The Dark Side Of Fate

To Sam Street ~Liam~ I felt uneasy about how to handle sharing and discussing the text message.

I worried that mentioning Sophia might trouble Josephine, even though I knew she was resilient.

But I also feared that it could set back the progress we had made so far.

Instead of announcing the text to everyone, I decided to talk to Josephine first.

“Hey,” I said, linking her, and she turned to face me, her brow furrowing.

I expected this reaction, as linking in close proximity was reserved for private discussions.

“I want to show you something,” I said, handing her my phone with the text message.

She took the phone, read the message, and then returned it to me.

“The team should know,” she linked back, and I observed her carefully.

“It wouldn’t bother you?” I asked to be sure.

I was still new to this relationship thing and didn’t want to make any mistakes.

“Not at all, Liam.

We had our discussion this morning, and I’m confident that Sophia’s name won’t bother me anymore.

I promise,” she said with a smile and playfully punched my shoulder.

“I’m not that petty or jealous, Li,” she laughed, and I felt relieved.

“Attention, everyone; Li has something important to share,” Josephine declared, and a chuckle escaped me.

All eyes were on me, and I cleared my throat before speaking.

I put on a serious demeanour because the situation warranted it.

If they had Sophia’s mother’s phone, there was a possibility that something significant had occurred, and their circumstances might have altered.

Navigating through this with limited information wouldn’t be a simple task, but we must exercise utmost caution.

“I just received a text message from Sophia’s mother’s line, the same line she used to communicate with me,” I explained, passing my phone around so they could read the message.

“The last time she spoke to me, it was through Charlotte’s phone, as I hadn’t recovered my line back then,” I added.

Marvin was the first to ask a question.

“So why is she asking us not to search for her?” he inquired.

“That’s precisely my point.

If it were truly Sophia, she would have called instead of sending a text message.

of the message suggests an underlying

would have contained more helpful details,”

you to stay out of the matter to protect you? Sending a vague message

but she would have called me if it were really

she’s more of a phone person,” I explained

surrounded by the enemy

leave her no choice but to send a text message, Li,” he argued, and many

believe the message

is trying to establish communication with me while pretending

too long without any word from her,

from her, it would have

contained more details about her well-being before asking me

to put my mind

we spoke was

off, as

that I’ve recovered my line, so she would likely have sent the

risk sending a message to a line that might still be

been entirely clear, but I

message doesn’t provide much information,” Charlotte acknowledged, stating the

the other hand, had a

a line of communication has been opened

and see where it leads us,” she suggested, using air quotes when saying ‘Sophia,’ which

as Sophia must have

you should engage in conversation and share specific details

can wait

held captive, she might cleverly mislead her

she knows we’re searching for her, and her captors might have informed her about

in her answers to help us

at her, and

really don’t have to worry about my feelings

know she’s just your friend, nothing

male friends too,” she added, but I could

managed to

but it was our inside joke, and the others remained

hope she’s still alive and safe,” Marvin expressed, echoing my biggest

won’t dispose

won’t dare harm her, and if they have some ulterior motive involving her, they won’t

any case, she’ll likely remain alive until they accomplish whatever

of comfort, but the idea that Sophia couldn’t reach

about her safety and prayed that we

seeing the Gamma and the Beta off, and

we all laughed because it was clear that Justin had cleverly

a smart move

not directly conducting the questioning and making it a casual conversation, it

couldn’t accuse us of treating