…When Juin got home, he received a scolding by Mrs. Martin for breaking curfew.
"I"m sorry, Mrs. Martin… I got carried away while talking to Mr. Thompson and didn"t notice the time…" Juin said apologetically.
Mrs. Martin"s eyebrows twitched slightly when he heard that. "Mr. Thompson? He… talked with you?"
"Yeah, I was there to discuss something with him. You can call him if you don"t believe me," Juin said. He was sure that Mr. Thompson wouldn"t say anything about their conversation.
Mrs. Martin frowned slightly. "Even so, that doesn"t give you the right to break curfew. I"ll let it slide since this is your first time, but no next time!"
"Yes, sir!" Juin saluted her before running up the stairs and going back to his room.
Mrs. Martin raised a brow as she watched him run off. "Did that kid just saluted me?"
She then sighed as she tightened the belt of her black bathrobe before walking to her room. Juin"s changes were a little too abrupt. She was happy for him, but she wondered if this was just a front for whatever it was that bothered him.
"Hope he knows what he"s doing…"
…
Early next morning, right after the sun appeared on the horizon, Wesley was woken up by some shuffling sound.
When he opened his eyes, he saw Juin moving around the room and stuffing things into his backpack. "This is way tooooooo early...Where are you going?" Wesley asked before a yawn caught him. He rubbed his eyes sleepily and sat up as he watched Juin move around.
Juin glanced back at him briefly before going back to stuffing his backpack. "I"m staying at an old friend"s house today, and I"m about to miss the first bus… Oh, please help me tell Mrs. Martin. I forgot to tell her yesterday."
"Whose house? What friend?"
"Ah, you won"t know even if I tell you. Just tell Mrs. Martin that I would be back by Sunday night."
Wesley scratched his lower back and yawned. "Erm… Ok… As long as you"re safe..."
Juin went to him and patted Wesley"s head, much to the kid"s annoyance. "I"ll see you when I"m back."
He then took his backpack and quietly slipped out of the room.
Wesley stood up and went to the window. He watched as Juin ran toward the direction of the bus stop. "I hope he won"t get himself into any trouble…" he mumbled before going back to bed.
…
Juin had to take the first bus to the bus terminal. From there, he took the first bus to the place where he was fostered along with Ashton. It was a long five hours ride on the bus, but thankfully, since it was the first bus of the day, there weren"t that many people on the bus, and he was able to take two seats to himself.
When he got to the city, he had to change to another bus, which took him to Bayfront Coast where the family that fostered him and Ashton lived in. As he sat on the bus to Bayfront Coast, he could see the sea from miles away.
"The houses here are quite far apart from each other," Lucifer remarked as he looked out the windows. Since the bus was pretty empty, he decided to sit next to Juin at the back of the bus instead of floating around.
Juin glanced at him and put on his earphones. He then said, "Yeah, this place is mostly for rich families, and they usually come here for holidays. Those who chose to live here permanently are usually retirees… Although, they aren"t old enough to be considered traditional retirees."
Juin thought about his previous foster parents. They were only in their forties, but both of them were retirees, and they spent most of their time taking care of their only son, who was two years younger than Juin and Ashton.
Because of the lack of children around, the couple adopted Juin and Ashton to be their son"s companions. They only wanted Ashton at first, but Ashton refused to leave without Juin, so they took Juin along with them. After all, with their net worth, they could easily take care of an extra mouth.
"I don"t feel too great," Juin mumbled as he leaned his head against the bus window.
The Smithsons never really cared about Ashton and Juin. They were polite, but it was like they were strangers more than foster parents. Fortunately, their young son, David Smithson, was more welcoming than his parents.
But for some reason, Juin remembered David Smithson to be really aversive to his touch and gaze. He had wanted to give David Smithson a hug before he was sent back to Warrington, where he was currently staying at, but the boy just ran away and hid behind his mother.
Juin sighed as he glanced at the pa.s.sing cars and the huge houses with perfectly cared for lawns. He, Ashton, and David used to take long walks around the Bayfront Coast, and a lot of the times they would walk along the coast.
At one point, the houses on both sides of the road were replaced by trees, and the trees got denser and denser as the bus got nearer to their destination.
The Smithsons" house was at quite a high sea level, so the walks were never easy. Juin chuckled inwardly when he recalled how David would often complain and ask Ashton to carry him on his back even though Ashton was only slightly bigger than them.
"Oh, we"re here…" Juin suddenly mumbled as he sat up straight. He then pressed the bell to notify the driver to stop at the next bus stop. When the bus finally stopped, Juin jumped off the bus while saying, "Thanks…"
He then looked around the place. "Nothing has changed," he mumbled as he looked at the trees around.
"So, you lived here previously? This is quite a nice place to live…" Lucifer said as he floated next to Juin. "Where"s the house?"
Juin pointed at a pathway across the street, right through the forest. He then walked across the street and stopped at a sign right at the beginning of the pathway.
"Smithson, Westerley, and Mack," he read out the names on the sign. He then explained to Lucifer, "Three families live here…"
"Two, you mean," Lucifer said as he looked at the faded mark that was drawn with red paint across the name "Mack".
Juin had a pensive expression on his face, and he hesitated for a while before saying, "There was an old man who used to live near the Smithson"s house. Mrs. Martin didn"t tell me, but I overheard her conversation with Tiffany, my social worker, previously. Apparently, he disappeared at the same time that Ashton did. I couldn"t remember anything that happened that day, other than me standing on the cliff, so they a.s.sumed that this old man had something to do with it…"