Aria slowly woke up. She blinked her eyes a couple of time to get them to open but they stubbornly stayed stuck.

Becoming more and more aware she realized the cause for it. The eyelashes were stuck together, her eyes were gritty and her cheeks were itchy.

From tears.

She struggled to sit straight and rubbed at the dry tear tracks on her cheeks as she battled the heaviness she felt in her chest.

Last night had drained her in a way that her grandfather's death had not been able to. She had kept reading the letters, her tears escaping her eyes with each word engraved on the paper.

The sense those hopeful, joyous, open letters elicited in her were the complete opposite of the essence in which they had been written in. Each line of the lovers had revealed the level of their ease with each other, the forgone conclusion they had already imagined to be their truth. Of them getting married.

The jokes, the teasing, the gentle stirrings of passion that Taehyung was slowly unable to contain as the girl grew up more, was too much for Aria to bear.

If any single one of those letters were given to a passing stranger to be read without context, they would undoubtedly smile and proclaim them to be beautiful love letters between two people who lived for one another.

Aria would say each and every alphabet carved in the thin sheets were sharp jabs of pain capable of rending someone's heart.

The happiness of the past was unaware of the doom in the future.

The love of the past, blissfully ignorant of the anguish it would meet.

As the letters had progressed in months, Taehyung had grown more protective of his fiancée. He was vigilant of her needs, careful of her emotions and utterly drowned in her essence.

He was insanely in love with her.

The more the time passed, the more possessive he grew, the more greedy he became for her smile. The more he slipped deeper in the depths of her eyes.

She was his Sun, while he was her sky.

They dreamt of normal things, laughing amongst themselves about desiring something so mundane. Aria wanted to reach out and shout to them of how very precious that fact in itself was.

A love was never great because of grand gestures and acts committed in the name of it. That kind was only shallow, not able to survive the tides of time, crumpling like a sandcastle in its wake.

That kind just blazed bright momentarily, lighting up the darkness. Then it vanished as quickly as it came, lost in the face of realities.

But the love Taehyung shared with his Fairy? That was the love made of small gestures, intimate promises, careful kindness. The love which was quiet in the presence of company, but screaming loud in the secret glances of shared jokes between them.

A love that nurtured, that slowly blossomed into a tree, and not a flower which would wilt with the season's change.

It was the kind of love that everyone dreamed of. The kind which remained captured between the sheets of a novel, its existence only limited in the fantasy of a story.

They had something that rare. Something that priceless.

A love that remained untouched by time.

A love, that resulted in an unknown fate of separation.

Aria bit her lip from the trembling in it. She closed her eyes and shook her head to distract herself from the emotions.

Determined to at least gather a little of her depleted spirit before she started reading them again, she shook herself to the morning and tried to notice her surroundings. There was no hesitation about her decision to keep reading because even though she knew the letters were nearing the month of their wedding, even though she knew she was likely to be scarred from the pain ahead, she needed to know what had happened.

The first thing Aria noticed was that the sun was streaming in through the curtains, making her room bright and cheerful. The next thing she noticed was that the lampshades she had switched on yesterday night, were all switched off.

She looked at her bed. The letters which had been strewn around her were all stacked up neatly on one side of her bed.

The pillow she had been leaning on had been slightly harder for the support she needed. Aria had fallen asleep while reading the letters. She had not woken to leave her bed to turn off the lights nor to switch her pillows.

But the pillow below her head was the soft one, not the one she had been using. The folded blanket at the bottom had been lovingly drawn over her, to keep her warm and comfortable in her sleep.

The hot chocolate mug, which she had carelessly kept beside her, on the bed within her reach in a manner where she could knock it off accidentally in her sleep, was now placed on the bedside table.

She knew that So-ra never came in her room when she slept. But someone had obviously taken care of her, made sure she was comfortable. Had tucked her in.

Aria felt a heavy lash of tears burst in her eyes as she closed her lids and fell back on her pillows.

Her grandmother was really here.

The rumors' were all true.

She still had not found rest. And now Aria knew why.

Maybe, she had still not found her Taehyung.

"Grandma?" Aria softly said in a wobbly voice and then looked around the room. Nothing happened.

"I'll find out what happened. I wont let it remain a secret. I will----" feeling she would start crying if she continued, she stopped.

It felt surreal to accept the presence of a soul in this house in a way which was positive. Even though the term would be correct, Aria knew it was wrong to say that the house was haunted by a ghost.

No, this presence was in no way harmful, or terrifying or even scary in its existence. This presence was loving and warm. Trapped.

This house was haunted, but from a buried past.

Aria swept away the blanket from her body and went to the bathroom. Hurriedly she freshened up and then dressed herself.

Wrenching the door open, she quickly turned in the corridor to reach the stairs. She bid goodmorning to all the staff going about their day and reached the kitchen to quickly scarf down 6 granola bars with milk.

Just for the sake of clarity, she asked So-ra, "So-ra, did you come in my room after you bid me goodnight?"

So-ra shook her head, but before she could ask her the cause, or to ask her to slow down, Aria questioned her, "Where do you keep wine in this house?"

