ENDS

Hunter knew he had struck a nerve from her reaction when he stated his request all he wanted was her response.

And assistance.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about” she whispered with a tight smile, most likely trying not to make it obvious to any onlookers that she was in an uncomfortable conversation.

“I was sent by Mr. Reid; I need your help.” He whispered back to her.

She stared at him for a few seconds with narrow eyes and tight lips as she was trying to decipher if she should believe him or not.

“Who are you?” she asked.

Hunter remembered when Mr. Reid had informed him that this question was almost inevitable from her, and each party she worked with had a code answer to the question.

“I am blue.”

She eyes moved frantically around the café to be sure no one was observing nor approaching.

“Ahh, Mr. Huong. The regular?”

The greeting confused Hunter a bit until he realized the man was standing just right behind him and she couldn’t continue the conversation.

“Yes Hao” he replied with a smile before passing Hunter a gestural head nod in greeting “A very busy day I see.”

“Khong co ngay nao chung ta khong Hyuong.” She replied and her response extracted a chuckle from the man.

She wrote down something on two different papers and handed one over to Hunter and Mr. Huong. “You two have your seats, you’ll be attended to in a minute” she said and sent the both of them a smile before retiring to the back.

Hunter opened his paper and the message inside read

‘be back at seven’

And so, he left.

It was seven pm and He was getting ready to return to the café when Iris walked into the living room in an outfit that didn’t indicate she was going to bed.

“I want to go outside” she said to him.

Obviously, his confusion was evident across his face, asides from the fact that this was the second sentence she had said to him since the journey… he didn’t support of her request.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea”

“Yeah, your good ideas have never been good either.”

Her response actually hurt but he’s well aware that he deserves it.

Regardless of his initial statement, she began heading for the door but he wouldn’t just let her go out alone in a place he wasn’t familiar with.

“At least wait for me so we’d go together, I’m about to head out too.” He said trying to get her to hold on a little bit.

“I don’t want to go with you, ill just take a stroll down and be back in ten minutes. I need a break from you.”

But you haven’t even spoken to me

That was what he wanted to say

“okay…” but this was all that came out from his lips.

And as soon as she heard them, she was out the room and the door jammed behind her.

He couldn’t describe what it was he was feeling in his chest, but it had a burning sensation that caused an acidic unease in his belly.

If he didn’t know better, he’d say he was slightly tearing up.

But he didn’t want to dwell on it, he needed to meet with Mrs. Hao.

It took him a few minutes to freshen up and leave the house, he didn’t know if he should lock the door behind him in case Iris got back earlier than he did.

Deciding it’ll be risky to leave the doors opened when no one was home, he locked up the house and left with the key.

And left for the café.

The doors were locked and he was wondering if he came in late and they had all gone home.

He tried knocking and someone turned on the lights on the inside.

Soon enough someone came to open the door and it was a girl who looked to be in her late teens with an uncanny resemblance to Meredith.

He guessed it was Mrs. Hao’s second daughter.

“I was just about to leave” Mrs. Hao’s voice came from the other end of the room where she stood.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know you close by seven” he apologized and went to meet her where she was.

“We don’t, we did today because of you.” The girl who opened the door said and Hunter nodded in understanding.

“What exactly do you need me for?” the elderly lady questioned and Hunter began the entire story.

…..

On the other hand, Iris was on her walk and took a mental note not to stay too far from the way home.

She was grateful that the roads weren’t so empty as she was scared, they would be.

She maintained her lane on the side walk not saying a word to anyone who passed her by or even sent her a little greeting as a pretty lady being on the road.

In pure truth, she wasn’t even hearing nor seeing them.

Her mind was far away from anyone who was around her, she didn’t even notice she had started crying on her walk until a young man approached her.

“I’m sorry… I know you want to be alone at this moment but I couldn’t just walk away.” He said as he reached into his pocket to pull out a handkerchief and handed over to her.

Iris chuckled a bit in embarrassment that she had been walking in the road with tears all over her face and thousands of people had seen her.

“Thank you…” she said with a little amusement in her words as she collected the little clothing and wiped her face clean.

“I’m Lin, and you are?” he said trying to spark up a conversation.

“I’m Iris.”

“You don’t seem like you’re from around here.”

She laughed again because she wasn’t quite sure if she should engage in a conversation about herself with him and he noticed.

So instead he began talking about himself.

For the next few minutes, she actually enjoyed hearing about his day and how his boss hates blue ties so he wears patterns just to upset him.

It was a bit relieving to hear the part of the world that didn’t have much sorrow and horror attached to it.

She decided to turn around and walk back home, she actually took longer than she expected.

Lin offered to buy her some warm milk from the café and she followed, moreover it was close by to the house but he didn’t need to know that just yet.

The moment they walked into the café; she saw that Hunter was there with two other women hence it was a cue to wait behind a little longer with Lin till, he was ready to leave.

Hunter and Lin made a few eye contacts before Tai, Mrs. Hao’s daughter went to take their orders.

“Is that the Iris?” Mrs. Hao asked as soon as her daughter left.

“Yes.” Replied Hunter.