Claire welcomed them in, and served them chilled juice. Andrew didn’t mind because he was freaking thirsty. Then Claire sat before them on the sofa. “So, what’s going on? Why are you leaving, and where are you leaving to?” Claire asked, out of curiosity. “That is confidential. Vera… Melissa only came to apologize, and make up for the wrong attitude she displayed to you. I’ll give you guys some room, but please do not take too long.” Andrew pleaded, and rose to his feet. “You’ll need to give us a little more time, Andrew.” Vera gave a pleading expression, and all Andrew did was sigh, and then he went over to the dining room. Vera then turned to Claire and held her hands. “I’m so sorry for treating you that way, Claire. It isn’t like I didn’t want to become friends with you, but from where I came from, I mean, the master I was sold to, had warned me several times not to mingle with anyone, and that’s why I avoided you as much as I could, because I didn’t want any trouble.” “Really? Was it your uncle who sold you to your master?” Claire asked, out of curiosity. “No. He’s the one who has come to save me from the hands of my master, and we were meant to leave, but I wanted to apologize to you, and spend more time with you, to make up for the little hurts I might have made to your heart. I’m sorry.” Vera apologized, and Claire smiled. “I always had this feeling that something was going on with you, but sometimes, it’s hard to keep playing the role of a good girl, that’s why I wasn’t going to keep pestering to be your friend. But how I wish I knew about this sooner; we could have done a lot to make each other happy.” Claire uttered, looking at vera lovingly. “Well, we can still do that, you know.” Vera said, looking excited. “We can still have fun, share secrets, play games, but everything would be done because my master could be on the lookout for me, now.” “So, you mean you are risking it to be here with me, right now?” Claire asked, looking surprised. “Yes. I don’t want to miss the opportunity of having at least, one good memory.” ************************ While Andrew was in the dining room, he looked around and tried to observe the house he was in. At least, he could not keep contact with anyone here, so the least he could do to kill boredom was to look around. It even got worse to an extent that he rose to his feet, and began walking around, checking everywhere except the living room, to be sure they’re safe. He hoped deep in their heart that they wouldn’t be unlucky with this mission. He could tell that Vera had been starved of friendship and love here, so she was going to want to feel it to the brim. “Well, that’s why I’m here to keep her in check.” He muttered under his breath. He was going to ensure that if she was beginning to take more time than she ought to, then he would tell her to stop, and let her know it is time she stopped. On the other hand, Claire looked at Vera, and patted her hands which she held. “You don’t have to worry. We are going to have the best moment of our life.” Claire assured her, and she rose to her feet. Claire turned on the music at first, and she began to show Vera some dancing steps which Vera found intriguing. “Whoa! I’ve always wanted to know how to dance this way.” Vera said, looking really excited. “Well, you already know it now, and you’re making those cool moves on this dancing steps.” Claire uttered to make Vera feel even much better and confident. After dancing for a long while, they moved on to playing board games which Vera wasn’t so good at, but Claire was ready to teach her patiently. “You can’t ace it in just one day, Melissa. But you can get better than when you had no skill of it.” Claire said to her, just so as to check any down feeling that may come up if she still doesn’t ace the game. “Why can’t I ace it today?” Vera asked. “That’s because it’s chess. Chess isn’t the ordinary game you ace in a day. It’s a gradual process that requires thinking critically, and being smart and fast.” Claire explained, and Vera nodded her head like she was just realizing that. On the other hand, Louis was beginning to get worried about Vera’s disappearance. Although, not really worried about her state of being, but of what he needed from her. “Boss, I still can’t find her. I haven’t even spotted her near any of Charles Lincoln’s company.” One of his men reported back to him. “Did she go on an official trip which she didn’t tell me about?” Louis muttered under his breath, then let out a sharp breath. He recalled that she was adamant about telling him what she was called for. She had mentioned it was confidential, so he felt she must have gone on a trip which she could not make mention of.But it was difficult not to worry about when she was going to come back, or if she truly was on an official trip or something bad had happened to her. “Get me my other phone.” He instructed the man. “Alright sir.” The man responded with respect. Then he went over to get one of Louis’ many phones he used for his work, and whatever he needed it for. “Here it is, Sir.” He presented it to Louis and Louis collected the phone without looking at him. He dropped his glass of wine on the table before him, and dialed Charles’ number. Charles who was still waiting patiently for Andrew and Vera to pop out of the time machine, got a call from a strange number, and then decided to answer it as he didn’t know who could be trying to reach out to him, especially if it’s something important he needed to know about. “Hello. Charles on the line.” “Yeah, I know who I want to speak to.” “Excuse me?” “I noticed that Vera has been missing for days now. I’m someone close to her, and she was with me when you called her for something important. Vera stood on the fact that it’s something confidential, so I don’t know anything about whatever she went for. Now, she has been missing for days, and I need to know where she is, and if she’s fine.” Louis spoke, in a serious tone. “I don’t know who you are, and Vera has never talked about someone close to her, but she’s in good shape, and can’t reach out to anyone at the moment. When she’s done with what she’s to do, she’ll contact you.” Charles replied, trying to sound polite. He didn’t know who it could be, and if he sounded harsh and impolite, he felt it could sound suspicious. “Charles Lincoln, you do know that I know you and almost everyone in this city and beyond, knows you. I don’t know what you’ve done with Vera, but If I do not hear from Vera in the next two hours, your name and what you have done, will make the headlines.” Louis threatened and hung up the call. He loved it when Charles felt threatened and hopeless, and he was going to make a situation out of this if Charles didn’t produce Vera. Back to Vera and Claire, they were having the fun time of their lives, and it had come to an end already.Andrew came down to the living room, and smiled at them. He was the happiest among them, because finally, they would go home. “Alright, it’s time to go home, Melissa.” He said, not wanting to bring up delays by calling her Vera. “C…can’t we bring Claire along with us? After all, she lives with her wicked uncle.” Vera suggested, and Andrew felt like he was going to go nuts with this. “You can’t, Vera. You can’t take away what belongs to this world. It’s going to become chaotic.” As he said that, it brought up confusion in Vera’s mind, and she jerked back. “What the hell is going on! Why the hell is your weirdness becoming too much! It’s making me scared and feeling skeptical to go with you.” This is the part Andrew felt doomed.