By the time Suda reached the Photography Division,
the class had already ended.
The rooms were empty.
He guessed quickly where they might have gone.
And sure enough.....
when he arrived at the lively dining hall,
there they were.
Wee, Lamai, Rio, Nimi, Chahal, and Lucy...
all gathered around a table bursting with food,
their laughter spilling into the air.
Suda's lips curved unconsciously.
The sight of them together,
laughing as though they had known each other for years,
warmed him.
He walked straight to their table.
Rio and his group greeted him easily...
they already knew him well.
Friendly words and laughter flowed,
the table alive with voices.
But as the light-hearted chatter carried on,
Wee's heart trembled.
Out of nowhere....
a storm stirred within her chest,
as if someone were whispering to her heart in silence.
And why wouldn't it?
Kai had just passed by.
Her presence lingered like an unseen shadow,
like a secret hand pressing against Wee's heart.And then.....Lamai stiffened.
Her ears caught it again.
That voice.
She turned.....and her eyes widened.
It wasn't just Kai.The man beside her...
his face turned briefly toward them....
and Lamai froze.....Her hand shot out, tapping Wee's arm,
her voice sharp, breathless:
"Wee… look! That's him. That's Lu. Your brother!"
Wee's eyes snapped toward him....And the world shattered.It was him.
The very same Luneth...
the boy she had once visited at the old carbon factory.
The brother she thought lost to her.
For a moment,
the group's table fell into stunned silence.
Every gaze shifted toward Kai and Teanguan.
Suda looked too....
and in Wee's face he saw it all:
the shock, the disbelief,
the storm of recognition she could not hide.
Wee pushed at her seat, ready to stand,
ready to go to him.....But Lamai's hand clutched her wrist.
"No." Her voice was low, steady.
"We'll go through her."
Her chin tilted subtly toward Kai.
"That girl will lead us to him.
Through her, we'll know what Lu is doing here."
But what they didn't know....what none of them yet realized....was that the girl they spoke of,....the quiet shadow named Kai,
was no ordinary thread to pull....She was a snake coiled in silence.
And they were about to grasp its tail.