Chapter 5

It was only a few days ago that he got a job at the cafe where Hazel worked and got new information that the girl he was investigating based on the last clue Arnold created was often visiting the cafe. Rachel says everything the woman knows about Amanda after he found Edward scolding Rachel and her three friends for throwing him the responsibility that should be their job. He took the opportunity to ask Rachel in exchange for saving them from Edward's tantrum. Luckily, Rachel was the dependable type. And now, his intuition seemed to tell him that Amanda's life was in danger. He was reluctant to follow his intuition because it meant he had to sacrifice his day off, wanting to give his body a moment to rest. Unfortunately, his intuition was always right, so he could not just ignore it. It was thanks to his always precise intuition and a keen sense of smell that he was able to get his job as a police detective.

Shit.

It left him no option. His intuition was right again. He was outside the cafe that served tea as their main menu near Amanda's school, found that several pairs of eyes were on the students who had just left their school because it was time to go home. He tried to refrain from tapping his fingers on the table for fear that the man in dark sunglasses who was sitting not far suspected him. He tried to remain his move inconspicuous as possible and move one step aside from those people who were tailing Amanda. He did not know their motives, but he was sure that it related to Arnold.

His eyes immediately caught the figure of Amanda who had just appeared in front of the school gate. She looked down in the mouth. Ah, no. To be precise, he felt that that girl seemed to be feeling lonely. He did not see her friends who usually walk with her today, and it was strange. His hands rummaged through his third cup of the ginger tea he ordered to ward off the cold weather of sitting outside the cafe, figuring out the right way to watch over the girl without arousing suspicion. He had already memorized all the routes in this city—the ability he acquired after five years working as a detective, so all he needed to do was guess the road she would pick. Based on his observations so far, that girl never returned home immediately after school. Maybe because of loneliness as the girl lived in a house that was quite large to live by herself.

He understood how it felt very well because he had also experienced it in the past. But Amanda was much luckier than him. At least, her parents left her more than enough money to support her life until she graduated from university—from what he knew while investigating Amanda. In his case, his parents divorced and left him alone with a little cash that only had enough to meet his living needs for a year once he graduated from junior high school, leaving him no option to find lots of part-time jobs to pay his school fees and living cost. Just remembering it made him feel a little uneasy. If someone asked him why he did not want to use his investigation skill to trace his parent’s whereabouts, he would answer the question quickly: he was not interested.

Yes, he had no interest in finding his parents who had dumped him, and he did not care either. After all, if he searched for them and found them, was there any guarantee that they would regret their actions and want to rebuild their damaged family life with him like before? It seemed impossible. Based on his experience, he had never encountered such people. Most selfish parents would use the opportunity to attract their children's compassion if they know that their children they left before became rich and had a stable life while they were living in poverty and end up with cases of extortion of the children's money. Yes, things like that happened a lot when he was working as a police back then. That was the reason why he was reluctant to do so.

Shit. His thought was wandering, almost making him lose track of Amanda. As soon as the man with dark sunglasses walked after Amanda, he stayed at his place about ten minutes after gulp his chilled ginger tea. He counted the number of people who were following the girl.

Hm, ten people? Wow. Was it not too much? Just to keep an eye on one girl who just turned into sixteen years old last week, something feels wrong. His feelings were getting worse. He guessed the route, took a detour. Very nice. The girl seemed to be going to the cafe that the girl always visits after school. In that case, he would be better to catch up soon.

Still staring at the people who were not aware that they were also being watched by him, he whistled softly, leaving the place.

***

He could not help but smile when he found the girl right in the cafe she usually visited, sitting near the cafe window. Luckily he moved faster than the stalkers. He had just finished negotiating with Mikeーone of his co-workers who was supposed to be on duty today, changed shifts with him in five minutes before Amanda arrived at the cafe. Making lame excuse by telling Mike he wanted to get used quickly to his new job. The classic excuse managed to convince Mike, and instead, he had to treat the guy to lunch for two weeks. After tidying his wrinkled waiter’s uniform, he approached Amanda's table.

‘Are you ready to order, Miss?’

That girl returned her attention from outside the window, surprised while seeing him. She quickly hid her face into the menu book that she held for a long time with her hands trembling. He was confused with that. Did he scare that girl? Strange. He already followed the SOP for serving guests according to Edward's instruction—the manager who was known for his stern face. There should not be any problem.

‘Y-yes.’ Amanda took her face away from the menu book. Her tiny finger pointed at the menu name on the list she wanted to order, not saying a word at all. He did not comment at all.

‘Okay, I'll prepare the order,’ he pulled out the menu book that Amanda placed on the table after she finished ordering the menu, while leaning as close as possible to Amanda, tucking a piece of paper under the napkin that was near that girl.

‘Someone’s watching you.’

He walked away after finishing whispering the words to that girl to read the message he slipped, back to his business smile again. This girl covered her face with her hands and nodded. He hesitated a little. Did that girl really understand what he said? Well, better bet on fate. Whether that girl understood his message or not.

He secretly used his sensitive nose to smell the emotion’s scents of the people around this cafe. He did not detect any suspicious scents, and since he saw Amanda entering this cafe, he did not see the people watching this girl in this cafe. It means that they were still outside, watching Amanda from afar. Very nice. At least he already made sure to slip the paper as smoothly as possible. Humming softly, he walked away from Amanda's table, delivering the order to the waiter who was in charge of preparing the order.

***