"Is the will of your grandfather clear to you Ms. Yang? If you have any doubts, do please feel free to ask me. Although I doubt if anything is unclear." The lawyer smiled gently and said again, "Its pretty simple, at the end of the day, all that your grandfather owned is now yours. You just need to know the list of the vast properties you have to your name."

Aria smiled a little.

It was no surprise to her that her grandfather had given her everything that he owned.

She had been the star in his life.

And he had been hers.

Aria closed her eyes when she felt the sting of tears. She could not keep crying right now. She needed to be responsible enough to take care of the business side of her grandfather's death.

Death.

He was dead.

Aria's father had died when she was in middle school, but both of her parents had abandoned her to her grandfather long before that. Her mother had divorced her father a year after she was born, and then gone away with her boss. She still lived with him with a family of her own.

Although grandfather had never really said anything against it, he had demanded his daughter to give his granddaughter to him. He wanted no part of his daughter's life shadowing his precious angel.

Her father . . . she never really knew if her father wanted her or not. After the divorce, he had not tried to get custody of her. Whether it was because of his disinterest or because he was afraid of the wealth and power her grandfather possessed, she never did think to ask.

Because her childhood had been perfect. She had been happy and carefree. Brought up by her grandfather in his villa, she had never felt the emotional loss of her parents. Her grandfather had made sure to fill her whole life with love.

He himself was a powerful Hotelier, his wealth enormous, but still, he never did act the way one with such power should have. There had never been an ounce of arrogance in him.

It wasn't as if he did not have his faults. Aria had never been blind to it. But those were minor matters to the hero he had been in her eyes, and he adored the respect and love her innocent eyes portrayed whenever he gazed in them. He would always tell her, that he constantly checked himself just so that Aria would never feel ashamed of him.

But now, he would never again laugh that loud boisterous guffaw with her. At eighty one, he was dead.

Aria got up from the chair and went over to the window of her lavish apartment. The city of Seoul sprawled below her penthouse.

"There was another thing he wanted to give you Aria." She heard Mr. Lee tell her in a low voice.

Getting her emotions in control, she turned to look at the old man, the friend of her grandpa whom she had known since her childhood.

"He did not want to mention it in the will. Its rather just a favour he asked me to do to him as a friend." From his briefcase, Lee took out a Black Folder. He extended it towards her, "This contains 2 sealed letters and one sealed envelop. He wanted you to have this after his funeral was done."

That sparked a memory in her.

In his last moments, on the hospital bed, her grandfather had tried desperately to talk to her. He had kept taking his oxygen mask down to speak to her, until the nurse finally gave up on seeing that not being able to do so was making him more anxious.

"Read what . . . . I give you . . . . black envelop." He had said while she had tried to tell him to put on the mask.

All was in vain.

"No!" he had vehemently shaken his head, "Promise to go . . . promise . . . You will know my past . . . you must, Please Aria!" he had started getting emotional, his rapid breathing alarming her.

She did not understand why, out of the blue he was behaving that way.

"Grandpa please. Yes I promise! Now please put the mask on. Please relax-"

"Listen to me!" with surprising strength he had grabbed her hands, "The tales of the Manor are true. My love is still there. Help her. Don't hate me. Don't . . . I lived for your love." Tears streamed down the old wrinkly place.

"I lived on, for your mother, for you. But she. . . Please. The length in the fabric of life allows us to cover parts of it in folds, hiding our past."

Aria was, essentially at that time, panicking. And crying. Because she could sense it too. She could sense that the last bit of desperation from the man who had nurtured her, loved her, was soon going to be extinguished.

She had held on to his frail hands which once had been strong enough to lift her up and spin her around in the garden with sunshine falling on them, their laughter a happy sound in the countless afternoons of her childhood.

Her grandfather looked at her with a sad smile. Breathing with difficulty he said, "Selfish I was. But I loved her. I still love her. Her beauty still stays with me. I need you to know what happened, I need you to help her. Help me. Promise you will?"

Tears making her face wet, she could not even answer back before her grandfather closed his eyes as he took his last breath.

"I promise." She had whispered.

"Aria?"

The voice of Mr. Lee made Aria come to the present. Gingerly, she took the proffered item.

"Is this about my grandma?" She asked Lee in a scratchy voice.

There had never been any doubts in her mind about who her grandfather had been talking about. Everyone in the society knew about her grandfather's undying love for her grandma. It was a love, that surpassed any emotion he had felt for her, or her mother.

His "young beautiful bride" he used to mention her as, eyes wistful with a wealth of sadness in it, whenever Aria would ask him to tell her a story about how they met.

Because, his young bride had also died young.

A year after their marriage, her grandma had died giving birth to her mother.

"In a way, yes. I am not privy to what is in the folder Aria, he did not tell me that. But I do think this is something about the Ancestral Manor."

Aria had suspected as much.

"I'll leave you in peace to read it. No need to show me out." He had given her a soft look, "I know how hard this is for you Aria, I do pray that you find the strength to stay strong in this period." Lee's voice was filled with sympathy.

Aria nodded, then turned and walked towards her sitting room. She heard Lee leaving her apartment.

