Chapter 16: Gone Missing

Listening to one of his subordinates' report about Ian's spreading infamy in the underworld, Angus's eyes grew profound, making the subordinate quickly finish the rest of his report and stand to the side, not disturbing his leader's thoughts.

Maintaining his naturally cold face and expression, Angus dismissed the subordinate and summoned a servant to call Ian to the study.

"Brother, I'm here," Ian alerted his presence and entered the study.

Angus stood up and walked to the sofa placed in the study. They both sat down on the same sofa with one cushion between them, positioned to face each other.

 "Little brother, your deeds last night have spread rapidly among the gangs and mafia groups. Do you have anything to say?" Angus asked straightforwardly, getting right to the topic without any warning.

"Mmm," Ian thought and instead of answering, asked, "How did the information get out and spread so quickly?" Despite the fact that he wanted this to happen.

"Didn't you want this to happen?" Angus asked back in a deep voice.

Ian looked surprised and then smiled. His brother really knows him. Now that he thinks about it, back then, his brother didn't say anything about the way he acted. He neither questioned him for his changes nor got suspicious of him for hiding this side of himself from him. 'Did he already know that I hid this side of myself from him?'

'My brother truly has a great eye for people and possesses high intelligence!' Ian exclaimed proudly to himself.

Still, for the fun of it, Ian asked with his innocent smile and childish voice, "How did you know, brother?"

"Don't think I don't know about the times when you sneaked out of the house in the middle of the night doing who knows what. I didn't say anything because you're already 15, about to turn 16. Back in the day, you would've been considered an adult at this age, so I've been letting you do your own things without questioning you or restricting you. But Ian."

Ian scratched his neck in embarrassment as his cheeks blushed. Although he knew that his brother would know about his midnight outings, it was still embarrassing to hear that he knew everything that he had done. 

Hearing his brother's two last words, Ian looked up and into his brother's eyes with puzzlement. A pair of orange-colored pupils that were different from his inherited light purple eyes, stared back. 

That pair of eyes was not the only difference between Ian and Angus. Ian had mostly inherited his appearance from his mother while their dad passed down his traits to Angus. If it were not for people knowing they were siblings, no one would ever think this pair of handsome guys were related as they do not resemble each other in the slightest. 

Angus Everett possessed a pair of cold orange eyes with sharp pupils that were vertical like a cold-blooded snake's. Short, dark purple hair that appears blue in the dark covered the majority of his hair from the top down with tints of lighter shades appearing near the ends of the hair. Furthermore, different from Ian's spotless face, a black beauty mark decorated the bottom-right corner of his right eye. He appeared cold and emotionless at a glance, anyone who sees him might judge him to be cold-blooded despite his human label. 

In reality, his personality was not cold but rather playful and mischievous. He used to get into trouble a lot with Levi. However, he changed once his parents died and he took over their position. He rarely gets to show that side of himself outside of with Levi and Ian. Nevertheless, he acts stern and cold to the outside world in consideration of his position as the head of the Everett Mafia Group and the Everett Touch Corporation.

On the other side of the scale, Ian Everett looked naturally innocent, gentle, and sensible on the outside. But as we all know, he isn't like that at all. He cares for no one but those who he deemed as 'on his side', and of couse, his loved ones. Always with a gentle and polite smile on his lips, his innocent looks deceived everyone and belied them of his true nature. 

Unlike Angus, he inherited his eyes from his mother, both of their eyes had round pupils painted with light purple, enchanting and magnetic. Opposite Angus, his hair was long and went from a dark purple shade to a light purple shade as it went down.

Appearancewise, they hardly looked related. 

But in this moment, the aura of kinship coming from the both of them made them faintly resemble each other. If a stranger were to walk in on this scene in this very moment, they would be able to tell at a glance that they were related by blood.

Angus looked seriously into Ian's eyes, everything about him wordlessly told of his sincerity and resolve, truthfulness.

"Remember that I'll always be there for you when you need help."

Warmth wrapped around Ian's heart as Ian's frozen heart started beating again. 

A light seemed to come out of his heart and envelope it.

Suddenly, a sharp, piercing pain came from Ian's mind and heart. Grabbing his head with one hand while his other hand clutched at the fabric around his chest, Ian wobbled unstably as he winced from the excruciating pain that wanted to tear his mind apart.

"Ian!" Angus called out instantly, seeing Ian in pain inexplicably out of nowhere. "What's wrong?!"

Ian did not respond. Could not respond. He was unable to hear and react to anything because of the pain blocking all his senses. Even his sight was gone.

Seeing Ian not responding to him, Angus urgently called for the bodyguards outside and ordered them to call Doctor Isaac here, immediately. 

Doctor Isaac once again rushed to the Everett Mansion in a sorry state carrying his medical bag. At least this time, he managed to wear his white doctor's coat.

Angus thought he would give the poor man a raise for all his hard work these days and let him move into the Everett Mansion to make his work easier.

Unaware of his good days ahead, Isaac seriously and dedicatedly checked Ian's situation with the equipment he had on hand. Despite his messy appearance, he looked like the professional he was as he measured Ian's heart rate, blood pressure, and other data.

"Nothing seems to be the problem with his body. His heart, however, is beating abnormally fast but it's slowing down now to the normal rate it should have." 

