<< Mortal realm—Bay groove >>
Meanwhile, it's been three days since Kira's disappearance from the mortal realm, causing panic and fear to the only people close to her—Yulia, her younger sister and Ruth, her best friend.
Currently, the police are searching all over the bay groove forest for Kira since she was last seen here, and her delivery bike is also parked outside the forest.
Yulia stared at her sister's bike with teary eyes, she couldn't help the numerous wild scenarios that flooded her mind. What if Kira was kidnapped? What if she ran into some dangerous animal here and was eaten?
"Don't cry, Lialia, Kira's gonna be fine" Ruth consoled Yulia whose tears were already flowing nonstop at the moment.
"It's been three days, my sister can't be fine and not come back home for three days, Ruth" Yulia cried harder.
Ruth doesn't know what to do anymore, she also agrees with Yulia. Seeing Yulia's tears was a trigger to hers, but crying right would not solve anything and besides, she must be strong for Yulia's sake.
"Come here" she said and pulled Yulia into a comforting hug. "Trust me, Kira is fine wherever she is"
Her words don't help much as Yulia only buried her face in Ruth's chest, held her tighter and cried harder.
"Miss Grey?" an officer called as he approached them.
Ruth tried to pull Yulia away so they could listen to the officer, but Yulia wouldn't bulge, so, Ruth let her be and listened to the officer alone.
"Anything new, officer Decker?" she asked.
Officer Decker released a tired sigh as he shook his head negatively. "We've searched everywhere in the forest and there's no sign of struggle, which brings us to the conclusion that Miss Leonid was not kidnapped"
"She was not kidnapped? Then how come she's gone missing?"
Officer Decker folded his lips in mouth for a moment, then nodded slowly. "Here is another conclusion of ours… we think she might have eloped with her lover"
This statement provoked Ruth, she narrowed her eyes disapprovingly at officer Decker.
"What do you mean by that officer? You think my friend would leave her sick sister alone and elope with a man?" she shook her head. "That's not my friend, she would never do that. Besides, she doesn't even have a boyfriend, how can she elope when she doesn't have a boyfriend? What logic is that? Why not try tracking her phone because I know Kira would never…"
She was interrupted by another officer who came into the scene with a teenage boy.
"Chief" the officer faced officer Decker. "This boy just told us that he saw Miss Leonid three days ago, so I brought him to you for questioning"
Officer Decker nodded, then signaled the officer to leave and faced the boy. "What's your name?"
"Justin Armstrong, sir"
"Alright, Justin, you're going to come with us to the station for questioning. Is that okay by you?"
Justin nodded without hesitation. Meanwhile, Ruth has been observing Justin and a small frown appeared on her face when she noticed a guilty expression on Justin's face, but she didn't say anything as she might just be too paranoid.
"Miss Grey, I'll have two of my men escort both of you home. We'll get back to you once we get any useful information" officer Decker said.
"Hm" Ruth hummed. "Right, don't release Mr. McBroom on bail, he must be in custody until Kira's found" she said, spitting out Mr. Mcbroom's name as if it's some sour food.
"Sure"
"Come on, Lialia, let's go home" Ruth told Yulia.
<< Mortal realm—Kira's apartment >>
"You must change your clothes, or I won't let you come in with me" Kira said, standing adamantly at the door of her apartment while giving King Daniil a stern look.
King Daniil looked down at his sparkling white robe, an offended frown etched on his face, and he clenched his jaw as though to hold back his anger.
"We've been going on and on for almost thirty minutes, can you just change already?" she complained.
"Nothing's wrong with my robe" King Daniil stated firmly.
Kira facepalm herself as she threw her head back in frustration. "Nothing's wrong with your robe in your world, but a lot of things are wrong with it here in my world"
As if to prove her point, a group of young girls walked pass, and they wouldn't stop glancing at King Daniil, whispering among themselves and laughing—not even bothering to hide the fact that they're talking about him.
"See? This isn't the normal way of dressing here, anyone who sees you in this would think you're a lunatic. Just change your clothes already, for Christ sake!"
King Daniil stayed quiet, he looked around and realized he's truly the only one dressed in a robe. "What should I change into?" he asked.
A smile spread on Kira's face as she quickly shoved her hand in her back pocket and pulled out her cellphone. She scrolled through it for a moment, then showed it to King Daniil.
"This would be perfect for you. Now change quickly, I can't wait to see Yulia" she jumped excitedly, already feeling the joy of seeing her sister.
"How do I change into this?" King Daniil asked, sounding as if he's expecting her to bring him the clothes she just showed him.
Kira gave him the 'really?' look. "Isn't your world all about magic? You, didn't you bring me here with your magical powers? Or was that just some lightning trick you did?"
