The four of them agreed to meet up at the restaurant.
Justin and the gang sat on their tables, but this time with Athena. They didn't set up their laptops and had a normal meeting for once.
Athena spoke up first, her eyes full of worry and excitement, "Where is he?! Do you already have a location?!"
The air is still tense, "Calm down. Yes, I already have a location, he's in Cape Town, it's a 30-45 minute car ride from where we are."
Athena stood up and immediately called her driver, she looked at the four, "Why are you guys still sitting there?! C'mon, let's go!"
They obeyed. Although Garrett said the guy's name is also Josiah, Vincent still didn't fully believe that it's him.
...
They arrived at a place where houses were built side by side, there's a small road that is built in the middle so that small vehicles could go in, like motorcycles, bikes, and small cars, a van could also go in but the stalls in the sides would have to make way for it to pass through.
They asked passers by where the internet cafe would be; they easily found it because the place is small.
The four arrived in front of a two story house, with two huge glass windows in the front, the inside is a little bit cramped with only ten computers placed side by side and only a small pathway in the middle.
The admin computer is placed on the left side, facing the backwall and the guy seated in front of it is a thin man in his twenties, smoking a cigarette with one of his legs on the chair.
They walked inside and what greeted them is the strong smell of tobacco, although the doors are open, it's still isn't enough to get rid of the smell.
Athena turned her head from side to side to find where Josiah is, when all of a sudden, the man seated in the admin computer spoke up, not even glancing at them, "There are vacant seats there, do you guys want to play?"
The voice echoing throughout the internet cafe made the internet cafe turned silent to their hearing all of a sudden, as the only noise they hear is the man's voice.
His emotionless yet gentle voice tickled their ears as they looked at where it came from, they saw a thin man smoking, seated in front of the admin computer. They all turned stiff; their brains went blank as a flood of memories came back to them.
Josiah looked at the people frozen in place, "If you don't want-" before he could finish what he is about to say, Athena ran towards him and hugged him tightly. "A-Athena...?"
The kids playing looked towards him and giggled.
The three still stood frozen in place, tears flowing down their faces. They wiped it off and also ran towards him.
The kids seeing this were also dumbfounded, they whispered, "Is... the boss gay...?"
"How can you explain that woman then?"
"Who knows, maybe he likes boys and girls?"
They ignored all their whispers and did a group hug for a full thirty seconds, Azrael turned sour all of a sudden, "You motherfucker, why the fuck didn't you contact us?!" he said in a joking manner.
Vincent and Justin chuckled as they pinched Josiah's cheeks until they were red, they stopped hugging him and stood beside him, facing him, "We've been trying to find you for three years, and this is where you were?!" Justin, Vincent, and Azrael exclaimed as the tears they were holding in began to flow down their faces like a waterfall.
Josiah just stared at them, feeling guilty, 'Now that I think about it, it was too childish of me.'
Josiah stood up from his chair and knocked on the stairs. Garrett's figure could be seen coming down, "What is it?"
Garrett looked at the four people standing there; he sighed, "Do you... want to go back with them?"
In truth, Garrett has long known Josiah's identity by observing him for over two and a half years, from his name, habits, and playstyle, it really resembles the legendary '秋' that the gaming world has created. Although he isn't a huge e-sports fan, he still watches gameplay and tournaments so that he could have something to talk about with his customers.
At first, he didn't know why such a big shot would come to his internet cafe and apply for the internet attendant job he put up, but after observing him for over two and a half years, he slowly but surely saw the big picture. Josiah didn't quit because he's tired of playing, it's because his skills were slowly deteriorating.
Garrett looked at Josiah, his eyes turning a bit watery, before Josiah could reply, Garrett, chuckled, "You can't quit,"
Josiah's eyes turned wide, but before he could complain, Garrett added, "...because you're fired. Go with them now before I change my mind!" Garrett waved his hands, wiping his face that's flowing with tears.
"Thanks, boss, stop crying."
"Hmph! You're crying!" Garrett chuckled and sat down the empty chair Josiah was sitting at before, he looked at the five's silhouette, slowly fading in the distance.