Adori walked the corridor of the station. The old man had told her to enter a room where she would be asked questions. Adori did not show it back at the office of the old man, but as she walked through the corridor, she felt nervous—so nervous to the point of wanting to faint.
Indeed she was, as she couldn't pinpoint why they needed to question her as well. In her mind, she was merely someone who came along with Rebek, the victim's mother of the whole kidnapping fiasco.
Even though the police were not yet aware of the kidnapping, Adori was sure they would be soon. As she was definitely going to make sure the investigation goes in that direction.
However, she found it so odd that they wanted to interrogate her now when all the victims' families were present in the station.
It would have been a different situation if they had investigated a bit already and were riddled with so many clues that they wanted to narrow it down.
But they were not. They haven't even filed a missing person's report yet.
The odds were stacking up which made Adori all the more tensed about this whole situation.
Though when Adori entered the room, the first thing that came to her mind was what Emis had said to her before she went grocery shopping. If she recalled properly, it was something along the lines of 'You shouldn't be fretting about a minor inconvenience...'
Adori couldn't remember the rest. But she clearly remembered how weird those lines had made her feel.
Of course, it was no surprise to her, as Emis had rarely felt the need to give her a piece of advice about anything. Much less about her life in general. To Adori, that was what made it all the more weird for her.
Regardless of whether Emis was a Yvelin or not, it was still so strange for her to receive advice from him—so strange in fact Adori would rather put it in the back of her head, so she would not constantly think that her Yvelin had gone through some sort of enlightenment.
But sitting in front of her interviewer, she thought maybe—just maybe—her cat was indeed right.
That is, she really was fretting about a minor inconvenience too much.
Adori always saw herself as someone who did not judge a person merely based on their appearance. She, however, did took great importance of how said person presented themselves.
Take for example the man sitting in front of her, whose dirty blonde strands stood all over the place, his shirt unbuttoned at the top and his eye boogers still residing safely in the corner of his eyes. Not only did he also reeked of alcohol, Adori could have sworn she smelled the stench of his breath all the way from her seat.
Had he been drinking?
She wanted to gag, but she needed to convince the man, very badly at that. Otherwise, Adori was not sure if she could find the kids on her own or not.
Her instinct was telling her to keep it professional, but that was proving difficult the longer the clock ticked.
She immediately composed herself when Detective Elias cleared his throat.
"So are you related to the missing kids?" He asked.
Straight to the point, I see.
Adori felt good. She had expected something else entirely—like the police somehow thinking she was behind the mess, even though she's aware of how absurb that sounded now that she thought it through.
"No. I'm a good friend of one of the victim's mother. I came here to help her file a missing person's report."
"That's admirable," Elias remarked dryly, as he wrote something down on a piece of paper Adori was not sure what for. He continued, "Can you tell me your name?"
"Adori. I came here on this island three months back." She was unsure of why she added that information in the end. But there was something about this man and his entire demeanour that told Adori to remain cautious regardless of how he presented himself.
"Just Adori?"
"Yes, I rarely use my family name."
Adori bit her lips—a nervous tic of hers.
"Why is that?"
Adori was starting to feel uncomfortable by the man's questions.
"Look, I'm sitting here right now because I'm worried about the kids. I do not come here just so I can confess about my life to some stranger I haven't met before," Adori stated.
After a moment of silence from the man, she felt the need to add some more. "This whole mess isn't about me or my life."
Elias was still scribbling something down on a paper, looking unfazed by Adori's statement. He still have not looked at Adori properly since she entered the room.
After a minute of calm in the room, Elias gently continued his questioning again.
"Where are you from?"
That baffled Adori a bit. She just told him this whole situation was not about her, yet he still wanted to pry. Adori sighed in defeat.
"From Verdant."
For the first time since Adori entered the room, Elias was properly looking at her. Though, strangely, this was making Adori even more nervous than before the questioning started. His eyes, though as calm as the ocean under the midday sun, was holding Adori in her seat. There was something about those eyes that made Adori's skin breakout in goosebumps.
"All the way from the western continent? Tell me, Miss Adori, how have you been faring in the east?"
Adori gulped. "Oh, it's been fun so far.. I mean, fun before all the disappearances."
Adori could swear she had not yet seen Elias blink his eyes. He had been staring at Adori like a hawk, from the moment she mentioned she was from the Land of Verdant.
