Serendipity - A Chance Encounter 108 Mia's Resting Place 1

Samantha, Daniel, Hannah, and Seo Joon have just arrived in the cemetery. It was 9 in the morning and the cemetery looked so different compared to the last time that Samantha was there many years ago.

As they were nearing Mia's grave, memories flashed before her and she felt a little lightheaded. She recalled how when she was still very young, the media has bombarded her with questions as if she was a criminal. For a young girl like her, it was such a traumatic experience.

Samantha grabbed on to Hannah's arm, and she leaned on for support.

"S, are you okay?", Hannah asked.

Her brother, Seo Joon and Daniel turned to look at her and they saw her pale face.

Daniel immediately came beside her, "What's wrong?", he worried.

Seo Joon and Hannah looked at each other as if they knew what caused Samantha to be this way.

She closed her eyes and tried to balance herself again, "I'm fine."

"Why don't you sit down for a bit, Hannah and I will head on first.", Seo Joon suggested.

Hannah nodded and followed Seo Joon while Samantha and Daniel stayed at the bench. Samantha's been thinking about that day when she can finally visit Mia again but now that she's there already, she suddenly felt very nervous and scared. She had convinced herself that this was something that she needed to do so that she can move on and not be tied up with the past anymore.

"Are you okay?", Daniel asked as he held Samantha's hand.

She looked in front of her and the incident from that night resurfaced, she squeezed Daniel's hand and he let her. She was quiet for a bit before she nodded, "I'm okay. I need to do this."

He stood up, pulling her with him, "You got this."

As the two of them arrived at Mia's grave, they saw Hannah and Seo Joon talking to a middle-aged man.

"What do you mean this is no longer her grave?", Hannah asked in a very confused manner. The headstone next to Hannah showed a different name.

The graveyard keeper scratched his head awkwardly, "I don't know what else to tell you. I worked here for 5 years and about 3 years ago, the remains of the person buried there were exhumed."

"By who? Why would they do that?", Samantha questioned.

"That... I don't know, you have to ask the family of the deceased."

Hannah turned to her bestfriend, "But aren't Mia's family in Country A?"

Samantha didn't know anything else, after all, she had no news about them after she lost her memories; so there was nothing that she could say.

Seo Joon probed, "Is there anyone who might know anything?"

The graveyard keeper thought about it, "I'm not sure… But I'll ask my senior, he's been working here all his life. Maybe he does.", he said before leaving.

While the graveyard keeper was gone, an old man holding a bouquet of flowers arrived and stopped beside them. He knelt down and placed the flowers on the grave. He overheard Samantha's group on his way there so he couldn't help but called their attention.

"Are you young ones talking about the little girl who was buried here?", asked the old man as he cleaned the headstone of his late wife.

Seo Joon was the first one who reacted, "Mr., do you perhaps know what happened?"

The old man thought about it for a second until he started to speak slowly and in a low voice, "Hmm... let's see, it was raining that evening. I remembered because I was sitting beside my wife's grave. When suddenly...", with an even lower voice, "a hand from under the ground appeared and it clawed its way out of the grave.", he lifted his head slowly and saw the faces of the four of them with a weirded-out expression.

Subconsciously, Hannah held Seo Joon's hand and gripped it tightly; he stiffened. To him, the shock of Hannah's sudden touch was much stronger than that of the old man's story.

"Mr. Chin, please don't scare the poor kids with your jokes.", an old graveyard keeper appeared behind them.

The old man, Mr. Chin burst out laughing like he had just done something hilarious. "You youngsters should have seen your faces."

"Don't mind Mr. Chin, he likes to make fun of others but he's harmless.", rea.s.sured the keeper.

Mr. Chin laughed some more.

"I was told that you're looking for the girl who was buried in here?"

"Yes, Mia Chang.", Samantha answered.

The graveyard keeper nodded, "Her remains were exhumed a few years ago by a member of their family, she was transferred to West Valley Columbarium."

"She was cremated? And where is that?"

The keeper nodded. "I have the address written on my notebook, if you can follow me, I will give it to you.", he left after saying. Samantha and Daniel followed right away.

Seo Joon, on the other hand, was still confused as to what he should tell Hannah, she was still holding his hand at this point. "Han..."

She turned her head to him and raised a brow, "Yeah?"

"My hand."

"What about it?", she asked innocently.

Seo Joon raised his right hand along with Hannah's and showed it to her. He didn't say anything at first and just allowed her to realized by herself.

When she saw it, her eyes widened and immediately retracted her hand away from him; she blushed. "D-don't misunderstand..."

"I didn't say anything else, why are you so nervous?", he smirked.

She rolled her eyes at him and walked away, following Samantha and Daniel.

"If you wanted to hold my hand, you could've just said so.", he teased.

Hannah stomped her feet like a child, "You are so annoying!"