Chapter 155

I gently pushed Kyle to the side, then I held the door knob and started to cautiously unlock the door. But he stopped me, holding my hand and shaking his head. 

" You can't just go in. "

" Why not? "

" Because perhaps whoever broke in is still in there!"

He had chosen the term ' broke in ' because we were both certain of that fact. My eyes fell to the lock, and I went down on my haunches to inspect it. All it took was a single glance to see that someone had indeed picked it. Standing, I asked Kyle to just wait for me there as I went in and confirmed. 

KYLE'S POV

" Absolutely not!" I refused. I knew Austin was strangely attracted to danger as well as the unknown, but no way was I going to let him go in there. It was the first time such a thing had happened. I knew that neighborhood had a reputation of being unsafe and all but I had been living there for five years and never had an actual security threat. It was just the occasional case of someone being robbed or some window being broken, nothing at all like a burglary. Atleast not in my building. 

" The lock's been tampered with, " Austin told me. It looked okay to me, so I wondered how he was able to tell so easily, but if he was right then the only logical thing to do would be to call the cops. But when I brought it up to him he said he'd confirm the state of the house first before we did. He was just being reckless again and I didn't pay much attention to him. 

" I'm calling them, " I insisted, giving him a serious look to warn him against doing anything irresponsible. 

I was freaking out enough as it was, and out of all the awful things that could have happened that was just way up there. If it was an actual burglary then anything valuable in the house was already gone. There wasn't a lot of steal worthy stuff but if they were stolen I would just have to live in an empty apartment. I wasn't in a financial position to spend any cash on other unplanned things. Especially with my mum leaving, she never used to contribute much but it had been something. And now even that something was gone. Miami definitely didn't sound like a cheap place to live, so in a way I understood. I wasn't completely set on painting her out to be a villain. 

" I started to dial 911, but then when I looked up Austin had already walked in. Cursing, I followed behind him. And when I entered the house I frowned. From where I stood, everything seemed to be in its place, I looked around but I couldn't really spot anything that was missing. I watched in complete puzzlement as Austin walked around, a focused look on his face. 

" The kitchen seems fine. So it's either whoever broke in is terrible at stealing or he just wanted to take a tour of the place. " Austin commented, one hand on the counter and the other on his waist. I was still searching for anything that was amiss. He said he'd go and check the bedroom and I followed behind him. It was fine as well, and my mum's bedroom was basically empty apart from the bed, so there wasn't really anything to steal there. 

" This makes no sense, " I commented. Trying to think of all the possible explanations as to what was going on. We were still in my mum's room, and I walked over to the bed and sat. It had been ages since I had been in there. One corner as well as the space under her dressing table was filled with empty beer bottles and cans. She ought to have atleast thrown them out before leaving. Austin came over and sat beside me, sighing as he did. 

" Maybe it's that kid that lives next door, I caught him trying to paint my bike with some crayons and threatened to use him as a football if I ever caught him again. "

" He's like five, I doubt he knows how to pick a lock. "

" Why wouldn't he? Five is a very advanced age. " 

" But who was it? Like really?!" I was getting frustrated. And the worst part was that I had to somehow overcome that and go to work. 

" Should I call the cops even if nothing's been stolen?" I asked Austin and he seemed to be thinking. 

" Does this place have camera perhaps?" 

" Nope, I doubt any building in this neighbourhood has cameras. "

" If you wanna call the cops then go ahead, but I honestly doubt they'll follow up. There's not much to help them trail down anyone. "

" This is just creeping me out. "

" Are you sure nothing's missing? Do you keep any cash in the house?" 

 I shook my head, I always stored my cash in this safe in the store which no one used. Not even Chelsea knew the combination, I had been the first one to be employed there so I was the only one the boss had given it to. But then later on he had just asked me to deposit all the store's cash in the bank instead. And I had asked him whether I could use the safe for my own savings because I didn't want to bring any confusion by not asking. He had told me to go ahead and do so. 

