Ella was silent then turned to look at Calvin.

“He’s in charge of the case. It should be alright to say it even if I’m here. I promise I won’t say a word about it once we step out of here,” Calvin promised.

Ella turned to Jiro, “That day they were taken Aaron was running late because he’d been held back at work. So Hebe put all her blame on him and like I’ve said before she can be unreasonable at times because she’s like a child still growing. He tried to reason with her but it only turned into arguments and long before they realized it themselves they’d argue whenever they were in the same room. In the end Hebe pressured Aaron into the divorce and that’s how it ended. They don’t keep in touch anymore.”

||||||||

When Hebe had entered her house the first thing she did was walk over to the recliner to pick up the book she’d left earlier lying open in the middle of the seat. She placed it carefully in front of the twins’ portrait. She felt more at ease now that she had talked to someone other than Ella. Hebe sat down on the recliner and placed her hands folded together on her stomach in a relaxing manner. She stared at the bare wall for sometime and finally picked up her phone.

Ella answered after a few rings.

“Ella, it’s me,” Hebe started.

“What’s up? Did you get home safely?” Ella questioned.

“Yes, I’m already at home,” Hebe replied.

“That’s good to hear.”

“Um…Ella.” Hebe started again. “I want to say sorry about the other day when I got mad at you.”

“It’s ok,” Ella replied. “It’s going to get late soon so go ahead and get some rest. I’ll call you up in the morning tomorrow ok?”

After hanging up Hebe felt a tad better and got off the recliner retreating to the twins’ room upstairs.

|||||||||

After Ella had put down her phone she wondered if Hebe had understood why she had apologized. Did she know the reason why she should have apologized? Or did she apologize believing that it was something she needed to do? Ella hung her head back on the couch and some music to listen to. She wanted Hebe to learn by herself if possible.

||||||||

Jiro had just finally taken a shower and had drifted into a slumber for 2 and a half hours when his phone began ringing.

“Yea?” he muttered in a tired voice.

“Hey it’s me, Reeve.”

“What is it?”

“I’ve prepared the family tree list for you for both Mrs. Tian and her husband,” he explained, “and I’ve also highlighted those who are still alive. I’ll set them on your desk under your red folder so nobody else sees.”

“Oh…ok. Thanks a lot.”

“Go back to sleep then.”

Jiro slept until almost noon when he found himself rushing like crazy. The police station was filled with uttermost chatter when he walked through the doors. A few shouted greetings to him and the rest just focused on what they’d been doing.

Jiro made his way to his desk and sat down. He grabbed his red folder and found two stapled pieces of paper underneath as promised. He glanced at each of the family trees and decided to start with Mrs. Tian’s. Since Reeve had suggested that her husband could be the culprit he really wanted to check him out first before he would start interrogating her side of the family.

After an hour of preparing questions and such he made his way out toward the apartment building that Aaron lived in. Hopefully he was still in and hadn’t gone out yet. Jiro rode the elevator calmly even though others gave him curious stares. Once he’d reached the 6th floor he stepped off and walked down the wide hallway. White doors lined each side with gold numbers on the doors. He finally reached complex 630 in the middle of the hallway. Jiro cleared his throat a few times before he actually did knock on the door. After the third knock he finally realized there was a doorbell to the right of the door. Before he could even press the doorbell the door opened.

Aaron paused surprised at first then asked, “Is there something I can help you with?”

“Can I come in? I have some questions to ask you,” Jiro said in a friendly manner.

After thinking it over in his head quickly Aaron opened the door and let him in. Besides it wasn’t like he wasn’t used to the presence of police officers coming to him. He and Hebe had both been interrogated enough he was almost sick of it.

“Sit down, would you like anything to drink?” Aaron offered.

“I’m fine,” Jiro told.

Aaron took a seat across from him, “What kind of questions do you want to ask?”

“It won’t take long,” Jiro assured. “It’s stated that on the day your children went missing that you were running home late because of work.”

