The next morning, "Ugh," Adrian woke up in his bed. He sat up and looked at the empty space beside him.
"Morning... to whoever's next to me, haha... That's bad. This bed is really too big," Adrian muttered.
Yawning and scratching his head, he picked up his smartphone and checked the time on the screen. Then he got out of bed, grabbed his towel, and went into the bathroom. Shortly after, when he was done and came out wearing his towel, he ran to his room and opened the closet.
"What should I do today? Maybe go to the bookstore at the mall," Adrian thought to himself.
Suddenly, his hand touched something at the bottom of the closet shelf where he kept his clothes. He lifted the pile of clothes and saw something protruding underneath.
"What's this? This is a new closet, right?" he wondered to himself, seeing the bump at the bottom of the shelf.
Curious, he reached out to touch the bump. "Click," he accidentally pressed the button-like bump. "Shreeg," suddenly his closet slid to the left. "Thunk," after it stopped sliding, Adrian's eyes immediately widened. The clothes in his hand dropped, and his mouth hung open, because behind the closet there was a small room, 1.5 meters by 3 meters.
"Blare!" The lights in the room came on, and immediately the room became bright. Adrian's eyes widened even more as he saw many weapons in the room, ranging from hunting rifles, pistols, snipers, ancient European swords, katanas, knives, and blunt weapons. On a shelf, there were three mannequin heads wearing three different wigs. Besides weapons, there were also ropes with hooks on them and a watch at the far end of the room inside a glass box.
"Wh-what is this? But could there really be a room behind the closet?"
Adrian ran out of the room. He looked at the positions of the kitchen and bathroom. He just realized that the bathroom's position was slightly forward, about 1.5 meters, as was the kitchen, so the kitchen wasn't visible when entering the apartment. Adrian returned to the room. He looked at the weapons hanging on the left wall and the shelves on the right. He stepped inside and tried to hold a pistol.
"Is this real? It's heavy. I'll just put it down," Adrian said, scared.
He turned to look at the shelf. There were several framed old newspaper clippings taped to the wall inside the shelf. Adrian craned his neck to read one of the newspapers with tiny writing.
"Hmm... news about a plane hijacking successfully thwarted... in America?" Adrian wondered.
He tried to read other newspapers; they were about terrorism in the Middle East, dangerous nuclear research, and other foreign news.
"This... it's like a secret agent's room. Could Dad really have done this kind of work? He is American, but could it be?" Adrian wondered to himself.
Adrian turned, his eyes drawn to the watch placed alone at the far end of the room and protected by a glass box. He walked over to it and stared at the watch inside. It looked like a sporty watch with many buttons and functions, like a compass, stopwatch, and more.
"This watch is genuinely cool. Can I borrow it, Dad, hehe?" Adrian asked, curious.
He held the glass box with both hands, then lifted it very carefully. After placing the glass box on a small table next to the shelf, he took the watch. He put it on his wrist and looked at it, smiling, but the digital display in the middle was off. Adrian looked for a way to turn it on. "Click," the watch in the middle lit up, but suddenly,
"Good morning, J."
"Thud!" Adrian immediately fell to a sitting position and pulled his arm away, startled by the robotic female voice speaking in English.
"Wh-what was that?" Adrian wondered to himself, staring at his watch.
The voice was no longer heard. Adrian pulled his hand back and carefully observed his watch.
"Hmm, did I mishear... but 'J'? Isn't Dad's name Thomas Miller? Why 'J'? It should be 'T.' There's no 'J' in Dad's name, let alone Mom's. Her name is Silvia Miller, no 'J' at all," Adrian mused.
Adrian stood up. He looked back at the box from which he had taken the watch. He approached it and saw a slit at the bottom of the box. He reached out his hand, and "click," the bottom of the box opened. Inside were a photo album and a small notebook complete with a pen. He took the album and opened it.
The first photo he saw was of a very young couple wearing a tuxedo and a ball gown, dancing in a ballroom. Adrian turned the page. The same couple, now looking a bit older, stood in front of a chair that looked like a royal throne.
"Who are these people? Could this be Mom and Dad when they were young? They look so different," Adrian wondered to himself.
The next photo showed the couple wearing clothes like ancient heroes and a royal princess. The man carried a sword that was familiar to Adrian; he turned to the wall and saw the same sword displayed there. He flipped the photo again; it was a black and white photo of two small children. The girl in the photo had her eyes closed, and the boy's mouth was agape.
He continued flipping through the photos, following the journey of the pair of children from childhood to adulthood and marriage. Finally, Adrian came to the last photo, which was a funeral photo of the wife, lying peacefully in a coffin, and the husband bowed beside her. Adrian was startled when he saw the husband's face.
"Wait... this man is... Uncle Jimmy from my dream," Adrian said, surprised.
As he looked at the last photo, Adrian's tears unconsciously flowed. He raised his hand to touch his wet cheek. He saw his own tears on his finger, then looked back at the last photo in the album.
"These tears... Uncle Jimmy's tears," Adrian whispered.
Adrian closed the album, but a photo slipped out from inside. Adrian bent down to pick up the photo from the floor and flipped it over. It turned out to be a studio photo of a middle-aged couple wearing traditional Javanese attire. The wife sat on a chair wearing a kebaya complete with luxurious-looking jewelry, while the husband stood beside her, holding the chair, wearing lavish clothing like Javanese nobility, complete with a kris and a blangkon.
Adrian, observing the faces of the couple, smiled. He looked at the face of the wife, who sat in the chair like a throne.
"Hello, Auntie, nice to meet you. I will definitely find the person who carries your heart," Adrian said.