"That was Jace's elder brother," Debby broke the silence on the table.
"Yeah," Wayne said sighing. "I miss them."
"Who?" Eric whispered to Rose.
"Jace and Scott. I heard Jace went for his training to be the family's new heir," Debby said sad that Scott had to leave because Jace also left.
"I guess there is another story behind. I am not sure about how solid the information is but I will investigate it," Wayne said frowning.
"What information?" Anna asked not liking the weird unpleasant feeling of her stomach tightening when she remembered what the red-haired guy said.
"Nothing serious," Wayne replied unwilling to tell her the rumors going around in the underground world. He avoided her gaze and dug his dessert spoon into her food cake hoping to piss her off and divert her attention Jace.
"Did Jace get stabbed?" Anna asked seeing through Wayne's act and immediately knew something was wrong.
Wayne froze with the spoon of food cake a couple of centimetres away from his lips. He dropped the spoon after remaining frozen for some seconds. "What made you ask?" Wayne asked clearing his throat.
"Don't give that look. It won't hurt to tell me the truth. I just want to know what happened to a friend," Anna replied taking a spoon of her fruitcake. She tried her best to act natural although she could not hide the slight trembling of her hand.
"Who told you that?" Eric asked wondering who will lick out such secret without fear. The Hart family tried their best to hide the truth and he only knew because his father was a close subordinate of Mr. Hart.
"A witness," Anna replied after chewing a mouth full of cake slowly.
"How sure are you that the person isn't the culprit?" Wayne asked frowning. "It is an unwritten rule in the underground world that if you are not the culprit, you shouldn't know about the incident or if you know, then don't talk about it."
"Who will come up with such rule?" Rose had to asked. She could not find any rationality in such a rule.
"His brother is still hunting down the culprit. His brother made the rule. He might look so hot and handsome in this café but he have posed himself as a greatly feared demon in the underground world. It is said that he will dice the culprit and blend him when he gets the culprit," Wayne whispered to his friends at the table.
"What? I thought the Hart family was a business family, is that wrong?" Debby had to ask as she suppressed the urge to throw out all the dessert she had in this café at the mention of the punishment awaiting the culprit.
"What did the red-haired guy tell you?" Rose asked interested in the case and pleased with what she heard from Wayne. If she could get the culprit for Liam, perhaps she could make a deal with him although that was almost impossible.
"He said he witnessed Wayne get stabbed during the fashion show," Anna whispered taking a sip from her hot cup of coffee.
"I guess whoever the guy is will not tell you he witnessed it if he was the culprit. What is your connection to the guy?" Eric asked.
"He said I was the reason Claire got kidnapped and killed. He thinks I did it," Anna said dropping her head. She was not liking the direction of this discussion was going.
"I guess you should avoid that guy as best as you can. He might come after you," Wayne tried to end the discussion when he noticed Anna's discomfort.
"Do you think there is a connection between your case and Claire's case?" Eric asked noticing her discomfort too but it only made him more curious.
"Jace was helping me investigate it. Do you think that is why he got stabbed?" Anna asked dropping her hand to her lap as her fingers fought against each other.
Rose did not like seeing her sister like that and frowned. "Hey, that is not the reason. Why will anyone come after Jace because of that? I guess it must be one of their family's rival who wanted to punish his father," Rose replied smiling.
"Yeah that's right," Wayne agreed placing his hand over her fighting fingers and rubbed her hand gently.
Anna sighed fighting off her guilt. "Don't you think a year is too long for a stab wound to heal or did . . . did he . . . did Jace die?" Anna asked looking at Wayne with her beautiful black eyes shining with moisture.
"No!" Wayne answered immediately shaking his head furiously.
"Then why isn't he back?" Anna asked frowning.
"He went for his family's training," Wayne lied.
"Will Scott get punished for not protecting Jace well?" Debby asked taking her turn to have misty eyes as she looked at Wayne with her dark blue eyes.
"Probably," Wayne answered thoughtlessly since he had a task of preventing Anna from crying and he did not see the tears threatening to fall down from Debby's eyes.
"Oh . . . My . . . Gosh. He is only a poor boy. It was not his fault," Debby began crying in a comical manner that made Eric almost laugh.
With that, Anna too began crying. The two girls cried making the guys on the table confused with Rose reaching to her sister from across the table to pat her head.
"It must have hurt really bad to be stabbed," Anna cried.
"He might have made a mistake but he shouldn't get punished," Debby cried.
The crying girls attracted the attention of some of the other customers in the café. Seeing the girls crying like little girls who had their candies stolen on the playground, Eric began getting scared of getting himself a girlfriend.
"You two should keep quiet," Wayne said firmly getting the attention of the girls when he got tired of petting them. "Nothing happened to your crushes," he said nodding. This was the first time he had seen them cry since Anna returned and the two of them had a tearful reunion.
"He is not my crush," Anna refuted mopping her tears with the soft handkerchief Wayne pulled out from her bag and gave her.
Wayne smiled liking the effectiveness of this method. "Whatever," he said and moved his attention to his plate of dessert.
"See your girlfriend," Debby suddenly said directing her gaze to the front of the café where a girl dressed in Jean shorts and ocean green sweat shirt was standing with a guy in black jean trousers and the same type of green sweat shirt.
"We broke up," Wayne replied pressing his mug of coffee against his lips.
"When?" Anna asked glancing at the pretty hot blonde.
"Last week," he answered easily when he was done taking a sip of coffee.
"Why?" Rose asked.
"She said I spend more time with you guys than with her," he replied chuckling.
"We are sorry we made you lose your girlfriend," Rose said smiling.
"Not you Rose. Debby and Anna are the real reason behind it," Wayne replied frowning.
Anna and Debby looked at each other before laughing together at their friend's misfortune.
"Your make-up is messed up," Wayne said making it his turn to laugh at the two of them.
"We will be right back," Anna said pulling Debby up as they escaped to the restroom.
***
"I don't want to sleep alone," Anna said squeezing into Rose's bed hugging Rose tightly despite how hard Rose tried to send her out.
"Fine. Loosen your grip a little," she was forced to agreeing knowing Anna won't let go.
"Ok," Anna replied happily as she released her sister completely and hugged a pillow.
Rose who was subconsciously anticipating her Mr. Warm-embrace to visit despite the fact that he did not come ever since she left the hospital lost hope of him comimg at all. She shouldn't be blamed for expecting a nightmareless night, right?