One is Rust the Other is Gold

8: He Was Sunshine I Was Midnight Rain

I worried Joel wouldn't tell me as much if three other girls joined our table, so my friends and I cooked up a plan. I would pretend to come alone, but my friends will already be at the restaurant at another table to keep watch and help me leave if I felt uncomfortable. They could also watch for fishy behavior whenever Joel arrived. Because Joel had only seen Trish, she would wear sunglasses and a scarf around her head to hide her hair.

"I still don't know if this is a good idea..." Fugo said before leaving for the restaurant 30 minutes before I would arrive. "What if this is a trap?"

"I thought about that, too." Narancia said. "What if they're like the mafia and want to "get rid of" Giorno because she witnessed them blowing up some chick? But if this was a trap, why didn't they shove Giorno into their car yesterday? They wouldn't have let her go after the alley incident."

"Predators do this, though," Fugo's aura darkened. "The smart ones do, anyway. When they spot a potential victim, they act charming, kind, empathetic, and helpful. They put on their best behavior in the beginning to make you trust them. If they walked up to you and immediately acted aggressive to get what they wanted, they wouldn't get their way often. They need to groom the victim to get you to trust them and be emotionally invested. Only when you're in a vulnerable position and they've manipulated you enough that you don't even trust your intuition anymore do they slowly reveal who they really are."

Narancia deflated hearing this. She placed a hand on Fugo's shoulder. "Sorry..." she said quietly.

"I'm going to ask you this one more time, Giorno: Please don't visit that man," Fugo said, her eyes beginning to brim with tears. "This whole thing is shady. He could be easily lying about knowing anything about your biological father. I don't trust him."

"I'm sorry, Fugo," I walked up to her and put my hands on the sides of her upper arms. "I have to go. Something happened at the police station and I need answers. I know you all think I was probably hallucinating, dreaming, or even lying. But it was real. The stitches in my arm prove it."

"If anything happens, we'll shank him, right Fugo??" Narancia tried her best to keep her tone upbeat so she could cheer Fugo up. It sounded strained.

"Not if he has a gun," Fugo mumbled.

"You don't have to come along," Trish said gently while pushing the last bits of her pink hair underneath her scarf. She looked like a 1940s movie star. "I don't mean that in a dismissive way. I... well, if this will be triggering to you in some way-"

"No, it'll be worse if I stayed here alone. I'm coming." Fugo said, determined.

Joel waved me over to his table when I arrived.

"You actually came," he looked genuinely surprised and passed me a menu. "Take all the time you need. I told the waiter to come back later."

"Prove you know anything about my biological father," I said while leaning back and surveying our surroundings.

"Yare yare, you're getting right into it, huh? You don't even want to give me a 'hi'?"

"If you can't prove it, I'm leaving."

"Okay, okay, calm down. Hold on," Joel pulled out his phone and started scrolling through the gallery. I narrowed my eyes, wondering why he was so desperate to get me to stay. I didn't understand the leverage I held and it bothered me. What did he really want from me?

Surprisingly, he slid his phone across the table toward me, leaving it exposed for the taking. I thought about stealing it and running, but curiosity kept my butt in my seat. For now. I looked at the phone and I lost all sense of where I was. That was him.