The following day, even though Boom tried to push the mysterious polaroid and the message from A.K.A. out of his mind, a part of his heart couldn't stay still. With every step he took on his way to work, it felt like every sound around him deepened—the rustling of leaves, the footsteps of passersby, even the faint whispers of the wind. Everything seemed to carry meaning.
When he arrived at the preschool, he was greeted by Miss Joy, his elderly co-teacher.
"Boom, you have a letter. A rider delivered it just this morning. It's in an envelope. No sender."
Boom was confused but carefully accepted the envelope. The envelope was cream-colored, the paper elegant, with simple calligraphy on the front: Kael.
Boom's hands suddenly turned cold. He couldn't even remember the last time he was called by that name.
"Kael? Who's that?" asked Miss Joy while fixing the attendance sheet.
"Ah, maybe they just delivered it to the wrong person."
But deep inside, he knew it wasn't a mistake.
---
While the kids were busy with their drawing activity, Boom secretly opened the letter in the faculty lounge. Inside, there was only one thing: a letter, written neatly and precisely. There was no name indicating who sent it.
---
Kael,
Do you still remember nothing?
Do you remember how you protected me back then? How you chose to suffer rather than see someone else get hurt?
I am A.K.A. But more than that, I am a part of your past that you've been trying so hard to forget. I'm not here to frighten you, but to awaken the feeling you once chose… before time made you forget.
Wait for me. Someone will return.
---
Boom clutched at his chest. He didn't know why his hands were trembling. Part of his mind wanted to burn the letter and throw it away. But there was a part of his heart that wanted to keep it… and read it again and again, hoping to pull some forgotten memory from between its lines.
---
In a room filled with mirrors and spotlights, JASPER was practicing for their upcoming comeback concert. As usual, Auo sat in a corner after an intense dance, but his gaze wasn't on the choreography. He was holding an old polaroid photo under his towel.
"Auo, your mind's somewhere else," Kenji said while drinking water. "You've been off-beat the whole time."
"Sorry… I just have something on my mind."
"Boom?"
Auo didn't answer, but the silence was answer enough. Zayn came closer and whispered, "Aren't you getting too invested? What if he's not Kael?"
"If he isn't, then why do his eyes look the same? His laughter? And the way he looked at me… it was like we were back in that moment."
"The orphanage?" Sky asked, suddenly serious.
Auo nodded. "We were both there. And if I'm right, Boom is the boy I ran to before they put me on the plane. He's the one I left with a promise to come back for him."
They all glanced at the necklace around Auo's neck—still there, worn since he was a child.
"A.K.A.," Kenji read the pendant aloud. "Alaric Khohie Auo. If you're wrong, then someone's using your name."
"Or someone who knows our past," Sky added.
A heavy silence fell over them. It wasn't only Auo who could feel the ghosts of the past resurfacing. All of them, in one way or another, had witnessed a part of the story that time tried to erase… and that the present was now trying to revive.
---
At the end of the day, while Boom was walking home, a little boy suddenly ran in front of him—someone who looked eerily familiar, like the boy who often appeared in his dreams.
"Kuya Kael!"
Boom turned around. But the boy was gone.
Cold sweat trickled down his neck.
In his pocket, he felt another piece of paper.
He hadn't seen who put it there.
He opened it.
The garden remembers. Do you?
~ A.K.A.