Soon it’s the weekend. Even though Jin still feels uncomfortable around Thorne, he feels a little excited to go out with Thorne, and spend time with him in another way then just staying at home.

In the morning Jin finds long, tight, white pants, and a white button up shirt with a peacoat. He quickly puts it on and goes to the kitchen. There he sees Thorne in an apron, stewing some fruit and preparing breakfast. This is a rare sight, as usually Thorne is done before Jin even wakes up.

Jin feels like he’s discovered a new side of Thorne. He looks kind of softer cooking in an apron. It looks like he’s enjoying it. Jin didn’t know Thorne was capable of any other expressions than the usual cold one, but maybe he just didn’t show it to Jin. That makes Jin a little sad. He feels like he wants to know more about Thorne, wanting to forget there might be anything wrong.

Thorne notices Jin come in and pauses for a second. He quickly puts down the spoon he was holding and takes of the apron. Then he looks at Jin. ‘Did you sleep well? Breakfast is almost ready, give me a minute. Go sit in the living room, I’ll call you when I’m done.’

‘I did sleep well, thanks. Alright, take it easy, I’ll be in the living room.’

Jin looks around the living room, searching for something to do. There are still a lot of books. A simple black book without text catches his eye. When he opens it, he sees it’s a sketchbook. Compared to the few paintings, these sketches look much calmer, and there’s nothing horrifying about them. Most of the sketches are of flowers or small animals. Some are colored with pencils or aquarelle, others are left as a simple pencil sketch. All of them are clearly drawn by the same person. They are very detailed and realistic. Jin also notices there are dates on every page. The first few drawings have a date in 2005. That’s 16 years ago. They are just as realistic as all the newer drawings, but Thorne looks younger than Jin, and Jin was about 10 years old at the time. If those dates are correct, and Thorne really drew that 16 years ago, his talent is kind of scary. Jin flips through the sketchbook to a more recent date. The newest drawings are surprisingly portraits of Jin. They’re beautiful, there’s no way Jin actually looks like that. Once again though, Jin is reminded of things not adding up, as the first sketch of Jin, which is quite simple, is from a date before Jin came here. Before he can question it though, he is called for breakfast.

Jin doesn’t know whether it’s just his imagination, but the food looks a little more fancy than usual. Also, Thorne is still looking a little happy, even though he’s still not really smiling. Jin quickly sits down, and they eat together.

After breakfast Thorne tells Jin to follow him. Thorne gives him high boots, and takes him to yet another car, that apparently is also on the property. Thorne tells him it’ll be a 15-minute drive. This surprises Jin. There actually is something other than grass and trees at a walkable distance?

As Thorne said, in 15 minutes, they arrive at a small building with multiple fields surrounded by a fence. Thorne leads him inside the building, and there he finds a stable with four horses. Two of them are completely black, one is brown with black manes, and one is white spotted. ‘Maybe it’s a little late to ask now, but does this place belong to you?’

‘It actually does. I bought it some time ago since I quite like horses. Since I don’t have time to take care of them though, every day someone else comes to take care of them. Is any of the horses to your liking?’

Jin looks at the horses again. Does it really matter which one he chooses? ‘I’d like to ride the brown one if that’s okay.’

‘Good choice, he’s one of the fastest and most friendly to outsiders. His name is Blue.’

Thorne goes to the stall with Blue and leads him outside. He prepares Blue for Jin. Then he also leads one of the black horses outside. ‘This is Tux, the horse I usually ride. Do you still know how to ride a horse, or do you need my help?’ Jin says he can still do it, but fails at getting on top of the horse, so Thorne has to lift him up. This is the first time Thorne has come so close, and Jin feel a little shy being lifted onto the horse. Being conscious of Thorne, he doesn’t notice that Thorne freezes up for a second like he did once before.

When they’re both on their horses, they first ride a few rounds around one of the closed of fields, and when Thorne thinks it’s safe for Jin to ride somewhere else, they start riding along a road not meant for cars.

It goes past a river, past a forest and the landscape everywhere is beautiful. Jin hasn’t felt this free in a while and he forgets about all his worries. He’s glad the one he’s experiencing it with is Thorne.

They ride around for a few hours, and surprisingly they even manage to hold a conversation. They talk about a lot of little things, and Jin feels like he’s gotten closer to Thorne.

When the horses get tired, and Jin starts getting hungry, they bring the horses back. As Jin jumps of the horse, he stumbles a bit, but Thorne catches him, and they end up in what feels like a hug. Once again Jin feels very conscious of Thorne, but he doesn’t hate being this close to him at all. Soon though, Thorne carefully pushes him away.

‘Alright, let’s go back.’