Jake∆

"The door wasn't locked?"

"Yeah. I told you mom was home, remember?"

"Oh yeah you did, I forgot."
I face palmed.

Trisha struggled with her entry into her home since she held Freddie's leash who was pulling and jumping trying to get free.

"Freddie stay quiet!"
I commanded, dropping my stuff to go help her.

"Aww look who we have here."
Trisha's mom echoed from the kitchen, upon hearing our voices.

Freddie's leash finally slipped from her hand after his continues pulling and fidgeting. He run and jumped on Mrs. Walter as soon she appeared in the living room.

"No! Freddie no!"
I bolted and grabbed him from her with my right arm.

"Mrs. Walter, I'm really really sorry. I shouldn't have brought my dog along."
I stammered.

"No no it's fine. I like dogs."
She brushed her apron with her hands, laughing.
"He only gave me quite a scare."

"He can sleep on your porch if that's okay with you-

"No it's fine Jake, he can stay indoors.
If only he won't shit around."
She giggled, making us all laugh too.

"No he won't, I can promise you that."
I smiled, letting him go. He was calm now.

Her smile begun to fade suddenly.
She came close to me, cupping my jaw with her two hands and a worried expression on her face.
"Am sorry about what happened to you, hunny."
She examined my bruised lip and left arm in the bandages.

"No you don't need to be sorry, Mrs. Wal-
I hadn't ended my words when she suddenly hugged me.

I stared at Trisha surprisingly. She only shrugged and smiled in return.

"If there's anything we can do to help..just anything, let us know okay?"
She gave a motherly smile while letting go.

"You've already done enough by making me and Freddie stay with you."

"Oh, that's nothing okay. You're always welcomed here.
Go ahead and show him his room, hunny."
She nodded at Trisha.

"You didn't go to work today?"
Trisha questioned while taking me upstairs.

"Yeah. I changed my schedule for this week."
Her voice almost sounding faint when we got to the second floor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We sat on the bed in the cozy room which was mine for now.
Freddie was coiled up on one of the pillows with his erected ears, like he understood whatever we were talking about.

"I hope Freddie and I are not taking much attention in your home."

"Shut up, asshole."
She poked me in my ribs playfully.

"You're not. And don't ever think that.
She took my left arm in hers slowly taking off the bandage.

"I don't even feel any pain, you know.
Don't bother taking it off with so much care."

"Quiet old man!"
She rolled her eyes.

"And ...done. Go shower, dinner's probably ready by now."
With that she stood up and left.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I took a quick shower and changed into a tank top and sweatpants.

"Hey buddy, let's go."

I called out to Freddie who obeyed abruptly, and got off the bed.
I opened the door for him to pass as I followed.
I descended just two steps when I got a phone call.

"Hello, am I speaking to Mr. Jake Brown?"

"Yes, this is he."

"This is the Criminal Investigation Department, we only want to ask you a question about your mom- "

"Have you seen them!!"
I became alarmed.

"Sorry, not yet. But please calm down."
The voice sounded apologetic.

"Alright. This turquoise blue car you drove last night, do you have any idea who might have owned it?"

"No, not at all."

"Well from what we found, the car was registered in your mom's name indicating she had just bought it yesterday.

" Wait, what?"

"You know, it would be better if we had this conversation in person. We'd be expecting you by tomorrow morning if you can schedule your time to be here."

"Yeah sure, I would be."

He hanged up after my last words.
I was confused now.
Mom bought a car, what for?
I mean, the one she's using now hasn't lasted even quarter of the year. 
And why didn't she tell me about it?

"Jake, food's gonna get cold."

I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard misses Walter's voice.
I got down the stairs to meet Trisha and her mom seated, with varieties of dishes before them.

I drew my chair aback and sat down beside Trisha.
We prayed a short prayer and Mrs. Walter started dishing out the food.

We had just started eating when the door swung open, revealing Trisha's dad. He was on a call when he entered, dropping off his office bag and hanging his coat on the rack.

"I'll make sure to go over the files one more time, thank you."
He hanged up on what seemed to be some sort of business call taking his seat.

"How was work?"
She smiled at her husband who hadn't even lifted his head to look at his wife and daughter, more or less notice the guest he was having.
He chucked a sizeable amount of salad in his mouth.

"A bit tiring.
Goodness, am starving."
He moaned.

We barely heard what he said through the loads of food he kept stuffing into his mouth.
We kept giggling at how ridiculous he acted.

"Dad?"
Trisha managed to catch his attention through her laughter.

"What is so funny-
He stopped with his mid opened mouth.

"Oh!"
He gulped on the remaining food and wiped his lips with a tissue paper.

"Sorry, I didn't notice you.
I didn't know you were the kid staying with us. I thought it was one of Trisha's girlfriends.
I'm really sorry about what happened."

"It's okay."

By the way, you're welcomed here anytime. You can stay as long as you want."

"I'm very grateful."
I gave a simple smile.

"How are you doing, anyways?"

"Coping,
and.. staying strong."
I looked at Trisha and then back to her dad.

"That's very good, you do that."
We're doing the best we can.
We've got a number of our men on the search. We ain't resting until we find your mom and sister."

It was then that I realised his voice synchronised with the person I had spoken with just about 15 minutes ago.
Trisha's dad was an investigator.

"Thank you very much, Sir."
I replied.

"It's Jonathan. Call me Jonathan."

"Very well. It's nice meeting you, Jonathan."

"My pleasure. 
And I know who you are kid.

" uhh.."
I stuttered not knowing what he really meant by that.

My daughter's boyfriend."
He smirked.

My heart raced at what he said.
"Uhh..I uh..we're-

"Chill buddy, I'm just messing with you guys"
He laughed going back to his food.

"Ahaha, yeahh...absolutely"
I gave a silly laugh.

"Dad?!"
Trisha rolled her eyes feeling embarrassed.

Mrs Walter was only smiling without looking into our faces.

"And forgive me that you had to see me eat like that, that's not typical of me. I was just super starving."
He took a sip of water drawing his chair backward and getting up gently.

"It's fine."
I smiled.

"And get some rest buddy."
He added.

"Food was really great, hunny."
He pecked his wife.
"Goodnight everyone."
Those were his last words before disappearing into one of the rooms.

We all followed suit since we were done with our meal.
I thanked Mrs Walter for the food too before bidding her good night as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"My dad can be crazy sometimes."
Trisha chuckled.

"No he's cool actually."
I smiled.

"Okay you should go get some sleep now.

"Yeah we should."

"Good night."

When I was about closing my room door, the thought of turning to kiss her came in mind. And when I finally agreed to go ahead, she already spun around and cupped my jaws and kissed me. Like she read my mind.
We parted after some seconds.

"Good night."
She said airily, shutting the door behind her.

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