"And he will have no say in this because of yesterday."
Ugh! Again!
Finally I decide to go with Levi. No matter how stupid they act sometimes, they care about me. So the comparatively easy but also not easy task fall on Aiden's shoulder. He'll be covering those two places. If only I could know for sure which one he ran away from.
"So first stop is Mr. Honor's Children House." Levi says to me while driving.
I stiffle a yawn. "It's gonna be a long day."
"I wonder why you agreed to help him so badly." He mulls over. "Not that I should be complaining much about your decision."
"My instincts—are never wrong Levi." I reply without hesitation. "I hate injustice. Wrong judgement..."
He only nods.
I speak again, "You, Aiden... Even I... We are young. Life just begun for us. No one wants their life to be engulfed in defame. Losing life's direction..."
"So are you. Loretta. Young imbued with passion and talent."
Now it's my turn to blush. "That's not... But I can feel it now. I may be a pianist but I don't just play for myself. An artist's art is not for self-serving purposes."
"Rightly said."
The next 20 minutes pass in silence. I think of my dream again. Just the possibility of seeing Nero standing in front of me— I shudder unknowingly.
It doesn't escape his eyes. "Hey, what exactly was the dream?"
Just how? It happened again! Why? I'm scared oneday he'll see right through me.
"Loretta?" He catches me biting my lips again.
I sigh. "He was kind of accusing me."
"Of what?"
"Levi... What was I like?" And I realise the grave mistake of my slipping tongue. Too late!
He slows down the car a little. But his expression doesn't change. "I... don't want to answer you right now Loretta. But I can tell you one thing—however you were or will be won't change a thing for me."
That does not help! I really want to analyse this girl's character for my own sake. Agh! Living a life with someone else's non existent wiped off memories... Hate you Arkan.
A while later we reach The Honor's orphanage. There are two separate building. The old one is a two story house with which the orphanage started. The new one is few feets away from it. Two women greet us when we walk into the building.
"Uh... Ma'am is there something we can do for you?" The shorter woman asks.
"I'm Loretta Knight." I introduce myself. "From the Knight family."
"Knights..." The woman ruminates for a moment.
The taller woman exclaims, "Oh my the Knights! Come this way please. It's been ages since they visited us."
"Such a lovely couple, aren't they Julia?"
The rather short woman named Julia replies, "Indeed."
"And you might be Mr. Morgasson's?"
"Granddaughter," I answer. But couple? I glance at Levi who quickly takes my hand in his. He's enjoying this, isn't he?
"Are you here for adoption purposes or...?" Julia asks.
"Mr. Morgasson's granddaughter has grown into a lovely young lady," the other woman whose name is still unknown to me rejoins.
I chuckle nervously holding up my hands in defense. "No no." Why didn't he say why we are here first?
"Actually," finally Levi speaks, "We're here to meet Mr. Honor."
"I see," the tall woman nods. "Oh how rude of me. I haven't even introduced myself. I'm Cathy. Mr. Honor's not here at the moment. You know old age spares nobody. His daughter is now in charge."
"It's been ten years since Mr. Morgasson last visited," Julia states.
"He's got health problems. He's not even allowed to walk much," I give my reason.
"That's human life for you."
After climbing few stairs and crossing hallways we reach a small office. A woman was talking to someone on the phone. Cathy whispers, "That's her. Now I'm leaving you with her."
After she finishes she turns her attention to us. "Please take a seat. My assistant just informed me about your sudden visit. How may I be of help?" She asks sincerely.
I expected her to be young like me but she's in her mid thirties, but still elegant and with a gentle face.
Levi and I state our deal that we just need to see the records from 1986-87 and we request to talk with the oldest ones here who's been working for over 40 years.
"Well you've said your purpose. But I must know the reason first."
Levi clears his throat sneaking a glance at me. "Our friend's gone somewhere without letting us know of his whereabouts. Maybe he's dealing with some problems he can't share with anyone. Recently we came to know that he was from one of the Knight funded orphanages. So we want to look into it. Some past stories that we...he deserves to know."
"So he's missing in a sense."
"No! He's not a child." I defend Nero. "He'll never do something rash."
"Shouldn't you have taken air from some kind of authorities?" She asks in her same professional tone.
"It's not easy for us to involve police or detectives. In our lives... If you can understand?" Levi asserts. "We don't want to involve them yet. It's only been a few days. Will you help us?"
"But it's against some guidelines Miss Loretta. Someone's past records..."
"But we aren't sure if he was actually here. We can't leave him like that! We're family... Sometimes the past needs to be unearthed in order to continue living the present." I manage my most sincere face. "Just for 30 minutes. This is really important for me."
"Fine." She finally agrees. "But only 30 minutes."
She gave us access to the files from 1985 to 1989. After roughly and thoroughly going through the yearly records we sigh with no signs of him anywhere.
"Okay that doesn't seem too bad. It only means that one is out of the list now." Levi tries to cheer me.
"I wonder if Aiden will be able to get his hands on the files since they don't easily agree."
