Chapter 5

Andrew narrowed his eyes at the woman who sat at the table opposite his.

The small café had a tinted glass window which he sat beside. He could watch people come in but they could hardly notice him where he sat even as they came in.

The café was a street across Green hill Park.

The woman smoothened her straight black skirt and glanced at her wrist watch.

Not too long after, a small, bubbly girl putting on all pink and holding a lollipop, raced over to the woman as soon as she sighted her from the entrance of the café.

The woman bent and scooped her up in a hug.

Then she tickled the girl.

The little girl's squeals and laughter rang out around the small and cozy café that smelled of minted syrup.

A teenage girl of sixteen years strolled in leaisurely with a fake stroller that obviously held a doll.

She walked up to the woman and the girl.

Judging from the stern look she recieved from the woman, you'd know she was late for the appointed time.

The teenager gave the woman a meek, apologetic look and they all exited the café.

Andrew leisurely strolled out of the café with his to-go latte cup in his hand, some seconds after they left.

He tailed them but they were unaware of him as the adult and the teenage girl were engrossed in a discussion while the small girl pranced about with her doll carriage being pushed in front of her.

Due to his device hearing aid he could clearly hear their conversation even though he wasn't too close to them.

They first headed out to get some ice creams.

The small girl had insisted on having two cones instead of one. Her mother gave in to her demand and soon the thrio made a brief turn into the park.

They didn't move too far away from the gate.

The woman sat on a nearby bench while the sixteen year old and the girl gathered random flowers and spoke in hushed tones. The girl's mother texted someone and quickly raised her eyes from her phone and looked around quickly.

Andrew who had leaned on a lamp post that had a trash can beside it had his eyes on her always.

Suddenly her eyes rested on Andrew's cold, blue ones.

Her black eyebrows shot up questioningly at him. But as Andrew had a habit of penetrating into people with his cold stare she was forced to tear her eyes off him.

She still glanced at him from time to time but seeing he remained admant at narrowing his eyes on her anytime their eyes met, she resolved to quit looking at him.

Andrew's eyes turned to the small girl who was leaning into her doll stroller with an ice cream cone.

"Hey! There's Andrew!"

A loud yell had him looking in the direction of the noise.

Ethan grinned from ear to ear as he pointed at Andrew. Suzanne managed a small eye roll.

"Where'd you run off to Andrew?! Did you know how worried we were?!" s.he started asking as they stood beside him. "Even Ryan went off! And we still have the mission at hand! You just left us alone and I am so mad at you for that! Also to top it all, I got called an irritation to Ryan! Imagine that!"  she continued ranting as she paced about.

"Oh bother," Ethan groaned as Suzanne went on talking.

Andrew took his gaze back to where the woman was seated but she had gone, along with the teenager and the small girl.

He frowned.

Suzanne and Ethan had distracted him so that he hadn't see them leave.

He brought out his GPS and got the location of a house address.

"Where are Ryan and Ashley?" he asked in a nonchalant tone as he faced Suzanne.

"Huh?" Suzanne stopped pacing about and looked at Andrew.

"How will we know? Ryan went off and Ashley went after him," Ethan replied and crossed his arms.

Of course, I have to do everything. Andrew thought dully.

He brought out his tracking device and two small blue dots appeared on the screen. "They're at the hotdog shed," he told them.

"Well let's go get them already," Ethan said and they all started heading towards that direction.

"Afterall we're on a hot  dog case....," Ethan joked and laughed as he looked at Suzanne briefly. "Get it, Suzanne?" he nudged her playfully. She just gave him a blank look.

"Nah," she replied flatly.

"But...but, I meant they're at the hotdog stand and we're solving a missing dog case and it's hot so hot dog case....and it rhymes with the snack hotdog, get it now?" Ethan explained, as he gestured wildly.

"Nope," Suzanne replied flatly again, turning away from him.

Ethan groaned and tugged at his hair.

Suzanne looked at him through the side of her eyes and her lips quirked up. He was so easy to tease.

They walked past the well-decorated gazebo. A couple made their way to it.

Andrew kept on walking beside Suzanne and Ethan with a bored expression etched on his face, his two hands tucked into his pockets.

Sensing Suzanne looking at him, he turned to her and raised an eyebrow at her quizzically.

"Stop acting so cool, we've barely reached anywhere in this mission," she told him and looked away.

 "Hey, hey, that's true!" Ethan wailed. "We've not even gotten any clues yet!"

Andrew just rolled his eyes at both of them.

When they got to the hot dog shed, they stopped. Andrew turned his head towards a direction.

"There," he indicated and Suzanne and Ethan both turned in the direction he had pointed to.

Ashley was peering at Ryan with a concerned and determined look.

For the first time ever, Ryan's face was beet red because of a girl. A small sweat trickled down his forehead. He looked really flustered, like he had been backed away into a corner.

Ashley's hand was holding one of his.

He didn't know what glue stuck his hand on the table.

Ryan couldn't close his eyes either. Ashley's chocolate eyes pulled him into their never ending brown swirl.

"Ryan!" Suzanne's voice cut through the tension.

For the first time ever he was glad of Suzanne's arrival. He quickly pulled his hand away and rushed past Ashley, his cheeks flushed.

Andrew turned and followed Ryan as he made his way away from the hotdog shack. Suzanne also merrily skipped in the direction of Ryan.

Ethan paused to look at Ashley.

She passed by him and threw him a dazzling smile as she walked up to the others.

He looked down.

That's right, he thought, looking at Ashley. Back then in the class I was blushing for no reason when she stared at me.

"Ethan! You coming?" Suzanne called, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Huh?" he looked up, startled. "Sure!"

He jogged up to them.

"Geez, you had to stand there like a statue for a while," Suzanne nudged him as they walked beside each other.

"What about the mission, Andrew?" Ashley asked, a bit worried.

Andrew rolled his eyes.

"I've figured it out."

"Really?!" Ethan exclaimed.

Ashley looked really curious, "Really? Where's the dog then? What happened back when Mrs Paulina was walking Patches?" she asked eagerly.

Suzanne's eyes remained on Ryan who hadn't said a word yet.

He looked deep in thought.

He looked up and for a brief moment Ashley's eyes rested on his. His eyes widened slightly when her eyes conveyed a message.

He looked away and held his hand that won't stop shaking.

Ashley was talking in a lively tone to Ethan and Andrew by then. Suzanne was still staring at Ryan who battled within himself.

Just who is she?

He frowned.

How dare she?!

Ryan clenched his fist so hard. Suzanne gasped mildly as he shot her a hateful glare when he caught her looking at him.

Andrew briefed them all on the status update as they walked out of the park.

"Cool!" Ethan laughed happily.

"We do it now," Andrew said as a matter of fact.

They all nodded, including Ryan.