"I…Ivan. My… father is missing," Steph said in defeat as she sat on the cold floor and broke into a loud, uncontrollable cry.
"I'm sorry," Ivan said as he went to sit down beside her. Steph slowly moved to rest her head on Ivan's shoulder, and Ivan slowly soothed her and asked if he could do anything to help her feel better.
"Stay with me here, please," Steph whispered, and Ivan nodded as he gave her a forehead kiss.
Xxx
"Hi, it's Dylan. I can't answer your call now because I'm doing something way more fun,"
Amy had heard the same message for the past two days. She had gone to the basketball court, but the players weren't practicing, and in between lecturers, when she squeezed time, she passed by Dylan's classes but missed him.
She had even parked outside his house, waiting for him to drive home, but he didn't turn up.
'He'll find you here,' she thought as she tried opening the door to his house, but it didn't budge. The locks had been changed, and that added to her agitation.
"Dylan, please. We can sort this out. Just let me explain," she spoke into the voicemail as she rushed to throw up in the sink. She was feeling faint and sick in the stomach, not knowing where Dylan was and the mystery of the photo in their album.
She struggled to walk back to her bed from where she intended to binge-watch the series Echoes and skip class.
Her phone chimed, and she rushed to unlock it, hoping it was a message from Dylan.
'Please don't call. I overheard mom's phone call conversation. Steph's dad is missing.'
Mabel's message read, and Amy squinted to read the message again.
'It's way past Fool's Day, Mabel. There is no fun in this,' Amy texted back.
'Okay, I heard them arguing about some photo of you and Steph. Dad insisted that they burn it, but mum thought otherwise. It's really so fishy,' Mabel texted back, and Amy could imagine her rolling her eyes.
'They'll get over it,' Amy texted back as she sighed heavily. Her only concern was getting Dylan to talk to her.
The reminder on her phone binged, and she looked at it in shock, remembering then that she had a CAT in the afternoon.
She quickly forced her way out of bed and rushed to take a quick bath, and thereafter rushed to school.
She parked her car, but as she was getting out, she saw Dylan in front of her, walking around his car to open the door for someone.
'Who the hell is he with?' Amy asked herself as she hurriedly got out of her car, slammed her door, and half ran, half walked towards Dylan's car.
She got near it just in time for Camila to walk out of the car, looking around majestically and holding Dylan's hands.
Dylan affectionately kissed her palm, and Camila blushed while Amy's face flushed hot with embarrassment.
"What are you doing, Dylan?" Amy asked. "I have been looking for you."
"Hey, Amy. I have heard so much about you. How is your friend? The stepmother? What's her name again?" Camila asked in mock pretense.
"What do you want from him, Camila? I can smell your stink from here," Amy challenged her, and Dylan interrupted by saying he was an adult and had made the choice of Camila over Amy.
Camila let go of Dylan's hand and walked slowly towards Amy, then whispered in a cold chilling voice, "I want a way to get close to Steph and Ivan. They have to pay."
The lights in the room were switched off as Kevin and his girlfriend Crystal sat next to each other on the sofa, watching the second season of Only Murders in the Building.
"I can't believe we're in the ninth episode with absolutely no clue about who killed Bunny," Crystal cursed, and Kevin chuckled as he said, "That's how thrillers are. They hook you till the last chapter."
"I guess so," Crystal answered as she chuckled and moved closer to Kevin to feel his warmth.
"I missed you," she said as she kissed Kevin.
"I missed you too. We should have joined one campus, uh," Kevin answered as he kissed Crystal back.
The two had started dating while in high school. Crystal was among the best students in class, and more than anything, she wanted to join an Ivy League university like Yale.
Kevin, on the other hand, just wanted to make it to campus.
"Maybe you should have studied harder in school as I did," Crystal said with a chuckle as she continued to kiss Kevin, who stiffened a little at her comment.
He felt anger rise slowly within him and struggled to resist the desire to push Crystal away.