Tae turned his head sideways to see Esae’s beady eyes staring back at him.

“Don’t do that-” He jerked forward. 

“What?” Esae said shrugging innocently.

He had been peering over Tae’s shoulder this whole time. Tae shut the book with a slam.

“Hey I was still reading the golden dust mystery!” 

“Too bad.” Tae gritted his teeth, “ We are not supposed to have any contact Esae. Back. Back.” He said as if he were shoo-ing a pigeon. He walked back to the bookshelf and put the book back in its place.

“So was that dad- uh your- my-our dad- father?” Esae asked unsure how to refer to that man he saw in the picture. 

“Yeah, that was our dad. It’s Jun Tae.” Tae said. They had the same father regardless of dimension so it shouldn’t matter how they referred to him, thought Tae.

 Esae and Jay both looked at each other, this was the defining moment. 

“And I saw mom and Jay there too...what was it though? Didn’t look like the police force to me.” Esae was told a few things about his parents after he had lost them to a fire. Jay had mentioned that the three of them were part of the police service. However looking into the book, it seemed like they were part of something bigger.

“So it seems. Some kind of elite king’s army, a secret service responsible for subduing the rebellions. At least that’s what the book said,” Tae sighed, “Don’t worry, even I was told that they served in the police force.”

“Maybe in Omega they did, but in Alpha, they served differently?” Jay added.

“Probably.”

“Is she alive?” Esae blurted out. He realised what he said came out weirdly but Reina had said, about Jun parenting alone. So he couldn’t help but hold onto the hope that maybe she was alive, just divorced perhaps.

He really wanted to meet his mother, it wasn’t that he was very attached to her, but you could call it genuine curiosity—what person would his dad devote his life to and have a kid with.

Tae shook his head, “She passed away when I was three or four, I don’t quite remember.”

Esae had expected it so it didn’t come off as a complete shock. He leaned onto the bookcase and said,“I’m sorry.”

 Jay looked up to see two weary faces. “I’m sorry” He said to both of them. 

Tae nodded not saying much. He seemed to be wary of Jay, even now. 

“Actually both you and her. Both of you are…”

“Oh” 

Though if he saw you right now, even if you’re not the same one, he would be over the moon. Tae thought. After the death of his mother and Jay in a fire or should he say supposed death- now that he could not trust anything his father had said— Jun had only kept one thing of the past, a watch which he carried everywhere. A watch, he could not bear to part with— a gift from Jay on his birthday.

Jay on the other hand fell silent hearing this. His mind was somewhere else altogether.

For Jay it didn't matter whether he was dead or not. What mattered was the fact that it was really Jun. Jun was alive, even if it was in a different dimension. He had already begun contemplating this from the moment Reina had told them about different dimensions. 

In all honestly, it made him a little relieved.

But this same fact daunted him- as soon as he had found a way to meet his friend, he would lose him, again.

He remembered training with Jun in the Police Academy. The first day they had met was at the entrance exam. To him, Jun seemed very rude and aloof at first. Regardless to say, he absolutely hated him, and so did Jun. Their rivalry seemed to continue throughout their training period.

However, during the last test, Jay had sprained his ankle badly. No one had come to his aid except Jun. With his help, they were able to get to the finishing line together. Even though they had both come last place, they were accepted into the force. 

That was the start of their strong friendship. Then they met Mary. It wasn't like Jay had hated her, she was a very capable officer and he was happy for Jun but…

Maybe he could meet him again, maybe…

No your Jun is dead. He died long back.

 Silence fell upon them again.

Tae looked down at his shoes. “Do you think he planned this whole ordeal?”

“To bring us together. Seems too much of a coincidence to me.” He crossed his arms and looked straight ahead at Esae.

“Well,” Esae looked at his uncle panicked, and then faced Tae, who glared back.

“I mean it would make sense, since he used an alias when he called the shop. We don’t know for sure though.”

Tae gritted his teeth, “Makes sense, using an alias…it only confirms even more that he was part of the ASR—”

Jay sensing the mood, tried easing their minds.

 "Well he must have a reason. Maybe we just don’t know it yet. We should wait for the organisation to confirm things first.”

Jay figured, even though Esae and Tae were from separate dimensions, they had the same father and would feel very conflicted about this new development.

“If he is anything like the Jun here, I’m sure he has a very valid reason.” 

“At least I think so..” Jay said.

Tae badly wanted to justify his dad's actions. Both Jay and Esae did too. But they were far from the truth which made it hard for them to. All three of them were conflicted in their minds. They thought that this should be a white and black matter, but in reality it was far more complex than that.

“Agreed,” Esae nodded, “Let's just focus on getting through the day, I’m pretty sure Nova and the others can figure the rest out.”