Really, what's with these people and their reactions to foreigners?
"Disappearances..." Elias drawled, "So you're aware of the previous one."
Adori rubbed her neck. There was something about the guy and his way of questioning that made Adori really uncomfortable.
"Yes, when Cale survived the Whispering Forest. Indeed, I'm aware. Like all the other residents, I find that one to be very odd," Adori said with the most polite tone she could muster.
"When you say you're friends with one of the victim's mother, was it Rebek Varn you meant?"
"Yes."
"And she hasn't told you anything?"
"Not really, no." Adori was quiet for a moment, but then an idea entered her mind. "But, when I saw Cale the next day on the market, he was asking me about his friends. I was kind of surprised that he appeared out of nowhere, but he looked like he really was worried about his friends."
Elias stayed quiet for a minute or so as if he was connecting some dots inside his head. Then he quickly scribbled something down on his paper again.
"You say he looked worried? Worry as in someone tailed him or someone threatened him and his friends?"
"I'm not sure about that. It looked like both of those situations combined."
"I see," Elias said as he nodded his head. "And you haven't seen him since?"
"No. Next thing I know, Rebek came to my house at night to tell me about the disappearance."
Elias nodded his head again as he jot down on his paper. When he finished writing down, he quickly folded his paper as if he was afraid of someone peeking inside them.
"I see, Miss Adori, that will be all. It was nice talking to you." Elias stood from his seat and held his hand out. Adori promptly took his hand.
"Will it be possible if I call you to ask more questions later when we start our investigation on this case?" Elias asked as he shook Adori's hand.
"Of course," Adori said to the man.
Though I'd rather not talk to you at all...
Adori made sure she did not express that thought on her face.
***
Adori waited Rebek in front of the station. It had been minutes since she exited the station and Rebek was still inside. She surmised maybe the old man had tons of questions he wanted to ask Rebek.
When she came out of the room, she felt a bit uneasy to run into the two families once again. But thankfully, they were nowhere to be seen when she passed where they previously had been. Adori believed the polices present there must have finally taken care of them while she was being questioned.
It's a good thing for Rebek, she thought to herself.
Nevertheless of how short she had known Rebek, Adori had always felt this strange familiarity with her. It was because of this feeling of hers that they had bonded as friends so easily—although Adori hadn't had been so friendly in the past.
It was what she had always been told, that she was hard to befriend. Many of them had given their reasons, and Adori had listened to them diligently. However, their reasons had always differed from one another that it was hard for Adori to actually change her character. After all, she was never sure which version of herself she was supposed to change into.
Maybe it was due of this that she was so entangled in this whole situation. Because it involved the son of her precious friend—the first one she ever had.
As she was deep in her own thoughts, Rebek exited the station and walked toward where Adori was waiting for her.
"The old man sure have a lot to ask, huh?" Adori said to Rebek when she was close enough to hear her.
"That's Chief Lionel Thorne. And yes, he sure asked me a lot about Cale and his friends," Rebek calmly replied.
Adori did not know what Chief Lionel had said to Rebek, but seeing her friend becoming more calm after that shit storm inside the station somehow made her glad to the chief.
"Does he think there's hope in all this?" Adori curiously asked.
Rebek scrunched her nose as she contemplated Adori's question. "I... It seemed like there is. The way Chief Lionel talked about the case, yes, he sounded like someone who has hope," Rebek finally said.
This made Adori even more delighted. Now it looked like it was only a matter of time before they find Cale and his friends.
"How about you?" Rebek suddenly asked. "Was it Detective Elias? I haven't heard the name before, he must be someone new here."
Adori did not even tried to mask her surprise. "Really? Well, overall, he seemed odd. But...yeah, he sounded like he's good at his job."
Rebek smiled a bit. "I told the chief about what you said this morning, about how this whole situation looked more like a kidnapping than a simple run away case. It really intrigued the chief."
Before they arrived at the station that morning, Adori saw no problem in indulging Rebek about that piece of information, even if it was only a suggestion on her part. But seeing the attitude and demeanour of that detective inside the station, Adori suddenly was not sure if telling Rebek that was really a good move on her part or not.
After all, there was something about her identity she needed to keep hidden at all cost.
"I suppose that's good," Adori muttered.
Really, Adori found that to be good. However, she was afraid it would lead to a certain blue-eyed man sniffing on her trail, which she absolutely could not afford.