"What the heck is this mystery?" I said in disappointment as I read the first mystery written on Arya's old notebook.
"Gangsters! Isn't it exciting?" Contrary to me, Arya seems to be fully immersed in our adventure. In fact, she sounds so excited I wouldn't be surprised if she started jumping.
"Isn't this just a child's prank?"
"Huh? What are you saying? Isn't this mysterious? If you think about it, there's a gangster in the police station. And, what more, that is their secret base! That should be really exciting!"
"Even if that is true, isn't this something an adult should be working on instead of us? Like, I don't know, this is more related to law rather than a local list of mysteries."
"There you go pretending to be mature. Isn't it a written law in most adventure that it's the curious teenagers that get to save the day?" Arya said with a matter-of-fact tone.
"You watch too much series and read too many novels." I let out a sigh. Is it just me or have I been sighing a lot?
"Excuse me. I just borrowed your words from when we were kids. You always say that it's the kids that will save the day."
"Yes, sure. I'll go with that. So, what do you want us to do?" I replied as I surrender. Seeing how Arya even brought up something from the past, I know that Arya will not stop the argument unless I agree to it. She is pretty stubborn after all.
"What else? Let's go to the police station."
Arya dragged me as we go to the police station. Since the village was small, and the crime rate was very low, not much of an enforcer was needed. But still, few policemen were necessary. With this in mind, even the police station was small. And most of the time, they just deal with lost children and belongings. People may find this weird but I actually liked it. Less work for policemen means less worry for us. At least that's how my mother explained it to me.
Arya entered the station with no sense of nervousness at all. Behind her was me who seems to be a lot nervous considering it was still the police station. I mean, when one says police station, isn't it a bit intimidating? As we enter, we were welcomed by the usual scent of cigarette. Inside the station that was just about as big as our school classroom, at the entrance, was a reception desk with some chairs placed in front of it for guests. If one was to just take a glance beyond the desk, one would be able to see two long sofas with a small coffee table in the middle of them. At the farthest part of the room from the entrance was a desk with a sign 'chief' placed atop it. There was also a large shelf just beside the chief desk containing all sorts of documents. However, despite this rather intimidating sight, the scene that greeted us was rather different than that of what one will envision a police station to be. In front of us was a muscular man in his police uniform trying to calm a crying child by making an uncharacteristically cute sound as he waves a candy in front of the said child.
"Hello chief, what's with this?" Arya asked nonchalantly.
"Oh Arya! Well, this child is lost and he has been crying for an hour now. We already have contacted his parents but this child seems to be really scared." the police officer replied as he scratches his bald head like he was lost and didn't what to do.
"Hello Mister George." I greeted as I bow.
"Oh, Reve! So you are with Arya again today, I see. You two are always together. Why don't you take my daughter as you girlfriend? She's a real beauty." The police officer said as he let out a loud chuckle.
Due to this sudden laugh of the police officer, the child was surprised and started crying louder. Arya immediately went to the child and tried to console the poor boy.
"Hey, keep your voices down. Try to be sensitive, okay?" Arya said furiously as she snarls at her father. After giving her father a piercing gaze, Arya gently smiled at the crying child as she strokes his head softly. "Now now, don't cry. Everything is going to be alright. Your mother will come and pick you up soon so you have nothing to worry about."
"Well, I'll just leave that child to you, Arya. I have other paper works to do." Arya's father said as he goes back to his desk, leaving Reve staring at Arya.
"What? Is there something wrong?" Arya asked with a hint of doubt as she stares at Reve in return.
"Well, it's nothing. I just thought that you do have that caring side." I replied shyly. I know Arya to be a wild and loud girl so seeing her like that is something I am not used to. The sight of her trying to calm the child down somehow makes her look mature.
"Hmph! I've always had this caring side. You just don't pay much attention to me." Arya muttered.
"What?"
"Nothing! Don't be loud or you'll startle the child."
