Chapter 7

They walked past the well-decorated gazebo. A couple made their way to it.

Andrew kept on walking beside Suzanne and Ethan with a bored expression etched on his face, his two hands tucked into his pockets.

Sensing Suzanne looking at him, he turned to her and raised an eyebrow at her quizzically.

"Stop acting so cool, we've barely reached anywhere in this mission," she told him and looked away.

"Hey, hey, that's true!" Ethan wailed. "We've not even gotten any clues yet!"

Andrew just rolled his eyes at both of them.

When they got to the hot dog shed, they stopped. Andrew turned his head towards a direction.

"There," he indicated and Suzanne and Ethan both turned in the direction he had pointed to.

Ashley was peering at Ryan with a concerned and determined look.

For the first time ever, Ryan's face was beet red because of a girl. A small sweat trickled down his forehead. He looked really flustered, like he had been backed away into a corner.

Ashley's hand was holding one of his.

He didn't know what glue stuck his hand on the table.

Ryan couldn't close his eyes either. Ashley's chocolate eyes pulled him into their never ending brown swirl.

"Ryan!" Suzanne's voice cut through the tension.

For the first time ever he was glad of Suzanne's arrival. He quickly pulled his hand away and rushed past Ashley, his cheeks flushed.

Andrew turned and followed Ryan as he made his way away from the hotdog shack. Suzanne also merrily skipped in the direction of Ryan.

Ethan paused to look at Ashley.

She passed by him and threw him a dazzling smile as she walked up to the others.

He looked down.

That's right, he thought, looking at Ashley. Back then in the class I was blushing for no reason when she stared at me.

"Ethan! You coming?" Suzanne called, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Huh?" he looked up, startled. "Sure!"

He jogged up to them.

"Geez, you had to stand there like a statue for a while," Suzanne nudged him as they walked beside each other.

"What about the mission, Andrew?" Ashley asked, a bit worried.

Andrew rolled his eyes.

"I've figured it out."

"Really?!" Ethan exclaimed.

Ashley looked really curious, "Really? Where's the dog then? What happened back when Mrs Paulina was walking Patches?" she asked eagerly.

Suzanne's eyes remained on Ryan who hadn't said a word yet.

He looked deep in thought.

He looked up and for a brief moment Ashley's eyes rested on his. His eyes widened slightly when her eyes conveyed a message.

He looked away and held his hand that won't stop shaking.

Ashley was talking in a lively tone to Ethan and Andrew by then. Suzanne was still staring at Ryan who battled within himself.

Just who is she?

He frowned.

How dare she?!

Ryan clenched his fist so hard. Suzanne gasped mildly as he shot her a hateful glare when he caught her looking at him.

Andrew briefed them all on the status update as they walked out of the park.

"Cool!" Ethan laughed happily.

"We do it now," Andrew said as a matter of fact.

They all nodded, including Ryan.

~~~

"And then we went to the kiddies pool but Sally won't let me take a dip cos I didn't bring my swim suit along but I insisted and she gave in," the small girl narrated in an excited happy tone as her mother's car parked in front of their driveway.

Linda laughed at her daughter's enthusiasm.

"Settle down Betty," she chided as she turned off the engine.

Soon enough they made their way inside. Linda unlocked the door while Betty pushed her doll stroller inside the house rather cheerfully.

"Well, well, well," came a rather cold voice from the middle of the room.

A curtain was raised and light flooded into the small apartment.

Betty stepped near her mum who clutched her shoulder with a protective hand and she held her phone on the other hand in a tight grasp.

"Who are you?" Linda asked, a bit tensed.

Ryan whirled his chair that had wheels to face Linda.

He gave the small girl a rather stern look.

"Tsk," Andrew snorted from the single couch he sat on as he lifted his eyes from his laptop which rested on a small stool beside the couch.

"Too dramatic, Ryan," he muttered.

He stood up and faced Linda, whose grip had tightened on her small daughter.

She took a cautious step back, pulling Betty along gradually but the door was slammed shut and Suzanne leaned on it. She had on a stern business look on her face. "You might want to take a seat," she said in a not so friendly tone to Linda. Ethan stood beside a window with his hands on his hip.

"I have the cops on speed dial so you'd better--" Linda started telling them but Ashley cut in smoothly as she came from the interior of the house and stood beside Andrew.

"That won't be necessary, we're with the Hero League," she said as she brought out her ID card.

Linda looked at all of them and they also flashed out their ID cards.

She visibly calmed down and crossed her arms.

"What do you E-ranks want?" she asked as she sighted Ashley's crest.

"That would be explained in due time but please, take a seat," Andrew nodded towards an empty space on the sofa.

"You too, Betty," Ashley gave the little girl a charming smile. "You can sit by me," She patted the space beside Linda as she sat on the other end of the chair.

"And look, I have cookies too....," Ashley said and brought out a huge box of them.

Betty's mouth wasn't the only one that was watering; Ethan's was also watering at the sight of the cookies.

"Sure!" Betty beamed and quickly settled beside Ashley. "I'm Ashley," Ashley introduced herself as she offered Betty a strawberry-flavoured cookie. Betty readily accepted it.

Linda eyes softened when they landed on her daughter but she then faced Andrew who sat in the couch facing the sofa they sat on.

"We're looking for a missing puppy and we think you might lead us to it," Andrew said in a stiff tone, his eyes were trained on Betty who froze while holding her cookie when she heard 'missing puppy.'

Linda was a bit curious.

"Really? What's the poor thing's name?" she enquired.

"I believe it's Patches," Ryan replied a bit coldly, giving Betty a rather harsh look.

At once Betty started coughing as she chocked on her cookie. Ashley patted her back while Linda rushed to get her a drink of water.

"Bingo," Ethan smirked as he and Suzanne shared knowing looks.

Andrew leaned back on his seat.

Linda shook her head when she was seated again. "I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Course you don't, the girl is who we want to question," Ethan gave her a small smile. Betty turned her mouth in a sour twisted way at him and looked away in a childish pout.

"Where's the puppy?" Ryan demanded.

"I dunno," Betty lied and shrugged like she was unconcerned about the matter.

Ethan angrily took a step towards her.

"Look, little rat! I know a thousand ways to make kids like you talk, so don't think I won't involve torture if need be. I won't go easy on you," he threatened her rather roughly.

At once Betty took advantage of the situation and started crying fake tears.