Four of them gasped a little, Arch even whispered a little bit "oh". Alana was pretty bewildered, she's not sure if she should have seen such.
"Gray... you still at your workplace?" Tito started to speak comfortably. Gray was at a distance from them, but they can see he did not make an expression from Tito's greeting. Gray was talking to someone, a guy named Alex. They are about a meter away from each other, both their arms folded as they are talking, but now they are focused on the five who are near the entrance.
"Um, guys Gray always stays here, he only goes out at lunch." Sky whispered to them.
"Alright, that's enough tour for today," Owen says as he pulls them out and lets Alex and Gray alone there, without uttering a single word at them. They let go of the cover so it could go back on covering the area, and they all turned their back towards the entrance.
But once again, they all jolted when they saw a man standing in front of them, he must have been waiting for the five of them to notice.
He's a bit of a big man like most of them, but about in his late 40s or early 50s, he's heavily bearded and looks very intimidating because of the pipe on his mouth, and classy clothing. He doesn't look like a common worker at all, she can tell by the way he gazes at them.
"I see you brought a friend to work," he said to the boys.
"Boss, she's the new helper in the kitchen, we just showed her around to see our work." Arch gulped hard after responding to their boss. Not that he's cruel or scary, he's just intimidating and likes to keep everything professional. It's not that they fear their boss, it's that they respect him, plus he's very generous to all of them. But well, most of the time he's grumpy.
"What is this a museum? Go take a break outside." the boss ordered and the five of them hurriedly ran out, Alana ran with them too, although she didn't feel much of a threat to the boss. However, she slightly saw his gaze at her as she ran out, he doesn't like her presence there. Maybe Georgia knew it and that is why she never asked to come in.
===
"So you saw the boss, and you had a bit of a tour in the factory? I'm bringing the snacks next time" Kiel said after Alana told them everything that happened. The three of them are eating their lunch at the cafeteria.
Jolene giggled, "And Gray is not much of a loner huh"
"Yeah, Sky told me he's like best buddies with Alex, they just hang out by themselves," Alana added.
"Seems the way Troy and I used to be, we never talk to anyone else but us too." Kiel confidently replied to her. Alana smiled and thought for a while before opening her mouth once more, "Listen, I-"
"Hey Kiel, Jolene, Alana." Owen greeted them as his three other friends sat down with them. "Hello, Owen." Jolene greeted back, smiling. The four of them have been finished with their meals and they came for a small chat. "We didn't see you much today." Sky said, referring both to Jolene and Kiel, but primarily to Jolene. The latter smiled and replied, "We were inside the kitchen this whole time, maybe next time we'll send the snacks out." she assured. Sky smiled and excitedly nodded.
"How was your first night staying here Kiel? I heard you slept along with Jolene, Alana, and Georgia in their quarters." Tito teasingly raised his eyebrows up and down to him meaningfully. Arch and Tito glanced at each other at looked at Kiel again, "Lucky..." he muttered while smirking.
Kiel flinched and turned red with what they said. Last night he slept with the quarters of those who are in the kitchen, there are just three bunk beds available there, one is occupied by Georgia, the other two are for Castro and his grandmother, the others are for the three regular workers who recently got into an accident, so they slept there temporarily. It was a small room but big enough to place their personal stuff in.
"W-what? There's Castro and trust me, it's not lucky to share a room with girls, they talk until midnight." Kiel replied with a pout.
It's true, Alana and Jolene never stopped whispering to each other because their beds are facing each other, both the upper decks. Below Jolene is Nana and Georgia is below Alana's. Kiel and Castro share bunk beds where Kiel is at the bottom.
Jolene and Alana furrowed their eyebrows at Kiel after what he just said.
"Why don't you try sleeping with us tonight, at our quarters." Arch offered to Kiel, "Trust me, it's so much better there."
"Yeah, the boss gives us privileges there, and it's fun to be with us." Sky seconded. "So, what do you think?"
Kiel didn't know what to respond, he tilted his head while pretending to be thinking but actually he was looking at Alana and Jolene to see what they think about it.
Jolene, clueless about Kiel leaning towards their opinion about it, looked exhilarated as she gasped and placed her hand to cover her mouth, "That's a good idea!"
==
"I guess that's everything. We did a great job today!" Georgia beamed as they all finished cleaning the kitchen after they had set up dinner for the workers. They were all pretty tired after this and cannot wait to rest for the night.
"Hey, ready to have a sleepover with the boys tonight?"Jolene walked towards Kiel while wiping the sweat from her forehead. Alana overheard it and walked towards him as well.
"Tell me why you even thought it's a good idea?" Kiel asked Jolene. The girl chuckled at him, "Simply because this is the perfect chance where you can find the person we are looking for, or to actually confirm it."
