Chapter Eighty


    Before Clare had even managed to get her head through Lila’s door the next morning, Lila insisted that she was fine choosing an outfit for herself.


    “Aw,” pouted Clare, opening the door fully and letting herself in. “But I love playing dress-up with you.”


    “I feel like that’s not something you should be saying as a 19-year-old,” Lila frowned, adjusting the straps of her maroon tartan pinafore. “Sounds… disturbing.”


    Clare huffed dramatically. “I’ve been dressing you up since you were an infant, no way am I gonna wanna break that now. But… I suppose you don’t look hideous today.”


    “Thanks,” Lila replied, rolling her eyes. Clare grinned.


    “You’ve got about ten minutes before we go pick up your boyfriend,” she declared in a sing-song voice. Lila whipped around to face Clare, her cheeks flushed with both embarrassment and anger.


    “He’s not my boyfriend,” Lila insisted, though she felt a twinge in her heart as the words left her lips.


    “He may as well be,” Clare replied airily, taking her leave and closing the door before Lila had the chance to dispute this.


    “I wish,” Lila muttered to herself before turning back to her mirror. She peered into her reflection before tying her hair up into a high ponytail, and readjusted her thin black knit top underneath her pinafore. She fussed around for a bit longer, ensuring she was ready to go before leaving and knocking on Clare’s door.


    “We can leave now,” Lila called before heading downstairs. Clare left soon after, her excessive number of keychains jangling as she went.


    The drive to Asher’s was filled generally with the sound of Clare’s EDM tracks, though the looks Clare kept sneaking at Lila made Lila feel wary – like Clare was up to something.


    Asher was already waiting outside, wearing a pair of black chinos and a nicely pressed button-up shirt. His hair was styled again, and he looked nervous, taking a deep breath before opening the passenger door.


    “Gooood morning,” Clare sung as he sat down and buckled himself in. “How’s it going?”


    “Good, and yourself?” Asher replied automatically.


    “Fabulous,” Clare replied, smirking and starting to drive towards the shopping centre. “Just talking to Lila about you.”


    “You were not,” Lila retorted flatly. “Don’t lie.”


    “Fine,” Clare sighed. “Was talking to Lila at home about how you’re her ‘not boyfriend’.”


    Lila heard Asher take a sharp breath.


    “Clare, you’re being annoying,” Lila said, swatting her sister’s hand.


    “It’s what I’m supposed to be. Can’t be a hot dancer all the time. My charm meter only goes so far,” Clare chuckled. “Anyway, are you guys going to watch a movie? Or just wander around?”


    “We were going to buy a few things,” Lila said tentatively. She still couldn’t remember what they needed.


    “Lame,” Clare drawled. “Oh well, as long as you’re not doing anything nefarious, I guess I’ll condone it.”


    “N-Nothing nefarious at all, whatsoever,” Asher interjected from the back, though his lack of confidence had Lila internally face-palming.


    “Sounds shady,” Clare said, glancing at Asher through the rearview mirror. “You better not be doing anything nefarious, or I’ll tell Gabriel and ask him nicely to give you hell.”


    “He’s incapable of that,” Asher replied, this time far more confident. “I think.”


    Clare snorted. “Clearly haven’t seen him at the club much.”


    “No, you basically made it so they threw us out,” Lila sighed.


    “Of course I did,” Clare said seriously, frowning. “I feel like you don’t understand how reckless it was that you guys were in there in the first place.”


    “If it was that serious, then maybe you guys should invest in tighter security,” Lila shrugged, her voice lofty.


    “Are you giving me sass?” Clare questioned.


    “Definitely not.”


    Clare exhaled heavily. “Well, either way, we did look into that. It took a while to find suitable bouncers. I’d thought that they’d be stoked to have more hours, but, for some reason, our usual ones weren’t too keen on the idea.”


    “Might have other jobs,” Asher suggested.


    “Probably. With the cost of living, it’s almost a given to have a second job. I’m just lucky enough to be living at home and not needing to pay rent,” Clare said darkly. “Most of my friends who were living by themselves had to move back in with their parents. I hope it gets easier once you guys graduate, but it’s not looking likely.”


