The Sebana Heir

Chapter 26

Sunday evening, Mr and Mrs Harber were chilling on the couch in the living room after arriving from the airport. They stretched their weary selves on the comfy cushions and talked about their week. Sophie was up in her room with her small new trophy at hand that she won from the interstate ballet; which she couldn't stop showing everyone.

Ria was passing through the living room to get from the study to the hall, when Mr. Harber called her back.

"Ria, so how did the first one go?" he asked from the couch. "Lynn told me you found a case involving a four year old girl? Did you meet her parents and if-"

"Uh....actually, we went to see her mom," Ria answered trying not to sound too sad, "And she told us that.......her daughter's remains were already with her. There was no way I could've been..."

"Hey, hey it's okay," Mrs. Harber encouraged, "We'll find them, okay. Right now, you just focus on school and your own life as a teenager. You got a long way to go, Ria. There's always time to find your family in the future, but not much time to be a teenager. Go out have fun and when the time is right, you'll find them." Then at that moment Hayne entered the living room to find his parents sitting there. "Speaking of fun, Mr. Murdoch said he heard loud music coming from us on Friday night. For a neighbor living 50m away, that's pretty loud." Ria shot Hayne a frowning glance, while he returned her, a calm look.

"Loud music?" he questioned. "Oh, yea. We were blasting the radio that night we didn't know it was so loud. But hey, the team and I were just celebrating another victory against the Ducks."

"Hey, that's great!" Mr. Harber exclaimed. "How did that go down?"

"15 to 5. Chris and I scored a try each, with one conversion," Hayne answered, "And Stuart made that penalty conversion in the last two minutes of the game!"

"Great game-" Mr. Harber began.

"And I hope the celebration wasn't at all that rowdy, was it Ria?" Mrs. Harber asked.

"Mm?" Ria mumbled, thinking of what to say to answer her question as Hayne kept giving her repeated glances. She wondered whether or not to tell her the truth about the party on Friday night. "Uh.....like he said, just.......the loud music."

"Okay. But make sure that next time, you volume things down Hayne,"

"No problem mom," he smiled.

"You're not staying for the game tonight?" his father asked after he turned on the flat screen.

"Uh, sorry dad. We're all heading over to Derek's for that," Hayne said as he headed out. "We're betting on our teams today. Later."

"Um....I'm gonna go up to my room now," Ria said. Mrs. Harber nodded her way before she left. Then she turned to her husband and saw an impression of sadness in his eyes.

"You miss him don't you?" Mrs. Harber stated, but he gave her a denying look instead, "Of course you do. I know he doesn't come by to have fun watching the games with you anymore, and that he's spending more time with his friends while you got your work. Things aren't like they used to be before. But hey, he's our son and at one point in time he'll come around and miss it too."

"I know Meg. I know," he smiled. Then he leaned back on the couch with his wife in his arms. Few seconds later she thought she smelt something funny.

"Do you smell chlorine? On the couch?"

".....I do," Mr. Harber looked around with puzzled eyes. But they shrugged it off anyway and decided to enjoy the rest of their evening.

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