Jin wakes up. At first when he opens his eyes he is confused, but then he remembers the young man named Thorne let him stay the night.

Last night he already took a quick look around the room, but now he looks around properly. Everything in the room fits together nicely: The room is pretty dark. The furniture is wooden but dark, the bed and the sheets are black with some cranberry red details on the blanket and the pillows. The decorations are also red.

Jin also spots a clock on the wall. It’s dark as well, with golden and ruby red details. He sees it’s already 1 pm. Jin quickly gets up, feeling much better than the previous day. He looks at a shelf next to the bed, where he left the borrowed clothes before he went to bed. The clothes aren’t there, instead there is a new outfit neatly folded with a note.

Today’s outfit consists of satin drawstring pants, that are once again black, with emerald green lining along the sides of the pipes of it. There is also a simple, emerald green turtleneck. Jin quickly puts them on and once again feels like they fit him perfectly. He also quickly washes his face, and then heads downstairs.

He doesn’t feel completely comfortable walking around alone in a stranger’s house. He gets downstairs, but still doesn’t see Thorne.

The whole house is silent. Did Thorne go out? Why would he leave a stranger alone in his house?

When Jin gets to the dining room, he sees a prepared meal, and there is a note:

‘I’ve gone out for some urgent business. Feel free to eat the meals I prepared, and you can read the books in the living room in case you get bored. I’ll get back around 3PM, we can discuss what happens next then.’

He also sees a calendar on the wall. Today is a Tuesday. It’s a weekday, so Thorne probably must work like any other adult. Even though Jin still isn’t comfortable in this expensive mansion by himself, he sits down at the table and starts eating. Today the food is a little less diverse, there is a big bowl with various fruits, and some other dishes with fruits and rice.

Maybe this is because he was feeling unwell after eating something else the previous evening. The owner of the house seems very considerate Jin thinks.

After the meal, as advised, he goes to the living room and looks through the collection of books. There are some literary works, and also a lot of old books. Jin ends up choosing one at random. It’s about some Celtic myths. Normally, he’d never read a book like this, as he doesn’t enjoy unrealistic stories as much, and he never believed any supernatural phenomena.

Reading a few chapters of this old, made-up nonsense, Jin puts the book away and starts thinking about his situation again. He must try to remember how he got here.

It seems like he isn’t in America at the moment, the country where he lives and works. So where is he then, and why did he come here, wherever ‘here’ may be.

It should be something like a holiday or a business trip, but he can’t remember anything about it.

Whichever one it might be, the next question should be how he got into this particular situation. Did he get lost? Did someone try to kill him or something? He can’t remember any of the events that happened on his trip.

If he was on a trip, will he get fired if he isn’t back at work on time? Or if he failed at whatever business he was supposed to take care of here?

Thinking of this Jin starts getting a headache. A part of it is caused by now having to stress over whether he’ll be able to keep his precious job at the electronics company he works at.

Another part of his headache is caused by trying to remember. Every time he tries to think back, it feels as if some clue comes to the surface of his mind, but something is blocking it. Something stops him from remembering whatever happened.

Jin gives up trying to remember for today. As soon as he thinks that, he hears the front door being unlocked.

Thorne enters the living room, and once again first stares at Jin, with a blank look on his face, but for a moment a look of satisfaction appears.

Thorne has a few big bags in his hands, so he first goes to put them away.

‘I went out to take care of a few things and to buy some necessities. Wait here, I’ll put them away and be right back.’

Jin nods, sits up straight and makes sure his clothes are all in place. Soon Thorne enters the room.

‘I looked into a few things about your situation and how I can help you. I’ll tell you about them … Later. Your look is saying you have something to ask, so ask away first.’

Jin feels a little embarrassed, did his face show his thoughts that well? But as he really does have some questions, he starts asking.

‘So uhm, which country are we in sir?’

Thorne frowns.

‘You don’t need to call me sir. The country we’re in is England. Are you not from here?’

‘No, I actually live in America. So where in England are we, how far are we from the nearest village?’

‘We are in Lake district. The nearest village, well I don’t know the exact distance, but it isn’t walking distance and as you may have noticed, there aren’t any roads leading here, apart from one, not suitable for most cars.’

Jin takes in the information and doesn’t ask anymore.

‘I assume that were the most important things you wanted to ask. Now I’ll tell you how I can help and what needs to happen next.’

-Thanks for reading!-