At the arcade place, the boy was once again playing a machine when a man approached him.
"How are you, boy?" the man asked with a smile. He could still remember that voice since the man was generous while giving him a lot of tokens. He turned and noticed that the man was no longer wearing a mask.
"Oh, that's you. The man in the mask that day," he said with a smile and the man nodded.
"You left early. I managed to give those two women stuffed toys each in just two attempts." The boy boastfully beamed.
"Good. As I expected you are really good…" The man praised him with a smile.
"You're not wearing a mask today." The boy commented and the man nodded.
"I will no longer need that. How about I treat you something nice because of that favor I asked… Let's have a snack kid." the man offered and the boy nodded.
They went to the nearest cafe. The man requested the waiter to change the channel to the afternoon news update.
[A fire broke out at one residential house… Fortunately, the owners of the house survived and were rushed to the hospital…]
The man watched the news and scoffed, "I guess it's not their time to die yet. How lucky… Next time I wonder if they will get lucky still."
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt*******
At Sy Building.
Lana smiled as she wrapped up everything to go home. Liam would soon come back from his meeting. She wanted to have dinner with him outside at the restaurant she tried with Luo.
Soon Liam entered and said, "Ready?"
She nodded and said, "Let's have dinner outside today."
"Sure," Liam answered. They were about to leave when Daryl rushed inside Liam's office.
He had obviously ran his way there since he was panting heavily.
"What's wrong?" Liam asked because based on Daryl's expression, he could tell something was wrong.
"Luo… she's missing. And her parents' house was on fire. I am going there now to check it." Daryl weakly informed before he left again in a rush.
Lana felt her heart sink. She was with Luo just yesterday and the latter was so happy since she and Noah had reconciled and understood each other already.
She looked at her husband who was making calls.
"Luo was last found near a convenience store, then a van stopped in front of her and she was gone… The police are suspecting it's the case of kidnapping for ransom. People who managed to find out that she's Noah Yu's wife might have executed all this. Now, they are waiting for the kidnapper's call and terms." Liam explained.
"Oh my God… I just hope Luo is fine," Lana whispered, still not able to believe that Luo disappeared just like that.
"They won't hurt her if they only want Noah's money…" Liam said with a clenched jaw. He must do something to help Luo.
"Isn't it weird? Why would they burn the house of Luo's parents?" Lana whispered.
"They are still investigating the matter if someone deliberately did this and is responsible for it or it's just an accident caused due to the owners of the house. Luo's parents are now safe. Noah made sure of it." Liam replied.
"Noah must have been devastated at this time," Lana whispered. She was devastated as well and she felt Liam's hand on her shoulders.
"Don't worry about it. I will help Noah on this matter. We will make sure to bring Luo safely no matter what." Liam stated and Lana nodded as she hugged the stuffed toy she and Luo both had.
"You seem to be too fond of that toy?" Liam commented.
"Any news about that arcade I told you about?" Lana whispered ignoring his statement. She looked at her mobile phone as well. She had asked that boy to contact her once he saw the man again since the boy mentioned he was at the arcade every day.
The boy had not contacted her yet so she assumed the man did not return to the arcade after that day.
"Yeah, they are monitoring the surveillance in case that man shows up again. The boy is a regular customer in that arcade and he will also inform us if the man will approach him again." Liam answered.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"Let's just have dinner at home love," Liam suggested as he pulled up his wife to go home and Lana nodded.
Meanwhile, Craig, who was supposed to be on his honeymoon, quickly flew back to the Capital City with Gale as soon as he came to know about the news of Luo's parents and that Luo was missing.
He found Noah in his house coordinating with the police who he assumed were putting wiretaps at Noah's telephone and mobile phone. And probably guiding Noah on how to coordinate when the kidnappers called.
Craig quickly approached Noah when the police left and hugged him consolingly.
"We will find her soon Noah…" he whispered as he stroked Noah's back gently.
At that point, Noah could no longer help the tears from falling out of his eyes. A warm hug was what he actually needed at that moment...
"I no longer know what to do… I feel like dying every minute that is passing by thinking if my wife is safe or not Craig. Everything seems unreal… I can't believe they took her..." Noah depressingly whispered.
Was it his fault? Announcing his marriage with Luo in an interview? But why his wife, when they could have chosen to take him instead? He was willing to give everything he had up to the last cent as long as they returned his wife in one piece, safe and sound.
"Shh… I'm sure she is safe. She will be fine and we will retrieve her by any means." Craig said trying to make Noah feel better.
Both Craig and Gale stayed with Noah in his house and soon Brione also arrived to be with her brother while all of them waited for the call for ransom from the kidnappers. But Noah instructed his sister Brione to stay with Luo's parents in the hospital.
Gale opened the television and they all watched the news update about the fire.
"Do her parents know about Luo already?" Craig asked.
"Brione will tell them once she arrives there," Noah answered in a low tone. He felt so weak with all the waiting, but that was the only thing they could do while the police were tracing the route of the van from all cameras available.