After gaining some peace, Thea rushed to get dressed and came to Esme and Julien who might be preparing dinner or tea for them to enjoy together on the balcony. Unfortunately, not only were her uncles and aunts there but Hugo too. Thea exhaled heavily after watching Hugo turn around when he realized her presence.
"What's the matter?" asked Thea to Hugo, unceremoniously.
Hugo spontaneously got up from his seat, approached Thea, and was about to touch her arm wrapped in a white sweater but with a sprightly Esme and Julien pulled Hugo back to his seat.
These three sat opposite each other, face to face with a flat but seemingly so intense look. Thea joined in, forced to sit on Hugo's right side.
Although reluctant, Thea was forced to turn her head, staring at Hugo's pair of brown eyes for a while before turning her eyes away, because Hugo gave her a smile that could still make her heart beat wildly.
"Why do we all come together like this?" asked Thea to Hugo, Esme, and Julien.
Esme was the first to react. She lowered her shoulders, then lifted the white cup filled with rosella tea, and tapped the gold plate on the lip of the cup before taking a slow sip, making the three pairs of eyes in front of her exhale a long breath.
"This kid wants to talk to you," Esme said after finishing nearly half the contents of rosella tea in her cup. "But I don't let him talk to you alone for your mental health."
"My mental health?" Thea's forehead shriveled at the sentence.
"I haven't finished speaking yet, Thea." Esme placed her cup on the table, then looked at Thea, Hugo, and Julien in turn.
"I'm sorry," Thea replied spontaneously.
"Julien almost kicked this kid out, but, I'm curious about what he wants to tell you." Esme continued, staring at Julien for quite a while. After getting a nod from her younger brother, she turned her attention to Thea and Hugo. "Both of you certainly still have some things that need to be resolved. But I'm sorry, I can't trust this boy if I let him talk to our niece. Anyway, we need to know. And, besides, we also need to know why you stayed with us when Thea was locked up in Benedikt Braun's panic room."
After getting an urgent call from Ava that afternoon, Esme and Julien rushed to the Bene Gallery and found Hugo there, even though that young man stayed during Thea's series of tests inside Benedikt Braun's panic room on the other side of his gallery building. Not only that, Artem, the old man who constantly stuck with Benedikt Braun, was constantly whispering something they didn't know, but from the way, he looked very suspicious.
That's why Esme felt so curious, moreover, when they hadn't left that panic room too far away, Julien said that he heard Artem ask Hugo to come with the old man to talk about some things. From there, Esme and Julien draw the conclusion, that Artem, put great suspicion on Thea, and the cause is Hugo. The things Hugo said to the old man before Esme and Julien got there.
Esme looked back at Thea for a moment, then looked at Hugo and gave all her attention to the owner of the brown eyes that she had not allowed to open his voice before being asked.
"Tell us, what did you say to that old man," Esme demanded answers.
Hugo cleared his throat quietly, then replied, "I accidentally said that I once asked Thea to summon the spirit of my late father. And, therefore, Artem believes that Thea is likely a summoner."
"What else did you say to that fanatical old Lost Spirit?" Julien was curious about the full story, he even leaned in front of Hugo while looking at him intensely without even blinking.
Hugo swallowed his saliva nervously. "Promise not to touch my clan and my herd."
"Agree." Julien nodded. He still didn't turn his blue eyes away from the brown-eyed man in front of him who seemed too pressed as he was at this time. "You can keep my word."
Hugo slowly recounted how he was able to be in the gallery with Pauline, and the reason he spontaneously refuted the accusations of people who were pointing various weapons at Thea while calling her a summoner.
That afternoon, when Thea was forced to follow Benedikt and Artem's wishes for a test, Hugo decided to settle down until Esme and Julien arrived. Unfortunately, he spontaneously said things he shouldn't have said when Artem approached him and asked.
"Are you sure that girl is not a summoner?"
Hugo nodded subconsciously. On the sidelines of his reverie, he replied, "I once asked her to hold an urn containing the ashes of my late father's body, and then called his name so that his spirit would come and come back to us."
