CHAPTER 4

EMA

After a long uncomfortable silence and with a deep sigh, she says, “Yeah I am. I have a feeling something really bad went down and my Mum has an idea of what happened but she can’t seem to tell me like she’s scared I might get involved or something. I want to know what happened, Ferdi but I don’t have an idea what to do at the moment” I say putting my face in my palms.

“Okay Ema this is really sounding scary; can you tell me from the beginning how you came up with such a feeling and hypothesis? So I can understand better where you’re coming from. Maybe I could help. You know I just want you to be okay right?” he says with so much concern and confusion at once in his voice.

“Yeah I do and I’m grateful I have you in my life” and so I launch into the story from Mr. Mark’s office right up to when I went to my Mum’s and how I finally ended up back home. As I go on and on, Ferdi’s eyebrows go higher and higher if that’s even possible and he wrinkles his forehead in contemplation when I tell him about my theory which I told Mr. Mark about. There is so much at stake and I hope it isn’t as bad as I feel it is. And I hope Ferdi is on my side on this.....

When I finished, the silence stretched for so long, I had to lift my head and check if Ferdi was still around. "Hey...! Aren't you going to say anything?"

"Wow! That's one hell of a story! Are you sure about this? Cause it seems more complicated than it sounds...." finally! Ferdi talks....I was beginning to think he has gone mute...

"Yeah...think so too but I can't just let Dad's company crumble just like that you know..."

"Yeah but what is there to do? The people involved seem to be very dangerous and you won't want to get involved....this is something very serious Em and you know it. I think your Mum has a reason why she doesn't want to get involved and from the look of things, she's not willing to tell you....maybe it's for your own good.." Ferdi says.

The rational part of me knows Ferdi is right about how dangerous this sounds for me not to get involved but the other part, the stubborn part, can't seem to take the bait. I want to find out the truth.....I want to know what really happened to my Dad and on the other hand, am not sure I'll be able to handle the truth if I finally get it.

This is so confusing and thrilling at the same time. I don't know what to do. I rub my forehead with the heel of my palms cause I was beginning to get a headache just thinking about all that's happening.....

"Oh Ferdi...I really want to know what happened to Dad. Deep down, I know it's dangerous but I can't seem to shake the feeling that the truth is just lurking around the corner. Something's not right Ferdi and I know it"

"Hey...I know but you know you'll need more information and connections to actually get to the truth right?"

" yeah I know but..." Ferdi cuts me off before I can finish the thought with his hand raised....he pulls my hands down and lifts my chin with his fingers to look at him

"No buts! For now, let's forget about all this and have some fun. Rest for our minds for a while..I know something will come up sooner than later! Come on.."

Ferdi always knows how to cheer me up. He pulls me out of the chair and pulls me towards the door...but I pull back with my forehead furrowed I ask...

"Where are we going?" He just looks at me, shrugs and smiles then starts walking again and out we go. He never seizes to amaze me……...outside, I thought we were going to take a taxi or the car but no! We just kept walking and walking. This got me more intrigued than scared though.

“Hey! Ferdi, can you tell me where we’re going? And why aren’t we taking a car or something?” seems like I'm talking to myself right now. I stopped walking, making Ferdi stop as well. “so…….” he just looked at me then finally said, 

“I just want to take you somewhere to clear your head and by the way walking seems better. Don’t you like the fresh air? or should we rather take a car?” He asked one brow raised in that daring cute kind of way.

 “Oh” was all I could come up with to say. Yeah yeah…..I was just curious you know and with the way he was looking at me, I couldn’t even say no. He’s my best friend after all. 

“Is that all you’ve got to say? come on Em…you know, you’ve got more to say than that…..” damn him! He’s still smiling like he knows something and you don’t. “Okay okay! Whatever! Let’s go and it's not like I’ve anything to say or a different option other than what you have in mind…though I don’t know what it is.” We continue walking for a while before he says 

“You know, if you don’t want to walk we could always do something else right?” he gives me a sideways glance before looking back ahead. 

“No. its okay. Walking is better than being confined at home.” I looked around, breathing in the natural air and enjoying the cool breeze on my skin and the sun on my face. 

“Do we have a specific destination or we’re just walking?” I asked while lifting my head towards the sky to feel the warm sun on my face and skin. 

“Not really…..we could just walk. it's been a while by the way since we walked together like this I mean….” he said drawing out the last word a little

“Yeah sure. it's been really busy at work for the most part and with Dad’s accident, it hasn’t been easy though…”

“I just think we should lay low for a while, let things cool for a bit so everyone gets to let their guard down…..then we can pick up behind the scenes. How about that?” he said, a thoughtful expression on his face

I thought about it for a while. I know he had a point and I’ve thought about it as well. I think it makes sense cause trying to get the truth out now or going about with the plan isn’t going to be easy with everything still hot in the air at the moment.

“Yeah right! We’ll give it some time and see how to go from there when things die down a little and we’ll have some time to come up with a proper plan on how to get to the bottom of this situation at hand.”