Close Your Eyes, Count to Ten: Chapter 8 Pt. 2
안녕 여러분!~~
Here's part 2! :D Have fun reading! I like this part of chapter 8 because of the ending xP Love you guys!
사랑해요!~~
( Chapter List)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 8.2 ^__^
Although the kid was supposed to be working on his studies, he was placed in front of his computer, his eyes glued to the screen. As I inched closer to see what was keeping him from studying from the multiple exams he was said to have the next day, I noticed that he was watching an extremely familiar video. Cocking my head, I stopped to stand behind the boy. After a mere second, memories flooded into my mind all at once.
Before I was required to record the video my cousin was oddly watching, my mother would constantly yell at me to film my dancing and singing talents. The only reason that she wanted me to record it was so that I could get a job as an entertainer at a local bar so she could get free alcohol. For a few weeks, I refused to listen to her pleading. However, when I begrudgingly complied, she had already decided to hook up with the owner of the bar without telling me. To make it up to me, she promised to give the video to the owner just for the heck of it. But she wasn’t given the chance to bring it up around the man since he discovered her true motives for being with him. Upon catching my poor mother, he declared that she was a thief, which forced us to move. In the end, I was left with a piece of wasted time.
“Where did you get that?” I softly questioned, shocked that he of all people would have it. In truth, the CD I had downloaded the filming on disappeared about two or more months before I had to come to Korea. The kid practically jumped out of his skin at the sound of my voice since he obviously didn’t know that I had even entered his room. Feeling bad, I pushed the accusatory thoughts aside and waited for him to reply.
“U-uncle had it,” the poor kid stuttered, his eyes as big as golf balls. “He was praising you so much ever since he received this in the mail that I grew curious about what he was talking about…”
“Uncle received it…in the mail?” I asked in disbelief. For a second, I mulled over such a thought before it occurred to me that Man Young did mention that my mother had sent in things of mine. Was she seriously planning on making me an idol for that long? “Go ahead and have it,” I managed to say through the legion of thoughts rushing about my mind. I still couldn’t get my head around the fact that it was here in Korea, and that I was here as well.
“You’re actually pretty talented. Even if you look disinteresting at times, you make up for it with everything else. With what I’ve gathered from a collaboration of everything that Uncle owns, you’ll be a major hit,” he beamed. Sometimes, Hyo Sook’s vocabulary astounded me. Since I grew up in America, there were still a few words that took a second or two for me to understand. My mother wasn’t big on using bigger vocabulary when I was growing up, so speaking to the eight year old sometimes made me feel like I was inferior to him. “Anyways, why are you in here?”
“Um…it’s been decided that the idols will be staying here in the house,” I started. “And they already decided that Yoochun will be sleeping in here.”
“In my room? They decided this without consulting me?” the boy gaped.
“You’re young, so you don’t need to be consulted, right? Anyways, your mother suggested it.”
“My mother?” he questioned, ready to spout angry words about her. “Fine…Yoochun was the one who took you to the hospital, right?” he sighed after thinking about it a slight bit. In reply, I nodded slowly, watching as his face quickly fell. “Do you like him?”
“What?” I blurted in shock.
“Is that a yes?”
“No! Of course it isn’t!”
“Then I can prank him?”
“That’s fine…as long as you don’t give him any information about me. Information like that video.”
“And what do I get out of it if I don’t let him know anything?” he inquired, his voice growing a mischievous tone.
“That you get my eternal love? That you get to keep my videos without me telling Uncle that you took them?” I tried. When neither option worked, I frowned and waited for him to tell me what he wanted.
“Get T.O.P’s autograph?” he offered.
“Are you serious?” I gasped. “I don’t associate with anyone else aside from those three idols in the dining room!” I continued, shocked that he would suggest such a thing.
“But, when you have access to those idols, you can get access to others. Isn’t Jaejoong a friend of T.O.P?” he retorted.
“How would I know? So far, I haven’t had an encounter with any other idol,” I answered, frowning. I didn’t even know how I would feel if I really did meet other idols. I felt like just the three were enough for me at the moment.
“Alright, fine. Then when you get famous of some sort, you need to make an appearance at my school. No…wait! For my birthday, bring whatever idols you can, and make them do something-anything-for me,” he decided, a wide grin growing on his face. Finding such a thing simple enough, I smiled as well.
