The ringing of a bell

ㅤ Lying in his cozy bed, Jay stared at the bell. It felt familiar and yet so foreign. Jay knew every mark, every detail, yet he hadn't seen it in what felt like an eternity. Just a thing. Not a reminder, a useless clue, impossible to trace back to anyone. Jay had tried… every possible means. He had even used Her Excellency's influence, but all in vain. 'Are they… dead? If they were alive, they wouldn't have abandoned me?' the thought kept coming to him as he looked at the bell. And his heart didn't know which was better: being abandoned or losing his parents. Everything resonated with pain and sorrow. "Don't be sad, Jay," Poppo bowed his head, trying to pull his beloved family member out of his gloomy thoughts. "You'll lose your appetite, ors!" "Yes. That's right. My apologies." Jay smiled softly. He wasn't worried about his appetite, but about his oresoren friends. He had found the most precious thing in his life—a true family who supported him no matter what. His treasure, which sounded more beautiful and purer than any finely crafted bell. ㅤ Jay was increasingly in the city, spending time with Senel and company. He kept dropping in without reason. That time, he was on his way to a scheduled meeting with Will when he met her. The sound of the bell caught his attention. It was painfully familiar to the former assassin's keen ear: he had a knack for noticing details in everything, though now he used it not for bloody missions but for gathering information. He turned to look at it and froze! A sweet little girl of about six, so much like him, only in a skirt. Her black hair was cut short, and her blue eyes were full of life and playfulness. She was holding the hands of a man and a woman, bouncing joyfully. Mom and Dad… The girl most closely resembled her father. Jay's thoughts seemed to split into two. One trembled: "I want to know!" The other froze: "I'm scared. I'm afraid of the truth…" Because if it was his father, that meant only one thing: he was abandoned. Unloved. Unwanted. And the girl surrounded by his care was proof of that—he was the only one who wasn't needed. Jay was so lost in his thoughts that he missed the moment when Quppo, Poppo, and Pippo surrounded the girl the moment her father left her alone with her mother. They gazed at her enchantingly—no female had ever resisted, and the little girl and her mother were among them, almost squealing in unison with delight. "What a lovely bell!" Poppo began. "Such a pleasant ringing!" Pippo continued. "Where did it come from?" Quppo concluded. 'What are you doing!?' Jay nearly howled. As if hearing him, the trio turned imperceptibly and winked at him, causing a flash of color to cross his face. Jay could only watch silently. "It's Daddy's treasure!" the girl smiled happily, delighted by the attention of these delightful creatures. She felt as if she were in a fairy tale. "His uncle made it for him himself, that's it!" she said proudly. Her father had convinced her that his brother was a true craftsman. Legendary! And they shared the same blood, for they were family. "I heard he and daddy were as alike as two peas in a pod." "You heard," the trio nodded in unison. "I never saw my uncle," the girl replied, as if nothing had happened. "My brother-in-law disappeared without a trace long before my baby was born," her mother explained. "And the bell… It was one of his first successful creations. He made another exactly like it as soon as he was satisfied with the quality of the first. Identical pairs of bells for two identical men," she laughed. "He was a remarkable man," she unconsciously said in the past tense. "If only I knew what's happened to him and his family…" The trio of oresoren glanced questioningly at Jay, but he merely shook his head, clutching the bell tightly under his clothes, lest, God forbid, it ring. He was afraid to speak to the woman and his cousin. However, in the process, his gaze met that of his sudden uncle—and they both froze. The man's eyes slowly widened as realization dawned. It was as if he were a miniature version of them, himself and his brother. And now he stared at him, motionless. For a moment, it seemed as if his heart stopped… The whole world stood still! But as soon as the man reached out to Jay, he immediately fled, driven by overwhelming emotions. 'I'm pathetic…' he thought, trying to catch his breath, stopping a good distance away. It wasn't so much the running that had broken him—he was in excellent physical condition—but rather the emotions that had seized his heart and squeezed it, preventing it from beating freely. 'What was I afraid of…?' he reproached himself. He had foolishly displayed the weakness of his broken character, even after realizing it all. He had rejected what he desired when it was reaching out to him. "Jay?" Hearing his name spoken hesitantly by an unfamiliar male voice, Jay flinched. He turned cautiously toward the sound. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a trio of oresoren clumsily hiding behind the trees, observing what they believed to be a solemn moment. How long they gazed into each other's eyes, neither the man nor Jay could say. In fact, a moment, in essence—eternity. Words failed, emotions overwhelmed. So the man simply gave himself over to them, kneeling before the boy and hugging him tightly, unable to hold back silent tears. Jay also clenched his teeth, trying not to make a sound, clenching his fists tightly, resisting the urge to fall and cry, hiding his face in someone else's clothes. Finally, the man looked up, his eyes filled with a genuine, piercing joy. He'd been looking for him. He'd never lost hope all this time. He didn't dare ask about his parents, understanding their fate better than anyone, and his doubts were dispelled by the oresoren mentioning the boy's loneliness. Jay wasn't rushing to ask either: he'd already received the answer to his main question, and the rest could wait. ㅤ