    “Way to turn it existential, sis,” Lila said, staring out the window.


    “Sorry,” Clare laughed. “You guys want to enjoy your holidays. I’ll shut up.”


    Clare kept to her word, electing to turn up her music. Luckily, it was only a few minutes before Clare rolled into the drop-off zone for the shopping centre. Lila and Asher exited the car, with Lila turning around to say ‘bye’ to her sister.


    “Am I picking you up?” Clare asked through the open door. Lila glanced at Asher, who shrugged.


    “I’m not sure,” Lila responded. “Just to make it easier, I might just go home by bus.”


    “You can come over to mine after,” Asher offered. A flash of a smirk crossed Clare’s face and Lila’s face turned pink.


    “Or I could get Gabriel to drop you off,” Asher immediately added. Lila wasn’t sure whether he’d seen Clare’s expression, but she wasn’t about to turn around and check.


    “Any of those options sound fine,” Clare replied, no longer smirking. “I don’t have any plans for today, but I’m also happy enough to just stay at home. I tell ya what, it’s going to be so nice when you get your license in January, Lila.”


    “Yeah, yeah,” Lila rolled her eyes at Clare. “That’s if I pass.”


    “’Course you’ll pass. Anyway, see ya later,” Clare waved, and Lila closed the door. Both Lila and Asher watched as Clare sped away, back towards home.


    Lila slowly turned towards Asher, nerves fluttering in her chest. They were alone in the outside world, far from the safety of either of their houses – what now?


    To Lila’s surprise, Asher looked just as anxious, a tentative smile twitching on his lips.


    “L-Let’s go,” he stuttered, shoving his hands into his pockets. “You’ll be cold if we stand here forever.”


    “Good idea,” Lila concurred, though she didn’t feel cold in the slightest. They fell into step with each other as they crossed the threshold into the bustling shopping centre. It was the same shopping centre as the one that Lila and her siblings had visited to get a new bank account for Daniel, and she idly remarked this to Asher.


    “Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that,” Asher smiled. “Feels like an age has passed.”


    “Really? It wasn’t that long ago.”


    “A… few things have been on my mind since then,” Asher said softly, avoiding her gaze. “Hey, let’s check out the Daiso. They’ve always got some heckin’ good doo-dads.”


    Lila followed his lead, smirking and electing to not comment on Asher’s statement, though it was tempting. A few things had been on her mind since then, too.


    They explored a few of the shops, showing each other a range of items that they thought the other would like. At one point, they engaged in a small pillow fight with dog-shaped cushions before being chastised by an employee and promptly leaving that particular store. They proceeded to the next, which had a myriad of board games. Lila inspected the offerings with interest – perhaps there was something here that she could play with Asher… or her family, if he hated the idea.


    “This one looks interesting,” Asher’s voice said on the other side of the shelf she was looking at. She pulled out a couple of board games and reached her hand through the gap that remained. Asher made a strange sound, as though muffling a scream. She waved her hand.


    “Don’t be shy. Hand it over,” she said, balancing the board games she’d pulled out on her hip. He placed it in her hand and she pulled it back, replacing the ones she’d taken into their original spots.


    “Oh yeah,” she said after reading the blurb. “A card game. Seems like it’d be pretty rapid-fire. Could be fun.”


    “Did you find any interesting ones?” he asked, still on the other side of the shelf.


    “A couple. You have so many board games though, you might already have them.”


    “Nah, mine are pretty old, at least. I don’t think I’ve gotten a new board game for, like, five years or something.”


    Lila turned to a different shelf, perusing the options here. It seemed to contain a plethora of mystery board games. She pulled one out, her eyes almost popping out of her skull after checking the price.


    “Jesus Christ,” she muttered incredulously, putting it back as though it scalded her.


    “What’s wrong?” Asher queried from behind her. She nearly jumped out of her skin as she whirled around to face him, her face flushed with embarrassment.


    “J-Just the price,” she said in a strangled voice. “Board games are so expensive.”