“It’s settled then,” I concluded and ruffled the kid’s hair. When he was about to protest, I spun around and happily left the room. The fact that my cousin was slightly on my side relieved me from the worry I would have had from whatever the two oddballs could plan against me. Hearing the door click behind me, I rested against it to hide the excitement that was rapidly growing within my heart. Once it was covered up, I then made my way to the kitchen to clean up the cooking mess.
“Mi Kyoung!” Dong Joo’s voice sounded from the hallway that led to the bathroom right as I was about to pass. Clutching my heart as if to keep it from jumping out of my skin, I turned and shot the man a look while he grinned like a madman. “Is everything alright?
“Save for you scaring me, everything is perfectly fine, thank you very much,” I grumbled. At that, I continued on my way towards the kitchen. When I heard his footsteps following me, I began to bristle. Why was it that he followed me whenever he saw me? Why was he making the situation worse?
“Do you need help?” he asked. I abruptly stopped beside the island that was in the middle of the kitchen so that I could think only to end up taking a deep breath. With all of the events of the day, my emotions were being put onto a hectic roller coaster, and dealing with him made me feel like I was being stretched thin. Couldn’t he just leave me alone? Why wasn’t he with Hyun Ae and her friends?
“I’m fine,” I said, trying hard to not let my feelings show so that he wouldn’t get hurt. How I was able to consider his feelings while I was trying to manage my own on top of a headache, I had no clue. However, I swore that it would be so much easier if I was on my own for the time being. “Weren’t you here for Hyun Ae? If so, go back to her and your guys’ friends.” The man sighed, nodded, and finally left me in peace. Inhaling in relief, I glanced around the kitchen to assess the mess before busying myself on cleaning it.
“Mi Kyoung,” Yoochun’s voice broke my concentration as I scrubbed at the dishes in the sink. Raising my head to see what was needed of me at that point, I watched as he came closer, noting that something was odd about the way he came up to me. My hands stilled when he eventually stopped in front of me. “I don’t know how you managed to stay all skin and bone in America of all places, but it looks pretty ugly,” he stated and pulled his hand out from behind his back. When I opened my mouth to speak, he shoved the food in his hand into my mouth. Coughing slightly in shock, I frantically began to chew.
“Yah!” I snapped once I was calm again. The man grinned evilly before leaning over me and sticking his hands into the soapy water so that he could wash them clean. “I could have died,” I added after swallowing.
“But you didn’t, so come eat,” he demanded, flicking his wet hands at me. Flinching, I threw the cloth I used to clean down and stormed out of the kitchen to the dining room.
“I told you to get her to eat, not force her,” my uncle scolded when Yoochun appeared once more, taking note of my actions. I took my seat and watched as the younger one of my uncles placed all of the good side dishes onto my bowl of rice. When my aunt started to do the same, I quickly stopped them. By that time, the food was nearly piling out of my bowl. Shocked that there was still so much food, I silently picked up the chopsticks and began to eat. As I tried to eat, I soon found out that the bandages on my face made chewing a pain. After a little bit of struggling, I gave up.
“Just take the bandages off,” Yoochun grunted over his food when he noticed what was going on. Everyone else’s eyes then shot to me, forcing me to duck my head in embarrassment.
“Come here baby,” my aunt gently stated, beckoning me over. Once I had listened to her, she tenderly peeled the bandages off. From what I had gathered, it always felt like she was the universal mother inside this household. No matter who stayed under the roof, she would embrace them immediately as if the person was her own flesh and blood. I always received a weird feeling whenever she acted like that towards me.
When the bandage was off, I felt like my face had been taken away from a binding prison. Upon seeing my satisfaction, my aunt smiled and gently patted my cheek away from the bruised part. The rest of the mealtime went by rapidly. There were a few split seconds where I accidentally scrunched up my face, resulting in pain spiking through me all the way down to my fingertips. However, I tried my best not to show the pain. There was one time, though, where it hurt the worst, which actually caused me to drop my chopsticks. I quickly covered up the reason behind it, and remained cautious about every facial movement that I made. At the end, my uncles guided the slightly sober couple to the living room where they would spend the night. As they did that, my aunt helped clear the table before heading off to see what her son was up to, which left me to deal with the third idol and the dishes. I took one look at the man who had followed me into the kitchen as if to say that he shouldn’t bother me and focused on cleaning.