King Daniil doesn't appreciate the tone in which she's spoken to him, but he let it slide as he snapped his fingers and his outfit changed in a second. He was no longer wearing his white robe, but a navy-blue tuxedo, and a pair of black oxfords.
"Hm" Kira nodded slowly with a satisfied smile as she checked him out. "Now you look like a normal human" she said.
"We don't have much time. Go on in"
Kira rolled her eyes, then pushed the door open and rushed in.
"Lialia" she called as she ran towards a room with 'Lialia' written at the top of the door frame. "Lialia" she called again, but there was no response.
Kira sighed deeply as she put her hands on her waist, leaning against the wall next to the door.
"Okay, I know you're mad at me for not coming home yesterday, but you've got to answer when I call you, or I'll be worried… "
"Of course you should be worried!" An angry, but familiar voice sounded from the main door.
"Ruth?" Kira called, surprise wrapped her voice as she faced the main door. "Woah, easy, girl" she laughed as Yulia didn't waste any time in running towards her and pulling her into a tight hug, and began crying on her shoulder.
"What's going on?" Kira asked, looking at Ruth for an answer.
Ruth, on the other hand, was fuming, she was glaring hard at Kira, and it seemed like she's holding herself from lashing out on her.
"Alright, you girls don't need to make it a big deal"
"We don't have to make it a big deal?" Ruth gasped unbelievably. "Do you know how much panic you've caused us? Do you know your sister couldn't eat, take her medications or even sleep because of your disappearance?"
Kira raised her brows as she looked down at Yulia, who's still holding tightly onto her, and doesn't want to let go.
"But I only spent a night outside, it's…"
"A night?" Ruth rushed to a nearby sofa, she grabbed a cushion and threw it angrily at Kira. "You fucking spent two nights outside, you were fucking gone for three days, Kira"
Confusion overwhelmed Kira, she tilted her head as she gave Ruth a perplexed look. She quickly let her mind do a quick calculation, and according to her calculation, she spent thirty-five minutes in total with King Daniil before coming back home.
"How come it's two nights?" she didn't realize she voiced out her thought.
"Of course it's two nights" Ruth replied. "What happened to you? Did you lose your memory? How come you don't even know how many nights you were out?"
Kira averted her confused gaze to King Daniil who has made himself comfortable in a sofa and was focused on a magazine on the small table. He wasn't even paying attention to Kira and her friend, but eventually raised his head when he felt Kira's gaze on him.
*What the heck is going on?* Kira thought mentally while her gaze was still on King Daniil.
King Daniil frowned as something strange has just happened, he just heard Kira's thought which never happened before. Yes, he could hear other people's thoughts, but only when he allowed his inner ears to listen, whereas in Kira's case, he wasn't even interested in listening to her thoughts.
*Why isn't he saying anything?* she thought again.
*I'll explain everything to you later* King Daniil answered mentally, giving it a try and see if Kira would hear him too. But sadly, Kira didn't hear him at all. *What is this mystery?* he wondered.
He got up and approached Kira, and whispered in her ear. "I'll explain the lapse of time when we get back to the heavenly palace"
Ruth, she has been watching the whole scene with her mouth slightly open. She doesn't understand what is going on with her friend, and also wondering why she has suddenly spaced out.
"Kira" her voice pulled Kira out of her thoughts. "What happened to you? Where did you go?"
"Ahem" Kira cleared her throat. "I—I… "
"And don't even think of giving me that excuse of 'oh, my phone was off' because I can see your phone's on" she pointed at Kira's phone.
"I'm sorry, Ruth" Kira paused, it's obvious she's thinking of what to say next. "I–I was offered a…new job. Yes, I was offered a new job and the pay was too good" she lied.
Ruth didn't seem to believe her, she eyed her for a moment. "Then why didn't you think of calling or texting me? At least, I would have been able to assure Lialia that you're fine. Do you know how scared we were?"
Seeing as she had no other excuse, Kira put her hands together in an apologizing gesture, and pouted her lips. "I'm sorry, I promise it's never gonna happen again"
Ruth glared at her, then scoffed and turned away from her.
"I'm truly sorry, darling, I won't ever leave again without telling you" Kira apologized further.
"I'll forgive you on one condition"
"What's the condition?"
Ruth grabbed Kira's arm and pulled her away from King Daniil, although, it's a bit hard since Yulia was still holding on to Kira.
"Who's this work of art" she whispered in Kira's ear, nodding towards King Daniil. "Is he your boyfriend?"
"What?!" Kira exclaimed with her brows knitted together, and a cringe expression etched on her face.