The Only Exception:ETERNALLY

10. Run Away

"well that was quick," The ebony haired mid- height guy said as he stood by the door of his apartment.
" Yeah we wanted to come as soon as possible," Hardin stated as he walked past the stranger into the home,"oh and by the way," he halt in his steps turning to Sydney," umm... This is my cousin.... Jonathan ...just call him Jay" he shrugged
"I'm Sydney, nice to meet you ," she shook his hand
"Yeah I know who you are ," he answered bluntly before closing the door and leading them into a huge room with huge computer screens. In that room stood another man maybe 3 years older than Jay , very very handsome .
" Hello there," he greeted them with a broad smile , "I'm James - junior detective."
|Damn junior detective. This must be really serious| She thought to herself as she took a seat on the couch next to Hardin ,"nice to meet you," she smiled at him and he smiled back before leaning toward Jay ,whispering something into his ear whilst still looking at Sydney.
"So before we get into this whole ' finding Nemo' mystery," Jay remarked ," to be clear , this is Not a crazy ex-girlfriend finding her rogue boyfriend...right?"
"I told you already Jay, it's not the case," Hardin defended .
|Ouch| hearing Jay call her his "ex girlfriend" really hurt but she wasn't going to complain.
"Alrighty then let's get this show one the road," James pitched in oddly enthusiastic," so recent surveillance footage show that his car has been parked at the airport for the past three weeks," he went straight to the point
"Air port?" Sydney questioned confused
"Why airport?" Hardin asked.
"That's what we were trying to figure out," he turned to Jay who'd fixed himself onto the chair in front of the screens," so we collected the footage for the past four weeks. We think we found him there but we're not sure... That's what we need you to figure out. Jay .. play the footage."
The center screen went bright as the footage began to play . The airport wasn't crowded and it was still pretty early in the morning. Sydney scanned each inch of the frame till she spotted him ," yupp, that's definitely him." He was dressed in all black with the cap but even so Syd sould recognize him , from the way he walked to how he frequently ruffled his light brown hair - a habit for when he was nervous.
" Well here we can see him getting into the airport...but we don't see his movement throughout the airport , nor do we see him getting out ," Jay stated as he looked at the footage in fast-forward.
" But when we checked the logs to see if he boarded the plane ....there weren't any records of his name . If he did exit the airport then he would've taken his car with him," James explained ,"which only leads us to one thing..."
"He died in the airport," Jay deadpanned then burst out into mocking laughter,"...I'm kidding geez .....or not."
"No that's not it ," James interrupted ," he might've-"
" Boarded with a fake passport," Hardin assumed
"Bingo" James agreed," that's the only way he could jump the boarder without notice."
|Fake passport?| Sydney thought to herself getting more and more anxious .....she hadn't dealt with the whole death in the airport joke well.
"That being said ..if he did cross boarders then it's a dead end . We can't track him," Jay dropped the bomb on her .
"That's - that's not possible . What if he's still around ?" Sydney disagreed still holding onto her string of hope.
"If that were the case , which i highly doubt,he would've at least made a phonecall, or bought something or anything that could be tracked down to a certain location but he didn't..." James stated
" Yupp. All of his transactions, phone calls , text ended over four weeks ago. And i highly doubt he'd go off the grid to that extent . He's gone ... Run away"
"You can't be serious" Hardin shook his head frustratedly
"We don't joke about these kinds of issues", James stated," we did all we could," after that the room went silent as they all stared amongst each other and at Sydney who had completely zoned out.
"Hey," hardin placed his hand on her thigh and caressed it, "are you okay? "He snapped her out of her trance
"... Yeah. I'm fine," she lied turning to james," thanks again."
"Anytime" he smiled at her then walked away.
"I should probably go home. I have an early shift tomorrow so i must get going"she abruptly stood up.
"Okay let's go," Hardin immediately followed", thanks again Jay"
"You're welcome......"he nodded," ..umm can i talk to you for a second?"He pointed at Hardin.
"Sure," he turned to Sydney,"wait for me in the car,"
"Okay"she walked out of the door. Right as she reached the car, she stopped abruptly. - the car is locked - she face bummed then turned back to walk back to the apartment. Right as she was about to open the door, she heard distinct murmurs from the other side of the door which immediately recognized as Hardin and Jay.
|There's no harm in eavesdropping right?|

".... I'm pretty sure you know or at least suspect why Luca disappeared," Jay spoke in a hushed tone," and I'm also sure that you are well aware that playing with Sydney is playing with fire."
"What are you talking about? "He asked, diverting his gaze to everywhere else but Jay's eyes.
I've seen the way you look at her, I wasn't born yesterday. What kind of ironic is that of all females in the entire universe, you miraculously feel for your best friend's girlfriend."
Hardin remained silent and simply crossed his arms over his chest.
"You already did something, didn't you?" He squinted his eyes at his cousin ,who didn't answer, "so I'll take your silence as a yes. "Jay shook his head in disbelief.
"You know how possessive Luca is over her, "he spoke firmly," don't tell me you don't remember how he threatened all of us to back off after 2 weeks of dating her?" He questioned frustratedly
"I do" the younger answered quietly.
"Then what do you think will happen if he reappears just like he vanished. Who do you think she'll choose, honestly?"
Hardin remained quiet.
"Do you think she'll forget Luca and run to your messed up mentality? I'm pretty sure even you know the answer to that."
"I guess I'll have to see if and when Luca comes back", he finally spoke up, "and I promised her and myself that I'd be there - regardless of who she chooses."
"She's not yours Hardin," he warned.
"And now... neither is she Luca's"
••••••
"Thanks for driving me home, " Sydney spoke with no expression whatsoever on her face.
"You're welcome,"he responded quietly,"if you need anything,I'm here-"
"No thanks," Sydney quickly cut him off", I'm fine."
"Do you want me to stay or -" Sydney quickly shook her head.
"No you can go, "she spoke coldly.
"Is there something wrong?" He closed in on her and she immediately stepped back, "did I say something offensive?"
"No. You can leave now". She gestured towards the front door
"Not until you tell me what's going on", he refused.
"What happened earlier today wasn't supposed to happen," Sydney admitted," it was a mistake"
". Excuse me? "He stuttered in disbelief, "you're joking right?" "No I'm not", Sydney snapped, "I wasn't thinking straight. It's a mistake that I don't want to repeat so may you please leave." "So you're telling me you don't feel any kind of connection between us?"|you don't feel how I feel?|
"Can you please leave."
" No", he refused," as much as you trusted Luca and told him everything about you - you didn't know anything about him," he frustratedly poured out," you just knew what he wanted you to know. "
"You're wrong," Sydney denied.
" I am right, Im his best friend remember? I knew much more about him than you ever knew, think about it... besides him, what else did he tell you about?" Sydney didn't reply.
"Nothing", he pointed out, "he never told you about his family or what his dark past , but I know how he really is. He is messed up!" He exclaimed angrily.
"You can't say that!"
" Yes I can because I know what's behind that facade, "he counter-attacked," and look what he's done to you. All your tears, all your sadness and pain was caused by him. "
"Get out," Sydney brought out in almost a whisper as tears threatened to pour out .
"there's much more to him than you know. ........And through all those breakdowns and crying - I was there regardless of how i feel. And you're just going to deny anything between us just like that."
" Get out!" Sydney exclaimed furiously," there's nothing between us", she denied", just go"
". Fine I'll go," he breathed out frustratedly then walked out leaving her to sob on her own.

[A\N - don't forget to leave a vote♥]