"What happened afterward?" Artem was enthusiastic to hear the continuation of his story.
Hugo went up and down his shoulders. "There is only a big wind coming," he replied as it was.
"That's it?"
Hugo nodded. "Yes, Mr. Alexandrov. That's it."
"Are you sure?"
Hugo spontaneously blinked, and turned to his left side, looking at the old man with all-white hair looking at him with a half-curious and suspicious look half to death.
Hugo nodded immediately and realized his carelessness. "Nothing happened, Mr. Alexandrov." Hugo continued. "The big wind that came that day was due to sheer coincidence. The storm that destroyed the Aswijk Forest."
"Don't lie, young man," Artem chuckled, looking at Hugo with a sharp asymmetrical smile adorning his face. "I believe the girl is a summoner."
All the tense conversation between Hugo and Artem yesterday afternoon when he heard Julien suddenly clear his throat. Hugo spontaneously looked at Julien who was looking at him with a meaningful look that only the two of them understood.
"Then, why did you decide to settle with us until Thea was released by them?" Julien puts emphasis on every syllable he speaks.
"I feel responsible for making Artem Alexandrov whom you call a fanatical old Lost Spirit believe that Thea is a summoner."
Hugo does feel responsible because he has indirectly provoked Artem's curiosity in Thea. In fact, Hugo did not mean so even though he still part of him wants everyone to know how great a Theana Ilaria Maven is, and the other part of Hugo wants everyone to know that his ex-girlfriend is indeed a summoner as alleged by the psychics employed by Benedikt Braun.
Unfortunately, another part of him realized, he had made a big mistake if he allowed such a thing to happen. Because, from what he knows, the descendants of the hunters and barbarians who fought a war with the Kingdom of Xaera 1122 years ago are eager and expect the existence of a summoner.
Although Hugo betrayed Thea, deep down in his heart, he still carried a sense of care and affection. So, he does not want bad things to happen to Thea if Thea's ability to call something is known by many people —certain people. As Thea had previously done to the ashes of Hugo's late father, whom everyone knows, nothing happened when the call took place and ended. But, what Hugo knew and felt, Thea managed to summon—resurrecting the spirit of his late father, but he chose to be silent and keep the truth to himself.
"Thank you," Julien said sincerely.
Julien meant what he said. He was grateful that Hugo was willing to take responsibility, although he initially thought Hugo would plunge Thea and let his niece's ability as a summoner be known to people from all over the country.
Julien and Hugo faced off, exchanging face-to-face, as if the conversation was only two-way, regardless of the existence of Thea and Esme around them.
"That's all you want to say, Hugo?" Julien continued to ask. Curious.
Hugo nodded. "Yes. That's it—" Hugo suddenly shook his head. "I want to apologize, because—"
Hugo paused his sentence after getting full attention from Thea. The girl sitting right on the chair to his right
"I've forgiven you," Thea said spontaneously. "So, please go. Don't feel like you have any responsibility for me."
Thea moved along, rushing towards the room after spilling the things that crossed her mind when she learned that Hugo felt a responsibility for her.
"Finish your tea before you leave, boy," Esme said, wagging her long hair, staring at Hugo flatly. "I hate to see the person who left the tea in the cup." Esme moved on, following Thea to her room.
Hugo was stunned to hear the barrage of sentences that Esme said. His mouth opened slightly, his eyes turned blue. It's really like a copy-paste between Thea and her aunt. Hugo thought after a tall figure as capable as Esme disappeared from sight.
Julien almost burst into laughter if Hugo didn't spontaneously turn his head, looking at him with an expression that was hard to read even as he tried to dive into the contents of the young man's head.
"Finish your tea," Julien repeated Esme's message.
Hugo took a soft sip of the rosella tea that Esme served obediently. Occasionally he shuddered because tea was not the kind of drink he liked. Without Hugo knowing it, Julien was leaning high in front of him while staring at him fiercely.
