My breath hitched in my throat while I refused to blink, continuing my hopeless stare competition with the sketch.

“Wow,” I murmured. I had heard about the wonders of the gene pool. How certain traits of distant ancestors could be passed down and appear in, if lucky, one descendant. I remembered a friend from my hometown, a girl who had eyes of a startling blue. All her life she had thought something was wrong with her, since none of her parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts had eyes the shade of deep brown. It was only when she heavily researched her genealogy line did she find out that her her great-grandfather’s first wife had been a German lady with eyes as blue as the sky.

But this… this was spellbinding.

The miracle before me was too much and I almost rushed down the stairs to present it to Boa, only to notice Key’s parcel.

“Forgot about you,” I sheepishly muttered and proceeded to open it. The parcel was wrapped in plain brown paper with a bright red ribbon on it. I scoffed at Key’s strange style and carefully clasped the edges of the rectangular mint green box. I kept my mobile phone at hand, my fingers already dialling away the number.

“Key what did you—”

“Careful!”

I furrowed my eyebrows. “Key, you’re on the phone. No need to whisper, sheesh…”

Key clicked his tongue. “You haven’t opened the box have you?”

I shrugged. “I thought it was one of those things where you would want to know my reaction, a live update of my surprise.”

“More like shock,” Key muttered. “Hey, keep it on the downlow, all right?”

“What do you mean?” I started tearing off the remaining piece of tape locking the cover in its place. “My god Key, what on earth have you packed in this…”

“I mean,” Key sighed. “When you open it, don’t go around screaming bloody murder. They could be anywhere around you. They were around me too you know.”

I froze. I picked up my actions again, removing the cello tape and throwing it in the bin behind me. I knew exactly who he was referring to. “Have they been following you?”

I could imagine Key shaking his head as he spoke in a despondent tone. “Not really. But everytime I enter class or happen to bump into them, which I’m bound to because of my store, they don’t throw me those friendly smiles anymore.”

‘Well, Key, no offense but… You did sort of taint their image, without knowing much yourself…”

“YOU’RE SAYING ALL THAT BECAUSE YOU STILL HAVEN’T OPENED THE BOX!”

I widened my eyes, staring at my phone and frowning. “I thought you said to keep it on the downlow.”

“Just!” Key muttered incoherently then said, “Open the damn box Saya.”

I pressed the speaker button and heaved a sigh as I removed the lid of the box, coming face-to-face with layers of butter paper.

“High maintenance much?” I joked and carefully, began to peel them off of what looked like an old frame.

“When you see the pictures, you’ll know why.”

I ignored my friend’s warning and rolled my eyes. “You really are a drama que—”

I saw the first picture and stopped talking. I slowly lifted the frama and cradled it in my arms. I compared the picture with the sketch from the leaflet and shook my head. Coincidence… again?

One person looking like his ancestor was believable. But a whole group?

I looked at the date of the portrait and the signature. My eyes widened as I recognized a name I had seen only in Art History classes.

“Is-i-i-is that…. Le…Le…”

“Leonardo Da Vinci,” Key haughtily responded. Had it been any other situation, I would have desired to smash my phone’s screen. But this situation was not like any other.

The portrait was of five men comfortably keeping themselves busy in a posh room, with what looked like Persian carpets, a crystal chandelier, a cozy fireplace and shelf full of fat books reverberating their wealthy and powerful aura. And those five men were none other than the five Arthurs residing in Verdelann.

“This can’t be,” I said, breathing out my words with care. Disbelief, fear, shock and confusion took hold of me as I my dry lips and noticed a second portrait lying inside the box.

“How is this possible?” I said, hoping Key hadn’t hung up. I checked the screen, relieved to find that my friend hadn’t abandoned me while I was making this strange discovery.

“I wish I knew,” Key replied, sounding genuinely exhausted. “Working at a pawn shop has it’s advantages, one being that I hold secrets that even unravelled, would remain a mystery.”

“Only you know,” I confirmed. Key gave out a humourless laugh.

“Forgot about our friend Yoona?”

I bit my lower lip. Suddenly, perspective shone before me. A secret like this would have no option but to be well-protected. I couldn’t blame Yoona anymore for keeping this from me, Key, her brother and the entire town. Others could see it as betrayal, but I knew that Yoona had other interests in mind. The interests of Verdelann, for that matter.

“Key,” I spoke slowly and gasped when I saw the second picture. Upon seeing the people inside it, I rushed to the door and locked it, shutting my window and taking a deep breath before continuing my conversation.

“You’ve seen him before,” Key said in a quiet tone, no more excited. “Haven’t you?”

The second portrait was of the man I recognized as Zico, staring at a WANTED poster on a brick wall. What shocked me this time was not the image of a non-blonde Zico looking serious and mature for a change. It was of the man whose gangly face was slapped on the wall like graffiti with a $5000 reward hanging above his head in bold font. The man was none other than my very own cousin, Nam Woohyun.

                                    *****************************************

“You did WHAT?”

Jaejoong tried not to hang his head low, pushing himself to turn around and face his brothers. His insides were already gnawing themselves out of guilt as he saw the disappointment in Seung Hyun’s face, the fury in Jiho’s eyes, the numb confusion in Howon’s darting gaze and the frighteningly calm smile on Donghae.

“I feel…”

“It doesn’t matter,” Jiho hissed, taking bold steps towards his hyung, “what you feel. You need to THINK. Think of the consequences that could follow. You don’t even know her!”

“Woohyun’s her cousin,” Jaejoong calmly replied.

Jiho threw his hands up in the air. “Oh great. That makes me feel better. The girl you just entrusted our secret to is an ex-convict’s sister. Great.”

“We’ve been in alliance,” the leader of the group explained. “Woohyun hasn’t done anything…”

“YET.” Howon looked at his elder brother and gave a sad smile. “Hyung… why?”

“She’s seen my true form,” Jaejoong said, a bitter smile on his face. Four pairs of eyes shot him a look, a look of comprehension, a look of realization.

Jiho blinked at the floor and shook his head. “But… how is that possible… not anymore…”

“It is.” SeungHyun finally spoke, his hands in his pockets. He nodded at Jaejoong and said, “The last red string on this Earth has you at one end and Saya on the other. That’s the fact and no one can change it.”