“Oppa look at this” a doe eyed girl held out a sea shell in the palm of her hand. “Where did you get it?” the boy asked taking the object and examining it. “Yixing oppa gave it to me” the girl sheepishly smiled. She tried to take it back but the boy was too fast. He quickly held the shell above her head too far for the girl to reach.

“Hey give it back!” she exclaimed jumping up and down trying to retrieve her precious shell. “Say please” he teased extending his arm every time she almost obtained it. “Yifan!” the girl whined getting irritated by his juvenile behaviour. The boy however was having too much fun teasing her; there was no way he would give it back.

“Yifan give it back to her” a third person appeared from behind the boy. “Oppa he took my shell” the girl ran to him sobbing. He took the shell from Yifan’s grip and handed it back to the crying girl. “Don’t loose it again, okay” he said patting her head. The girl nodded beaming once again.  “I was gonna give it back” Yifan crossed his arms pouting.

Beep beep. Beep beep

The alarm pushed Kris out of dream land and into reality. His hand slammed against the clock immediately shutting it up. With a frustrated groan he sat up on his bed yawning and scratching his head. “What the hell was that?” he asked himself thinking back to the dream or maybe it was a memory.

He got up from is bed and walked to his closet retrieving the picture buried underneath the pile of his clothes. He walked back to his bed, once the item was in hand, and sat down scanning the picture for the hundredth time. “What does this mean?”

FLASHBACK

“Kris, why are you in this picture” Jessica asked unable to comprehend what she was seeing. She patiently waited for a response while Kris stood frozen picture in hand. Unfortunately for Jessica, Kris didn’t have the answer; he was just as shocked as she was. “Kris!” Jessica nudged him her patience wearing out. “I have no-”

“I didn’t Know if you wanted Ice so I just-”Jessica and Kris froze when Seohyun walked into the living room. “What are you guys doing there” she asked wearing a confused expression “and what is that” she pointed at the picture Kris was currently holding. “We were hoping you would know” Kris handed her picture waiting for an explanation.

“It’s a picture am guessing, but-” Seohyun put the glass of water on the coffee table before sitting down on the couch, Kris and Jessica sat on either side of her.  “I’ve never seen this picture before” she explained. Kris and Jessica looked at each other; they were both thinking the same thing. Where the hell did the picture come from?

Kris had a bad feeling. He couldn’t explain why but looking at that picture sent a cold shiver down his spine. A part of him was saying he should just forget the whole thing and go back home, while the other part was curious. There were so many unanswered questions about his past and Kris was ready for the truth.

“Do you know the people in the picture” Jessica asked. Seohyun hesitated unsure of what she was being asked to do. Never the less she carefully examined the five individuals. “That’s me and my sister…and I think that’s Yoona” Kris nodded telling her to carry on “I have no idea who they are” she pointed at the two boys previously identified as Lay and Kris.

“Are you sure” Kris asked. Seohyun looked at the picture one more time before nodding. “What’s going on?” the tall girl was confused. She didn’t understand why Jessica and Kris got serious all of a sudden and over some picture. “I think we should ask Lay about it” Jessica said out of the blue ignoring Seohyun’s previous question.

“No!” Kris shook his head. Jessica was taken back by his reaction. “Why not, he is the only one in the picture who isn’t dead or suffering some sort of memory loss. There’s Yoona but I have a feeling she is not going to tell us anything” Jessica finished off confident about her reasoning. If her boyfriend knew something he was going to tell them wasn’t he.

Despite Jessica’s valuable argument Kris still thought it was a bad idea. “Think about it Sica, I’ve know Lay all my life and never has he told me about this” he held up the picture “He must be hiding something Yoona too. We need to be very careful if we are going to keep digging into this without the two of them intervening”.

Jessica had to admit he had a point. But she hated hiding stuff from her boyfriend. Their relationship was already under strain, keeping a secret from him would only widen the gap between them. But this was important, not only to Kris but Seohyun too. Jessica sighed admitting defeat, it was going to be hard but she had to do it. For Kris.

“Can someone please tell me what’s going on!” Seohyun exclaimed frustration evident in her voice. She didn’t like being ignored especially in her own house. “These two boys” Kris held out the picture using his figure to point. “That’s me and my friend”. Seohyun’s mouth hang open “Wha- Wh- ho-” she couldn’t form words.

