Welcome Home

Upon entering the house, Kay immediately closed the door and locked it. He was so used to doing it back at his family's house that it was practically automatic for him. Also, he didn't want to have somebody follow him or stumble into this house. This was somebody else's residence after all.

He took a look around the living room and saw that it was indeed a house. It was not just a place that was just made to show people some fancy design, but a space that someone could and would truly live in and call a home. Or at least, it was for him.

"Aaaaaa a wooden floor!" was the first thing Kay noticed, aside from the cream-colored walls, as he put down his bag and lay down on the floor. "Ahhhh, so warm..."

He had always wanted to go around the inside of the house barefoot and without any fear of getting his feet too cold for comfort. Finally, one of his dreams would come true.

He then lay on his back, looked up, and saw that there was a loft that was accessible through the stairs from where he was. And there was a large fan that hung from the ceiling in the middle.

After a while, he stood up, turned on the fan through a switch near the front door to make sure the house was ventilated, and then admired the sofas and the center table.

"Hm, I better go to the back to check..." he said to himself after having a moment on one of the sofas. "But this is nice..."

On the way to the back part of the house, separated from the living room by a wall with a passageway at the side, he saw that there was a door behind the stairs that led to a bathroom.

He didn't look inside the bathroom for long, and only noted that it already had some toiletries of its own and it had a shower along with the usual pail and dipper combo.

"I guess I won't have to worry about that..."

Upon going through the passageway, he found himself in the kitchen. There was a table in the middle of it, as well as a counter with the sink, and all the cooking equipment and utensils. It included an oven with a four-burner stove, as well as a rice cooker and an electric kettle.

"Well, this is smart. At least I don't have to waste gas on rice and hot water..."

Of course, there was also a refrigerator with a freezer, and there were cupboards that served as a pantry. He opened them and found that they were well-stocked. He was surprised, as he thought he would have to turn on the refrigerator and then buy things to put in.

"Maybe they went here to make sure that it's okay before leaving the house with me… Now that I think about it, it does look lived in, but the place is clean…" He took a package and looked at the best before date. "It seems that this food was recently bought too."

From the kitchen, there was a light wooden door with a mesh screen on it that led out to the yard. It seemed that he was right.

He went out of that door and looked at the yard. He noticed that there were also some gardening tools in a box near the door, as well as a washing area beside it.

"I wonder if I could plant something in here so it's not too bare… Maybe I'll even set up a clothesline here too."

He went back inside through the side door. There, he found that he could also go into the dining area, which was separated from the kitchen by a half wall with a wooden countertop.

In the dining area, there was another table, four chairs, a sink just like in the kitchen, as well as shelves and drawers that contained a few plates, glasses, spoons, forks, and knives.

"I guess there really isn't room for that many people here."

Thinking that he had explored the first floor thoroughly, he went upstairs. Aside from the loft that he could see from the living room, and the fan that hung from the ceiling, he found that there were windows from which he could see a breathtaking view of the surrounding area. He could also see a solitary door leading to the back, also wooden, like the others in the house.

He went towards it and opened it, and upon doing so, he found that it was a bedroom. In this case, it would be his bedroom now.

It had a wooden floor, as well as wooden furnishings, including a bed, a table, and a closet. There was also a door towards another bathroom, which also had the same features as the one downstairs.

"Thank God, I don't have to rush downstairs if I need to use the bathroom. Speaking of..."

He relieved himself for a moment, then went back to the bedroom proper. He sat on the bed and lay down on it.

"Ohhhh, this is so nice… I think I could just fall asleep right here..."

He was about to actually doze off when he remembered that he hadn't notified his friends of his status yet. He did say previously that he was going to let them know how it was.

He took out his notebook and ballpoint pen, and then listed down the numbers of his important contacts. Thankfully for him, he only had a few friends, and so there weren't that many to take note of either. He needed to do so, since his family would notice his disappearance later on and he was sure that he would be bombarded with messages and calls.

He then switched to the new sim card that he bought earlier. He was glad that these usually had free SMS messages that he could use, so at least he didn't have to go out to top it up.

After putting in his friends' numbers, he decided to notify them.

"Hello," he said through a text message. "Sorry for the late update guys, but I've just moved to the house for my job. It looks really nice and I don't have to buy anything for it for now."

"That's great!" replied Mirra. "You know, that was a pretty gutsy thing you did just now."

"Thanks."

"Say, since you moved to a new house, why don't we have a housewarming celebration at your place? It doesn't hurt to give thanks, after all."

Kay somewhat froze at the thought of inviting his friends over, particularly because Mailbox did tell him that they didn't want too many people knowing about the house and where it was.

"I don't think that's a good idea. I would need to tell the owner about it in advance… Sorry about that," he texted.

"Is that so? I guess that is reasonable… Would be rude to suddenly have a party in someone else's house. How about coming over to our place, then? You know how to get here from there?"

Thankfully, he had looked it up back at his family's house before he went out. It was apparently pretty near. In fact, he could even walk from Mailbox's house to Mirra's if he really wanted to.

And he did feel that he needed to exercise a bit more. He was also thankful that he had started walking more back when he was at school.

"Yeah, I know. I could go there right now," he typed out using the keypad on his phone.

But he didn't send it yet, as he realized that no one was going to watch over the house if he were going to go out. Unless...

"Of course, why didn't I think of doing that in the first place…?" said Kay to himself.

He took out a piece of pad paper and wrote a letter to Mailbox, saying:

"Hello.

I'm here at the house now. It looks wonderful, and thank you for the food and drink that's already here. I almost thought I would have to buy some just to stock up.

I would like to ask you something, by the way… My friends know that I've moved out of my family's house. They were going to come here, but I told them that they couldn't, so they thought of inviting me to theirs. Would it be all right for me to go out and leave this house unmanned for a while?

Thanks again."

He quickly went out of the house with the pad and the pen, put the letter in the mailbox, and waited for a while. He even took a peek at some point and saw that his letter had disappeared. His eyes widened at the revelation.

Then he heard the familiar sound of paper being put into the mailbox, and saw that there was a new piece of paper inside. He knew, because this one didn't have lines like the one he had used.

He unfolded the paper and saw this message:

"Congratulations on leaving that house of yours and pushing through with taking care of mine. I promise that I will not make you regret it.

Also, thank you for taking into consideration my desire to have this house known by only a few people. It's all right to go out as long as you remember to lock the door and keep the key to it safe with you."

Gladdened by the news, Kay wrote, "Thank you. I'll make sure to lock the door when I go out."

He then went to his room to change into nicer clothes for the housewarming party.