"Why don't you ask him?"
"That's right." As we drive out of the place I phone Aiden. He's not picking up ugh! What's wrong now?
Seconds later he returns the call. "Yeah—"
"Aiden how's it going? Did you find anything?"
"I managed to check Caroline's. Loretta... I've never been this exhausted and attacked before not even in my concerts." His voice sounds tired. "I'm not going to Oswald's orphanage alone."
"What happened?"
"Nothing. Just moved mountains." He replies in sarcasm. "Ask me what didn't happen? Caroline's is only for Girl's. And no-one told me!"
"I didn't know that Aiden." I say running a waried hand through my hair. "Maybe in the beginning it wasn't the case. Perhaps they changed it a few recent years back? The Knights haven't visited any of the orphanages in a long time.
"They recognised me right away," his tone still panicky, "Looking through the records while saving myself from constant attacks was tougher than moving mountains I swear. These girls—matching their energy was mission impossible level challenge."
Levi's raised eyebrows make me talk while I still hold the phone to my ear, "He's saying nothing yet—just like us. So Caroline's place is all girls now? You can come back now Aiden. You won't have to stay there anymore."
"Then tell him to check the other one."
Before Levi's cutting remark could reach Aiden's ears I mute the phone. "Levi... He doesn't want to go alone. Caroline's orphanage gave him a good hard time... You know how fans..."
"Fine."
I watch his lips move in a sulky manner when he says that. Haha... these two...
I unmute the call to reply to him. "Let's go to the last two places together. We'll meet you at Oswald's Home."
Aiden agrees. But the man sitting next to me still appears moody.
"Levi we'll be heading there now. Then our last stop will be Nowe's."
"Hey what happens if we can't find Nero?" He asks setting his eyes on the open road, a subtle touch of skepticism in them.
I picture Aiden being married to Annie and shake my head strongly. "No. We'll have to."
His eyes now fall on my clenched fist. "Why are you so determined on this?"
Because I myself have so many questions. His disappearance is kind of weird. Oh Arkan can't you give me one tiny hint—a loophole?
"Maybe because grandpa has faith in him that he'd never do anything to hurt him. I can't give up on him."
"We'll get through it don't worry."
••••
We find Aiden waiting at the premises of Oswald's Home. Despite coming in a different getup Aiden still faces fan trouble. We use it as a way to convince them to help us in the most humble way possible. But after looking separately we find records of two kids who tried to escape twice but it's not him. With gloom and fatigue trampled on each of our bodies we come out of the place.
"One more and we're done," Levi leans backward stretching his limbs.
"We won't be disappointed this time." I try to sound optimistic but even I know just finding his records and past won't lead us to him— just a possibility which isn't concrete.
"It's alright Loretta. You've already done so much for me." Aiden thanks me again but I can't help feeling dissatisfied.
"How far is it now?" I ask tapping on the window. This time I'm in Aiden's car cause... Well I don't even wanna recall why. These guys are constantly competing with each other—for me, and they don't even try to hide it. Like 16 year olds fighting over the new girl they just met.
"Hey Aiden wanna send her over? Your buddy's rusty old for Loretta."
"Shut your mouth. It's only 2 years old."
"Aren't you feeling jammed without your engine oil?" Levi taunts again, "Cigarettes I mean."
"Okay shut up for good alright? That was one bloody time! My colleague offered me at the studio. It would've looked uncool back then if I refused him..."
"So you smoked to look cool? Then why don't you have one right now—you know to be cool in front of Loretta?"
"Stfu Levi! I do not smoke. Neither I keep 'em. That was the first and last. Since you brought this up you won't mind me telling her that one time you got drunk and..."
Oh boy here we go again for the hundredth times. Their bickering goes on while they drive side by side as I enjoy the ride in total 'peace'.
It's past a few minutes of sunset we reach Nowe's orphanage. Wow this one looks like it could be the oldest one. I look at the big clock attached to the front of the building. The designs are pretty vintage looking. My eyes land on the establishment year on the small rusty plate— 1945. Yup definitely older than the other three. It better be this. It has to be.
An old small outhouse not very far from the main building draws my attention.
"What are you looking at?" Levi asks following my gaze.
That door... I've seen it somewhere before.
"What are you thinking?" Aiden asks this time finding me contemplating.
"Nothing just... I think I'm having a deja vu kinda feeling."
Suddenly an elderly woman along with a man walks towards us. Their expressions are not very inviting. Should I talk to them instead?
"Hello there. Who are you looking for here at this hour Miss—?" The woman (around 70) asks. She could be the incharge.
"Let's hear them first mother," the 50 above man proposes.
Are they are both in-charge? This orphanage doesn't look very welcoming from the outside. I wonder what caused this change...or was it always like this?
"State your business Miss Unknown," the woman speaks in a stony voice.
"Listen lady we..."
Levi was about to say something rude probably but squeeze his hand signalling him to be quiet.
"We are in a grave situation Madam and I believe this place is our last resort. If you kindly help us we'll be indebted to you."