"Why have my friends not been reachable in the past two days? Additionally, none of them had made a move to visit me. What is really going on that I am not aware of?"
This was somewhat unexpected.
The two had not anticipated Tasha asking them this question before they ask their own.
With Tasha asking them the same question that they were about to ask her, one thing became clear. The girl wasn't going to provide the answer they expected.
From this, they could tell that the boys had not been in contact with her in the same period they suspected the boys to have disappeared. This way, they had gotten an answer to their question before asking.
With Bruin giving Natalie an eye signal to respond to the girl's question, Natalie inhaled deeply and sighed.
"I think the reason for this could be because we seized their cellphones."
Natalie lied.
This was the best plausible answer she could come up with at the moment. But still, she had to explain.
Stunned by Natalie's statement, Tasha's eyes twitched.
"And why did you do that? Did they do something wrong?"
Tasha asked out of confusion.
Suddenly, the two exchanged curious glances before Natalie responded.
"That is even the reason we are here in the first place."
Terrified by Natalie's statement, Bruin gave Natalie a furtive look and gulped.
'Is she going to expose the secrete she has been nagging me to keep?'
At this point, what was running through Bruin's mind was that Natalie was about to reveal to the girl that the boys were missing.
Although keeping the information about the boys' disappearance had been Natalie's idea since the start, Bruin still found it important since it also involved his safety.
At this point, Tasha's expression turned serious as her ears perked up, ready to hear what Natalie was about to say.
Pausing for a moment, Natalie continued...
"The reason we are here is because we came to inform you that we sent the boys to the village. And the reason we seized their cellphones was because we wanted them to experience the village kind of life from a practical perspective. No electronic devices for them."
"Excuse me mum, it seems like something isn't making sense for me."
In an instance, the two gazed at each other with complicated faces before facing the girl in unison.
"What is it?"
Natalie asked.
"You said that you seized their cellphones, right?"
The two responded with a nod.
"But the last time I checked Jean didn't own any cellphone, or did you buy him lately?"
Tasha asked with a hint of dissatisfaction in her voice.
"You are right, Jean don't own a cellphone, but you have to remember that seizing Axel's cellphone is akin to seizing Jean's as it was the only communication tool in their possession."
Natalie explained.
Nodding gently, Tasha lingered.
"That makes sense. But just to ask, why did they left for the village without informing me?"
Tasha asked with a grim expression.
"And that's why I started by telling you that it was because of lack of communication between you and your friends that we are here. The boys sent us to inform you that they won't be available. In fact they left for the village two days ago. They told us to deliver the message of their departure to you."
With that, there was silence.
At this point, Natalie didn't have a choice other than to pretend to know of the whereabouts of the boys to avoid making Tasha know about their disappearance. Additionally, Gideon was there and it could have been risky for him to know this as well since there were some chances that the news could have spread easily. Even if they warned both Gideon and Tasha against divulging the information about the disappearance of the boys, the were some chances that Tasha could have kept mute in order to protect her friends' parents but for Gideon, the chances were slim since they suspected that the guy wasn't that close to the boys.
A moment later, Tasha spoke.
"Is this the surprise that they told me about?"
Immediately the two parents heard Natalie's statement, they were dazed. They stared at each other for a moment before turning to face the girl in front of them.
"A surprise!"
Bruin exclaimed.
Squinting her eyes, Tasha shook her head.
"It is not strange that you were not aware of it."
"Aware of what exactly?"
Bruin inquired.
"Even me myself I didn't know what the surprise was. They had promised to surprise me yesterday when we met four days ago. But I waited for the surprise the whole of yesterday and didn't get any response from them. When I tried to reach them through the cellphone, they were unreachable. This was the moment I regretted why I used to turn them down whenever they offered to take me to their homes. I didn't know where they resided and that was the only reason I didn't do a follow-up after yesterday."
Tasha stated earnestly as a grim expression formed on her face.
For a moment, Natalie and Bruin wondered why the girl had been refusing to know her friends residents.
Just at that moment, Bruin snorted.
"Is there a reason why you were turning them down?"
Bruin asked out of curiosity.
"Yes, we had placed a bet for either of the boys to beat me at cooking first before I agree to know their homes. Despite them failing to beat me in countless occasions, they still tried to manipulate me to know their homes but I still sticked to the agreement and refuted them whenever I would see through their schemes."
