Monday afternoon's bell rang so loud it made my ears buzz. I grabbed my backpack and raced to Mia's classroom—she'd already be waiting, bouncing on her heels like a hyper mango.
Sure enough, she was leaning against the wall, elephant keychain swinging, Aom next to her. Tao and Lila ran over a second later, Tao holding a crumpled manga issue, Lila munching on a mango-flavored lollipop.
"C'mon! C'mon!" Mia said, grabbing Aom's hand. "The shed's waiting—we need to find more cool stuff!"
Lila licked her lollipop. "You said there's old tools? My dad fixes bikes—maybe I can find a wrench for him. Or a mango seed. I wanna plant one."
Tao stuffed his manga in his backpack. "What if there's old comics? Like, 90s One Piece? That'd be worth a fortune."
Aom smiled, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I hope there's more lotus things. Grandma says old lotus carvings have stories—like who made them, and why."
We walked fast, Lavender trotting beside us (Mom had let her come, as long as we kept her on a leash—"No more chasing mice into sheds," she'd said). The path to the shed was quieter than Sunday, with only a few birds chirping in the mango trees.
Mia stopped halfway, pointing at a low-hanging mango. "Can we pick it later? It's almost yellow—super sweet."
Tao nodded. "Yeah! We can eat it at the shed. Like a snack for explorers."
When we reached the shed, the sun was slanting through the trees, painting the old wood gold. Mia pulled a flashlight from her backpack—pink, with elephant stickers—and shone it at the door.
"Last one in's a rotten mango!" she yelled, yanking the padlock (Dad had jiggled it loose Sunday, so it just clicked open now).
She darted inside, and we followed—Lavender first, then Tao, then me, Aom, and Lila. The shed still smelled like dust and dried mangoes, and the air felt cool, like it hadn't been touched by the sun in years.
Tao grabbed the rake from the shelf, swinging it like a sword. "I'm the shed knight! Protecting you from… spiders!"
Lila laughed, rummaging through a wicker basket. "Found a cloth! It has mangoes on it—look!" She held up a faded piece of fabric, its mango stitches frayed but still bright. "Mom can use this for her kitchen table."
Aom knelt down by the chair where I'd seen the wooden box. Her eyes widened. "Jax—look. It's still here."
I walked over, and sure enough, the small wooden box sat under the chair, lotus carving glinting in the flashlight's light. Mia crowded close, bouncing.
"Open it! Open it! What if there's treasure? Or a map to a mango farm?"
I picked up the box—it felt lighter than Sunday, like it was eager to be opened. The lid was loose, so I lifted it slowly, half-expecting spiders (or maybe a mouse) to scurry out.
Inside, there was no treasure. No map. Just a folded piece of paper, yellowed with age, and a small, chipped lotus pendant—ivory, just like my bookmark.
Aom gasped. "That's like your bookmark! And the necklace at the market!"
I unfolded the paper carefully—it was a photo, faded but clear. A woman with dark hair stood in front of a lotus pond, holding a baby. Next to her was a man, smiling, holding a wooden box—this box, I realized, with the same lotus carving. Behind them, our villa stood, its windows glowing.
"Is that… our house?" Mia whispered, pointing at the villa.
Tao leaned in. "Who are they? The people who used to live there?"
Aom touched the photo gently, like it was fragile. "Grandma told me about a family who lived in that villa years ago. They grew lotuses in the backyard—had a big pond. But they moved away when the baby was little. No one knows where they went."
I pulled the ivory bookmark from my backpack and set it next to the pendant. They were almost identical—same shape, same tiny cracks in the ivory. When they touched, the bookmark warmed up, just like it did with the ivory box.
"Whoa—did you feel that?" Lila said, leaning back. "It's like… magic."
Mia's eyes were huge. "Magic? Really? So the box is magic? And the bookmark? And the pendant?"
Aom shook her head, but she was smiling. "Grandma says some old things hold 'warmth'—memories, maybe. Like how my old teddy bear still smells like her house."
Lavender jumped onto my lap, purring, and nudged the box with her nose. I picked up the pendant—it was smooth, like someone had worn it every day.