“I don’t know” Kris answered her unasked question. “That’s what we are going to find out without the help of Yoona or my friend” Kris looked at Jessica at the last part of the sentence. He needed to make sure she was on the same page. Jessica unknowingly nodded agreeing to keep it a secret however she knew she was going to regret her decision.

“How are we going to do that, we have no leads” Seohyun raised a valid point. “We have this” Kris put the photo on the coffee table for all to see. For a few second they all silently stared at the picture like the answer would magically appear if they looked long enough.

“Hold on a second” Jessica broke the silence. “Look at that” she pointed at the wooden house in the backdrop. The five happy kids looked like the where in the middle of no where, with trees for company. The only sign of civilisation was the wooden cabin they happily posed in front of.

“I know this place” Kris exclaimed “I can’t believe I didn’t notice this before” a smile creped on his face. He was too preoccupied with the people in the picture that he completely forgot to look at the surroundings. “That’s Lay’s family cabin, it’s not far from here” Kris said with a chuckle. He had only been there a once but he was sure it was the same place.

“That’s great, all we have to do is get the key from Lay and do the investigation ourselves” Jessica said. “How are we going to do that without him being suspicious” Kris asked and once again the room fell silent. They were all thinking of a solution.

“Maybe we don’t have to hide it from him; maybe we can even bring him along Yoona too. If we play it right they won’t know a thing” Seohyun said breaking the silence. Kris nodded he had to admit it was a great idea. Going there alone with Jessica would make Lay curious, Kris was very much aware of his friends feelings. If they brought him along that would raise less suspicion.

“But how are we going to do it” Kris needed a bullet proof plan. If they were going to do this they had to do it right. He was determined now. “I’ll think of something” Jessica reassured him.

END OF FLASHBACK

Kris put the picture back where it was before taking a shower and getting dressed. After styling is hair for half an hour he headed down the stairs for breakfast. “Where’s mom” Kris asked Victoria who was comfortably seated in the kitchen reading a newspaper and sipping her coffee.

“She left early for work” Victoria answered not looking up from the paper. Kris nodded; he hardly ever got to see his mom lately. He poured himself a cup of coffee before turning back to his sister.

“Can I ask you something” Kris said making Victoria’s head shoot up. She could sense the seriousness in his voice. “What’s wrong” she was genuinely concern. Kris waited a moment before proceeding “Do you remember anything about when I was kids, specifically my friends” he asked trying to get some answers.

Victoria shook her head. “When mom and dad got divorced, I stayed in china with dad and you came here with mom” she paused taking a sip of her coffee. “We stayed like that for years, not really talking to each other” she finished off walking to the coffee maker for a refill. “Why did you come here though” Kris asked.

“I heard you were in a car accident and were suffering some sort of memory loss so I jumped onto a plane and came to see my baby brother” Victoria ruffled his perfectly styled hair. For the first time ever he didn’t yell at her for messing his master piece. Kris was touched by sister’s sacrifice. At least someone wasn’t lying to him.

Kris attention shifted to the honking car outside. “Lay is here to pick you up” Victoria said handing him his back pack. Kris sighed before fixing his hair and swinging the bag across his shoulder. “You should really get your car back” Victoria said and Kris had to agree. He had forgotten on several occasions to do so since it had been ready for a while now.

“Bye” he waved at his sister before walking out the door and into Lay’s car. Lay was at the driver’s seat as usual nodding his head to the beat coming from the radio. Kris got into the passenger seat and was surprised to see Jessica in the back seat of the car. She never rode with them in the morning.  

“Hey Kris” Lay greeted wearing a cheesy grin. Kris just nodded in response. “So how did your visit go” Lay asked as soon as he started the car. Jessica nervously shifted in her seat looking at Kris then back at Lay. “It was okay” she finally said while Kris just shrugged. Lay noticed the tension in the car, he wasn’t stupid. He knew something was going on.

“What did you guys talk about” he asked digging even further. “We just asked about her sister you know” Jessica nervously answered. Lay looked at Kris, who had remained silent, waiting for a response. “Kris?” Lay nudged his best friend. Jessica bit her lip, she knew Kris was angry with Lay at this point she was hoping he wouldn’t freak out.

“What she said” he replied staring at the window. He hated having to pretend he wasn’t upset with Lay but he had no choice. “That’s it” Lay stopped the car and turned off the engine. He definitely knew Kris and Jessica were hiding something, he was just hopping it wasn't what he was thinking.

“I need an explanation right now” he said looking from Kris, whose expression was unchanged, to Jessica who looked guilty. “What’s going on?”