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 underlying

genuinely from Sophia, it would have contained more helpful details,” I explained, and

you? Sending a vague message would

would have called me if it

of a phone person,” I explained

she’s surrounded by the enemy

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

theory if I didn’t believe the message was from Sophia, giving me the opportunity to

think someone is trying to establish communication with me while pretending

any word from her, making this message seem

it would have been

also contained more details about

my mind at ease,” I

last time we spoke was back when we

off,

she would likely have sent the message to Charlotte’s

line that might still be switched off,” I concluded, and Charlotte

but I had a gut feeling that

but you’re right; this message doesn’t provide much information,”

the other hand, had a different

communication has been

we continue to interact with ‘Sophia’ and see where it leads us,” she suggested, using air quotes

as Sophia must

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

wait

held captive, she might cleverly mislead

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

mislead them in her answers to help us uncover what’s really going

looking at her,

to worry about my feelings when it

friend, nothing more,” she

but I could sense that

I managed to keep my

unease, but it was our inside joke, and the others

she’s still alive and safe,” Marvin

won’t dispose of her

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

she’ll likely remain alive until they accomplish whatever they have

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

prayed that we could resolve

seeing the Gamma and the

and we all laughed because it was clear that Justin had

a smart move

making it a casual conversation, it wouldn’t

they couldn’t accuse us of treating them as