    “You reckon?” Asher pulled out one of the board games on this shelf before nodding his head. “I mean, it’s not that bad. But I guess it’s a lot to spend all at once. Though, I think it’s pretty fair. Considering the replayability and the effort that goes into these, among everything else. Like, if you play this one for an hour, what, five times? That’s only $20 an hour. Then, if you play more than that, it decreases even more.”


    “I guess so,” Lila replied, watching as Asher picked up the game she’d looked at.


    “Holy shit,” he whispered. “This one is expensive.”


    Lila laughed. “That’s the one I looked at.”


    He glanced at her before looking back at the blurb. “I mean, it’s a hefty board game. Looks fun. Did you wanna play it?”


    Lila shook her head. “Nah, it’s crazy expensive. It’s a neat concept, but I’ll happily live my life without the experience.”


    Asher looked at it for a couple more seconds. “You sure?”


    “Dead sure,” Lila replied stoutly. “Of course, if you want to play it, I wouldn’t say no. But that’s your decision.”


    He rapped his knuckles along the back of the box. “Can’t resist a good mystery,” he said forlornly. “Plus, we can replay this one.”


    “We’ve been pretty bad at resisting mysteries so far,” Lila confirmed with a chuckle. “We’ve been living in Side Quest Township for a while now.”


    Asher’s eyes flickered to hers before tucking the board game under his arm. “Guess we have been. Not that the Main Quest City is easy to live in. You almost need to go to Side Quest Township to survive Main Quest City.”


    Lila was surprised that he’d picked up on her analogy so easily, though, of course, she was talking to the Dux. He gingerly took the card game that she was still holding out of her hands.


    “Ready to go?” he asked, sliding the card game on top of the board game.


    “Sure, but… why are you menacingly holding onto those?”


    “Menacingly? Not the look I was going for,” he laughed before giving her a serious look. “I’m gonna buy them. Then, I’m gonna make you play them with me.”


    “There’s the menace.”


    “Huh, guess you’re right.”


    “I’ve heard worse threats, though,” Lila teased with a smile.


    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Asher stopped dead in his tracks for half a second before continuing towards the counter. “G?Guess you have,” he said as he passed the games over to the bored-looking, pimpled male cashier who placed the games in a bag almost robotically. They left once everything was paid for, Asher seeming in a much brighter mood as the bag swung freely from his hand. They walked a few paces before he pointed at a video game store.


    “C’mon,” he grinned at Lila, heading over that way. It was covered almost bottom to top in sale banners and marketing.


    “Do you reckon they have a sale?” Lila questioned playfully.


    “Nah,” Asher shook his head vehemently. “Fake news. Definitely full price here.”


    Lila drifted towards the plushies and t-shirts as Asher flicked through games. She looked through a nearby Pokémon bin with idle curiosity. To her delight, a Squirtle in corduroy fabric was in there and she held it up.


    “Squirtle, huh?” Asher asked from behind her shoulder. She almost dropped it. “Didn’t realise you were a fan of Pokémon.”


    “Y-Yeah,” Lila said after catching her breath. “He’s really cute. I love this fabric, too. Plus, of course I’m a fan. It’s almost compulsory, with two siblings and being part-Asian.”


    Asher smirked before looking through the bin himself and holding up a corduroy Charmander. “I’m more of a Charmander boy, myself.”


    “Looks like I win again,” Lila grinned, bopping his Charmander with her Squirtle. “Water beats fire, after all.”


    “I mean, sure,” Asher replied playfully. “But Charmander becomes a freaking dragon.”


    “Not a dragon-type though.”


    “An oversight, I’m sure.”


    Lila laughed and put down the Squirtle, inspecting the t-shirt designs, which featured many pop-culture references and artwork. They remained in the store for about ten more minutes before Lila’s stomach rumbled. She looked around for Asher, putting down the t-shirt she’d been looking at. He was at the counter, taking a paper bag full of things from the sales attendant. She joined him and he looked at her in surprise, his face oddly pink.


    “Hey,” he said, his voice higher pitched than usual, as they started walking to the exit. “Finished looking around?”


    “Yeah,” Lila confirmed, rubbing her stomach. “I’m actually getting a bit hungry now. What’d you get?”


