A week had passed and I was slowly but steadily fitting in through the cracks of Verdelann, if there were any. The town was picture perfect, apart from a few incidents here and there like Yoona had faced with a few muggers. She had dismissed it as a one in a million chance, saying that Verdelann never faces any problem with criminals.

“Is it because of your father?” The two of us were sitting in the amphitheatre of our college, relaxing after our classes were announced to have been cancelled.

“My wife just gave a birth to a baby boy,” the professor had meekly informed us. I was alarmed at the joyous response and how almost everyone had offered to drop Professor Leeteuk to the hospital.

Yoona’s eyes began to glaze and I whistled to get her attention. Her expression, without any change, moved to look at me and she said, “Didn’t you want to know about the Arthurs?”

My ears perked up. I had already forgotten about the nickname given to Hoya and his friends. I had learned their names now and realized that Zico, Aiden, Hero, Hoya and one more man named Top were part of a tight friend circle. I was too busy with first days and first meetings to remember my curiosity but now that Yoona was ready for story-telling, I was prepared to listen.

“Where should I start…” Yoona bit her lip and said, “Hey, I at story-telling so help me out okay?”

I smiled and nodded. “Interview format it is. So first question, why are they called the Arthurs?”

Yoona frowned. “Silly, that’s the whole story. Break it down.”

I sighed. “Okayy…. Who gave them this name?”

Yoona settled herself, crossing her legs and taking a sip of her chai latte before talking. “That’s easy. The townspeople. The five boys, their families are close to each other. Unfortunately their parents died in a fire incident and ever since then the five have been living close to each other, like a joint family. Before them, their fathers were known to have been heads of all the important organizations and committees and years ago, when Verdelann used to be fill with crime—”

“—that’s going to be my next question—”

“—the heads of the five families formulated a law and order system that resulted in the largest and fastest decrease in criminal activities in the world. Within a span of four weeks, all the wanted criminals were out of Verdelann. Back in the twenties, Hoya’s great-grandfather was apparently part of a team of people, who were rumoured to be ancestors of these five guys only, that chased away a large amount of Mafia immigrants.”

“Mafia? Like Al Capone, Gambino…”

Yoona nodded. “That’s what history tells us. No one has any idea how they did it, but they did it nonetheless. Ever since, the five families were known as the Arthurs and these five guys, though young, have been somehow part of many law and order enforcement decisions.”

Yoona sighed. “What was your next question? Why Verdelann was full of crime?”

I shook my head. “No, forget about that. My next question is…” I gave a fleeting glance of apology towards my friend and asked, “How do you know them?”

Yoona pursed her lips and it was only after a momentary pause that she spoke. Her face had some sort of a dark cloud hanging above it, almost as if she was going to reveal a secret of some sort.

“I’ve already told you about my father. He’s popular—though I’d rather say infamous—for solving cases that might as well make Yoochun and I sit under a guillotine. Maybe he gets an adrenaline rush from it but father has always wanted to involve himself in the downright dirty ones and one of them was a ual harrassment case.

“This was when I was a kid, about eight years old maybe. Aiden’s father was like the flirt of the group. Off the record, like father like son.”

I almost giggled at Yoona’s expression but stifled it when she continued.

“So anyway, he was the one holding all the parties for no reason at all. It was good for Verdelann, the teenagers and adults would have their club scene set in their mansion and things never got too scandalous during those events. Unfortunately there were many rumours about why Aiden’s parents had split. Some say she ran away with someone else, others say she caught her husband in a … Yeah well, you weren’t the only one who made that face.”

I fixed my expression. “What do you believe?”

Yoona clenched her jaw and shook her head. “It’s none of my business,” she replied in a soft tone, then cleared .

“Where was I… oh yeah. When Aiden’s father walked into dad’s office, that was the first time I had come into close contact with the Arthurs.”

She paused and I took a cue to ask another question. “What did he say?”

Yoona thankfully nodded at me. “Like I said, Aiden’s father was a flirt. He had been accused of ual harrassment by some colleague of his and if I clearly remember, this is what he had said : “I’ve squeezed a lot of asses, but not that pair!”

Yoona said this while lifting her index finger in the air, as if giving a sermon. I laughed in awe of her humorous side and waited for her to return to her narrative.

“That was one friendship the town wasn’t prepared for. Aiden’s father and my dad, they got along like a house on fire and their acquaintance remained even after dad won the case for Mr. Lee. Yoochun however was never fond of Aiden and even today, the one thing that keeps Dad from extending his friendship to his late friend’s son is Yoochun’s grudge.”

“Grudge for what?”

Even before my question had reached her ears, Yoona’s expression had suddenly darkened. When she spoke, she did so only after making sure no one was around. We were the only two people and the nearest people were in the football field, almost two hundred metres away.

“Yoona,” I asked, getting worried. “Are you alright? You always… I don’t know… stiffen up when it comes to Aiden.”

Yoona blinked at me. “No I don’t.”

I shrugged. “It’s obvious. Are you scared of him?”

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

“Are you scared of him?”

“Here it comes,” I muttered and glanced at Aiden. The five of us, including Top hyung, were sitting in the football field watching practice while eavesdropping.

Hero hyung had been insisting that there was something strange about the new girl’s aura but none of us had sensed anything. The girl’s karmic energy seemed to be clean and nothing off-beat, apart from the grief of her break-up and her parents’ death, seemed to stand out. But once the five of us heard Yoona start talking, no one said a word.

“I’m…” Yoona stuttered. Aiden leaned forward, as if it would help her to straighten her thoughts out. Zico rolled his finger next to his head and Hero shook his head as Top blinked at Aiden’s behaviour.

“Is it that obvious?”

I in my breath in between my teeth and Zico patted Aiden’s shoulder, though a smirk played on his lips. Hero hyung on the other hand shook his head—again—and gave a humourless chuckle when Yoona confirmed by saying, “I guess I am. More than anyone else.”

All of us could sense a different aura now. It was an aura none of us had sensed, especially with Aiden.

“I’m leaving,” he said and sped away to nowhere. The four of us sat in silence as we smelled the scent of heartbreak.

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

“So tell me,” I said, trying to change the mood of the talk. “Why isn’t anyone friends with them?”

Yoona cocked her head to the right. “I’m friends with Hoya and though Zico and Hero are intimidating, they seem decent. I’ve seen Top only once and he seems to be the most responsible one.”

I shook my head. “That’s not it… I mean, everytime I mention any of their names to Yunho, he doesn’t know what to say. Boa too suggests I don’t bother and the college kids don’t seem to be warm towards them.”

Yoona furrowed her eyebrows then clapped her hands in realization. “Aah… it’s because of the myth. You haven’t heard of it yet?”

I pouted my lips. “Is it about their ancestors driving away the Mafia?”

Yoona shook her head and asked me to lean closer. I did and suddenly in a low tone, she whispered, “The myth is not of what they did. It’s of HOW they did it.”

“What do you mean…”

“Promise not to laugh or get scared but…” Yoona cleared . “They say that the Arthurs, the original ones…”

I waited and when Yoona spoke, something inside me froze.

“The Arthurs who were alive during Verdelann’s founding? Rumours say that it was none other than the present Arthurs.”

“That means…” My eyes widened when Yoona nodded with excitement in her tone.

“They’re immortal.”