Taking a glass of brandy, she turned on the fireplace, then sat down on the nearest couch.

The folder was completely unremarkable. It was ordinary.

Yet it was the last connection she had with her grandfather.

She opened it slowly, and slid out the objects inside. 3 envelops, all sealed. 1 of them thicker than the rest.

She examined the label on the black items. Each had one.

"Open First."

"The mentioned Keys."

"Open after reading the last pink letter after seeing the picture."

Picking up the envelop with instructions for it to be the first, she slid out a letter folded inside. Immediately recognizing her grandfather's handwriting, she hungrily read through the small missive.

Aria,

This is the form of communication I chose because it allows me to tell you about the things I wanted you to know, but could not find the heart to talk about in the face of those innocent big brown eyes of yours.

What I want you to know is something I cant simply say. You need to see it to understand.

You know about our manor. That was the manor my father had built for us, which was mine when he was killed. That was the manor where I had started my married life with your grandmother. You always used to ask me why I left it, why we no longer resided in it, and I always used to tell you that one day, I will tell you the story of the lives inside it, when you will be older.

Today, I will.

The manor is well taken care of. I know that there are rumours of it being haunted, and truthfully, I had always wished it to be true. Often times I used to go there, spend hours on the end, hoping to see some activity, hoping that I might be able to feel my love, as many staff claimed to. Afterall, she had taken her last breath in there. But I never felt anything. Never.

Still, the staff and caretakers persisted in letting me know that a warm presence was indeed felt by them all.

That was when I finally unlocked your grandmother's attic. She had instructed it to be locked 3 days before she had died. It was painful for me to go through all the objects placed inside, but in the same time, I felt happy. I felt, closer to her again.

I discovered her chest. I went through it. and I locked it again.

I never visited the Manor again.

But over the years, I felt the weight of it pressing me down. What if, she is there? What if she is not? Either ways, it is something that you have no idea about.

Aria, go to the Manor. All the staff are instructed to get it ready and be present. The key to the main gate is the brass one. The other, is for that chest.

Do this for me. Because I know, you must have promised it already.

Huh? That's it?

Picking up the other envelop, Aria was puzzled about the pink letter and picture.

The letter had been haphazardly written making her believe that her grandfather had written it in the days he felt his end was near.

Even in the weight of the emotional turmoil, Aria was just a tiny bit, shocked.

Did her grandfather really ask her to go to the manor for some ghost? What was she? Ghostbusters? Or Winchesters?

Aria genuinely felt her grandfather must have not been sane while writing it. That would be the only reason why he would suddenly start thinking about grandmother's ghost in a Manor where she died. No other reason for a 21st century person to believe in it except indulging in fantasies.

But, the chest, that intrigued her.

Plenty of times she had gone to the Manor, afterall it was right next to the family house they lived in. The Manor was still spotless, the caretaker, housekeeper and a few staff still residing in it, but her busy life had kept her away from the countryside.

She remembered wanting the attic to be opened, only for her grandfather to distract her.

Childhood curiosities and the promise she had given overwhelmed her.

Aria reached for her phone to call the housekeeper, "So-ra? Yes, I am making my way down to the Manor right now. Will arrive in a few hours. Can you please make my room ready?"

"Of course! Will you be staying? Please say yes."

"I will be, though I have no idea for how long. I'll be opening the attic." Aria spoke into the cell.

"Oh? Okay, happy that you will be here. Staying alone right now is not what you should be doing." So-ra gently said.

Sighing a bit, Aria asked, "Is it going to be a problem? My coming so abruptly?"

"We have kept the house in a condition that is always ready to be occupied by you Aria. There will be no trouble."

Aria paused a bit, "So-ra . . . I never asked you about it and you never said anything voluntarily. But seeing that you live there, is it true?"

A pause.

"I really cant say. Most of the things can just be chalked up to coincidence. But the warmth in the house, the positivity in it, makes us feel . . . like someone watches over us, guards us. As I said, I really cant explain. It may just be our mentality from the stories we know, but there has never been any blatant activity to confirm any of it."

Aria smiled ruefully, "I'll start soon."

"We will be waiting. Drive safe."

So-ra cut the call on her cell phone and then smiled towards the 2 staff in the kitchen, "Aria will be coming to stay here for a while."

The staff exclaimed happily, "That's good! She shouldn't be alone!"

"Wait, is she coming now? Then let me make her the dinner she likes!" the other staff said.

"Yes, please do so. I'll go change the sheets on her bed and get the pillows ready." So-ra said as she walked away towards the first floor.

"Will she be staying for long?" the staff preparing the dinner called out.

"Yes! Says she will be opening the attic!" So-ra shouted out as she climbed the stairs, humming happily.

The house soon buzzed with activity after the gloomy news of their employer's death.

All the people in it went about to check the lightbulbs, to trim a few plants, get the laundry done and talk amongst themselves.

Neither one of them noticed the candles decorating the house, burn a little brighter collectively, as if welcoming the thought of the person coming back home.

A/N : So, not much is understandable yet, right? so i'll wait to give you notes for this story after at least a few chapters.

Still, let me know what do you think of this story.

Please do vote!