Looking at the three men in suit, Trex felt a certain unease in his heart. It was the sort of feeling that something was coming.
Something… sad...
Eliza had her forehead wrinkle but didn't say much. She wondered if these were Justin's business people as she doesn't remember anyone interacting with her that resembles them.
Illana, on the other side, went silent as no one answered her. Still, her eyes glittered. If these were bad guys, and her lady is here.
An imperceptible smile formed on her lips.
Pressing the hazard button, Illana slowed the car down and stopped right in front of the driveway.
The first one to come out was Eliza, followed by Trex. Illana had to park the car inside the garage, so she stayed, but if Trex saw her, he'll be able to see how impatient she was at the slowly opening garage door.
When the three men in a suit saw Eliza, they immediately went over.
"Mrs. Eliza Rhemi?" the man in front asked.
"Yes, what can I do for you?" Eliza confirmed amicably, with a slight smile on her face.
"Ah, my name is Jack Sky. The one to my left is Matt and the other is Chris. We're here from the mercenaries coalition. We're actually here to talk about the men who passed during their escort job for sir Marko," Jack quickly explained, afraid of getting the woman in front of him to misunderstand.
Clearly, his attempt was effective as Eliza's countenance changed into one of a delightful surprise.
In a better mood, she reintroduced herself, "Ah, really. Well, here's is Marko but he lost his memories so let me do the talking for now. Are you here to get the dog tags?"
"Yes, that's actually our main reason for visiting," Jack answered. Eliza understood his implications that after their own investigations, they couldn't find it.
"Please come in," she readily unlocked the door to let the guests in.
The three men entered, followed by Eliza and Trex.
——
"Sit anywhere you like, make yourselves at home." Eliza immediately said when she saw the three men standing in the middle of the living room.
Jack and the other two bowed as they got themselves seated on the long couch.
"Illana, dear, prepare some tea for the guests," Eliza told Illana, who just entered the house through the garage. Disappointment at the peaceful encounter is visible in her eyes.
After giving Illana orders, Eliza turned around only to see Trex uneasily standing around, not knowing what to do. "Dear, you could sit too," she teased.
With an awkward grin, Trex sat on the single couch. Meanwhile, Eliza sat on the couch's armrest beside Trex.
"How exactly does this work?" Eliza immediately cut to the chase.
This time, the man besides Jack spoke up. "As introduced earlier, my name is Matt and I'm a lawyer. Here is the contract your son signed." Matt took out a bundle of paper and handed it over to Eliza.
In Eliza's hands is a photocopied contract signed by Marko. Trex had his head stretched out to see.
"Mr. Marko Rhemi here hired one of our best group for a high level escort mission rated three stars. In one of the clauses, if the mission fails and the is found in a severe to critical condition, all of his deposit money will be returned and as a compensation, for every returned dog tags would correspond to a bonus percentage. Having all dog tags would be compensated with up to 200% of the cost."
After Matt finished his spiel, the last guy finally spoke. "Hello, my name is Chris. Actually, my reason being part of the trio is to be the one inspecting the employer's current status, but Dr. Michael Sherman actually has connection with us and pledged as a guarantor. We'd now ask for your permission to obtain his medical results and if Dr. Sherman's guarantee is correct, Matt would explain the total compensation for your son."
"All in all, the deposit and insurance cost will be returned at once and depending on the dog tags you have collected, we'll compensate by percentage. Including the 30% of the hospital bills," Matt finally ended their explanation. This was their formulated style over the years they've been working together. Most of the time, the family of the compensated is usually grieving, and being as quick as possible has always been the best way.
Eliza was surprised. "You actually bought the insurance?"
Trex blinked his eyes multiple times and shrugged.
Eliza stared at Trex's innocent eyes. She was truly surprised. Marko had always been a very frugal kid when it came to everything but games.
Looking at his son more and more, her motherly instincts kicked in. Maybe if he failed, the money was supposed to go to us? An impulse to smack her son's head appeared and quickly disappeared.
She really wanted to call her son stupid right now, but the situation wouldn't be right. The men in front of her are strangers, after all.
"Mmhmm, I recall that my husband did found dog tags within Mar's pocket." After finishing her thoughts, Illana arrived with the tea.
"Perfect timing, go check Justin's drawer. Check if the dog tags are there. The medical papers should be in there too. Bring it all here," she commanded Eliza.
Eliza responded with a bow and left.
Right now, Trex is really surprised. The entire time he was with his mother was always dominated by his mom. Was Marko a momma's boy?
Trex suddenly felt like he didn't want that. "After all this, I must become independent," He thought. For now, this is really convenient and only a little embarrassing.
"So, Mr. Rhemi, how have you been. I heard you were quite the gamer," Jack initiated a small chat which Trex tried to answer to his best. "Yes,"
The silence lasted for five seconds before Jack coughed. "Ah, right, so what games have you been playing before?"
"I… I don't recall… sorry." Trex answered so straightforwardly everyone felt speechless as another bout of silence reached their ears.
"How about…" Jack tried once more.
The kind of awkwardness resulting from talking to Trex is not an experience needed to be shared.
Fortunately, Illana returned with nine dog tags kept in a zip lock bag.
Hearing the maid coming back, the three men, Eliza, and Trex felt relieved.
Lacking experience in communication, whenever Jack asks something that goes over more than a hundred words, Trex would answer "yup" if he agreed, "not really" if he didn't. Afterward, well, there was no after wards.
It was so unbearable. But so was silence.
Due to the usually grim reason of their visit, the three are used to finding topics that are considered lighthearted in an attempt to not let the atmosphere sink deeper. It was actually incredibly rare to see an insured employer be so… normal.
"I found it," Illana spoke first.
As if hearing the voice of an angel, everyone felt relieved.
"Perfect, please hand give it to me so I can inspect them." Chris talked.
As Illana was moving towards Chris, "Wait!" Trex suddenly shouted.