated. woojin is another option…”

jihyo yawns, giving up on her attempt to keep up with nayeon’s blabber.

“now you’re just copying my name. and jisoo’s. jiwoo? be a little original, im nayeon.” jihyo mumbles, closing her eyes after giving nayeon her last reply.

“but i don’t like the yeon variants.” nayeon grumbles, fingers lost in jihyo’s hair as she caressed her scalp. she pouts, knowing it would be hard to convince jihyo to name their baby with the ji as an integrant syllable, but she wouldn’t give up. “just think about how cute it would be if we had a baby ji. you’re my jiji, jisoo is a mini ji, and the baby… are you sleeping?”

nayeon pokes at jihyo’s waist, receiving no answers from jihyo. all nayeon hears is the sound of her calm breathing, indicating that jihyo had, in fact, fallen asleep while she was talking to her. nayeon’s pout is even bigger then — she feels like jihyo is betraying her when jihyo doesn’t hear the things she wanted to say until the end, though it was only her fault, because she could never be straightforward, and jihyo was the only person patient enough to listen to her.

They'd loved cavorting in that mansion with the creatures they'd encountered. And while there was nothing saying that they weren't just the lucky ones, that maybe hundreds had gone in and never returned at all, the very real possibility of you finding yourself at the mercy of a who-knew-what for a night and then returning home carrying its offspring was beyond tantalizing to you.

Eventually, you broke. You ventured to the mansion, opting to borrow a coworker's motorcycle for the trip to hide it easier once you got there. After all, you had no idea how long you were going to end up staying and you didn't want your vehicle to attract attention.

No, you'd much rather remain as anonymous as possible until the very end.

Giddy, you drive for well over four hours before finding the path leading into the spooky woods where the mansion waited. And, you soon discover, the path is notably worn by vehicle tread despite being a dirt road.

A lot of people had come here before you.

Even more excited, now, it's a little hard to focus as you continue down the road. By now you don't even need directions or your GPS; the road is so well-used it's obvious where you need to go.

Before long, the mansion comes into view.

And it is a mansion. The few images of the exterior you'd managed to scrounge up don't do it justice.

It's a massive building, four stories in the center and three for the two wings. The road winds left and right, giving you incomplete glimpses of it for a while, but it isn't hard to estimate that there's around fourty sets of windows on the front, implying numerous rooms on every floor.

It's definitely been damaged over the years, some windows badly boarded up and others visibly shattered. An overhang held up by columns create a wide front porch, and one of the columns has splintered and been semi-shredded in the middle. A set of stone stairs lead up to that porch, and chunks have been broken off from it.

Your heart's already pounding as you break free of the wooded area and follow the path as it curves up to the front of the building, a non-working three-tier fountain featuring a mermaid on a shell taking up a place of honor in front of it.

Giddy, you slow to a stop and remove your helmet so you can take a better look. No lights shine from within -- but, then, you'd expect that any monsters that frequent this place would probably be able to see in the dark. They wouldn't need the light.

Excitement hums in your veins. Was it twisted of you to find what comes next all the more appealing because you expect it to be scary?

Taking deep breaths to control the shaking in your core, you leave your helmet and riding jacket on the bike, stuff the keys in your pocket, and proceed up to the door.

It's ajar, you notice, as if inviting you to venture within.

You take out your phone and switch the flashlight on to illuminate the interior before you step inside, getting a lay of the land. After all, if it turns out this place was full of asbestos and tetanus, well -- that would be bad.

You want to get fucked by monsters, not diseases.

The area within is surprisingly clean, given the outward appearance. It's dusty, but more at the edges than anywhere else -- like it's been traveled quite frequently, you note. And there's a definite lack of broken or abandoned furniture as well.

Only a few pieces remain, and they're all visibly intact. A small table in the entryway with an attached mirror; a vintage sofa in a room to your left; a small dining table with a set of six chairs around it; a tall cabinet, empty within but the glass doors intact and clean of dust.

Someone had to be tending to this place, you realize, which means it definitely is occupied.

Now even more excited, you creep inside, the nervous part of you driving you to keep quiet just in case. It's stupid, maybe; you're here to get railed by the creatures that might be living here, yet your voice and actions are suppressed, caution and a constant feeling like you're being stalked forcing you to try and be stealthy.

Not even the recognition that you were definitely not ever going to be stealthy enough to avoid getting caught by monsters can halt the impulse for you to step quietly and avoid anything remotely wobbly.

Plus, you think, you are using your phone as a flashlight. If anything else is in here, it probably already knows that you are, too.

...Yet, disappointingly, nothing shows itself, not even after you've started to get a feel for the mansion's layout. It's a surprisingly intuitive design, actually. You feel like you don't get lost despite the size of it, able to follow the hallways, anticipate turns, and connect the three individual staircases you find without difficulty.

It becomes a secondary form of fascination to you. You even catch yourself testing your guesswork by finding your way back to the front door with increasingly roundabout paths and feeling impressed when you successfully locate it.

Still no monsters pop out at you, but by now you don't mind so much; you're having fun just exploring. And, at last, you decide to expand your search to the second floor, ascending the stairs.

...Every single room up here is, unequivocally, a fucking room.

The first one you find, nudging open the ajar door, takes you by surprise. It's a bedroom with a four-poster canopy, red velvet blankets, and a fur rug on the floor. A fireplace is situated against one wall with a desk and a 5-prong candelabra at another.

Oh yes, and there were leather cords with soft shackles affixed to each of the bed's posters.

A little stunned at the discovery, you move on to another room.

This one had a single mattress on the floor with a trio of pillows at the head and torn, bloody sheets tossed over it. Strangely, there was also a mini fridge in the corner, which -- when you checked it out of sheer curiosity -- was actively running and was full of various kinds of alcohol -- and ice cream.

A third room was dressed up nicely in pastel pinks and lace, including a vanity of pure white with gold trim, a mirror with lipstick kisses on it, and a large wardrobe across from the king-size, comfy-looking bed.

The next was a mixture of black and dark violet, everything styled in a leather-and-chains goth aesthetic, the window covered in heavy black drapes.

It went on and on. One room didn't have a bed, but rather a pile of soft fur blankets and throw pillows in front of a fireplace. Another was pristine and perfect, everything in white, black or grey and cut in sharp angles. The next was in rich blues and greens, a string of pearls embedded in the walls up at ceiling-level, the room itself notably colder than the others. Yet another was more rugged and worn-down, the floor scuffed, the walls scratched, everything in shades of brown, red and orange -- earthy, beastly, rough.

Things definitely were living here, you conclude, and there were a lot of them -- with vastly different styles and personalities.

ALTERNATE ENDING:

"Enjoy the show?"

"It would have been better if i could join you in the forbidden stim."

His laughter was clear, loud, and heavenly. Rare among those he didn't trust. Humans and their curiosity was never satisfied, a quality he adored in you. Even if it was dangerous. As the Vibranium started to cool he tilted his head towards the adjacent living quarters.

"I have to oil quench myself before you can join me anywhere. But I would not mind at all if you went on ahead."

You nodded, quickly scuttling off as he called out: "Make sure to wear the red babydoll set or nothing at all!"