There was something about attics that Min Jee did not like. She also didn’t like basements but that was on a whole different level, literally.

Currently, she was in the attic of her grandmother’s and there were too many cobwebs and dust everywhere. She could feel her sinuses act up and quickly put on the mask that covered her nose and mouth. As she took in the mess that was gathered there, she let out a huge groan. Piles of boxes lined the floor, with the odd object shape that was covered by a sheet of cloth. Furniture that looked older than her was laid about, and there were even mannequins with clothing on that stood with limbs twisted abnormally. Min Jee wondered how her grandmother even got the mannequins. 

When her grandmother was alive, she was known to be a hoarder but was able to hide that side of her from company who ever visited her home by hiding it in such places like the attic. As a perfectionist, it made Min Jee cringe to look upon the mess, but someone had to clean it up. She just happened to get roped into the job.

It was almost half a year after the funeral that marked her grandmother’s death—she died peacefully in her sleep at the age of 80—and although she and her mother already accepted the fact that she had passed, it had taken a while for her mother to venture in the home that she grew up in. Eventually after much deliberation, her mother figured that it was time.

Min Jee tried wiggling her way out of it, especially since it was her last summer before she headed off to university, but her mother was adamant about her helping out and even played the distraught mother card to pull her in. Min Jee loved her mother so it didn’t take much to convince her in the end. Plus, her mother even told her that she could keep anything that she found interesting for herself, since after all everything now belonged to the both of them.

But there was a lot of crap everywhere that Min Jee didn’t know where to start. She wondered briefly if her grandmother was cackling in the afterlife.

With a huff, Min Jee slipped on rubber gloves and went to work, sorting out things into three piles: things to throw out, things to donate, and things to keep.

After some time, and most of the dust was cleaned off, Min Jee felt a little better as the three piles grew in size and she was able to walk around the attic without tripping over some unknown object. In a way it felt like a treasure hunt and a couple of times she would find things that reminded her of her childhood and it made her grin upon recognition of a certain item.

Ultimately, the discovery and rediscovery of things made Min Jee’s heart ache a bit for her grandmother, but even so, she knew that her grandmother was happy now especially with the fact that her husband died months earlier before her. They would be reunited and for that Min Jee didn’t feel as sad anymore even though she was filled with nostalgia.

It was only when Min Jee cleaned up the whole attic hours later, did she spot an oddity on the wooden floor. In the corner, near the closet chest was a particular plank of wood that looked out of place and when Min Jee checked it out she found herself prying out the plank from the floor.

A cloud of dust appeared and the first thing that did Min Jee was squeal when a cockroach, practically the size of her finger, crawled out and scurried away.

“Stupid bugs,” Min Jee whispered, and laid a hand on her chest to calm her racing heart as she peered into the hole and found an old regular shoebox riddled with age as the colour faded away and she was unable to make out the words that were once on it.

Taking it out with careful hands, Min Jee kneeled down and studied it further before opening it slowly. It was wonder that filled her when she studied the envelopes bound together with a piece of ribbon, a couple of black and white photographs as well as a small wooden box with intricate designs.

The first thing she looked at was the photographs, and under further examination she knew that it was her grandmother, around her own age who was in the photos. There were dates stamped on the back as well a little description of what the photo was such as: on a picnic with friends, night time dancing, my lovely darling. The darling was referring to her grandfather and Min Jee smiled looking at the picture of her grandparents together looking so happy and full of vibrancy.

Then there were the odd photos, the one of certain objects such as a door, a close up on a paper with numbers, and snippets of people’s turned heads, it was peculiar, but her grandmother was always a unique person and so she brushed it off when she picked up the letters.

The scrawl that was on the envelopes wasn’t one that she recognized and when she took one letter out of the envelope and quickly scanned the contents, Min Jee raised her eyebrows in surprise. They were love letters, between her grandmother and someone who definitely wasn’t her grandfather at all. Also based on the fact that there were at least a dozen letters that held the same content, it was a serious relationship.

At the very least though, the dates that were stamped on the letters showcased it was before her grandmother even met her grandfather, and thus Min Jee felt better about the whole ordeal. But damn, so her grandmother was certainly more promiscuous than Min Jee originally thought.

Min Jee actually shuddered when she read the love induced words that the letters produced, but nonetheless they were still interesting to read. Once she was finished with them, she eyed the box that was size of both her hands laid flat together. It was exotic, not something that would fit with her grandmother’s style which consisted of plain whites and simple designs. When she looked closer and tried to fiddle with the box, nothing made it open.

Eventually she resorted to shaking the box to hear what contents were inside of it, but it was to no avail. It felt like trying to open a birthday present, and guessing what was inside before tearing into the wrapping like a predator except Min Jee couldn’t do that because it was a box, and it was locked.

Min Jee realized it was a hopeless case quickly.

Instead, she spent time looking at the box more closely, and found herself wondering just what the symbols etched on the box meant. She was always someone who asked questions and thus found the curiosity inside her stir the longer she stared at the symbols.

And while she didn’t know what they meant, she knew someone who would.

*

*

*

“I have no clue.” Minseok answered Min Jee and continued to catalogue the books into the correct order on the shelf.

“I thought you were a history buff!” Min Jee exclaimed, who was then was instantly shushed by Minseok, and Min Jee cursed libraries with their policies for quietness. “Didn’t you go through a whole conspiracy phase last summer?” She whispered this time.

“It doesn’t mean I know everything, just Google it.” Minseok said, and Min Jee narrowed her eyes at her friend for being as useful as a stick. Sometimes he was just too lazy to help her and she wouldn’t let him go that easy.

“Come on,” Min Jee whined, “Just take a look at it, isn’t it so beautiful, a puzzle waiting for you to open.”

“A puzzle?” Minseok asked, and paused from cataloguing. Min Jee cheered internally because she finally got his attention, and she t