“Your uncles are so rich, yet you don’t have a housemaid?” he mentioned as I began scrubbing at a dish in the sink. Not allowing myself to care, I ignored his question and continued in silence. “Alright, you don’t know,” he sighed, leaning against the counter. “What does your aunt do? Shouldn’t she help you with this? I mean, you did cook dinner.” Again, I ignored him, rinsing off the dish I had been washing. When I turned to grab a towel, the man grabbed my elbow somehow skirting around the island to get to me in less than a second.
“She’s a director of a musical school,” I muttered. “If you’re going to bug me, then it’s best if you grab a towel and start drying,” I coldly added, shoving the wet dish towards him.
“Yah!” he snapped when the water got onto his nice shirt. I secretly felt bad for him, since his clothes were most likely more expensive than mine would ever be. Not letting myself show how bad I felt, I raised an eyebrow and carefully shook the dish. I clearly covered up my feelings well since he narrowed his eyes and yanked the dish from my hands. I stared after him for a few seconds, wondering if I should work on my own and not rely on him before I shoved the thought out of my head and turned back to the sink. I then began scrubbing on the dishes in the sink only to stop when I noticed Hyun Ae and her guy friends heading towards the front door. Dong Joo was the last one, lagging behind so that my cousin could socialize with the others before they left. When he caught sight of me watching from the kitchen, he stopped and offered up an apologetic smile. Not liking the slight reaction my stomach had towards his smile, I looked away. When I forced myself to look back, his eyes were focused on Yoochun and his smile had disappeared. Feeling slightly responsible for the abrupt change in his mood, I bit my lip and let my mind race for a solution. “Mi Kyoung!” Yoochun’s voice snapped me out of the small trance that I had been slipping into. Glancing at what I was doing, I quickly handed the already clean dish over to his impatient hands.
Expressing his frustration by snapping the towel he was holding, the man yanked the dish from my grasp. Sneering at his reaction, I quickened my pace, overloading his side with clean dishes in what seemed like no time. Noticing what I was doing, the idol whacked me with his towel. My eyebrows rose in shock, and I instantly flicked soapy water at him. Looking as if he was more offended by the fact that water got onto his shirt once more, he slowly set down the cloth he was holding. He then turned around to pluck a small cup from the little hook it was hanging on in one of the cabinets he had left open so that he could put things away.
As his actions slowly dawned on me, my heart stopped in its rhythmic pace and I backed away from the sink at once. Yoochun grinned maliciously at my response and dipped the cup into the soapy water. Nervous as to whether or not I could manage to stay away from him and his cup, I began to wonder about how an idol like him could also be such a trickster.
When he took a step in my direction, I squeaked and backed up a bit further. The direction I had unconsciously headed in was probably the worst possible direction to choose since I was trapped in between a corner of the wall and the small table that was used for direction within seconds. The man lengthened the suspense due to the fact that he took smaller and smaller steps until he was so close that we could both hear each other breathing. As he raised his glass achingly slow until he stopped with it hovering over my head, I squeezed my eyes shut, preparing for the worst. I was expecting to get the whole cupful poured over my head, so much so that even when he poured a short stream of water, I yelped in surprise and began rubbing at my head. The man then broke into a fit of uncontrollable laughter and somehow managed to set the cup down. Upset, I smacked him on the shoulder.
“You really think that’s funny?” I insisted, smacking his shoulder once more when he continued to laugh. When he finally calmed down, I lifted my hand to smack him a third time until he grabbed my wrist and stared at me before falling back into insane laughter. “What now?” I demanded.
“You should see how funny you look right now…” he chuckled. I smacked him once more, this time with my other hand, and touched the top of my head that was half wet. While I tried to straighten my hair out, Yoochun knocked my hand aside and ran his fingers through the tangled black locks. After a second, the two of us stilled and simply stared at each other, our breath catching in our throats. Being the first to realize how awkward it was, I pushed past him and tied my hair up instead of worrying about it. Once it was out of the way, I then travelled back to the sink and worked on finishing things up.