So-ra gave her a look.

Waving her hand in front of her face in a dismissive gesture, Aria continued, "I really need it by my side if I am to continue what I am doing. Its fine, I think I can indulge in such activity once in my life, especially given the circumstance."

That made So-ra change her expression to a one of sympathy, "The basement. It has a cellar now."

Nodding, Aria turned to leave.

"Do you want someone to accompany you?"

"No, its okay!" she called over her shoulder.

🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂

The basement had always been a puzzle to not just her, but also the staff. Her grandfather too never understood the deal.

Although the foundation of the house showed a large basement running down to open in the field outside, in reality it only contained a small room. The room was made from stone walls and there was no other passage to it.

It was a good thing it had been converted into a cellar. Going down the brightly lit stairs, Aria switched on the lights which flooded the cellar with brightness. Rows upon rows of racks were neatly arranged, having the wine bottles slotted into place.

Aria meandered towards the white wine, her thoughts only to grab one bottle, not really caring about the taste of the vintage.

Her mind was still filled with the sorrowful tale written so happily, that she was mostly absent minded while she walked.

As she went down the lane, suddenly, a bottle of wine slipped from a rack in front of her, to fall by her feet, making the sound of glass hitting the floor and then rolling towards her.

Startled, Aria snapped to attention at the loud sound in the quiet room and looked down on the floor to pick up the bottle only to freeze when she saw what was right ahead of her.

Lost in her thoughts, she had not noticed, the piece of wooden block with sharp nails pointing upwards, laying on the ground, carelessly discarded by the carpenter who had forgotten to clean up properly.

Her feet were encased in thin cloth slippers. Had she stepped on the nails, they would have pierced her slippers to embed itself in the sole of her foot.

Blinking, Aria looked at the place from which the bottle had fallen.

The wine bottles were laid vertically on the rack, each bottle slotted into place and supporting the bottles beside it.

There was no natural way the bottle could possibly roll or slip out.

But it had. And in the perfect time to stop her from getting hurt.

Clutching the bottle to herself, Aria lost the battle against the tears she had been fighting since she woke up. She burst out sobbing, the suppressed emotions of the letters pouring out of her.

She cried out for the unfairness the two souls were given, she cried because of the strong love so mercilessly butchered by life.

She sobbed for the Taehyung who adored and guarded his Little Fairy.

She sobbed for the girl who only ever smiled for one Boy.

Aria cried for the soul, still trapped in the house, still kind and nurturing in her hellish wait, still protective and warm in her eternal wait.

"Why are you still here?" she screamed at the room, "Why could you not find Taehyung? Why did you suffer so much??"

She choked as she shouted again, "Why?? Why did you not find rest in your death Grandma??"

Crying bitterly, she brokenly whispered, "Why are you still waiting?"

The room remained quiet as she wept on, although strangely warm and cozy. Unlike any basement room made of stone walls should have been.

Aria remained sitting on the floor for a long time, trying to reign in her emotions. When after some time, she could finally stop, she shakily stood up from the floor.

The room remained as unremarkable as any other in the world.

Sniffing and holding the bottle to her chest, she whispered into it, "I am going to find the truth. I wont stop before I understand. I will help you Grandma. I will uncover what happened to Taehyung. Why you married my grandfather."

Making the promise to the air, Aria went up the stairs to the door. She glanced at the cellar again for a few seconds, only for it to remain normally still. Sighing, she switched off the lights and closed the door.

A few seconds after the cellar plunged into complete darkness, the block of wood slid from the center of the lane to the corner of the room, safely away from any absent-minded toddling. Then, the sharp nails slowly bent from the middle, the tips turning down towards the wood.

The block was now completely harmless. It would not cause anyone to get hurt.

🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂

Aria grabbed a glass of wine from the kitchen and some snacks. She asked So-ra to not disturb her until she called for her.

So-ra stretched the promise till dinner time, handing her a few fruits to tide her over for lunch which the older woman knew, Aria would ignore.

Reaching her room, she went to the windows and tied the curtains back, allowing the sun to shine inside directly without the hinderance of filtering through the curtains.

She perched on her bed after that and bent to take out the remaining stack of letters. She had already read through the rest in the night.

Right now, she was in the time of 2 weeks before her grandmother's marriage date. She knew she was entering the time when all went wrong.

Aria tugged open the ribbon and looked at the bundle.

Only a few white envelops were present in between the pink. More than half of the stack was filled with only pink envelops in the bottom half.

Taking a deep breath, Aria reached for the white Envelop on top, as she murmured, "Grandma, don't let me falter. Okay?"

A fragrant breeze momentarily blew over her form, slightly caressing her cheeks with its warmth.

Aria looked at the closed windows and smiled.

"Okay," she leaned back against the pillows, "I wont fail you." She whispered to her room again.

Aria opened the next letter.

🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂

A/N : Will be uploading in batch again.

So, how are u liking the story so far?

I would really love to hear your thoughts, so please do comment and let me know.....

Please do comment and vote.