Aria walked down the stairs from her room, rubbing her eyes as she blurrily trudged ahead. She reached the landing to see the staff busily carrying out their jobs. She stood there for a moment, taking in the hubbub so foreign to her in her lonely lifestyle of the city life, before she looked up at a greeting.

"Aria! Here, do you want coffee?" So-ra called her cheerfully from the kitchen, where 2 more girls smiled at her.

The word coffee got Aria's feet moving forward before she could voluntarily decide on her action.

That was the pull caffeine had on her.

Reaching So-ra, she took the cold brew handed to her and hugged the older woman, who laughed and hugged her back.

"Goodmorning little angel, did you sleep well? You were beat when you arrived." So-ra soothingly rubbed Aria's back.

Aria had arrived late last night. She had inhaled the delicious dinner put before her and then blindly followed So-ra to her room to face plant on the soft bed.

"Yes I did." She replied. Then taking a step back and sipping her americano, she sighed in bliss before telling the older woman, "Thank you for tucking me in So-ra. The bad tendency I have usually results in a stiff body for me."

So-ra appeared a little puzzled, "What?"

Aria went to take seat on the dinning table as she picked up an apple from the fruit basket, "I mean, I passed face down on the bed with no blankets. That usually gives me a neck crick and stiff body from the cold air." she munched on the juicy fruit, "So thank you for turning me, putting a pillow under my head and covering me. Us single, relationship less and sibling less girls never take these small gestures for granted." She winked.

So-ra's smile appeared to be a little strained, "Aria, I never went in your room after guiding you and bidding you goodnight."

Aria paused for a moment, then shrugging she kept on eating her apple, "Then I must have finally become responsible enough to do that on my own in my sleep. Proud of me."

So-ra said nothing. It was no secret that Aria was a deep and heavy sleeper, rarely getting up or moving around on the bed once she had succumbed to it. Her getting up, climbing up the bed, positioning her head on the pillow, then unfolding the blanket to pull it over could not happen without her remembering it.

"Miss, what would you like for breakfast?" the girl in the kitchen asked gaily.

Hearing that, Aria jumped to her feet, eyes wide with excitement, "No no, I am skipping that. Could 2 or 3 of you come with me now? I am opening the attic. I might need assistance against the heavy dust sure to be present."

So-ra smiled at her excitement, knowing it had been her childhood dream to explore that space. She shook her head indulgently and instructed the 2 maids, "Go with her."

"Okay! Meet me there, let me go get the key!" Aria sped out from the kitchen.

"Maam?" So-ra looked at one of the maid standing in front of her.

"Should we stay with her throughout?"

So-ra and the other maid understood the underlying question.

"Don't really think there is any need for it. If she asks, then do so."

"Ready! Lets go!"

They turned to see Aria racing towards the west wing, where the stairs towards the attic was. Her enthusiasm made even the maids smile.

Aria made her way through the huge manor, passing corridors, stairs and rooms, to reach a wooden door.

She waited for the 2 maids to catch up to her and then opened the door to reveal the spiraling stone steps in the narrow space, going up.

They switched on the lights and started climbing the winding, narrow, closed staircase, easily spanning three floors of height. At the end of it, yet another door came in view. This one, however, was not made of wood, but of iron.

Excitedly, Aria went to it. Countless times in her childhood, she had imagined the door being opened for her to discover all the treasures inside. No doubt, all the things in the room would be a relic of the past.....

This door had been first locked 58 years back. The amount of history it had was magnetic for Aria. . . the unknown mystery always attracting an individual.

She went to the door and inserted the key in the huge lock. Surprisingly, it opened smoothly. Slowly taking the lock out of the hatch and handing it to the maids carrying broomsticks with her, she opened the hatch of the door.

The door made a squeaky sound as it swung open, to reveal a room completely out of Aria's imagination. Where she had imagined a small dark room with dust and disuse hidden away in the manor, before her stood the complete opposite.

The room was large and spacious. One wall was entirely made of glass, allowing bright sunlight to make the room sunny and cheerful. The room was painted in pastel shades with the floor being wooden.

Not a single dust mote was spotted.

That was-- strange.

Looking at the amazed expression of the maids, the three of them stepped inside the room and immediately felt the temperature difference. Maybe due to the direct exposure of the sun in the room since dawn, the attic was warm and cozy.

Aria straight went to the glass, trying to understand why she had not seen this place from the outside. The glass window faced towards her family villa neighboring it, overlooking the sprawling garden and 2 trees in between it.

The trees outside, had grown in a manner that the branches hid the glass from view. That was the reason why she had not seen the reflection of it.

