Chapter 3:

Jiyong lay on his bed and stared at the photos he had found at Joongie's grave.

'Dara'

Who was she? And how did she know Joongie?

Jiyong couldn't recall anyone they knew who was named Dara unless she was someone from Joongie's class? As soon as he had gotten home he had called Donghae, Joongie's best friend, and he arranged to meet him. Jiyong showed Donghae the photo of the girl and asked if he knew who she was. But Donghae had never seen her before and he didn't recognize her name.

"She's pretty. I would have remembered her," Donghae had said. "Even her name is pretty. But I don't remember anyone in our class named Dara."

Now that Jiyong was back at home he continued to stare at Dara's photo wondering what her connection was to his little brother. He suspected she was probably the one that had left the flowers too. How long had she been visiting Jaejoong's grave and why? It must have been a while judging from the number of photos that were all addressed to Jaejoong, and at how the girl Dara had progressively grown. The oldest photo she appeared to be around Jaejoong's age. And in the last she appeared to be at least 13 or 14 years old.

Jiyong had wanted to leave a note for this mystery Dara but he didn't have anything on him to write with. Instead he left something in the box that had been in his wallet and he hoped this Dara would find.

**

Dara was talking about the trip she and her grandfather had taken the week earlier as she busied herself with cleaning around Jaejoongie's grave and with changing out the old roses from two weeks before with fresh ones. She had also brought with her a photo of standing at a scenic lookout point with a mountain lake in the background. Her grandfather and her had visited the place a few days earlier. She brought the tin can out that she used to leave her little momentos for Jaejoong in and opened it to place the photo in. Her hands froze mid-air as she saw something new in the can.

It was a wallet-sized photo of a family. A man, and a woman, and two little boys.

Curiously she lifted the photo out and took a closer look. Who was this? Was this Jaejoongie oppa's family? Was Jaejoong one of the two little boys?

She turned the photo over, hoping to see something written on the back, but it was blank.

Dara looked through the tin and noticed that all her photos she'd placed there from the years prior were missing.

All sorts of thoughts went through her head, the most prevalent being that someone from Jaejoong's family had obviously found her stash and had taken her photos but left the family photo in place. The thought excited her. For the longest time Dara felt as if she and her grandfather were the only ones visting Jaejoongie's grave. It had left her feeling sad for him and so she had been all the more diligent in making certain she always remembered him when she came to visit her grandmother.

 She had wondered countless times during her visits to the cemetary about Jaejoong's real family and what they were like. And why it appeared as if they didn't visit his grave. Her grandfather told her there could be several reasons. Perhaps the family lived far away, or maybe even moved away and was not able to visit him. It didn't mean theyd forgotten about him. Perhaps they remembered Jaejoong everyday in their hearts, their prayers or thoughts. Everyone had different ways of remembering their loved ones and so just because Jaejoong's family didn't appear to be visiting his grave often didn't mean they loved him any less.

But now this photo that someone had placed in the tin can she had left meant that someone from Jaejoong's family had visited! If this photo was his family then her assumption was that he had to be one of the two boys in the photos and that the couple were his parents. It would also mean that he had a brother!

Dara knew from the engraving on Jaejoong's grave stone that he had passed away just short of his seventh birthday. As she studied the photo she saw that the older of the two boys in the photo appeared to be older than a six or seven year old. He looked closer to nine or ten years old. The younger boy though was just the right age to match Jaejoong's age. Of course there was the possibility that neither of the two boys were Jaejoong and both could be his brothers --  a family photo taken after Jaejoong had passed away. However judging from the worn edges of the photo and the style of clothes the family wore, this was from several years ago. And the younger boy looked like Jaejoongie's faded photo on the grave.

Dara gazed at the photo for a long time, excited at the possibility that this could really be Jaejoong she was looking at and at his family. She grabbed her backpack and reached inside for her little memo book she kept there and a pen. She wanted to leave a note in case whoever it was that left the photo might come back. It took her several minutes to think of what to say since she was a stranger to them. It was difficult and a little awkward to think of something to say but she finally completed her note.

'Anneonghaseyeo ~ my name is Dara. I hope its okay that I've been visiting Jaejoong oppa. Is this photo his family?'

After re-reading her note Dara carefully folded it and placed it inside the tin. She then covered it and replaced it to it's hiding place behind the vase of flowers.

The following Sunday Dara was so excited. As soon as they arrived she rushed over to Jaejoong's grave ready to check the tin to see if there was a response. Her running feet came to a halt though when she saw sitting next to Jaejoongie's grave a teenaged boy dressed in jeans and t-shirt. He glanced up when he felt her presence and stared at her. Dara recognized immediately that he was the older of the two boys in the family photo. But whereas in the photo he had looked to be maybe 9 or 10 years old, the boy that was standing now and looking at her looked to be at least 15 years old.

Dara was tongue-tied. The boy smiled awkwardly at her and bowed his head in greeting.

"Anneonghaseyeo Dara-ssi. My name is Kwon Jiyong, Jaejoong's older brother."