Sarah was silent for a moment, not a single utterance came out from her. She glanced at Olive, then shifted her eyes toward Victor, and Olive again.
"A lost girl?"
There was a small confusion in her tone.
She wanted to know more. What had happened to the girl? Did she find her mother? Or was the girl sent to the police station? Though Sarah highly doubted they left her at the police station, since Olive couldn't bear to leave a desperate child alone, and simply because there was no police station nearby.
Or was there even a girl at all?
Sarah was their friend, she deserved to know.
Especially when they planned to hang out with each other and not a few minutes after she went to the toilet, she seemingly found both of her friends missing.
Sarah waited for the answer.
Luckily, she doesn't have to wait long, because at the same time, Olive and Victor nodded their head in an oddly hurried fashion.
Almost as if they were lying...
'That much was obvious. For starters, Victor's answer came too short. There was no solid explanation of it, no description, and it was too straightforward. So it was not really convincing.'
In truth, she doesn't even know what to call it...
Olive stared at Sarah strangely when he suddenly noticed the food was ready on the counter up ahead. When he, Olive, told Sarah about it, she just nodded.
He then got up from his seat and walked to the counter nervously without looking back.
Every step he took, he took it slowly. This moment — where he had to take the food — was the only time when he would find peace and calm down from being dishonest to Sarah after all. Other than that, this would also be a great time to think about his lies carefully. Albeit, even if it's no more than a minute. But even if that was the case, a minute was plenty for him.
Olive doesn't normally tell a lie to his friends and family — not that he ever needs to — but during a kind of situation where he would find himself in a physical fight, he would normally avoid telling them about it.
Now, however, there was no way for him to avoid it, because Olive and Victor had suddenly disappeared in the café out of thin air and left Sarah behind. If it were possible, he would prefer not to lie to her.
That was why he felt awful deceiving Sarah.
But what choice does he have?
Telling her the truth was out of the question, considering not only would he get berated by her, but also the probability of her loitering around him more often, to prevent him from getting into trouble.
There was no problem if she wanted to stick around him more.
It was just that Olive preferred if she stood by his side as a friend instead of a bodyguard.
He arrived at the counter where the food is placed and took the tray with pastries along with beverages on it.
Olive was turning around when a voice suddenly said:
"Did you guys get in trouble?"
Olive doesn't need to look back to realise that it was June, the barista who took Olive's order before, who had asked the question.
Olive grumbled.
"Yeah..."
She looked at Olive with a neutral expression and shook her head slowly after receiving her answer.
"...Tough luck."
Olive's eye twitched.
With that, he walked toward the circular table beside the window where Victor and Sarah were currently sitting.
The circular tables next to the window weren't that far from where the counter was. But even then, a person would find it hard to eavesdrop on a single conversation from a distance.
But Olive was not that person...
Actually, his hearing was not bad and, in fact, would be considered above average compared to the others. Still, even if that was the case, his hearing was not as sharp as a razor to the point he could hear the conversation from the circular table next to the window.
And he couldn't hear what Victor was currently saying to Sarah, much to his dismay.
Of course, on a normal occasion, Olive would not care what those two were talking about. But today in particular, he was dying to hear what Victor was saying to her.
The reason being was because he could snitch on him behind his back!
Olive was sure Victor was telling Sarah about how he helped a 'lost girl' judging from her dubious look.
And to aggravate the situation, he didn't even know what to say to her if she asked him a question!
By the time Olive reached the range within earshot though, Victor was already done speaking to Sarah.
Placing the tray on the table, he pulled the chair and sat on it, his back facing the window.
Sarah looked at her hot chocolate for a second, then slowly took the mug and placed it to her mouth. She was savouring her hot beverage, enjoying the sweet aroma that the hot chocolate permeated without any thought.
When she was done drinking it though, she placed it on the table and looked at Olive before asking:
"What?"
Olive didn't notice that he was staring at Sarah for a long time. Hence her question.
But he didn't care about that though. So he answered with another question.
"Aren't you going to ask me somethin– Ack!"
Olive couldn't finish his word. Because in the next moment, Victor hit his side with his elbow.
'What was that for?!'
Victor gave Olive a glare.
After all, it was not easy to create a story about saving a lost girl — well not really — and tell a person about it.
But Olive didn't know that...
Sarah gave Olive and Victor a strange look, and Victor noticing it quickly explained:
"Ahahaha! Olive was just about to ask you about–"
"I know it's a lie."
Victor froze.
"Y–You knew?"
She didn't answer Victor, but just shrugged in response.
"I knew... It was obvious, wasn't it? Your lies didn't add up and were simply too blunt and straightforward. An idiot could tell it was a lie."
A slight blush wormed up on Victor's face. He was embarrassed!
Looking down he uttered, his voice was slightly cracked:
"I–I see..."
Olive glanced at Victor without any expression on his face. He then turned his head toward Sarah and, without a hurry, asked her another question.
"So aren't you going to ask something?"
Sarah stared at Olive and shook her head, making Olive frowned.
Olive was rather curious on why she had just let him go. Even though he would preferred it if she didn't ask him about where he went.
Sipping her hot chocolate, Sarah said:
"I was planning to, actually... but even then, I doubt that I'll get the answer from any of you sooner or later. So why bother?"
She sipped her hot chocolate again, then added:
"Still... if it's Olive we are talking about, then I'm sure you have your reason as to why you did it. So I don't mind — kind of. "
Then, she continued drinking her beverage.
Olive looked at Sarah, not batting an eye away from her for a while before nodding.
"I get it... thanks."
"... Eat your food, it's going to get cold."
Olive chuckled.
"On it!"
Then, he ate his food like nothing had happened, while Victor was eating his slowly, still acting meek.
It went well, surprisingly. The three of them, eating their food, drinking, and chatting like the usual in the café, enjoying the cozy sensation that it gave.
It was like no other day.
That part was undoubtedly true due to Olive fighting four strangers alone in the dark alleyway earlier, though...
Sarah was done chewing her food and was about to sip her hot chocolate to wash out the dryness in her mouth when she noticed through the window that four badly injured strangers were limping across the sidewalk.
Three of them were injured on the face with a few black eyes and a swollen cheek. Two of the strangers were supporting one of their friends as of current — his legs were shaking for some odd reason.
'Wonder what happened to them. They must have been in an accident or maybe got into a fight somewhat.'
She did not know. And she didn't care either. Since they had nothing to do with her, nor did they have anything to do with Olive and Victor...
So she didn't put much thought into what happened to them.
Olive, not noticing the strangers behind him — because of his back facing the window — drank his tea leisurely with a slurping noise.