With A Ghost

3. Meanwhile

2:10 PM
There were three people inside a parked black Jeep Wrangler.
"Fries?" Sang offered.
"Thanks, sweetie," Luke reached forward from the backseat to take some fries from the packet.
"North, fries?" she turned to North in the driver's seat.
"What are you trying to do, baby?" North narrowed his eyes at her. She smiled sheepishly. Caught.
"I don't want to eat any more," she admitted.
"Sang baby," North sighed, "you gave half of your burger to Luke."
"Fast food isn't healthy," she smiled cheekily. Luke barked out laugh.
North smirked. "I say that, but eating something is better than nothing."

After finishing their food and their argument, they got down to business.
"Luke, details," North ordered.
"Did anyone of you know how smart Dakota's golden retriever is?" Luke exclaimed, "beautiful little thing that one is, besides you, Sang."
She rolled her eyes at him."It's Max," she told him, smiling.
"Wanna see him?" Luke asked, already knowing the answer.
Her eyes sparkled. "Yes!"
"No." They both turned to North, pouting. "If they go to Dakota's house, she'll get to meet Max anyway. Stop pouting. Doesn't work on me."
"Mine doesn't. But Sang's sure does. That's why you're not looking at her."
Before North could deny it,
"Kota," Sang intervened.
"What, baby?"
"What, Sang?"
She blushed. "Everyone just calls him Kota. Nobody really calls him Dakota. Just like how you shortened Lucian to Luke."
"Oh," they said simultaneously again, staring at her, making her blush redder.
"What?" she asked, looking away. They both chuckled. Luke leaned forward and wrapped his arms around her neck.
"God. You're so cute, Sang" he said, breathing against her hair that was no longer in her face.
"I don't feel that cute, you know," she grumbled softly, earning another laugh from both boys.
"What are you talking about? You're always cute, no matter what you look like. You even make these horrible clothes and those hideous glasses and that awful hairdo look cute."
"Uh-huh," she said, "Thanks for complimenting my outfit. North would be happy to hear those. He did buy these for the job." But she couldn't hide her blush.
"Sang baby, no one can look cuter than you in those clothes," North said, smirking.
"Kota is a weird name though, isn't it?" Luke wondered.
"I like his name," Sang said.

After Luke finally decided to let go of her, after much 'requesting' from North, they continued their discussion. For real this time.
"I was walking around the neighborhood at around one. I was two houses away from Dako-Kota's, two houses away from Kota's when I heard Max barking his head off. Apparently, no one was home. I went to check it out. He stopped soon after. He didn't even bark when he saw me. He sensed a threat, obviously."
"Dogs bark all the time," North said. Luke looked at him with amusement. "Sure they do. Kota Lee's dog, however, is well-trained. He sensed a threat, I tell you."
"We should've heard him from Nathan's house," Sang said, frowning.
"Not likely, sweetie, even with your superhuman hearing," he laughed, patting her head, "So I ran around the house, trying to find anything or anyone that could've trigger Max's vocals. And guess what I found," despite the grin on his face, they knew he was being serious. He took out a silver cell-phone with a heavily cracked screen from his back pocket. Holding it up, he continued, "a guy wearing a hoodie was checking the screen of this phone and the house. There's something in here that probably shows the interior of the house, I'm guessing. I wanted to catch him, so I tried to sneak up on him. But he probably got scared of Max and decided that it was time to dash. I ran faster so he heard me, and he sprinted. But I caught him by his hoodie. I grabbed both his arms and held him. It must have been in that struggle when the phone dropped and he might have stepped on it. I was about to hold him down on the ground, but somebody else held a knife to my throat from behind."
Sang gasped. North looked murderous, even though he knew the story.
"Luke, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?" Sang asked, her face and voice full of worry, as she reached to touch his throat and trace the skin where she imagined the blade had touched. Luke took her hand, squeezed it and brought her palm to his lips, kissing it. "Not an inch of me is hurt, sweetie, except for my pride," he assured, "They ran off when I froze and released him. I didn't even see their faces. I called North right away. You should've seen his face. He was so worried. About me! Poor baby brother worrying about big brother. How cute."
This earned a giggle from Sang and a glare from North.
"It's time for you to go, baby," North said, checking the time. He got out of the car and walked over to open Sang's door. "I can open my own door," she said, her hands in her hair to mess it up and cover most of her face.
"And I'd be an asshole to let you." He helped her get up. Luke got out and handed her the clipboard. "Take out your cellphone," he said, smirking, "You'll need to use it frequently so there's no need to put it back in."
"Nor will you feel comfortable taking it out in front of so many guys," North added.
Her cheeks slightly tinted pink as she reached under her shirt, and her bra to take out her phone. Both the boys laughed.
"Now get your antisocial mode on and get to work," Luke smiled wide, and answered the question she was just about to ask. "Don't worry about the cellphone. We'll figure it out. We may not be techies, but we could try to figure out how to turn it on and turn it back off if we think we're being tracked or if the phone's gonna blow up. No, wait. If the phone's gonna blow up, we'll throw it out the window.
"If anyone makes a move on you, call me," North said seriously.
"You kind of made it impossible for anyone to hit on me," Sang said, indicating her clothes.
"Seriously, Sang, if anything makes you uncomfortable, let us know."
Sang nodded, knowing that he was only looking out for her. She will tell him if it's something serious.
She hugged them both and was about to go when North stopped her.
"Baby, wait," he turned her towards him, held the side of her face, and tilted her chin upwards. He moved closer so his lips were merely an inch away from hers. He was frowning as he analyzed her face.
"You forgot your glasses."