Mystery solved, she turned to check out the room. Both the maids were already looking over things with her, still reeling from the lack of dirt or spiderwebs in a room which was closed for 21 years now, after Aria's grandfather had opened it in the past.

One side of the room had a table and few chairs, a huge painting covering one wall, while stacks of framed pictures were stacked on the floor, with the support of the wall. 8 large chests were neatly pushed to one corner.

The other side of the room had many books, a recliner, a medium chest and an old piano.

Aria looked around, not knowing where to start.

"Miss, should we stay?"

Aria shook her head, "No, its okay, I want to be alone. Just don't close the door, stack something against it and keep the lights of the staircase open. Please call me if I lose track of time."

"Do you have your cellphone with you?"

Aria nodded.

The maids bowed once and then went to the door. The dragged the heavy chairs and stacked it against it before going back to their chores.

Left alone, Aria closed her eyes once and spread her arms wide.

It felt almost magical to stand in the room she had always desired to be in, to discover the treasures. Curiously, she looked at the painting.

Whoever was the painter, was obviously not good at it. It was mostly bold splashes of colour thrown on the canvas and then lathered on it with heavy strokes. Red, burgundy, black dominating it.

Seeing the painting, Aria could feel the unrest in the painter. The picture evoked a sense of anger, of frustration, of unbalanced suppressed sadness turned violent.

But on concentrating, something was written right in the middle of it in neat, clean and elegant calligraphy.

Aria went closer to read it.

"It is my belief that has turned into flames, which engulf me in the burning pain of a truth that is fractured.
Even as it melts my existence, the anguish it brings satisfies my heart of the past that took place. Without it, I am nothing."

In the silence of the room, Aria breathed in and out. The sentence, so beautifully written, screamed with desolation, with an inner anger that the painter was experiencing. Perhaps the only emotion the painter was left with.

In that brightly lit warm room, the painting was a harsh contrast.

It was someone's grief translated on the canvas.

Who?

Aria turned towards the medium chest sitting apart, at the other side of the room from the other 8. Stowing away the curiosity of the contents of each object, Aria went straight to the medium chest.

She pulled out the other key and tried the lock, to find that it fit.

A curious tension filled her, because it was apparent, that the contents would be something she might not have been expecting.

She dragged the recliner closer and then sat on it. The chirping of the birds outside filled the sunny room with a sweet melody as she unlocked the chest and opened it.

Inside, was stacks of letters. Columns of letters with a partition in the middle. Taken aback, she lifted the first bundle carefully.

The bundle was lovingly wrapped in a ribbon which once had been golden. The fragile piece fell apart in one tug.

Aria sifted through the first few letters, not opening them just yet.

Consistently, the letters were stacked in a pattern. A pink letter followed by a white, then pink again.

She looked at the top address of it. The pink letters were addressed to a boy, while the white were addressed to a girl. The handwriting, that of children.

She kept the stack on the floor and opened the first pink letter.

To You,

I was told to practice my penmanship by writing letters and I have decided that I shall write to you. Afterall you owe me after I kept quiet about the mess you made while playing with your dogs. I lied to both our parents for you. So as a token of gratitude, not only are you going to take my letters, read them and keep them, you are also going to reply to me so that I can keep writing and improving. Our secret spot will be the hollow of the old man's tree.

PS : Listen to my demand or I will let your mother know about the way you burned her dress.

Your Friend.

That seemed like a letter from a child to another. Aria quickly opened the white one below it.

To little Fairy,

I am glad that you decided to write to me for your practice. You never have to ask for my gratitude to you, we have known each other since you were born. You are my friend, even if I am 5 years older than you. I will happily acquiesce to your desire, in fact, it will be my honour to be your penpal too. Thankyou for keeping my secret. I agree with the secret spot, it shall forever be our place even as we grow older.

PS : I did not intend to burn it, I had accidentally spilled water on it and wanted to dry it before mother came home. But in my neglect, it caught fire.

Yours.

That was sweet. So the boy was 5 years older than the girl.

Aria quickly opened the next.

To You,

Why would you write only Yours? Should you not complete the sentence?

Your Friend.

Short. Must have been just experimenting with this.

To Little Fairy,

I did complete it. you are just too young to understand it. Leave it. Will you be going to the picnic our parents and others are planning? You don't have to worry about the other kids or boys bothering you, I will make sure you enjoy without any botherations. Say you will go because I will be forced too. It will be boring without you.

Yours.

Aria understood that the letters were arranged in a chronological manner. She looked at the stacks so carefully arranged, it would have been hard work to keep it that way.

But more telling was the fact that the letters were treasured. They were kept in such pristine condition, collected right from the very beginning, even when all they talked about were the things children forget when they grow up.

