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.

vagueness of the message suggests an

from Sophia, it would have contained more helpful details,” I explained, and Noah voiced a

Sending a vague message would be the best way to ensure you have nothing to work with,” he suggested,

but she would have called me

sends text messages; she’s more of

surrounded by the enemy and needs

her no choice but to send a text

to share my theory if I didn’t believe the message was from

trying to establish communication

too long without any word from

it were genuinely from her, it

about her well-being before asking me to

my mind at

last time we spoke was back when

this message seems off, as if

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

sending a message to a line that might still be switched off,” I concluded,

entirely clear, but I had a gut feeling that I was

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

hand, had a different

communication has been opened between

and see where it leads us,” she suggested, using air quotes when

as Sophia must

confirm if it’s truly her or not, you should engage in conversation and

can wait

she’s being held captive, she might cleverly mislead her

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

help us uncover what’s really going on,” Josephine explained, perfectly

her,

really don’t have to worry about my feelings

she’s just your friend, nothing more,” she assured

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

I managed to

unease, but it was our

alive and safe,” Marvin expressed, echoing my

won’t dispose of her

is working for them, they won’t dare harm her, and if they have

likely remain alive until they accomplish whatever they

of comfort, but the idea that Sophia couldn’t reach out to me when

prayed that we could resolve this situation as quickly as

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

and we all laughed because it was clear that

a smart

making it a casual conversation, it wouldn’t be considered an

way, they couldn’t accuse us