Alana snapped her fingers, "Jolene's right! You can either see the tracker or... the odd-colored eyes?"
Kiel slowly nodded, "Okay, I see, but I'm not exactly sure where's-"
"Kiel, you ready?" they all looked at the entrance of the cafeteria and saw the four boys smiling at them. "Let's go!"
"It's all on you now Kiel." Jolene whispered, she looked at the boys, "Yep, he's coming!" Alana and Jolene gave Kiel a shoulder tap as he walked toward the boys.
"Looking tired but beautiful Jolene, see you!" Sky complimented.
"See you tomorrow Alana, get some rest!" Owen called. All the four boys complimented Jolene and Alana as they go. The girls just laughed and waved at them.
"The quarters aren't very far from the factory, also, it's easy to see cause it's pretty big," Sky told Kiel as they walked together. Soon after, Sky pointed out an establishment that seems like a barracks for the workers. "Is everyone that works here, live there?" Kiel curiously asked.
"Not everyone, some of the older guys have family nearby so they go home there, but most of us don't really have one so we all stay here." Sky explained further. "Sometimes, even those who have a family just go home once a week or month, since the nearest community is far from here, houses are also apart from each other, and our job starts early. They would be inconvenienced."
Kiel slowly nodded at him, he realized he has a big chance that he would find the person they are looking for. But there could also be a chance he won't.
They entered in and a wide aisle of bunk beds instantly confronted him. Countless men are in their comfortable clothes, others are half-naked, as usual. They walked further inside and he saw one corner as a minibar with kegs of beers and stacks of food.
"I hope you like to drink cause there's free beer here on weekends!" Tito beamed.
===
"They never let me stay there and now they just invited Kiel like that? Easily?" Castro complained to the girls while pouting, he's sitting at his bed with his arms folded. Alana smiled, "Maybe because you're still too young to join them." She's combing her long black hair while also sitting at her bed, Jolene was at her bed too, drying her hair after a shower, she's also listening to Castro's dilemma. Three of them are at the top beds.
"But I don't want to be treated as a kid, I'm old enough." the tone he's using makes him sound much more like a kid, which makes Jolene and Alana giggle.
"Well, don't you want to stay with us?" Jolene reasoned, "Look around, wow, Castro's sleeping with a lot of girls every night, that's something."
"Yeah, and you know what? The boys called Kiel lucky because he was able to sleep here last night." Alana added as she nods at Castro.
Castro held his chin, "Hmm, they really did?"
Jolene climbed off her bed and transferred to Alana's, "Yeah, they did." she confirmed at him, smiling. Then, Jolene's expression got serious as she sat close to Alana and whispered in a discreet way, "I think someone's watching us." Alana's eyes widened, "So it wasn't just me who noticed."
"Should we go out and see for ourselves?"
"Not yet, people here could be at stake. Let's just be alert for now."
===
"What. a. life!!" Kiel exclaimed as he chugs a beer after he just had a hot shower with the boys. They have a wide shower area there as well. Now they are in their second mug of beer. Alcohol is strictly prohibited at the orphanage so he had very little experience of drinking, just when he gets free samples on markets or something. Indeed, their boss is generous, living like this.
"Yeah! I told you, you'd like it here!" Sky exclaimed as well. It was pretty loud in the quarters so they didn't mind shouting. Five of them are out there for a while now, just chatting and being silly, but the view of Gray did not escape Kiel, he's there too.
Speaking of, he tried to look at Gray again, but his little tipsiness went instantly washed away when he noticed Gray was no longer in his spot. He looked around and it was just Sky and him talking. He wondered how long had he been listening to Sky.
"Sky, where are the others?" Kiel asked, cutting Sky's story. That is when Sky also noticed the other three are gone, "Oh wow, I have no idea."
"I'm going to look for them." Kiel stood up and left. He looked around in the aisle and the faces of the people around. He's only looking for Gray, but there's no sign of him.
Suddenly, his eyes caught the prize- he saw the tracker, lying on the floor in the entrance. He rushed to go there and pick it up. He looked outside, his instincts are telling him to go out, and that's what he did.
His feet dragged him until the factory, he wandered in front of the entrance of it. His eyebrows furrowed at the door.
It's locked and chained earlier when they passed by, and now it's not.
He filled his lungs with air as he pushed the door to reveal what was inside.
Sure enough, someone's there.
It was Gray, in front of the furniture work he was doing earlier when he and Jolene saw him. It's more beautiful, so much as a work of art, a masterpiece. Far from what it was earlier.
But he was not alone, Kiel got even more perplexed when he saw Owen beside Gray, touching the furniture, their eyes met.
It was glimmering and green.