“Bring the cup here,” I managed. The man followed my direction and handed the item over. Taking it into my hands, I smiled to myself and quickly poured a little bit over his head, completing the action with messing up his own hair. His eyes widened in shock at the payback that he had just received. I giggled at the sight of it all. Not a second passed before he grabbed a hold of me, seemingly forgetting what was I was holding. Right as water sloshed onto the two of us, we jumped apart, the cup accidentally slipping from my grasp. Screeching in shock, I jumped away from the mess.
“What in the world is going on in here?” my cousin insisted, running into the room, followed by Dong Joo and a couple of her friends. “First, you guys are fighting, then there’s multiple screams. I understand that it’s a normal occurrence between the two of you, but it’s scaring my friends. So please-oh-” she stopped in the middle of scolding when she caught sight of the shattered cup on the floor and our slightly wet hair. Without letting another thought pass through her mind, her hand automatically stuck out, grabbed a hold of me, and pulled me away. “Clean the mess up,” she commanded, her gaze aimed at Yoochun.
“I wasn’t the-”
“It doesn’t matter; she’s a girl and shouldn’t get hurt again.” From her words, I shook my head before prying away from my overprotective cousin. If one picked up the glass the right way, then they wouldn’t get injured, and it was obvious that the poor idol was unsure as to how he should pick up the mess. Feeling like letting him pick it up would be like letting him walk through the middle of a minefield, I dodged around Hyun Ae and the island so that I could get to him. Once at the intended destination, I moved him aside.
“Bring me the trash can,” I ordered. My cousin sniffed indignantly as Yoochun reluctantly listened to my command. When it was placed by my side and I began to pick up the glass with caution, Hyun Ae spun on her heel and stomped out. “Unnie!” I yelled once the biggest pieces were picked up. However, the girl refused to respond.
“I’ll go and get her,” the man who had leaned against the counter to watch me stated as he pushed off of it and left me alone. Heaving a sigh, I hugged my knees and patiently crouched there until he returned with my cousin.
“What?” my cousin snapped.
“Unnie~” I whined, trying to get her out of the angry mood that she was in. Forgetting her anger at the sound, she skipped over to see what was wrong.
“Wah~! It’s all gone!” she gasped in shock.
“Not really, I need the broom. Where is that by chance?” I questioned while straightening up. When the girl had disappeared to grab the broom, Yoochun gave me an odd look. “What?”
“Unnie~! What was that?” he asked, mimicking me with a high pitched voice. As I opened my mouth to speak, my cousin appeared with the broom. Setting it aside, she quickly left once more saying that her friends were calling for her. “Well?”
“It works for her in any kind of situation,” I replied while moving the trash can back to its original place. In response, the man snorted and brought the broom to my side. “What now?”
“I just don’t understand how it could work.”
“Have you ever had someone do that to you?” I asked. Instead of words for an answer, I was only met with silence. “No one? Really?” I asked, my eyebrows shooting straight up. “Huh, I would think that you would have had at least some kind of girl do that to you. Especially a fan.”
“I don’t count when fans do that. Nothing they do hits me the same way, since I obviously feel a different way towards them.”
“Really now? So if someone you care for in a different way tries it, then are you really sure that it won’t affect you?”
“I don’t know…”
“Oppa~!” I tried with a whiney voice. At once, the man coughed and his eyes widened.
“Y-yeah…?”
“It totally worked,” I laughed and went to cleaning up the mess. It didn’t take long before the glass was cleared away and the dishes were finished. Once they were, Yoochun made a beeline to the living room so that he could spend time with the only people who didn’t get on his nerves. Meanwhile, I darted to my cousin’s over occupied room so that I could get a head start on cleaning myself up. As I opened the door, the giggling group of girls stopped to stare at me. I gave an apologetic bow as I awkwardly made my way to my little corner that was thankfully untouched. I didn’t exactly know how I was going to spend the night in the room full of people who were extremely wary of me, so I decided that I needed to find another place to sleep for the night.
During my shower, I concluded that I would spend the night in the game room that was disconnected from the house in the backyard. I only went there once before, but I remembered that there was a comfy couch that was splayed in front of a huge TV where people could either watch something or play video games. If the couch didn’t work, the entire room was covered in lush carpet that could serve as a makeshift mattress.
Set on that, I slipped back into Hyun Ae’s room to gather a couple of things for the night-especially my most prized items. When my cousin tilted her head questioningly, I merely shrugged and disappeared. Hugging my items to my chest, I slipped through the house and out the back door. Padding through the blackened garden, I reached an extra building that consisted of a miniature practice room on one side, and the game room on the other. While I headed to the back where the game room was located, I froze in place when I noticed light coming from the practice room invading the night.