"But you are the one who is shou-"
"Shhhh! I said be quiet."
The room was filled with nothing but the sound of the heavy tapping of a keyboard. I stared at the clock as I endure the awkward silence. Arya was busy comforting the child while Mister George immersed himself with loads of paper works. With nothing to do, I thought to myself how nice it would be if the child's mother arrives. And as if the heavens heard my wish, the mother of the lost boy came, catching her breathe. Probably because she ran, her hair was somehow familiarly messy. Yes, oddly enough, she reminds me of my mother when she was younger. Mister George welcomed the mother and explained to her the situation. Once everything was cleared, the mother went to pick her child and both of them went home safely with no further issue.
"That kid reminds me of you, Reve." Arya said with a smile.
"Huh? What are you saying?"
"Nothing."
"Hey, you said that he reminds you of me. What do you mean by that?"
"I said nothing. If you don't know then just let it be."
"What's with that attitude?"
"Before the two of you starts fighting again, tell me. What did you come here for?" Mister George interrupted the two without taking his eyes of the computer as he types heavily.
"Ah right! The first mystery!" Arya shouted as she finally remembered the main reason as to why they came to the police station.
"Hmm? What mystery?"
"Well, you see sir. This daughter of yours, I mean Arya, have this list of mysteries." I replied with a rather unexcited tone. All the tension and excitement I had were gone because of that what happened earlier.
"Yes! And it says here that this police station is a secret base of a gangster." Arya declared as her eyes beamed with excitement.
"Gangster?"
"I told you this is stupid." I told Arya upon seeing the look of Arya's father as I try to make my point clear. "I know this is stupid. There is no way a ga-"
"Ah, it's true." Mister George said with a matter-of-fact tone.
"Huh? You must be kidding sir."
"No. In fact, I was that gangster."
"EHH!" exclaimed both Reve and Arya.
"Wait, why are you surprised? Isn't he your father?" I pointed out as I watch Arya exclaim in surprise.
"Well, this is also my first time hearing it so..."
Both Arya and I decided to listen to Arya's father for further explanation. It seems that mister George was indeed a delinquent when he was in college. But after meeting Arya's mother, he became tamed like a puppy. When they started dating, George left his delinquent side and decided to be a police officer to protect his family. It was quite surprising if you would ask me. That upright and funny mister George was a gangster back then, unbelievable.
"It's been about 10 years since someone asked me that. Man, I was pretty wild back then. Wait, it was Reve, right? You're the one who asked me that."
"What? Me?" I replied dumbfounded. I mean, I was pretty surprised myself so telling me that I already asked him about that before came as a shock.
"Yeah. You don't remember?"
"I-" For some reason, I suddenly felt a zap in my head like an electricity suddenly went pass my brain. I felt this excruciating pain like my head is going split into two. However, as sudden as it arrived, the pain was gone in an instant. "What was that?"
"Oh! Look at the time. It is already 7pm. The two of you should go home. I still have paper works to do. Arya, tell your mom that I'll be going home late." Mister George exclaimed as he went back to his work.
"Sir, about the thing you were talking a-"
"That was really shocking, isn't it?" Arya interrupted Reve.
"Huh? Well, aside from the fact that your father was a former delinquent, you not knowing anything about it was the thing to be surprised at."
"What do you mean by that?" Arya complained as she pouted. "Ah, I'll be picking you up tomorrow at 10am, okay?"
"What for?"
"Isn't it obvious? To continue our adventure."
"We are still not done?" I complained. It completely slipped out of my mind that there are still seven more mysteries to solve.
"Of course! We are going to uncover all the 8 mysteries after all!"
"Okay, fine. Wait, what was I saying a while ago?" Reve said as he scratches his head.
"Huh?"
"I mean, I was asking Mister George something."
"Let's go, let's go. You're just disturbing my dad. If you can't remember it, then it must've been something not so important."
"I guess you do have a point."