Aaron was too used to this question, “I was. If you need a witness you can go contact my workplace.”

“No need,” Jiro told, “did you go back home daily?”

“I went back home everyday.”

“You interacted with your wife and children?”

“Of course.”

“Spent time together on the weekends and such?”

“What’s with the questions?” Aaron couldn’t help but ask.

Jiro stopped scribbling in his notepad.

“From what I take you’re asking me if I kidnapped my own children?” a hurt and bewildered expression grew on Aaron’s face.

He was catching on a lot faster than Jiro had expected. Or maybe it was because he’d been asked such strange questions before…many times before.

“Yes.” Jiro solidly replied.

“Ok. Here’s what I have to tell you if you don’t understand yet. Those two boys are of my own blood and I love them as a father. I am only co-operating with you police in hopes that you people, who have the technology and the brains to solve these kinds of crimes, will find my missing children back. I don’t even believe in you police, to be honest. If I wasn’t told to stay quiet and keep my silence I would be out there right now looking for them.” Aaron lectured angrily.

Jiro felt shocked by his speech, but didn’t show a bit of it on his face.

“I’m sorry to have bothered you,” Jiro apologized and got up deciding that he had no more reason to interrogate such a person. If the twins’ mother didn’t suspect him and the thought had never occurred to her then Aaron might as well be innocent in this whole case.  

Before he opened the door Aaron asked, “Are you going to ask my wife these kinds of questions too? If you can please just leave her alone. She’s already having a hard enough time as it is. You can ask me on her behalf…”

“There’s no need for that,” Jiro said and opened the door closing it gently behind him.

Once he’d stepped outside of Aaron’s complex he scribbled out what he’d written. By just looking at him and listening to him Jiro already felt that Aaron wouldn’t be evil enough to kidnap his own children. Almost feeling surprised at how he’d let Aaron off the hook so easily.

“So he’s that kind of man…the man she’d loved and married.” Jiro thought to himself.

Aaron was very handsome and Jiro wouldn’t have doubted for a moment why Hebe had chose to marry him.

||||||||

All those dumb questions and conclusions from the police made Aaron angrier each time he thought of them. Deciding that he didn’t want to remain in his complex any longer he grabbed his jacket and headed out.

||||||||

Selina had gotten up earlier than she’d expected. Though it was a Sunday Selina did not feel like lazing around in her apartment because it was what she’d done yesterday when she’d returned. Maybe she could go out, explore, and get to know the city she’d left 3 years ago. After taking a warm shower Selina dressed, dolled herself with makeup, and headed out in a pair of white tennis shoes she rarely wore.

Selina went window shopping and to her surprise did not even purchase anything. She stopped at some food stalls for food and continued on. Nothing had changed in the city except for the few extra buildings that had been added here and there. Everything remained the same as if time hadn’t moved at all. Going out for some air was the right decision she’d made that day. She felt carefree during those hours, but it wasn’t until she passed a window that she recognized two people inside. Ella and Hebe were sitting inside the café enjoying their lunch and coffee.

Ella had gotten prettier as well as Hebe who’d gained a bit of weight. They were talking about something exciting because Selina could only see them smile and laugh. They were really enjoying themselves…which made her feel jealous. Selina had lost the ability to laugh since she’d came back because everything was all too miserable for her. When Selina turned around she let out a shout as she bumped into a cycling man, the both of them tumbling to the ground.

“Sorry, sorry. Are you hurt miss?” he apologized repeatedly as he helped her up.

“It’s ok. It’s my fault,” Selina assured.

After the man left Selina finally realized that her knee was bleeding. After she’d bought some bandages from a nearby store she found a seat at the bench and began placing the bandage on the scratch.

“How funny. The first time ever that you didn’t buy anything but ended up buying a box of bandages,” she told herself to help cheer herself up, but it didn’t seem to work.