Someone had loved these papers, and the memories penned in them.

Aria smiled. Her Grandfather had always recounted the love story of meeting his Bride, he had been mesmerized by her since the childhood, but never expressed it to her because she had been too innocent.

These letters did prove that.

Smiling fondly at these, she felt sentimental as she traced the words on the sheet. She was essentially, in a way, witnessing her grandma and grandfather grow up.

She was reliving their past, a time lost in the tides of tense, never to be found again. But here she was, feeling the excitement of the childhood friends sharing secret letters.

Aria settled in comfortably and started reading each letter, making sure to fold it gently back again.

She read through the times of them sharing their secrets, them bonding together, them sharing the childish fears they had. She read as the girl slowly grew up, her thoughts, the way she wrote matured, flourishing into the awareness of a girl who entered puberty.

While the boy . . . the love the boy had for his fairy became very visible to the matured eyes reading it with the clarity of wisdom. Perhaps, this was the reason why her grandmother had treasured these letters.

The boy loved the lively girl. His love was quiet, supportive as he watched over her from a distance, mildly pointed out the harms that her actions could bring for herself. The boy cherished each interaction he had with her, adored the way she complained to him, soothed her fears even while he battled his own.

He always signed it as Yours, the girl completely oblivious to its significance.

The letters were making Aria as sad as she was happy, tears glistening in her eyes as she read the innocence of a deep love slowly beginning to blossom, the beautiful fragility of the emotion taking root inside their lives.

The children were growing up with the pure emotion untouched by any negative dust, or the shadows of reality, happy in the company and the feelings they elicited from each other.

Their bond was slowly strengthening as the letters progressed.

The creeping realization came to Aria then, of the extent of loss her grandpa had to have faced, when he lost the girl he loved since the time he understood the emotion.

He had essentially lived his life to love her.

Aria went through a few years' worth of letters, moving through stacks. The light outside slowly started fading as the day gave way to twilight when she reached a junction of their lives where the boy and the girl were deeply in love but could not find the courage to confess.

"Aria! Come down now honey! Eat something! You haven't taken a single meal since yesterday!" So-ra's voice reached her.

"I'll be down in 5 minutes!" Aria called back.

"Knowing you your 5 minutes will turn into 5 hours! I'll wait right here!"

Aria smiled at that because she knew it was true. Sighing, she decided to take the stacks down to her room to continue there.

But before that, she decided to read the last letter in that stack.

To You,

Today when you visited us with your father, you asked if I wanted to say something to you. I bit my lip when I shook my head because lying to you has never been easy. And you knew, you knew I was lying, but the smile in your eyes reassured me that the secret I am hiding from you is the one that you are aware of.

The way your fingers lingered on my shoulders also told me that it is perhaps the same secret that you have been keeping from me for some time now. You have now taken over your father's business, you are so busy, yet you find time to write for me and come to the hollow.

I can no longer keep the truth of my happiness from you, for now I am certain that I will not lose you, even if it comes to light. In fact, there might just be a chance to go further in the euphoric bliss I sense is in the future for us, so I am taking the first step in this waltz.

Tonight, when the clock chimes 11, come to our hidden spot beside the stream. That is the spot where you expressed to me of your wish to be my friend 10 years back, tonight I wish to express to you a desire i hold close.

I will be waiting Taehyung . . .

Your (as of yet) friend.

The world stopped for Aria. It felt like she had accelerated too hard and come to a sudden stand stop.

She jerked in her seat and sat up. The letter fluttered to ground as she looked abruptly towards the painting in the room, the words in it making her confusion reach a step higher.

The girl, her grandma, was deeply in love. Her personality indicated her to be giving, kind yet extremely loyal, too fierce and intensely in love.

Her whole life that Aria read, she had learnt to only love one person. The girl was blind to others, she had started to love the boy with every small part of her, with every breath she had taken.

Her love was as magnificent as it was absolute.

Her love for the boy named Taehyung.

But that was not the name of her grandfather.

Aria looked again at the stacks of adoringly folded letters kept and guarded as keenly as precious gems, then she looked at the painting. The words written on it echoed in her mind.

"It is my belief that has turned into flames, which engulf me in the burning pain of a truth that is fractured. Even as it melts my existence, the anguish it brings satisfies my heart of the past that took place. Without it, I am nothing."

A foreboding filled her entire body. The pure love she was reading about, could not have a happy ending.

Did she dare to continue?

Who was this Taehyung whose deep, alluring and untamed love was slowly seeping out of the letters? What happened to them? Where was he?

A/N: Yep, a little more cleared picture I hope.

I will be uploading this story in succession and in clusters....

Do let me know what you think of it so far

Do please vote if you enjoy it.