"What happened after that, Dad?"

Alan could not endure the silence anymore. The mystery was killing him from within and all he wanted was to know what had happened that year and why his biological parents had never returned to meet him or Neil.

"They..." Jarett looked at his sons before directing his gaze out of the window, although he could see nothing in the dark except for the faint light of the streetlight.

"They did not even enter the house. Instead, they just handed you two to us and begged for us to take care of you until they returned."

"What? Did they tell you the reason?" Neil was the calmest among the four and he thought about the events rationally.

"Yes." Emily took over and the boys looked at their mother questioningly. "They claimed that their lives were in danger and if you two continued to stay with them, you would be in a perilous situation too." She sobbed and wiped her tears that had not stopped flowing since the beginning.

"We were the only ones who could protect you two at that time and they departed immediately after."

"Did they not speak of the danger they were in? Anything about it?" Neil probed, still unable to make out how things had turned out to be this way.

"Nothing at all." Jarett shook his head. "Except that they would soon return to take you back and that if they did not return within a decade, we could deem them to be dead."

That explained it all. Neil thought and pursed his lips. He now understood why his parents were sure that his biological parents were no more even though the old couple back at the hospital had said otherwise.

Silence engulfed the family like a thick blanket that only suffocated them greatly. The clock ticking was a strong reminder that they had only a few hours before Alan and Neil had to depart for Atanor, the place that constantly gave nightmares to Jarett and Emily.

"Dad, Mom, what else do you know about Atanor?" Alan scooted closer to his mother and hugged her shoulder to comfort her.

"We do not know much about it except that it is not a safe place. Otherwise, your parents wouldn't have not contacted us all these years." Jarett let out a sigh and frowned deeply.

All of sudden, Emily stood up, forcing Alan to move away slightly and stare at her curiously. Even Neil looked at her in worry. Only Jarett stayed still, understanding the intentions behind her actions.

After a few minutes, Emily returned with a box that Neil and Alan had never seen before. The wooden box looked to be the length of a laptop but their mother seemed to be carrying it with great difficulty.

"Mom, what's this?" Alan glanced at the box before he fixed his eyes on his mother.

Even Neil was waiting for her to respond. Neither of the twins had ever seen the box before and from their mother's expressions, they could discern that whatever it was was quite important to them and related to them.

"This is all that we have related to your parents." Emily sat on the ground and opened the box with a soft smile on her face. She had stopped crying and her entire face radiated a gentle expression, one that was filled with reminiscence.

Jarett sat beside her while Alan and Neil sat in front of them while they looked at the box as though it was a treasure trove. One by one, all the objects in the box came out.

"This was all your father's. I had safeguarded all these in the box since the day you two came to our house."

Emily mumbled and Alan and Neil leaned forward to take a good look. All they saw was some personal items and a few sets of clothes, one which completely contrasted with their father, Jarett's, choice of clothes. However, among them, there were no pictures of their parents whatsoever. Nada. And this confused them greatly.

"Mom, Dad, why do you not have their photographs?" Alan nodded at Neil before he voiced out what he and Neil both had in mind.

Emily and Jarett's expressions changed at his question and their eyes turned red immediately.

"Stefan," Jarett licked his lips and clasped his fingers. "Never liked to take photographs. He never allowed us to take his pictures and even if we took them sneakily, he would find out about them somehow and delete them right away."

"In this aspect, Alyssa was similar to Stefan. She too never took any pictures as far as I can remember." Emily added. "And I think I now understand the reason why they were unwilling to take photographs." The tears she had painstakingly stopped previously started to flow again and she sniffled lightly.

Her cryptic words did not make sense to the twins at first. But later, after a few minutes of thinking, they discerned the possible meaning. What else could it be other than the fact that their biological parents were trying to protect their parents from the monsters of Atanor? If someday, they came knocking here, at least they would not get substantial evidence regarding their biological parents, even though there were still chances of danger falling on them.

"Stefan has never let his truth affect us in any way. All this time, he was protecting us silently and I had no idea about it." Emily's sobs turned louder and Jarett hugged her immediately as he attempted to console her, albeit in vain. He understood her concerns and the reason why she had turned all hysterical and why would she not be when their friend had done all that he could to keep them safe?

The sudden chiming of the clock gained everyone's attention. Just like that, an hour had passed and that meant they had less than twenty-three hours before Alan and Neil departed.

"Alan, Neil, go back to your rooms. You need to sleep." Jarett let out a sigh and helped Emily up.

"Dad...."

Jarett just ruffled Alan and Neil's hair before he walked away with Emily. 

That night, no one in the Wright family slept even for a second as they dreadfully watched the time passing and pushing them closer to their separation.