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.

message suggests an underlying

would have contained more helpful details,”

Sending a vague message would be the best way to ensure you have nothing to work

would have called me if it were really

text messages; she’s more of a

by the enemy and needs to secretly communicate

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

I didn’t believe the message was

to establish communication with me while pretending to

been too long without any word from her, making this message seem

her, it

about her well-being before

to put my mind

last time we spoke was back when we were

message seems off,

so she would likely have sent the message to Charlotte’s phone to ensure I

line that might still

I had a gut feeling

your point, Li, but you’re right; this message doesn’t provide much

the other hand, had a

message, a line of communication has been opened between us and

continue to interact with ‘Sophia’ and see where it leads us,” she suggested, using air quotes when saying ‘Sophia,’ which elicited a laugh

is posing as Sophia must

it’s truly her or not, you should engage in conversation and share specific details that only

we can wait for

she might cleverly mislead

searching for her, and her captors might have informed her about

in her answers to help us uncover what’s really going on,” Josephine explained, perfectly

her, and

about my feelings

your friend, nothing more,”

have male friends too,” she added, but I could sense that Alex wasn’t entirely

managed to

laughed, signifying that she noticed my momentary unease, but it was our inside joke, and the others remained oblivious to our unspoken

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

won’t dispose

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

remain alive until they accomplish whatever they have

the idea that Sophia couldn’t reach

and prayed that we could resolve this

came back after seeing the Gamma and the Beta off, and we remained on high

do?” he inquired, and we all laughed because it was clear that

smart

the questioning and making it a

they couldn’t accuse us of treating