With A Ghost

20. Meeting

Sang

"Do we have everything?" North asked as we walked up to Kota's front door.
"Yep," I answered, "I double-checked all the files." I gestured to the files I was holding.
North smiled at me just as he pulled me back. He planted a kiss on the top of my head, muttering, "Thanks. I can always depend on you."
"You can depend on me too," Luke said as he passed us, "so where's my kiss?"
He knocked on the door as North smirked at him, "You're not as pretty as Sang."

The door opened to reveal a pleasant-looking woman in her late-thirties. Her surprised gaze wondered from North to me, me to Luke, and to me back again.

Her assessment of the pastel coloured top and skirt I was wearing made me a little fidgety. I hoped my hair was alright. I had tied it in a ponytail to keep it away from my face.

Hold on... Why did I want to impress Kota's mother? It was not like me to care about what I was wearing.

It's like meeting Uncle all over again.

"Hi," Luke said, making her look away from me, "Is Kota in?"

Her face lit up. I saw that I had no reason to be nervous. She was not judging me, but the desire to look good in her eyes did not completely fade away.

"Yes, come on in!" she led the way as North, Luke and I followed.

We made our way to the living-room where everyone was waiting. Including two other girls I haven't seen in person before. Kota's sister, Jessica, and Derrick's sister, Danielle. It was odd seeing Mr. Blackbourne and Dr. Green here, perhaps because I didn't see them last time I came.

We needed to have a talk with Danielle. It was perfect that she was here. But why did she look so aghast? Checking me out from head to toe was not making me feel very comfortable. People seemed to be doing exactly that today.

Her eyes furrowed in disbelief and frustration. Her lips tightened to form a thin line.

I wasn't liking it. I was confused. To top it all, the boys all had strange expressions. Like they wanted to laugh, but dared not to.

"Hi," I said to everyone, not just to Danielle in particular. I don't know why Danielle felt threatened by me, but I wasn't going to push her. We needed to talk to her. She wasn't at her house today like we had expected.
"Hey, Sang," Kota said, coming forward, a genuine smile on his face, "Glad you could come. Mom this is Sang."
"It's lovely to meet you, Sang. Call me Erica."
"And this is Jessica," Kota introduced, as his sister stepped closer, a shy smile on her face. Her eyes sparkled as I smiled back at her. I liked Kota's family already.
"This is North and-" Kota stopped mid-sentence as Danielle stomped out of the room. We heard the front-door open and slam shut.
North and Luke stared after her in bewilderment.

"And this is Luke," Kota continued as if nothing happened, "They're brothers."
"Oh my! You two look so different from each other," Erica said, also dismissing the fact that a girl just angrily left her house. She, instead, examined the striking contrast between North's all-black clothes and Luke's white t-shirt and blue jeans.
"Step-brothers," North explained, "But brothers at heart." He paused in thought before saying, "That girl, she..."
"Never mind her," Nathan said, looking as if he won the lottery, "Everything went so well. Let's not ruin the moment."
I could feel North and Luke looking at each other. I just chose to let it go for now. We could ask Danielle about her brother later. We had far more important things to talk about now.

The ten of us were soon seated in the living space. Erica went out to drop Jessica off at her friend's house, saying she'll be back soon.

"I slept at Nathan's house last night. I don't have a list of suspects from my house, but I'm sure someone from the inside tampered with the security," Victor said. He was sitting opposite of me. "Otherwise it would have been impossible for anyone to break in."
"The question is, why Victor's house? Anyone else's house would've been much easier," Dr. Green said. He sat with Mr. Blackbourne, "That is why we're sure that it had to be one of Victor's servants or security officers. Everything is much easier when dealt with from the inside. Greg and his friends would have had to break in any of our houses, thus activating our alarms. Let's not forget that Victor's phone got stolen too. It had to be someone, who is exceptionally good at sneaking past us and picking locks, that returned the phone to us. We got distracted by the arrival of Sunny and Waffles, and Derrick, to look further into the matter.
"About that," Luke said sheepishly, "I was the one who returned the phone so that you guys wouldn't worry too much about it and investigate. That would've ruined our plans."
Everyone stared at Luke.
"How did you..." Nathan began in an astounded tone.
"Let's start from the beginning," North said.