"Maybe we should take this to Aom's grandma," I said. "She knows about lotuses. She might know who this family is."
Mia clapped. "Yes! And we can ask about the lotus pond! Did you hear that, Aom? Your grandma knows about the pond!"
Aom nodded. "She'd love to see this. She talks about the old lotus pond all the time—says it was the prettiest thing in the neighborhood."
Tao set down the rake, grinning. "This is way better than old comics. We're like detectives! Solving the mystery of the villa!"
Lila stuffed the mango cloth in her bag. "Can we still eat that mango later? I'm starving. Detectives need snacks."
We laughed, and I closed the box, tucking the photo and pendant inside. Mia grabbed my hand, pulling me toward the door.
"C'mon! Let's go to Aom's house—grandma's gonna have answers! And maybe coconut cookies!"
We walked back along the path, the box safe in my backpack, the sun now low in the sky. Mia chattered nonstop about the photo, Tao made up a "detective theme song" (it was just him humming and yelling "LOTUS!"), and Lila kept asking about the mango.
Aom walked beside me, quiet. "Grandma will be happy," she said. "She's been trying to find out what happened to that family for years. She says they were nice—used to give her mangoes when she was little."
I smiled. "Really? That's cool."
She nodded. "Yeah. She says the mom used to wear a lotus pendant—just like the one in the box. I think… I think that's her in the photo."
My throat felt tight. The pendant, the box, the bookmark, the villa—all pieces of a puzzle. And Aom's grandma might be the one to put them together.
When we reached Aom's house, her grandma was sitting on the porch, shelling lotus seeds. She looked up when we walked over, and her eyes widened when Aom held out the box.
"Where did you find this?" she asked, her voice soft.
Mia jumped in. "In the shed! By our villa! There's a photo inside—of a woman with a baby, and a man, and your lotus pond!"
Grandma took the box, her hands shaking as she opened it. When she saw the photo, she gasped, tears filling her eyes.
"That's my sister," she said, in Thai. Aom translated, her voice quiet. "Her name was Lin. She lived in that villa with her husband and baby. They moved to Bangkok when the baby was two—her husband got a job there. We lost touch years ago… I thought I'd never see a photo of her again."
Mia's mouth dropped. "Your sister? So the baby is… your niece? Or nephew?"
Grandma nodded, wiping her tears with a handkerchief. "My nephew. His name is Tai. He loved mangoes—just like you, Mia. Lin used to bring him over to pick them from our tree."
I pulled out the ivory bookmark and pendant, setting them next to the photo. "These match. The bookmark was in a box we found in our yard—ivory, with a lotus."
Grandma touched the bookmark, smiling. "Lin made that. She carved ivory—small things, like pendants and bookmarks. She gave me one once… I lost it when we moved."
For a minute, no one spoke—just the sound of birds and the wind in the mango trees. Then Mia grinned.
"Can we find them? Tai and Lin? We can be detectives! We have the photo, and the box, and the pendant!"
Grandma laughed, her eyes still shiny. "Maybe. Maybe we can. But first—let's have coconut cookies. Detectives need to eat, right?"
We sat on the porch, eating cookies and listening to Grandma talk about Lin—how she loved lotuses, how she'd sing to Tai while she carved ivory, how they'd plant mango seeds in the backyard.
When it was time to go, Grandma handed me the box back, plus a small lotus seed. "Plant this in your yard. Maybe a new lotus will grow—for Lin. For new beginnings."
I nodded, tucking the seed in my pocket. The box in my backpack felt warm, like it was happy to have its story told.
On the walk home, Mia held my hand, quiet for once. "That was nice," she said. "Grandma's sister. The photo. It's like… our villa has a happy story."
I smiled. "Yeah. It does."
Lavender trotted beside us, tail high, and the sun dipped below the mountains, painting the sky pink. The wooden box's secret wasn't magic—but it was better. It was a piece of someone's family, a piece of our villa's past.
And tomorrow, we'd plant the lotus seed. Maybe new beginnings weren't just about us. Maybe they were about the stories we found, too.
Home felt even warmer, somehow.