Since nothing was actually missing, I felt more reluctant to call the cops. Austin was probably right and they wouldn't really follow up on things. And I didn't feel like having to go through that entire process. And I also couldn't call Chelsea and ask her to cover for me so that I could wait for them. It would be a total loss. 

" I'm just gonna go to work. " I stood up, Austin was silent. He slowly followed behind me but said nothing. And his silence continued even after I picked up my stuff from my room and said we could leave. It's not that he was never quiet, but there was just something odd about him falling silent for such a long while all of a sudden. And that look on his face wasn't helping either. 

" What're you thinking?" I asked. If he said it was nothing then I'd know for certain that he was lying. But instead he shook his head and told me he was trying to think of a way of knowing who was behind the entire thing. 

" Just let it be, as long as everything's still here. "

I couldn't even lock the door after we left because it was ruined. Fixing it would cost some cash, I was really not feeling the entire thing. Austin was busy on his phone while we were going down the stairs, I seriously wanted to look over and see who he was texting but he tucked the phone away before I could do so. 

When we got to the store, he narrowed his gaze at the window on the side and laughed. Then he held me by my shoulders and angled me to face it as well. I could see Chelsea as she...danced? It was something like that, and she wasn't exactly great at it. But it was like the fourth time I had caught her do so and it didn't really affect me anymore. 

" Let her be, she actually believes she's great so don't be a jerk!"

" Oh my God this is gold! " 

He took out his phone with the intentions of recording her and I snatched it away and asked him to quit it. Chelsea had to be cooped up in there all day so it was understandable if she found ways to entertain herself. I playfully hit Austin's shoulder when he kept laughing.

" No wonder you hardly get any customers. "

" She's actually not that bad,you're just a horrible person. "

" Not that bad? It feels illegal to just watch her. "

" Just try and be nice, okay!" I dragged him to the store, shooting him a final warning glare before we walked in. Chelsea immediately stopped what she was doing and sat, trying to act natural. There was a song playing from her laptop and she didn't turn it off. 

" Hi guys, " she greeted us, reducing the volume on her laptop and smiling up at us. She still seemed a little breathless from all the dancing she had been busy doing.

" Hey! How have you been?" Austin asked almost sarcastically, walking over to the counter and leaning in. I followed him because he had a screw loose in his head and could potentially say something to hurt Chelsea.

" I've been great! It's been a while since I saw you at a race, did you quit or something?"

" Nah, I've been busy. Schoolwork, you know? I'd never quit racing, it's my passion. The same way some people are into singing and danci-" I stepped on his foot and pressed down, forcing him to divert the direction of whatever he had intended to say.

" Anyways, what're you listening to? It's sounds really cool, " I quit stepping on him but I suddenly wanted to just hit him instead. Past experience had taught me that I should never ask Chelsea that particular question. It was almost as if she just waited for someone to ask her so that she could take her time to explain. And Austin was in for one hell of a long explanation. Chelsea was seriously addicted to kpop, spent most of her time just watching all these YouTube videos and stalking famous idols on Instagram. Her "sweet babies" as she called them. 

" Thanks! It's this song called Cheers by Seventeen! I swear they just totally nailed this comeback! The choreo is top tier, and don't get me started on my baby Hoshi...." Once the names started getting mentioned, I took it as my cue to walk out. If I wasn't wrong, she'd spend atleast twenty minutes explaining, so I had some free time to make a phonecall. Chelsea was normally quiet, but if Kpop was involved she automatically turned into another person. More lively and talkative.

" I'll be right back, " I said, explaining that I was just going to make a quick call. Chelsea had already turned the laptop around to give Austin a chance to watch, so he wasn't getting out of that one. 

" I'll just be a sec... and it really is a good song, " I said while smiling. Mostly at Austin's expression because Chelsea was excitedly gripping his arm as she explained. When I exited the door, I dialed my mum's number and waited for her to pick up.