#10 Mysterious Room

"How did you know I was exploring?"

"You made all kinds of amused sounds like you just went overseas and saw something new."

Oh my, I must have done that unconsciously.

"What about you then?" I asked her since she seemed to have already unpacked her luggage.

"Why do I need to when I've come here several times?" My sister answered, a smug look on her face. Right, stop flexing.

"It's normal to explore new places. I did that when I first came here too." She added. "Come."

My sister took my hand and brought me out of the room for an 'adventure.' We went to the neighboring rooms, one by one. They were all as spacious as the ones we were going to sleep in for the night.

As we were exploring the rooms, I found one of the rooms sealed. Unlike the other rooms, that particular door is wooden. If it wasn't sealed, I wouldn't be curious of what is inside or even step a foot in. It was so different that it totally doesn't match the mansion at all.

Out of curiosity, my hand reached for the seal unconsciously but my sister's was first. She peeled it off the door without a second thought and entered the room while I followed behind her.

"Are you sure it's okay to come in?" I looked left and right in case something comes out of nowhere for a surprise attack. My whole body shivered in fear when the electricity didn't work.

"It wasn't sealed last time and grandma kept reminding me not to enter this room." My sister said while looking through the books on the bookshelves.

"Then… did you come in?"

"Of course not. You wouldn't open a creepy-looking door that doesn't match the mansion, would you?" Well, I guess I wasn't the only one who thought that the door was creepy. "But now that it's sealed, curiosity is killing me."

We left the door open so the room wouldn't be too dark. I tried not to walk too far into the room as it's very dark and I might accidentally step on any broken glass pieces. However, I was intrigued by a certain book and couldn't stop myself from opening it.

"Amonymous- Anomyous- Anoymace- How do you pronounce this?" I had a hard time pronouncing the title of the book.

"Anonymous." My sister came over when she heard me. "Try opening it."

I nodded and flipped the book open. It wasn't too heavy so I could easily carry it in one hand. To our surprise, every page was blank. There was neither writing nor printing on the pages as we flipped through.

My sister started to feel impatient and stopped looking.

"What's the point in flipping a blank book?" She complained as she closed the book in my hands. "Let's go. Grandma is waiting." She placed the book on the table where it originally was and left the room.

I had a feeling that something's definitely in that book or it wouldn't be placed in a place openly like that. Someone must have forgotten to keep the book when they were done writing.

I stared at the book when my sister left the room. Those yellowish pages that have caught my attention tempted me to open the book again. I opened the last page of the book and found some words written on it. Just when I was about to read it, grandma came in and closed the book.

"The snacks are ready. You can read this later." She smiled as she said and brought me out of the room. She closed the door and repaired the seal that was torn off by my sister.

"There's a reason why this room was sealed, and you just had to open it..." Grandma sighed while shaking her head in dismay.

"We're sorry..." We apologized with our heads down.

"Come on. The chocolates are melting."

"Chocolates?" Both of us said in sync with our eyes sparkling in excitement. We hurried to the dining room and saw the chocolates placed on the dining table.

"Eat as much as you want. I have more in the refrigerator." Grandma said with a smile, and we started digging in.

I inserted the sweet and delicious chocolate into my mouth as it melted and converted into a yummy liquid. The bitter aftertaste was the best part. I seldom eat dark chocolates because I didn't like the bitterness but grandma's baking changed my mind.

"This is good!" My mouth suddenly said unconsciously. "Grandma, are you perhaps good at baking?"

"What did you think about your mother's baking?" She asked, eating a chocolate.

Why is she asking about my mother now?

"Um…. Yummy?" I answered while indulging myself with more chocolates.

"I was the one who taught her the recipes."

Wait, but… Has mother ever baked? Those cakes we've eaten, are they perhaps made by her? That makes sense since she always wakes up so early every morning. I've always thought everything was made by the maids.

Well, whatever. It doesn't really matter anyway.

Before long, the chocolates were finished being eaten by me. I grinned at grandma while a guilt built inside me. She was puzzled at my grinning as she looked at me.

"Amanda is happy to see you, grandma." My sister interpreted my expression to grandma. Well, that's not exactly what I meant but it's a fact too so I just let it slide.

Grandma stood up and went to the kitchen. She opened the refrigerator when she called me over. "Amana, choose your flavor."

"It's Amanda." I went to see what were the available flavors.

"Milk, strawberry, vanilla, original. Sorry I don't have much. I made these last minute when I heard you were coming." She took out the chocolates and placed it on the table for me to choose. Of course, I chose the milk flavored, it's my favorite after all.

I brought the chocolates to the dining table and shared it with my sister.

"Milk again? Didn't you have had enough at our place already?" She had a disgusted look on her face.

"No one forced you to eat it."

Despite that, she still ate some because she agreed grandma's chocolates are unique. Just like I loved her dark chocolates even though I disliked it back then.

It didn't take long before the whole box was finished being eaten by me again. I went to the sink to wash my hands and drank some water before heading back to my room. Grandma told me that room belongs to me now so that I could come visit anytime.

While I was at it, I went to the sealed room. I wanted to read that book so badly so I tried tearing the seal off but it was no use. Grandma must have taped a stronger seal so that we wouldn't enter again.

I roamed outside of the room back and forth when suddenly, I remembered something that happened while we were in the room earlier. While my sister was looking through the books on the shelves, something that looked like a photograph seemed to have fallen off from one of the books that she was reading.

I bend down to look under the door, hoping that it might have slipped out. I was in luck! I found the corner of the photograph, and reached out my hand to take it. It was quite tricky since I can't afford to waste my effort by accidentally pushing it in instead.

When I finally got it out, I flipped the photograph to see what was on it. It was a photo of a young boy. I don't remember seeing him anywhere before but he somehow seemed familiar to me.

Just while I was lost in thought, I heard footsteps coming to my direction. I quickly stood up and went to my room before anyone found out I was there.

As I laid on my bed, memories of my childhood flashed in my head. In those nostalgic memories, the boy in the photo was one of them but I couldn't recall his name. It wasn't hard to figure out who they were in my memories since I didn't interact with anyone much when I was little, but he was an exception.

"Did I lose my memory or something?"

I got tired from thinking too much and all my brain juices had flown out. I was so exhausted that falling asleep was not a problem.