    Asher seemed bashful as he pulled out a couple games and the corduroy Squirtle. Lila clapped in delight as she pointed at it.


    “See,” she said proudly. “Couldn’t resist the allure of the superior starter.”


    Asher passed it to Lila. “Actually, it’s for you.”


    “Huh?”


    “You looked really happy when you held him,” he said simply, avoiding her eyes. “Let’s go grab some food.”


    “W-Wait,” Lila said, grabbing his wrist. He looked back at her, seeming surprised.


    “What’s up?”


    “You’re trying to brush past this so quick,” Lila said, her tone accusatory. She dropped his wrist and he ruffled his hair.


    “I… guess I am,” he admitted, his tone sounding shy. “I thought you’d like it, but it’s okay if you don’t.”


    “I do,” Lila replied firmly, bringing the Squirtle to her chest. “I love it. Thank you for getting it for me. You didn’t have to, and you can take it back if you need the money.”


    Asher shook his head, a relaxed smile easing onto his face, though the blush remained. “Nah. It’s a gift. No take-backsies over here.”


    “Thank you.”


    “No worries. Let’s get some food.”


    Lila remained in a good mood as they ate their kebabs for lunch. The Squirtle really was adorable, though the fact that Asher had gotten it for her was causing the butterflies in her stomach to get so hyperactive that her whole body was jittery. She felt tingling in her palms as she bit into her kebab with relish. She’d have to think of a way to pay him back…


    “If I’d known you’d be that happy about a Squirtle, I would’ve bought you more,” Asher said in a low voice, his eyes crinkled in mirth as he appraised her. Lila blushed, immediately hiding her face behind the kebab. He laughed before gently pulling her hands away from her face.


    “No need to hide,” he said softly, his eyes strangely hypnotic, the warmth from his hands enveloping her own. “Your smile’s cute. I’m glad it’s made you happy. Would rather that than you being depressed that I got you something.”


    “H-Has anyone ever been depressed that you got them something?” Lila asked curiously, pulling away from him and tearing her eyes from his to inspect the limp lettuce leaves poking out from her kebab. If her kebab got cold, she could probably heat it up just with the warmth of her face. He was way, way too close.


    “Hmm… no,” Asher admitted. “But that’s not necessarily the antithesis of happiness.”


    Lila paused, thinking hard about what Clare had told her last year about depression – that it was, really, mostly a lack of motivation, rather than feeling sadness. “Guess you’re right,” she said with a begrudging sigh.


    “I usually am. Comes with the title and prestige of being the Dux.”


    “You really hold onto that, don’t you?”


    “Wouldn’t you?”


    His eyes were twinkling, so Lila supposed he was still in a playful mood.


    “Guess I would, too,” Lila chuckled. She fell silent for a moment. “What’s your plans? After graduation? I know my Dad asked about career paths for you a while ago, but have you settled on something?”


    He looked surprised that she’d asked. “Still don’t really have any,” he confessed.


    “What?” Lila was floored. “Surely you have a reason to keep going for Dux each year?”


    “I do, but that’s mainly ‘cause I can, and I enjoy the challenge. Not really because I’m hoping to be anything in particular.”


    “You don’t even have an inkling?”


    “Do you?”


    Lila didn’t have a response to that. He grinned at her before continuing.


    “I know for a fact that choosing what I want to do for the rest of my life at 16 is a bad idea. I’m smart enough to know that, at least. But… I’ll probably end up falling into medicine. Probably become a specialised surgeon or something. My parents are more or less expecting me to, at least, and I may as well, what with my grades. Whether that’s my true calling or what I actually want to do – beats me.”


    “Seems like you’ve put a lot of thought into that.”


    He snorted. “If I put even a modicum of thought into it, I might find my answer.”


    “I meant by the fact that you know that you don’t know,” Lila clarified. “Perhaps ‘thought’ was the wrong word. I guess you just know yourself well enough to know where your gaps are. Most people just say they don’t know, without any particular reason as to why they don’t know. Seems like your reason is ‘cause you know you’re young, and you’re not adverse to following the path your parents expect of you. Which, as far as expectations go, it at least doesn’t sound like they’re pressuring you all too much.”