Deciding that it was best to see who was there, I snuck up to the window and peeked through only to sigh in relief to find that it was only my aunt there practicing some unknown dance style. The first thing I could think of when I saw her move was ‘Two left feet my foot’ due to the comment that her husband had made earlier. Placing a hand over my heart to still it from the shock it had received, I continued on to the game room. I headed straight to the couch once I was inside. The thought as to how someone could own such a large item in Korea passed through my mind as I situated my things. But the thought disappeared when I remembered how rich my family actually was. It was odd being in such a different environment. From the Korean dramas that I watched, I believed at first that I was only going to come to Korea so that my uncles could marry me off to another rich family. Maybe that’s what normal rich families did.
Shaking my head, I scavenged for a mirror in the little bag that I had brought over so that I could examine the bruise on my face. Upon finding it, I curled up on the couch and stared at my reflection in the miniature rectangle. The bruise had yet to fully form, but my nose was definitely swollen and red. I gently prodded at it with my fingertips before hissing in pain. Tears immediately welled up as well as memories from the past, and I quickly set the mirror aside while covering my nose and closing so that I could focus on willing the two away.
Truthfully, it wasn’t the only time when my nose had been smashed. I actually had it broken once in the past. There were times when my mother wasn’t a happy drunk, and there were times that the men she brought home would try to touch me. So being smashed in the face and bruised up wasn’t a major deal when it came to pain. But it was hard to get over the memories.
Right when the tears from the pain due to my nose changed to tears coming from the pain in my heart, the door slammed open. Jumping in fright, I yelped as my hand pressed against my nose. The yelp forced the culprit to yell in response. I wasn’t able to look up to see the person’s face since I was doubled over with tears and pain, but I could tell that the voice belonged to none other than Yoochun.
“Yah!” I snapped, my voice muffled by my hands. “What are you doing here?”
“Your little cousin told me to sleep here for the night. Supposedly Dong Joo is still here and Hyo Sook will only allow one person at a time in his room. Why are you here?”
“I’m sleeping here tonight…” I muttered, trying to control my tears.
“Why?”
“Have you seen all of Hyun Ae’s guests? I can’t sleep in a roomful of strangers,” I added, trying to secretly wipe at my cheeks.
“How are we going to settle this?” the man questioned, oblivious to the pain I was experiencing.
“I won’t sleep. I need to catch up on dramas anyways. Go ahead, take the couch,” I stated while sliding off of the couch, keeping my back to him. He hesitated before coming inside all the way and closing the door. He then set his stuff next to mine and set the blanket he had brought over down on the couch. However, he didn’t settle onto it. Instead, he took a seat beside me and grabbed a hold of my shoulders to turn me to face him.
“Is your nose okay?” he asked, finally taking notice.
“It’s fine,” I lied and wiped at the tears still flowing down my cheeks in frustration. With that, I grabbed the remote and turned the TV on. The screen flashed on to reveal a paused video game-most likely belonging to Hyo Sook. Sighing in frustration, I got up and resituated the format so that we could watch the dramas I’ve been waiting to watch. Once it was fixed, I sat back down, making sure that there was space in between the two of us.
“Wait, you never saw this drama?” the man blurted skeptically when I picked a random one. My eyebrows rose, slightly hurt by his oblivious comment.
“Are you kidding me? Of course I’ve watched it! I’ve wanted to watch it over again is all,” I replied, still in shock. The man snorted and shook his head. “What?”
“You really like this one?”
“Alright, I can’t stand you guys as much, but when you are acting, everything is pushed aside. No matter what character you or Jaejoong play, I’m constantly pulled into the characters,” I sighed.
“So you actually really like us as stars, right?” His question immediately took the words out of my mouth. “And you actually like us more than you’re willing to say.” He continued to tease me until I nudged him with my elbow. I supposedly caught him off guard, though, because he suddenly fell over with wide eyes. I stared at him questioningly for a second before I turned back to continue watching his drama. For a while, we watched in silence until the idol grew bored and mimicking everything his character did when he appeared on the screen. He also began commenting loudly on the actions of the lead actress. It didn’t take long before I grew annoyed and smacked at him. “If you’ve seen this before, then why are you so focused on it? Especially during my parts?”
