Call

For moment, Phillip felt his body tensed up as he looked at his friend in surprise. But as soon as he noticed the knowing grin Raymond was making, he could feel himself relax a bit.

"Judging from the look on your face, I assume it's not that serious," said Phillip. "But what's the call about?"

Raymond's knowing smile grew a little wider just as he was about to explain what happened.

"Well, you see, the guy I hired to look after Callisto called and..."

Vrrrnnngg!

"Oh."

"Ah."

They both look at Raymond's smartphone resting on the table as it vibrate and let out a loud ringtone.

Raymond grabbed the device and looked at the name of the caller.

"It's Oner."

Swiping his right thumb on the screen to answer the call, the father turned on the speaker mode before putting it back on the table.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Raymond, you busy," Oner asked curiously, his voice carried a hint of unease.

"No," Raymond answered. "What's the matter?"

"There's something I'd like to discuss with you, but first, did you speak with Phillip already?"

Phillip looked at the smartphone in bewilderment.

"With me?"

Raymond's smartphone picked up the couple words that leaked out of Phillip's lips and transmitted it towards the apartment building owner.

"Huh? Isn't that Phillip just now?"

"Yeah," Raymond said as he slide the smartphone towards the middle of the table, giving Phillip the chance to speak.

"It's been a while, Oner," Phillip greeted.

"Oh, Phillip! It's been a while!"

Oner, after reciprocating his friend's greeting with his own enthusiastically, he then had a realization.

"If you're there with Raymond, then I guess you two already spoke with each other."

"We did earlier this morning," Phillip replied.

"Really? Raymond's not forcing you to say that, is he?"

The doubtful tone in Oner's voice made Raymond frown. He knew then he had to defend himself.

"What do you take me for, a devil? Phillip's going to stay and continue working as a doctor. That's his choice, not mine."

"You heard him," Phillip interjected. "I'm fine. I'm not the same as I was back then. You guys don't have to treat me like a helpless little brother anymore."

Since it came from Phillip himself, Oner elected to trust his words.

"But still, if something bothers you, don't hesitate to tell us."

"Yeah, I know."

Phillip ended the conversation between him and Oner with a sincere expression of his gratitude, allowing Raymond to speak.

"So, you got something you want to discuss, right? Spill it, Oner."

"Right. You see, Callisto went out this morning to explore and look for a part-time job."

According to Oner, before Callisto left, she informed him that she got permission to do so from her papa. However, whether she got permission or not was not the reason why Oner called in the first place.

"You said you hired a guy to look after her, right?" He asked, his voice sounded worried just like the first time he spoke through the phone. "But when I watched Callisto leave, the guy following her wasn't alone."

Aside from the guy Oner assumed to be the one his friend hired to look after Callisto, the apartment owner also saw a woman tailing the girl.

Oner didn't think too much about it at first, given that the woman was wearing a suit similar to the guy tailing Callisto. He assumed that Raymond must have hired another person just to be sure of Callisto's safety.

However, that was just his thought. A baseless one at that.

What if reality was the complete opposite? What if someone else hired the woman to follow Callisto until they could proceed with whatever they were planning?

Since he had nothing to support such assumption, it was impossible to know if he was right or not. The uncertainty made Oner feel uneasy the whole morning. And so, to clear himself of problematic assumptions...

"You called me."

Rather than getting a resounding yes, Raymond instead received an apology from Oner.

"The moment I saw that woman this morning, I should have contacted you immediately instead of drowning myself in thoughts like I usually do."

Once again, Oner expressed his sincere apology to Raymond. This time, the father had a response.

"It's fine. Don't worry about it. If anything, I should be the one apologizing for wording it and causing a misunderstanding."

"By that, you mean..."

"Yeah. The man and the woman you saw following Callisto this morning are the ones I hired to keep an eye on her."

A quiet sigh escaped Phillip's lips as he watched his friend in front of him grinning slyly whilst looking at the smartphone on the table. Half of what Raymond said was a lie, but Oner wasn't aware of it all.

"I see! I'm glad!"

One could tell from the tone in Oner's voice just how relieved he was to know his assumption was wrong.

Hearing this exchange between Raymond and Oner, Phillip was able to somewhat guess what the call from the guy keeping an eye on Callisto was about.

"With that out of the way, you got anything else you'd like to discuss with me," Raymond questioned.

"No, that's all from me."

"In that case, I'll be ending the call now."

"Yeah. Let's talk again sometime soon, Raymond, Phillip."

Raymond and Phillip both responded with a yes.

Right after that, the father ended the call. Turning his attention towards the man across the table, the father uttered;

"It's Karen."

"I figured," said Phillip without a second thought. "After putting the pieces together, it's no wonder you're making such a sly smile earlier."

His friend's remark brought Raymond to a conclusion.

"Looks like I don't need to explain it anymore."

"There's just one thing that bothers me, though," Phillip voiced.

"And that is?"

"Judging from the way Oner told his story..."

It occurred to Phillip that the apartment owner was clueless about the woman's identity.

"Ah, that..."

Phillip had been overseas for years so he had no idea what was going on during that time. But Raymond did.

"Karen dyed her hair purple."

"Huh?"

A brief silence emphasized the confusion Phillip had.

"That's enough for him to not recognize Karen?"

Raymond shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know," he said. "But you know what happened between them, right? As a friend, we have to respect their decision."

"I know that, but..."

Phillip sighed, stopping himself from speaking.

"Oner and Karen aside, Callisto is doing just fine, so there's no need to worry. For now..."

Raymond looked at his wristwatch.

"... We should head back to work. We've got a lot of things that needed our attention, too, after all."

"Right."

They both stood up almost at the same time as they head back to work.