"Mr. Mirage?"
Mo acknowledged the man before him. There was small kit box in his hand and a lab coat hanging from his bag, on his back. He pushed his glasses up and continued, "Rova from the pathology?"
Mo nodded and slid the door open. "The guards wouldn't let you in without me. So, make sure to call me next time you need to see me."
The pathologist nodded, bringing his kit up.
Sia was standing by the window. "He is unloading his equipment."
"We need a DNA match for them. Just for record."
The pathologist looked from one woman to another and hurried to take a blood sample. He moved to the woman's bedside and quickly fixed a new needle, drawing blood. Since the person looked like she had an accident, the pathologist didn't draw a full needle of blood. He moved to Sia and repeated the process.
Once done, he said, "I will have your results in 48 hours."
Mo saw the pathologist out and into the elevator quickly. When he came back, Sia was sitting by Aria's side, staring at her intently.
She asked him, "do you think she's my sister?"
"What will you do if she is?"
"I have wanted a family all my life. If she is really my sister, I will do all I can to keep her in my life."
"Starting from moving in together?" Mo jabbed. Sia smiled in response. She had rubbed her makeup clean and tied her hair in a low tail. She looked a lot like herself, only taller. On the contrary, Aria had woken at some point, opened her hair, covered her face with the layers in Sia's hair and went back to sleep. The medication was heavy. An entire day had passed without any activity. It was dusk, Ke had gone back to bring his work and Lock's equipment to the hospital, Mo had brought over nightly bag from Sia's suitcase and helped her look for a pathology. Now, their only immediate concern was the police.
Lock came through the elevator, holding a big screen in his arms, piled up with a couple keyboards. Behind him Ke carried over another screen with other accompanying equipments. Together, the brothers clattered everything onto the couch and made a grand setup onto the small couch and table set.
Mo asked, "anything I can help with?"
Lock shook his head, "you handle the police. Once Aria wakes up, we will need you to coordinate with the police."
Sia asked, "what are you doing?"
"We are setting up surveillance in our rented apartment." Lock said without looking up. Mo watched as Sia inched closer and closer to Lock's work, until she was just enough distance away from the coffee table, to sit near Aria's bed, with her back facing Aria. Mo looked down at Aria, who was unaware of this unusual development around her. Mo spoke, "she is waking up."
Lock looked up fast and Sia turned faster. Aria didn't even flinch. Everyone stared at her for a moment. Ke muttered, "what the hell man?"
Mo couldn't hold back the laughter that rose in his chest, though he wasn't loud. Lock gave him an amused smile, unsure of what he was trying to do. Sia, on the other hand, though slightly annoyed, asked calmly, "what are you doing?"
"Checking that everyone still knows why we are here."
Slight color rose in her cheek and Mo had the urge to tease her. He took the chair opposite Sia, on the other side of Aria's bed and whispered, "what about your boyfriend in office?"
"We broke up some time ago." Sia whispered back.
Mo raised a brow, eyes flickering behind Sia before coming back to her. "What if that one like Aria?"
"I think he does." Sia said.
Mo looked between them and shook her head. Sia always liked any down and under kind of guy. Lock was much steadier than them but his looks and the healing cuts around his face were just kind of personality, Sia usually went for.
He let her be. If Aria was really Sia's sister, she wouldn't make a move on Lock. Or so she hoped. Mo doubted Sia knew how a family should be treated.
Mo leaned around Sia and asked Lock, "how do you guys know each other?"
Lock was done making his set up. It looked like a nerd's dream, only smaller, contained. Lock frowned at it. "We will make do with this."
Ke answered. "My aunt runs an NGO and a boarding house. Well, she runs the boarding house, my mother runs the NGO. We met Aria through the NGO. She was underage and looking for a place to live. She instantly put this one the right path, so mother loved her very much and adopted her."
Lock sat down on the couch and busied in the computers. Of them all, he was the one least interested in their conversation. Ke looked down at his brother and said, "we grew up in the boarding house as well. We are orphans. We just call the the doctor, mother. A lot of us do."
Sia asked, "you and her are not related?"
Lock looked at Sia, concern evident in his face. Ke spoke, "we are more related than anyone else mother has adopted. If something were to happen to Aria, we couldn't continue on. He will probably kill your driver."
Sia looked from Ke to Lock. There was nothing but endless concern in the eyes of the two men. While Ke went over to Aria and soothed her hair out of her face, Lock sat down and went to work.
