SIX

Back at the waiting area, there was this poor soul who wanted to go after his friend so badly but couldn't.

James saw Vincent walk towards the restrooms. He then noticed the women seated in front of them whisper something to each other. One of them stood up and walked towards the restrooms as well.

Well, maybe she had to use the restroom. Wait, why is it the men's restroom again?

'𝘕𝘰.' It can't be.

'𝘖𝘩 𝘯𝘰, 𝘝𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦'𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘦!'

He quickly stood up from his seat but before he could take a step forward, he heard an oddly familiar voice

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. I wouldn't do that if I were you."

He turned around to see who it was but found no one.

'𝘈𝘮 𝘐 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴?' He thought.

And just then, as if that person could read through his mind, he heard a response.

"Don't worry, you ain't hearing things." The woman said with a chuckle "Now be a good boy and sit back down. And soothe yourself, will ya'? I don't want you getting us caught."

Just then, he felt a tug on the hem of his shirt. He looked down to find Liam with a concerned gaze.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Of course you are, ain't you Jamie?" He heard the tranquil tone of the woman again "Now tell him that everything's fine and sit back down."

"Do you hear that?" James asked Liam.

"Hear what?" the elder raised an eyebrow in question.

"I said sit down." He heard it again, but this time, it was rather demanding and not so calm.

He quickly obeyed.

Liam, on the other hand still, waited for an answer.

"Is everything alright? What was that you were talking about? Don't just sit there, answer me."

"If you dare tell him a word." And that was when he realized where the voice came from. It was his Airpod.

"N-nothing, it's just -... I'm fine, everything's fine. And about that .." he referred to what he said earlier, "It was nothing, guess I'm just hearing things." He adjusted the gadget on his ear.

"Good." The woman let out a small chuckle, "Looks like you finally figured it out. Now, why don't you look ahead of you?"

And so he did, only to find the woman he'd met the other day give him a pleasant smile.

"Hello there, I know you've already noticed our presence so I thought it would be nice to play around for a while. And truth to be told, you made it fun." She stared at him straight in the eyes, "Well, games aside, I want you to calm down now. You look like you've witnessed a murder."

James slowly lowered his eyes. He hesitated to make a move since he now knew that something was off with Vincent in there.

"There's no need to be afraid. Look, my friend is back and I guess you'd want to check on yours?"

His head sprung up to find the other woman heading back towards her seat. He was filled to the brim with fret and worry about his friend that the next thing he knew, he slowly got up from his seat and sped towards the restrooms. And the last words out of the woman caught him off guard.

"You're cute." James stopped in his tracks.

And that was the last thing he heard before he took his Airpods off, and continued in his path.

He entered the place to find Vincent near the sinks. He quickly walked towards him and wrapped his arms around him from behind, making the latter flinch.

"I'm so glad you're alright." He let out a sigh in relief, "I was super worried you know? Like, I saw one of those creepy women follow you in here and I wasn't able to go after you because of the other woman." He sighed again before breaking freeing the latter from his arms and turning him around to face him. "You're fine, right? Why do you look so pale? Did she try to hurt you?" He asked, cupping the elder's face.

"I-I'm fine," He took the latter's hands off his cheeks and looked away as he felt his face heat up "And that woman, she didn't hurt me but helped me, I guess..?" He said, making James display a puzzled look. "She didn't try to do any harm, to be honest. But this weirdo on the floor tried choking me to death." He rubbed his nape while eyeing the guy on the floor, wondering if he was still alive and James, who just noticed the unconscious man and gasped out of shock.

"Oh my God, is he dead?!"

"Dude, chill. Don't make any noise and let's leave this place before somebody walks in and gets the wrong idea, okay?" He tried to calm the younger and wrapped his arm around his shoulder, "And to remind you, he's someone who tried to kill me. I don't think we should care if he's hurt."

And with that, they left the restroom after James had groomed himself and calmed down a bit to look less freaked out.

While heading back to the waiting area, Vincent whispered to James,

"I know you're confused but everything that happened back in there stays between the two of us, okay?" He tightened his grip on the latter's shoulder, "I'll tell you everything later." And James just nodded.

Honestly, Vincent was just as confused as James. He decided not to show it since he did want to see the younger in that state. Seeing the latter's smile fade was just too much to bear. He didn't want that to happen and he wouldn't let that happen.

And just then, he remembered something.

'𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦𝘵𝘺.'

As he was lost in his thoughts he did not pay much attention to his surroundings. And that included Lucas calling his name multiple times.

"Vince!! Where you at?" He finally snapped back to reality.

"Sorry, what were you saying?"

"I didn't say anything. But you seem to be busy daydreaming."

"Okay, so what did you call me for?"

"We're leaving."

"Already? But it hasn't been more than 30 minutes since we got here."

"No, but I convinced the manager that we should leave for another waiting area. Something's off in this place." And Vincent couldn't agree more. They stood up one by one and woke the sleeping ones and started to leave the place.

After knowing that those women were there, watching them, the leader knew that it was no good for them if they stayed there any longer. He needed him and his members out of this place and soon. And he'd conclude that after it had come this far, it would be the right time to report them to the authorities, because if they could come past all of that information to an extent that they knew that he and his group would miss their flight, staying quiet any longer would only make things more complicated and who knows? Maybe even dangerous.

"I have something to tell you." he carefully whispered to their manager who he convinced that the other waiting area is closer to their gate, and whatever it took until he agreed for them to leave the place.

The manager turned his gaze to the boy, assuring him that he's listening.

"You see, there were these two-"

At that moment, his phone went off. He reached for it in his pocket and found out that it was a phone call from his sister. He excused himself saying that he'd tell him everything after he attended the call and picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Do you think I'll just sit here watching while you get away and try to report us?"