Love You Never

A cloud of dust prevented my vision. I could still feel the dust going into my lungs even through the handkerchief. There were tones of boxes in there. Some were open some were closed with tape. Only one box was clean from dust which must've been used frequently. Its lid was closed but without tape. It was the first box I decided to look for dad's documents.

Inside it wasn't the things I expected to see instead there were photos. All kinds of photos. I smiled alone seeing the picture which was on top of the pile.

It was the first time we, Lucas,dad,mom and I went to Paris. The photo was taken while Lucas and I were stuffing our faces with chocolate crosonts. We were fighting with each other over the last crossont that sat in between us. Even if we were fighting with each other, we both still had smiles on our faces.

The next photo was the family photo we took in front of dad's lab. Dad and mom stood in the middle while me and Lucas on both sides. I was smiling at the camera with my hand making a peace sign. Lucas too grinned but his hands were stuffed into his pants pockets. That gave him a very mature look though he was just 13 then. Unconsciously I traced my parents with my pointer finger.

I don't know how long I went through the photos because I didn't realise it was already noon til Rita asked me to come out for lunch.

"I didn't make anything special since I didn't know you were coming. " Said Rita helping Diana to sit on her own chair.

" No its alright sis. This is enough." I said pointing all the dishes that sat before me on top of the table.

"Alright then. Dig in." Nodding I cut the meat with the knife and fork.

Right after having lunch, I again isolated myself in the store room. This time I avoided the box field with photographs so that I wouldn't get distracted. Even though I searched all the boxes, I didn't find anything related to dad's experiments. Sighing in defeat, I left the room dusting off my cloths. Rita was in the living room watching papa pig with Diana. She looked over her shoulder at me noticing me coming over to them.

"What the hell are you seriously searching for?"

"Dad's files."

"You could've said so. They are in the study. Lucas made sure to keep them in his safe so that no one could get to know the content.  He didn't even let me see them."

"It's in the safe? What's the password?"

"Don't know."

"Seriously?"

"What? Lucas never told me and he never opened it while I was in sight."

"Oh man!" cursing under the breath, I entered the study room.

It was really a study. One wall had a big world map. Two other walls were covered with big roof touching shelves filled with tons of books related to travelling. You name it. He has it. The safe was connected to his work table. The password was a four digits number. I raked my brain to decipher the password, but the normality of the human brain thought of anything but a suitable combination. What could it possibly be....?

I tried his birthday, but no avail. And then his wife's, the effort was nowt. Then the daughter's, but nothing worked, much to my irritation. Just for the concept of pure luck I even gave a shot to the birthdays of mom, dad  and me, but the result was the same. And it wasn't the days they died either.

I groaned and banged my fist against the table. It created a hollow sound.

I closed my eyes and focused, my mind filled with numbers. The digits flowed in like a tsunami wave and almost short wired my brain cells. I exhaled in frustration, "fuck this." I poked five digits by random- 14324.The lock clicked.

I gaped. How is this a random number? How, on earth, is 14324 a random number?

It was what dad texts to mom every day. I love you so much. The first word that came to my mind, ridiculous. But then again, did Lucas put this as the password knowing I might guess? Or did he- Showing away those ridiculous yet possible thoughts,  I opened the door of the safe. So many files were stacked inside on top of each other. Unbelievably, there was no money. Only files. Before I could touch anything, Rita called out for me.

"Focus! Did you find them?"

"Yup" I yelled back. That's when I noticed the opened door. I face palmed rewinding the scene a few minutes back. I forgot to close the door. Quickly going through the files, I took the document related to time travel machine. Stuffing it inside my jacket pocket, I closed the safe and made sure it won't open until someone enters the password again. Rita was still hugging Diana by her side watching papa pig. They haven't moved a bit which gave me some kind of happiness since they didn't see the digits I entered.

"You didn't want to peek while I opened the safe?" I asked in confusion because people tend to like exposing and finding secrets of others.

" Nah." She paused then stood up and with a dramatic sigh, "I won't betray my husband ever. He is my soul, my life, breath, my heart,  my everything. He gives me life. He is me. I am him. He's mine and I'm his. Forever we trust each other. That's what we wowed." My mind went blank. I recognised those lines but I never thought Rita might know them.

"Are you- did you just quote Gumi?" Rita was in front of me in a flash. Her face was decorated by a big smile with her cheeks puffed out.

"Do you watch 'Love you never' too?" She was totally head over heels for that drama. That's for sure.

"Nope. It's a famous quote in the Internet. " I chuckled. 

"Oh." That was disappointment.

" I have a friend who's obsessed with Kang Joom. That's the male lead right?"

" Really? Oh my god! Send me the number!  Let me tell you, Kang Joom is-" And it went on.