She missed her parents and her hometown friends. She was beginning to feel so alone that she wanted to cry and felt stupid for wanting to do so because she was already an adult. What a dumb decision it was to agree to the job transfer. She suddenly heard someone start to whistle beside her and turned to find a very slim, but tall man sitting next to her. When he realized that she’d finally noticed him he turned to smile at her. His face was thin and long but he had friendly facial structures. His eyebrows were thick, his eyes were small, his hair short and stood up against the air as if rebelling.

“Hey,” he greeted.

Selina just stared at him slowly coming to realize the fact that a complete stranger was actually talking to her.

“Aren’t you going to even greet me?” he asked.

“Hi,” Selina muttered feeling a bit stupid.

“I’m Calvin,” he introduced.

“Selina.”

“That’s a pretty name.” Calvin commented. “You looked a bit lonely over here.”

Selina turned away, “It’s the first time back in 3 years. I can’t find the friends I used to have.” She was opening up to him and so easily too. She guessed it was because he made her feel comfortable as if they’d known each other for a while.

“Friends?” Calvin repeated. “Then be my friend. You remind me of another friend I have. When I first met her she looked a bit down too.”

“Friend?” Selina repeated.

“Do you want to go? We always eat at a pizza parlor, but I guess it’s just you and me tonight since she ditched me to go hang out with some other friend of hers,” Calvin told.

Without much thinking Selina agreed hoping it’d help make her feel better. And she did feel better after stuffing some slices of pizza down . Calvin was the youngest in his family with an older brother and two parents. He graduated in Hangzhou and had transferred to Taipei through his job. Calvin was currently a well known established author for his murder mysteries, something that interested Selina. She had always wanted to write a story, but her brain wasn’t equipped for those type of things. She recalled that Hebe did have the creativity for such things.

“I have a friend who’s a police officer and another best friend who works as an intern recruiter,” Calvin bragged. “If there’s time I’ll introduce you to them.”

Before they separated ways they exchanged numbers promising to keep in contact and when Selina returned back to her apartment she was already feeling much better. Maybe she could start anew…forgetting everything from 3 years ago.

||||||||   

Aaron was looking forward to the day back at work. Not only because he would be able to get away from the loneliness at home, but he’d be able to try to talk to Selina. Even though they seemed so apart. Because she’d been drunk the other night his words…she didn’t even seem to hear him. And she probably didn’t recall any of it either.

Aaron sat at his desk early in the morning looking through his papers when each of his team members walked through the door greeting him…and only Selina didn’t say anything as she walked in.  

“Aaron where did you go last week? We were going to play a game but you and Selina were both gone. Where did you two go?”

“You two didn’t do anything together did you?” Ah Ken questioned.

Before Aaron answered Selina cut him off, “Of course not. He just gave me a ride home because I’d drunk too much.”

Aaron couldn’t help but stare at her in awe. Selina ignored his stare and sat down at her computer. A few hours came and went before he even knew it and the others were filing out for lunch. When Selina filed out after them Aaron got up from his seat and rushed after them.

“Selina!” he called.

The group stopped and turned around.

“Can I talk to you?” Aaron asked.

“You can talk over lunch.” Ah Ken called.

“I just want to speak to Selina alone for a minute,” Aaron told.

“You guys go ahead,” Selina said.

In that situation she had to agree to speak with him. With the others waiting for her and Aaron pulling the string she had no choice.

“Speak,” she said when the others were gone.

“Did you get home alright?” Aaron asked.

“What do you think?” Selina questioned.

She wanted to be nice, but what was all this anger she still felt inside? She couldn’t help the way she was responding to him right now.

“I was just wondering if we could be friends,” Aaron told.

“Of course not,” Selina answered. “After reflecting I already knew I made the wrong decision by coming back.”

“It doesn’t mean right now’s the same as it was then,” Aaron tried.

“What do you mean it doesn’t? It’s exactly the same!” Selina suddenly felt her voice become loud with anger. Finally catching herself she turned away from him.

“Just leave me alone,” Selina told and walked away.

Aaron watched her leave helplessly. As much as he wanted to run after her he couldn’t. He was scared…what if she hated him?