"Thea successfully summoned your father's spirit, right?"
The provocative remarks made Hugo choke and almost spouted the drink that had just entered his mouth. In the next split second, Hugo blinked quickly while patting his chest, watching the pair of blue eyes glaring at him.
"Please take good care of this secret." Julien continued.
Hugo nodded obediently. He then said goodbye to Julien just as Thea walked out of her room with Esme.
"Don't get me wrong," Thea said as she watched Hugo almost flash the smile she liked so much. "I want to go to the convenience store on the ground floor."
Thea knew, without even being said, it seemed obvious that Hugo almost misunderstood thinking she was coming out of the fully clothed from her room just wanting to take the man to the parking lot, as Thea used to do when they were still together. Before what Hugo expected to happen, Thea threw it out immediately. She did want to buy some snacks at the convenience store on the ground floor of her apartment building.
Thea and Hugo enter the transparent elevator to the floor they are aiming for after saying goodbye to Esme and Julien. Thea hurriedly covered her head with a hoodie as several teenagers got into the elevator when it came to a standstill on the 11th floor. The three teenagers seemed engrossed in watching the live streaming of a famous singer.
Thea groaned annoyed by the noise from the live stream that was being watched by the three teenagers in front of her. While Hugo could only smile watching Thea repeatedly exhale her heavy breath in hassle.
In the next split second, unexpectedly everyone was grinding. Surprised. Including Thea. There was a loud explosion mixed with screams from the singer who was live streaming.
"I don't know what it is. But did you see the dazzling blue light behind me just now?" said the red-haired woman from the 5-inch widescreen in the hand of the boy standing in the middle, right in front of Thea. "Now everyone is crowded to the location of the explosion," said the red-haired woman again as she read the incoming comments scattered on the screen.
"Me? I was waiting for my driver to arrive. In the Near and Far Joint café.," the woman who was doing the live streaming continued.
Thea shook her head. She was mad at something. She then clucked while loosening the hoodie straps wrapped around her chin, then turned her head, looking at Hugo fiercely.
"I told you, don't call me Maven!" Thea snapped at the man next to her.
Hugo frowned. Shocked was also surprised. "Why did you yell at me?"
"Don't call me by the last name!" Thea snapped at Hugo again.
Hugo sighed resignedly. "I've even been busy shutting my mouth and even holding back a smile, Thea."
"Don't be kidding, Hugo!"
"Are you sure that I called you like that? Like your accusation?" Hugo folded his hands on his chest, looking at Thea with a seductive look.
"Yes. It is true that—" Thea paused her sentence. She heard a voice calling her name again.
The voice kept calling her name, her last name, even sounding so clearly as if there was someone else—someone else there besides Hugo and the three teenage boys in front of her.
"I heard a voice calling my name," Thea murmured quietly. "My last name."
Hugo patted Thea on the shoulder as the elevator door opened on the 11th floor. The place that became Thea's main destination. "Don't you want to shop for snacks at the convenience store?" Hugo reminded.
Without saying anything, Thea rushed out of the elevator, letting Hugo along with the three teenage boys who were still engrossed in watching the live streaming mixed with the noisy sound that became the background. However, when the elevator door was almost closed, Thea went back in and approached the three teenagers and even spontaneously brought her face closer to the screen of the mobile phone of the young man in a green shirt who stood between two friends wearing all-black clothes.
"Hey! This is my phone!" reprimanded the teenager in the green shirt.
"I heard that voice from here," Thea muttered, ignoring the phone owner's reprimand. Her voice suddenly disappeared as I moved away from the elevator. From this mobile phone."
A few seconds later Thea straightened up, then approached Hugo, and said, "Can you take me to the place where the singer is live streaming?"
Hugo frowned in confusion." What do you mean?"
"Get me there," Thea pleaded. "Just this once."
Still frowning, Hugo again threw a question. "Why do you want to go there so much?"
"He called me," Thea replied as it was. "That voice... The voice that I often hear in my sleep, calling me…"