The two then nodded in acknowledgement.
At this point, Natalie seemed to understand why Jean's culinary skills had been improving in the past days.
'So, this was the reason...'
Natalie mused.
"If the boys left for the village two days ago, what prevented them from contacting me to inform me of their departure?"
Tasha asked after a short moment of silence.
After lingering for a moment, Bruin answered.
"Maybe they had their own reasons."
Suddenly, Tasha's curiosity about the matter seemed to have died down as she nodded.
"I would like us to discuss even more, but since it is getting late already, I will let you go. But let it not look like I am chasing you, unless you have something that you would like to add on."
At this point, the two were out of words since their effort seemed to have failed just as the earlier visits have been.
The way they came up with the tact of handling the matter was commendable since they had not prepared for this beforehand. This was a clear proof to how quick witted they were for them to come up with such a manipulative lie within such a short span.
The way they also switched during the conversation was beyond their imagination. The tacit understanding between them was a par high despite not spending much time together although they were longtime acquaintances. It was as if they were different parts of the same whole.
"We could have liked to stay but as you have said, time isn't on our side and we have to leave.'
Natalie said with a feigned smile.
At this time, it was already dark, but the lights at the gate provided the lights that the two needed to keep the conversation going. The surprising thing was that, despite not contributing anything during the conversation, Gideon still remained around.
It was as if he was Tasha's bodyguard.
Although the outcome of the conversation Jeopardise their efforts of finding a hunch of the presence of the boys, they still had a trump card to counter this. And that was identifying the code of the contact that Jean used to contact Natalie. This way, they can have a hint of the whereabouts of Jean since he was the one behind the call.
During their last visits earlier that same day, they had been pretending to be there to be acquainted with their sons' friends, only to end up to ask them the last time they mate. Most of them gave them the timeline that corresponded with the timeline when the boys were yet to disappear. Besides, most of these friends and acquaintances didn't seem to share a close relation with the boys. So, most of the conversations were over before they even commenced.
Unlike most of the friends and acquaintances that they had visited before, Tasha wasn't known by either of the two. She also seemed concerned about the wellness of her friends as well as their whereabouts.
Since she was the only one that seemed more concerned about the whereabouts of the boys, it became clear that she was their best friend of all the friends. Even the timeline of their last meeting was the latest as compared to what the others had provided before.
Now with their last visit also hitting a rock, they didn't have a choice other than leave the premises. Time was ticking and soon, their emergency leave of three weeks would be over. So, they had to make every second count for them to be productive during this short period of time.
It would have looked strange that both of them had been granted the same period for their leave, but this was planned beforehand. Natalie had suggested that they both request their employees for three weeks leave and that's how they ended up with the same period of leave.
It was already 7PM. and it was already dark in the outside. Although the streets were lit up, the darkness that receded in the depths of the streets couldn't go unnoticed. With the time being a few minutes past 7PM. the two now had less than thirty minutes to make it home before 7:30 PM. if they were going to use a taxi carb.
"It is already late, therefore I would suggest you to get in and wait for the return of our driver so that he can drop you off."
Tasha suggested.
"No need. I am just going to conduct my driver to pick us up. The only reason why I didn't come with my own car was because I had sent my driver to an errand. But now that I have just received a notification that he is on his way back home, I can just contact him so that he can pick us from here."
Bruin responded while fishing his cellphone from his pocket.
"If that is the case, then I would suggest you join me inside so that you can wait from inside."
Tasha requested.
Just at that moment, Bruin excused himself and went on to talk on the cellphone at a secluded area away from the three.
Five minutes later, he returned and smiled gently.
"I think the driver is already at the junction waiting for us. Thanks for your hospitality, next tome we can have a better chance to discuss this."
With that, Bruin and Natalie waved at the two and left in haste.
Just as they have left, Tasha remembered something
'I didn't take their contacts, how am I going to link up with them?'
With that thought in mind, she gritted her teeth, turned around and entered through the gate.
When they got at the junction, Natalie was dumbstruck not to see the vehicle that was supposed to be waiting for them there.
With this realization, Natalie turned to Bruin and frowned.
~{□◇□}~