“Because,” I muttered while keeping my eyes glued to the screen.
“What games do you have?” he randomly blurted during an intense part.
“Games?” I asked unconsciously. After the scene passed, I reluctantly pried my eyes away to focus on him.
“It’s boring to watch myself on screen. I know this drama backwards and forwards. Not only did I have to act in it, but Jaejoong and Junsu watched it so many times that my eyes bled,” he said, emphasizing the point by pulling his cheeks down to make a funny face. I stared at him as if he was insane for a few seconds before expelling my breath.
“Alright, the games are right there. I don’t play that many, so I don’t know what to recommend.”
“Don’t worry, Junsu’s a major gamer so he has taught me in the ways of gaming. But since he’s a major gamer, we need to keep this a secret from him at all costs. Ah, how about this one?” he asked while holding up a game. For a few seconds, I merely blinked as if to ask why he wanted to play such a game.
“You’re already a top star, why play a video game that is like what you do now?”
“Because I’m not good at the other games,” he sighed. His response caught me off guard. Didn’t he just say that Junsu taught him in the ways of playing games? And if Junsu was so into them, then shouldn’t the two closest people to him be somewhat good at them as well?
“Alright, let’s play. We’ll do a star duel,” I stated, a competitive feeling brewing up inside of me. The man agreed with a nod and handed the game over. Upon receiving it, I got up and set up the TV so that we could play. When I switched out the games, I felt slightly bad for Hyo Sook because he most likely put the game he was playing on pause for a reason.
“Do you think that you will beat me?” Yoochun inquired in the middle of it all. I turned and looked at him as if he was stupid for asking.
“Of course!” I beamed, though I secretly was unsure. He snorted in reply and focused on the game.
As we played, the man would constantly try to cheat by screaming into my microphone or shove my elbow when I danced. To get revenge, I would act worse than he did. Whenever one would win over the other, we would shove our success into each other’s faces. In the end, we tied. Depressed by this fact, we turned the TV settings back to watch a drama and collapsed on the floor. I went back to leaning against the couch as Yoochun leaned forward and flipped through channels until he settled on SBS which was playing a random, unknown drama.
“Are you cold?” he asked when settling beside me. I thought for a second before I realized that it actually was a bit chilly. Slowly nodding, I continued to watch the poorly made drama. The man sighed before grabbing the blanket off of the couch and shaking it out. He then gingerly placed it over me so that I wouldn’t be cold. When he settled back, I secretly glanced over to see him wrapping his arms around himself. At once, I looked down at the blanket spread across me before looking back at the cold idol. Scooting over, I placed half of the blanket over the poor man. At first, he rejected the blanket, but after the third time of placing it over him, he finally complied. He then scooted closer until our shoulders brushed each other so that we could both have a bigger share of the blanket. My heart thudded hard against my chest for a few seconds until I focused on the drama once more. We then watched dramas to all hours of the night until I somehow blacked out.
“Yah! Mi Kyoung! Wake up!” Hyun Ae’s shrill voice broke through my unconscious state. Blinking slowly, I squinted up at her in confusion. It took me about a minute or two to realize that daylight had broken through. Wondering as to why I was in the game room, I continued to look up at my cousin, the sleepy feeling refusing to leave my being. About a couple more minutes passed until I realized that my head was laying on something firm with arms surrounding me. Turning to see who was holding me, I gasped in shock and sat up without thinking.
“What happened?” I croaked.
“That’s what I’d like to know,” my cousin sniffed. Staring down at the man beside me, the night’s events flooded into my mind at once. Gasping once more, I pried myself away from the man. Upon doing so, Yoochun stirred.
“Why is it so loud?” he muttered groggily. When he began to sit up, I scrambled to my feet and grabbed my cousin’s hand. If he learned that we actually fell asleep together, he would possibly kill me. The man blinked up at the two of us for a few seconds as he slowly woke up. When what happened had finally settled in, the man’s eyes widened in shock. Taking the initiative to leave before I could see his actual reaction, I grabbed my things and pulled Hyun Ae out of the room. “Yah! Get back here!” he yelled after us. “This can’t get out!” he added as we scrambled down the pathway towards the main house.