Doctor Isaac reassured the hard-faced Angus. 

His face had looked even colder than normal with his entire body emanating an ferocious aura, resembling a walking freezer, making his subordinates not dare to get close to him, only Doctor Isaac was not afraid having grown up with both Angus and Levi since young. Doctor Isaac knows Angus's personality and knows that his face was not cold due to anger but due to the overwhelming worry and fear in his heart that something might happen to his little brother after this cruel and heartless world took away his parents.

Even Levi was not smiling. 

True to his word, he had stayed overnight in the Everett Mansion. While finishing up his breakfast leisurely early in the morning, he was shocked to hear the news of Ian's sudden bout of unexplainable pain. He had dropped his utensils the very next second and rushed to the study, uncaring of the ungentlemanly appearance he put himself in. Forgetting to take even his cherished fan with him.

Levi stood frowning as his eyebrows knitted together so tight they could squeeze a fly to death. He had no mind to fix his untidy clothes and hair. Much too anxious and distressed about Ian's condition to bother about his appearance

"Isaac, when is he going to wake up? How did he get into this state in the first place? Angus? How did this happen?!" Levi asked one ceaseless question after another, as if only if he talked could he temporarily relieve the anxiety that ate at him.

Angus was also not as calm as he appeared. Ian was his little brother after all. He cared for him like no one else, watching Ian grow up as if Ian were his son and he were his father. 

He tensely replied, "...I don't know. It just happened."

"***! How could something like this just happen out of nowhere?! It's not like you guys have some genetic or inherited disease!" Levi was starting to lose himself as his temper flared up, very much unlike the usual him. 

Even Angus was about to be unable to suppress his inner emotions.

Just as Isaac was about to calm the two down, a sound was heard coming from the sofa. Where Ian lay.

"Hmm…"

Ian hummed before his eyes cracked open to reveal something surprising and unexpected, causing Angus, Levi, and Isaac to gasp and widen their eyes.

"...Your…eyes…they…"

*****

"Hey, watch it!" A grumpy man shouted the instant he brushed shoulders with a young boy. Walking away, he muttered under his breath, "Kids these days. Useless!"

A young boy with hair sporting dark-to-light shades of purple and unique eyes, one light purple and the other dark purple, stood confused in the middle of the streets. His shoulder did not ache at all from that encounter with the rude man who bumped into him first.

Staring blankly around himself, he started feeling panicked and sad once he realized he was lost and did not know the way back home. 

"Brother… where are you… Ian can't find you…" He resembled a little child with his words and way of speech even though his body appeared to be 15 years old. 

The boy suddenly started running around. His sudden movements attracting the attention of the passing pedestrians who soon lost interest and turned away, moving on with their own life.

Running across the road, the young boy did not notice the pedestrian lights turning red and the traffic lights turning green. Luckily, the coming car stopped before it hit him. Frightened, the boy quickly crossed the road. In his haste he knocked into someone and fell to the ground, the hard gritty ground scraped the palms of his hands and his knees, causing them to instantly bleed.

That was not the worst that could happen. The boy wished it had been the worst.

Feeling himself lift from the ground and suspend in midair, the boy reflexively grabbed at the hand clutching his collar.

*****

The mansion was in an uproar. Everyone walked quietly and carefully as if walking on thin ice, to top it off, with eggshells that cracked at the lightest touch.

"How did you let him get out?!! What do I need you worthless b**ards for if you can't even look after a sick patient?!" Angus roared at his men trembling helplessly on their knees. 

"W-We'll find him, definitely, boss!" They stuttered as they shouted at the top of their lungs, wanting to redeem themselves to their boss. They were also really worried about Ian wandering around outside, especially in the state he was in. Ian was actually extremely well-liked by Angus's men.

"Go! Find him!" 

"Yes!"

They all stormed away with the firm determination to find their young master. Gathering all the men they could, they set off on their grave mission that allowed no room for mistakes or slack.

"...How did it come to this?" Angus sighed helplessly as he felt his head throb from the excessive emotional fluctuation. 

Levi stepped next to his friend and patted him on the shoulder to encourage him and give him some of his strength. Angus nodded in thanks and acknowledgement.

Doctor Isaac spoke up, breaking the moment. "Excuse me, but as we can all see, something is wrong with Ian. His mental age seemed wrong for his physical age. I have no idea how this can happen, especially with no trauma and no injury in the situation leading up to the change."

Hearing the word "trauma" made Angus think back to all the times when Ian had been kidnapped when he was a child. Those attempts have lessened since then and none has succeeded due to his order for the increase of security around Ian, but at that young of an age and experiencing such… traumatic events must have wounded Ian's heart deeply without anyone realizing. 

Angus blamed himself for his carelessness, thinking that since Ian kept acting so bright he was fine and unaffected by those kidnappings when he was not.

Now it was too late for regrets. Ian was gone. He was practically a lost child what with his current mental age that can't help himself.

"...ind him. We must find him now!" Angus shouted as he stomped out of the room, planning on joining the search himself.

"I'll come with you," Levi said, catching up with Angus's steps.

Doctor Isaac sighed, but he took off his white coat and followed after the two leaving men.

'Ian, we'll definitely find you soon, so be safe until then…!'