When the screens lighted his face, Ke picked up his bag, "I will head out to work. I will be back in an hour. If she wakes up, call me."
Lock nodded without looking. Ke waved to them uneasily. "She doesn't like anyone close to her. Give her some space when she wakes up. She will want to know what's the progress, so better get on with anything you need to do."
"That controlling?" Mo joked, trying to lighten the awkwardness created by Lock's reluctance to answer. Ke made a face and nodded, "you have no idea. The first time…"
"Ke. Don't you have a client to see?"
Ke looked back at his brother and smiled big.
"The first time I met them, Lock was beating up the guy I wanted to beat up but then he went on to beat the other guys who were not with the perpetrator so I had to knock him out. He still hasn't apologised over it." Aria's said in a soft but steady voice.
Mo reached for the water and poured her some. He tried to pick it up at the same time as her. She pulled her hand back quickly. How could Mo not notice? He remembered Ke's warning and left his spot to step away. Aria sat up slightly and reached for the glass. Ke helped her.
"He hasn't even apologised for getting you the wrong address." Ke piled on. Aria added, "or for calling me a bitch," livelier with the banter.
"Or for…" Ke was about to say more when Lock looked over, "Alright. Sorry for calling you a bitch."
Ke laughed and gave Aria a high five. Sia watched carefully, smiling between them. He then pushed Aria back a little by the shoulder, "rest more. I will be back in an hour."
After Ke left, Sia slid her seat closer to Aria's bed. "How are you feeling?"
Aria smiled politely, "better when no one is trying to kill me. Did you guys find who is it?"
Sia shook her head. Mo and Sia had contemplated about the details of what to tell Aria. For now, Mo wanted Sia to hold off any information until he could run a background check on her and get DNA results.
Aria was smarter than that. She asked, "if not who, then why. Why did they wanted to do away with you?"
When Sia looked at him, Mo signaled a no. Aria turned and glared at him. "Shut up. I am not aking you to give me money. Tell me why someone wants to kill you and maybe I can help."
Aria stared him down as she spoke to Sia. Mo looked at Sia, "No."
Behind the glare, he spied a slight annoyance. "If someone comes at me again, I will hold you accountable."
Sia spoke up, "it's not just him. We really don't know who or why I am being targeted. I have a vague idea but if I told you that, you'd not understand."
Aria turned to look at Sia and smiled. Actually smiled when she was just glaring at Mo, and said, "thank you for telling me that. That wasn't so difficult, was it?"
Sia laughed slightly. Mo felt exasperation fill his chest, "she actually told you nothing. Double standards."
Mo saw Aria smiling slightly from the side but when she turned to face him, she gave him a flat look. "What standards do you know I apply for you to call them double. From where I stand, depending on what you choose, I can live or die."
The audacity of Aria made him want to laugh. He was the first to notice her discomfort with touch, the one to take care of the arrangements and trying to keep them all hidden. In fact he was the one that stopped Sia from pushing her to move in together. While others were thankful to him, Aria found him controlling. "Seems like someone feels small."
Lock stood up suddenly, "this is blowing up bigger than it has to be."
Sia nodded slowly. "It is not right for us to tell you anything when we ourselves know nothing."
Aria looked at Sia. Mo knew that look. Of course they knew a few things but telling them to Aria didn't make sense. Aria knew this too. Sia lowered her head. "Even if we told you you wouldn't understand."
"Try me."
Lock put a hand on Sia's shoulder. Sia left her spot for Lock who looked at her straight, "calm down."
Aria's chest heaved. She was really trying to calm down.
In the end, she whispered, "I just feel… stuck."
Lock smiled slightly, "anything you need me to do? I got everything here. I also looked into the address and the land where we found you. I found a few things. You wanna check them out?"
Aria nodded slowly, then paused and look at Mo.
Mo had the urge to turn and walk away. He didn't. He knew the feeling of being helpless, unable to help or contribute. It was a feeling he often struggled with around his sister.
"We really don't know much. When I find out, you'll be the first to know."
Aria looked past him, at the door, "Sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you."
Looking at how everyone was walking around and she was the one with stitches in her head, she had every right to. He wished, his sister would snap at him, snap at anything was much better than her usual calm smile.
Mo smiled and Aria smiled back. Even if this was Sia, Aria's smile looked somewhat different. Aria had the kind of depth that he had never seen in Sia.