Noah’s face froze for a second before he finally revealed, “I have lost contact with Andrew. We are
looking for him as we speak, and once we have anything we will inform you in the earliest timing.”
Matthew’s palms which were on two sides of his body slowly balled up into fists. His voice sounded a
little exasperated, “How long has it been?”
“It’s been… half a month.” After saying that, Noah looked down at the floor.
Matthew’s heart was in a mess now but it barely showed on his face. He was afraid that his composure
would break, and he would disclose it to Dolores, which would complicate things. Based on how
Dolores was holding up, the worst thing that could happen was her falling sick again.
“I see. You must keep it a secret. You can’t even tell this to your family.” He meant to hint that Noah
shouldn’t tell this to Chloe too in order to prevent her from accidentally spilling the beans to Dolores.
“I got it. I never tell anyone yet. You’re the only that heard it from me.” Noah looked torn as he said that.
“Was the situation precarious at that time?” Matthew wanted to find out more.
“I heard that it’s dangerous, and it’s not just only him. His whole team had faced much difficulty.”
Noah wasn’t with them at that time, and he only learnt about this when he heard it from survivors of that
mission himself.
Matthew told him, “Tonight, we will stay at the hotel.”
“We have space here at home.” Noah tried to make him stay, “We have tidied up the room too.”
“You can’t even hide it from me, so what if she found out? It’s not like you don’t know about her health
condition.” Matthew had made up his mind.
Noah had nothing to say to that. Indeed, he was not a good keeper of secrets, and he had revealed the
chinks in his armour in front of Matthew just a moment ago, even though not many people could fool
someone like Matthew even if they wanted to.
He was like a clairvoyant.
“That would do too. However, since it’s been decided that you are staying here, how should you explain
to her about the sudden change in staying place?” Noah asked worriedly.
“I will explain it to here. You don’t need to worry about this.” Matthew’s voice turned a notch lower.
He had some ideas circulating in his mind, so Noah said nothing to that. In fact, he was fearful to face
Dolores too. What if Dolores noticed something strange about him? He wouldn’t know how to explain.
It was a good idea for them to stay outside later on. At least, he wouldn’t appear very nervous if she
were to ask about Andrew again.
Matthew loitered in the study for some time before finally getting up. Chloe was still talking to Dolores in
the living room.
“Let’s go,” Matthew announced.
“Aren’t we staying here tonight?” Before Dolores could ask, Chloe had asked in her stead.
“It’s been too long since we were here. There’s a place we need to go to.” Matthew simply answered,
and Noah added to his excuse on the side, “They haven’t come here for a long time, so they must have
many places they want to visit.”
Chloe stopped asking and Dolores got up at and looked at Matthew. She asked, “Where are we going?
Why didn’t I hear about this before?”
Matthew answered noncommittally, “I just didn’t tell you about this in advance. Let’s get going now.”
“Okay.” Dolores agreed, looking like she didn’t get suspicious.
After that, they left the Harris family house. When Noah and Chloe returned to their house and no one
was around, Dolores asked, “Why do I sense something off about you?”
Matthew glanced at her out of the corner of her eyes, “What’s off about me?”
“Didn’t we agree to stay here? Why are we suddenly going to some other place? Was the conversation
with Noah just now end on an unhappy note? Did you make him angry?” Dolores asked.
However, thinking back to the time they came out of the study, nothing unusual could be seen about
them. The two of them acted and looked normal. They didn’t look like they just had an argument or a
fight.
Matthew took her hands and said, “I just want to go around the city with you. It’s not too comfortable
with them around.”
Dolores was in a daze as she pondered the possibility of him getting emotional as he had returned to
City B now, “Don’t you think that time has wings? In the blink of an eye, the children have all grown up
and we are getting older. Coming back and taking a stroll in this familiar city really is a nostalgic
feeling.”
The two of them walked on aimlessly.
Matthew said calmly, “With you by my side, everywhere is the same to me.”
Dolores commented that he was being sentimental.
After some unknown period, Dolores felt a little tired, “I am feeling a little tired now. Shall we rest at a
place?”
Matthew replied, “I have booked a hotel.”
“Then let’s go there.” She said.
Matthew agreed with her and he hailed a taxi to bring them to the hotel.
After washing up and getting ready to sleep, Dolores told him that she was thirsty. Matthew went to
pour a glass of water for her, but his mind wandered when he was pouring the water to the point that he
didn’t notice the glass overflowing. Dolores hastily came over and took away the water flash, “What are
you thinking about? The water is overflowing.”
If this were the past, something like this would never happen. However, he was old now, and although
his heart was still strong as steel, he wasn’t that steely and stony about accepting certain things.
His son had gone missing for half a month, so there was no way he could be always calm and chill.
How could he look unperturbed? His facade would break and show the tiniest flaw from time to time.
However, Dolores didn’t notice that. She just thought that he was ill, “What’s wrong with you?”
As she said that, she touched his forehead to test the temperature.
Matthew replied, “I am fine.”
Dolores asked him to go into bed first. She went to wipe the table clean of water.
At this moment in City C, when Amanda heard that Joan was leaving, she offered to see him off.
After all, Joan came back to the country because of her. Now that he’s going back, she should send
him off due to courtesy.
However, Joan rejected her knowing full well that Amanda was seeing him off due to certain reasons.
He didn’t like to force things on others, and he also didn’t like to feel indebted to others.
In fact, Amanda was never indebted to him, and back then when he came back with her, it was his own
free will.
However, Amanda insisted, and she ended up sending him to the airport anyway. While on the way
back, she bumped into Stanford. This was not a coincidental meeting. Stanford was here to look for
her.
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