Chapter 6

"Left? What's that supposed to mean?!" Ethan demanded a bit harshly. Ryan got annoyed and started walking away.

"Hey!" Ethan called. "Where'd you think you're going?!"

"Away from you all," Ryan replied without turning back.

"Ryan!" Suzanne called but he ignored her as well and left.

"Aww geez," Ashley sighed as she turned to Ethan. "What now?!" Ethan asked, still fuming, "Now thanks to Ryan and Andrew we're gonna mess up our first ever mission!"

Suzanne frowned and looked away.

"Okay, I'll try to catch up with Ryan, you both try to find Andrew and we'll meet here in an hour's time," Ashley said.

"Not a bad idea, but why don't I go after Ryan?" Suzanne asked with googly eyes.

Ashley closed her eyes and smiled.

"I'm guessing he'll be irritated the more with you around."

Suzanne's eyes widened. Ashley's words pierced through her heart deeply.

"Hey!" she said crossly.

Ashley laughed apologetically again. "Sorry, I was just saying what I observed."

"Okay, let's get going Suzanne," Ethan intervened as he started pulling Suzanne in a direction. A cold sweat dropped from his forehead.

Suzanne glared at Ashley murderously but Ashley just waved 'bye' with a simple smile.

That look Suzanne has on is very dangerous, she could punch the poor kid into next week...

Ethan chuckled nervously at the thought.

"C'mon Suzanne," He increased his pace. The faster they moved away from Ashley, the better for all concerned.

"Did you hear what she said?!" Suzanne hissed at him as he led her away.

"Don't jump into conclusions like that. She probably didn't mean it like that," Ethan said.

Suzanne yanked her hand away from his own.

"She plainly said I was an irritation to Ryan!" she said to Ethan in a angry tone.

Ethan scratched his hair, unsure of what to say. "Well...., she's kinda right, you know," he said after a while.

Suzanne who was smoothening her hair turned to face him sharply.

"Say what now?!"

A heavy punch was landed on his stomach. It sent him sprawling into the dirt on the grass.

"Oof....," Ethan sputtered as he landed on the ground.

"Hmph," Suzanne snorted and started marching away.

"Suzanne....wait up," Ethan wobbled to his feet and tried to catch up to her. She glared at him when he came too close to the path she was walking on.

He still clutched his stomach as he dragged on painfully after her.

~~~

Andrew narrowed his eyes at the woman who sat at the table opposite his.

The small café had a tinted glass window which he sat beside. He could watch people come in but they could hardly notice him where he sat even as they came in.

The café was a street across Green hill Park.

The woman smoothened her straight black skirt and glanced at her wrist watch.

Not too long after, a small, bubbly girl putting on all pink and holding a lollipop, raced over to the woman as soon as she sighted her from the entrance of the café.

The woman bent and scooped her up in a hug.

Then she tickled the girl.

The little girl's squeals and laughter rang out around the small and cozy café that smelled of minted syrup.

A teenage girl of sixteen years strolled in leaisurely with a fake stroller that obviously held a doll.

She walked up to the woman and the girl.

Judging from the stern look she recieved from the woman, you'd know she was late for the appointed time.

The teenager gave the woman a meek, apologetic look and they all exited the café.

Andrew leisurely strolled out of the café with his to-go latte cup in his hand, some seconds after they left.

He tailed them but they were unaware of him as the adult and the teenage girl were engrossed in a discussion while the small girl pranced about with her doll carriage being pushed in front of her.

Due to his device hearing aid he could clearly hear their conversation even though he wasn't too close to them.

They first headed out to get some ice creams.

The small girl had insisted on having two cones instead of one. Her mother gave in to her demand and soon the thrio made a brief turn into the park.

They didn't move too far away from the gate.

The woman sat on a nearby bench while the sixteen year old and the girl gathered random flowers and spoke in hushed tones. The girl's mother texted someone and quickly raised her eyes from her phone and looked around quickly.

Andrew who had leaned on a lamp post that had a trash can beside it had his eyes on her always.

Suddenly her eyes rested on Andrew's cold, blue ones.

Her black eyebrows shot up questioningly at him. But as Andrew had a habit of penetrating into people with his cold stare she was forced to tear her eyes off him.

She still glanced at him from time to time but seeing he remained admant at narrowing his eyes on her anytime their eyes met, she resolved to quit looking at him.

Andrew's eyes turned to the small girl who was leaning into her doll stroller with an ice cream cone.

"Hey! There's Andrew!"

A loud yell had him looking in the direction of the noise.

Ethan grinned from ear to ear as he pointed at Andrew. Suzanne managed a small eye roll.

"Where'd you run off to Andrew?! Did you know how worried we were?!" s.he started asking as they stood beside him. "Even Ryan went off! And we still have the mission at hand! You just left us alone and I am so mad at you for that! Also to top it all, I got called an irritation to Ryan! Imagine that!" she continued ranting as she paced about.

"Oh bother," Ethan groaned as Suzanne went on talking.

Andrew took his gaze back to where the woman was seated but she had gone, along with the teenager and the small girl.

He frowned.

Suzanne and Ethan had distracted him so that he hadn't see them leave.

He brought out his GPS and got the location of a house address.

"Where are Ryan and Ashley?" he asked in a nonchalant tone as he faced Suzanne.

"Huh?" Suzanne stopped pacing about and looked at Andrew.

"How will we know? Ryan went off and Ashley went after him," Ethan replied and crossed his arms.

Of course, I have to do everything. Andrew thought dully.

He brought out his tracking device and two small blue dots appeared on the screen. "They're at the hotdog shed," he told them.

"Well let's go get them already," Ethan said and they all started heading towards that direction.

"Afterall we're on a hot dog case....," Ethan joked and laughed as he looked at Suzanne briefly. "Get it, Suzanne?" he nudged her playfully. She just gave him a blank look.

"Nah," she replied flatly.

"But...but, I meant they're at the hotdog stand and we're solving a missing dog case and it's hot so hot dog case....and it rhymes with the snack hotdog, get it now?" Ethan explained, as he gestured wildly.

"Nope," Suzanne replied flatly again, turning away from him.

Ethan groaned and tugged at his hair.

Suzanne looked at him through the side of her eyes and her lips quirked up. He was so easy to tease.