"I have a suggestion."
Bruin resounded after a long moment of silence.
"Which suggestion?"
Natalie asked out of confusion.
"Since the only option remaining is entering Whimland, we must find a way of crossing the borders. This is the only way saving our sons is guaranteed."
Bruin said in a serious tone.
"But crossing the border is one problem and searching for them is another one. We don't know what we are going to face during our search in case we manage to enter the country. At the same time, our sacrifice and hardwork would be useless in case it turns out that they are not in the country."
Suddenly, there was silence.
"I think I have just recalled something..."
Bruin spoke after a moment of silence.
Taking a sip on her juice drink, Natalie gently lowered the glass of juice on the table in front of her before pushing it to the side.
"...And what is that?"
Natalie asked with a glint of curiosity evident on her eyes.
Lingering for a moment, Bruin responded.
"I think there is someone that can help us."
"Help us! How?"
Natalie asked out of confusion.
"Help us in crossing the borders, but it is just an assumption. We shouldn't put all our hopes on this."
For a moment, Natalie's heart ached. She had welcomed the thought of finding someone who could help them with crossing the heavily protected borders, only to be ruined by the last bit of Bruin's statement .
But still, she waited for his explanation.
"Axel had once told me that one of his friend's parents work for the government, and occupies a senior position in the security department."
Suddenly, Natalie's expression lightened up as a faint light of hope ignited in her heart. Although there could be some chances that the person that Bruin was talking about couldn't help them he still saw an opportunity to turn things around to their favour.
In case the person had the ability to assist them in crossing the border, Natalie was determined to convince the guy to grant them this favour. After all, this was the greatest huddle she had to face according to her.
'I wish that the person has the capacity to easen our crossing of the borders. But what if the person insists on knowing the reason for our trip? At this point I don't think lying will work...'
With this thought in mind, Natalie almost cursed out loud at the thought of revealing their reason for visiting Whimland.
At this point, she felt the urgency of confirming something from Bruin. Taking a sip from the juice drink to moisten her throat, Natalie glanced at Bruin with upturned eyes.
Upon noticing this, Bruin uncomfortably shifted in his seat and sighed.
Just at that moment, Natalie spoke.
"Is the person trustable?"
Blinking for an Umpteenth time, Bruin responded.
"And why are you interested in knowing that?"
Taking the last sip from the glass, Natalie snorted and lowered the empty glass in her hand back on the table with a bang.
This act made Bruin's heart skip a beat as the guy tried to understand the reason behind her sudden change of attitude.
Since the start of their discussion, she had been lenient and composed. It was until Bruin mentioned the existence of a person who could salvage their situation, when her expression darkened and suddenly became impulsive.
"The reason is that because I will need to share with him some sensitive information, if he has to help us."
Dazed for a moment, Bruin faked a cough.
"Which sensitive information?"
Bruin asked.
"Which other sensitive information do we have apart from the disappearance of our sons?"
Suddenly, Bruin was stupefied. He couldn't believe that Natalie was ready to share such information with a stranger that she barely knows, all for the sake of finding her son.
Although Bruin would buy to the same idea, as long as finding his son was guaranteed. But the problem here, lied in the kind of person they were to share this information with.
Firstly, he was a government official. And reporting to him would be akin to reporting to the government itself. And since the past victims disappeared only after reporting the matter of their lost family members to the government, their fate wasn't far from this if they were going to share this information with this stranger.
"I don't think that is possible."
Bruin said while shaking his head.
With a frown on her face turning into a scowl, Natalie snarled.
"And why is that so?"
Natalie asked through gritted teeth.
"What you don't know is that the person I am suggesting to help us, is also a stranger to me. So, there is no way I am going to trust him with that information."
As soon as Natalie heard this, she was disheartened. She had just started seeing a light at the end of the tunnel only for it to be put off in an instance.
"Now I can understand why you started saying that we couldn't put all our trust on this partaking. I am disappointed to come head on with the truth. At this moment, I don't know if we should continue with your suggestion or come up with our own way of handling the matter."
Natalie said with an annoyed expression.
During this moment, Natalie felt indecisive. She was split between commencing with Bruin's suggestion and coming up with their own method of crossing the borders.
Initially, Natalie had tried to cross the borders on her own personal missions on several occasions but she was always bared from entering Whimland. So, she understood very well how arduous the task that laid ahead of them was.
"I think we should try something else."
Bruin said as he let out a wry smile.
Suddenly, Natalie increased her concentration as she glanced at Bruin with a serious face.
"And what is it?"
Natalie asked.
"I think your earlier assumptions might not be far from the truth itself. But I still doubt its possibility."
Bruin said in a hushed tone.
Struggling to understand what the guy was alluding to, Natalie sighed.
"Are you trying to refer to the possibility of your son being at your ex wife's place?"
Natalie asked as he recounted mentioning this to Bruin a while ago.
"Exactly! Although I was against the idea at first, but now that things seem to be going against us, we need to optimize our chances of solving the matter by pouncing on every available opportunity. After all, desperate situations require desperate measures."
For a moment, Natalie saw Bruin's idea making some sense. Although she had came up with the suggestion for the sake of boosting their moral, she still considered it appropriate since there could be some chances that it was only Jean that was in Whimland.
Even with this thought in mind, she didn't want the idea of the stranger that Bruin had mentioned to her a while ago to escape her mind.
"If I may ask, who is the stranger you were talking about. Even if you didn't know him personally, at least you must know where he stays and even his name."
Blinking severally, Bruin lingered.
"I can't lie to you. The truth of the matter is that; when my son mentioned the guy to me, I wasn't that interested in knowing his full details. But from all his details, what didn't escape my mind was the name of his daughter."
With that, he went silent.
Just at this moment, Natalie chimed in and asked.
"What is the name of his daughter, please try to be quick. We don't have all day."
Bruin glowered before responding...
"...Tasha."
Immediately, Natalie heard this, she was dumbfounded.
"...the same Tasha we went to see yesterday or another one?"
Inhaling deeply, Bruin responded.
"The same Tasha you know."
With a snarl, Natalie spoke.
"And why didn't you say this while we were still there?"
Natalie complained.
"You had reminded me of the incidents of people disappearing from the kidnap incidents before our search mission. So, I had the idea of avoiding visiting Tasha's place since the beginning of our search mission. And the reason was because I didn't want this information to accidentally find its way in the hands of the government through Tasha's dad, who is a government official."
Bruin explained.
With a scowl, Natalie lingered.
"So, you telling me that you had remembered one last friend for our sons at the end of our search mission was all pretence?"
Natalie asked in exasperation.
"I hate to admit it. You are right, I was just trying to pull out an act. The reason I had to this was because our search mission had failed and the only remaining friend was Tasha, so, I didn't have an option but to take the risk."
Bruin explained.
"But you could have at least told me."
Natalie stated in an angry voice.
"I could have done that, but I was pessimistic at the decision you would have taken."
For a moment Natalie seemed to understand the guy and immediately calmed down as the scowl on her face melted away as her face turned emotionless.
"Okay, I get you. So, if it is Tasha's dad we are talking about here, I think we can give him a benefit of a doubt. Albeit we aren't acquaintances, at least there is a common thing that bonds all of us together. And that is our children's friendship."
With that Natalie went mute.
"I also share the same thoughts but we can't tell how strong the friendship between our sons and his daughter had been. Although she gave a good impression when we met her for the first time, we still can't tell how if the same is shared by her parents."
Bruin said in a calm voice.
During this moment, the two were thrown in a sea of thoughts as they tried to asses the situation that laid ahead of them.
(((・・;)