    He looked thoughtful for a second before another smile grew on his face. “I feel honoured that you actually listen. My parents don’t actively pressure me, but I guess their expectations that I’ll be someone important subconsciously pressures me. Not enough to figure out what my future’ll look like, though. So, what about you, then? You seem like you don’t know, but maybe there’s an answer somewhere.”


    Lila contemplated this for a moment before shrugging. “Dunno. It’s daunting, and I think just trying to survive school is hard enough as it is. It’s been a heck of a year. I… can’t even see the near future, at this point. For anything, really.”


    She looked down at her food again, the specificity for behind ‘for anything’ at the tip of her tongue, fighting to get out. It seemed silly, that she was far more concerned about the status of her… whatever it was… with Asher than her whole future. But, if this took off, perhaps he would be her whole fut-


    “Maybe we should take a gap year,” Asher’s voice broke her thoughts in half, and she stared at him.


    “W-We?”


    “N-Not necessarily together,” he stumbled over his words in his hurry to reply, his face pink. “B-But if you’re stuck… I mean, I’m stuck at least – then maybe a gap year will help? Live abroad, maybe? I know a lot of people go to, like, the UK or something since we’re part of the Commonwealth.”


    “I hadn’t thought about a gap year,” Lila replied honestly. “It’s a good thought.”


    Asher seemed relieved as he continued to eat his food. They were silent for a while, Lila’s heart drumming in her chest as her mind swirled around the idea of taking a gap year with Asher – coincidentally, of course. Asher finished his food quicker than Lila did and perused the back of the card game box whilst he waited for Lila.


    “All done?” he asked once she scrunched up her kebab wrappings.


    “Yeah. What else did you wanna do?”


    He looked at her with complete seriousness. “We’ve got lots to do,” he said. “For tomorrow.”


    All at once, the fact that tomorrow was set to be the day they were breaking into the cottage opened the floodgates to panic in Lila’s mind. Of course – tomorrow. And of course they were here, not just to eat kebabs and have a grand old time wandering around the shops aimlessly – they needed to buy all sorts of gear for tomorrow.


    She felt like an idiot as she stood up, picking up her rubbish along with Asher’s. He tried to grab it out of her hands but she dodged him, dumping their rubbish in the nearest bin.


    “Let’s go,” she said upon returning, grabbing her bag. “Otherwise the shops will close.”


    Lila couldn’t relax her jaw, which she clamped shut the whole way through their excursion to stores to collect their relevant, albeit shady, purchases. Asher didn’t seem to be in a chatty mood, either, his own face set into one of hard determination.


    Aside from deciding to split the payments in half, or else Asher would never hear the end of it, they remained quiet until completing their last purchase of gloves, two disposable cameras, and associated film. Asher refused to let Lila carry anything, and he was quite laden with purchases now.


    “So… what next?” Lila asked awkwardly as they shuffled over to a seating area so Asher could rearrange the bags he was carrying.


    “I guess I’ll have to head home,” he said, looking down at the bags thoughtfully. “Did you want to come along?”


    Lila checked the time on her phone. It was starting to get late, now that it was approaching 4pm.


    “I… dunno,” Lila replied reluctantly. On one hand, she was exhausted but on the other, she yearned to spend more time with Asher. But… she wasn’t too sure if she could take spending too much more time with him today. Underlying her interactions with him at the shops was the distinct aching whine of longing – that she wanted to be closer to him – intermingled with the sting of rejection. The fact that he bought her a gift today was… confusing the issue in her mind.


    He liked her for a while before this, and she liked him for a while before this, too. They both knew this – but they weren’t together. She couldn’t find a solution to her predicament, to resolving the mass of emotions stirring within, besides dating Asher – or an outright rejection, where there was no possibility of being together. So… amongst all that, was she making a mistake?


    “You seem tired,” Asher said gently, taking his phone out of his pocket. “I’ll get Gabriel to drop you off at home.”


    “… thanks,” Lila replied lamely. With the way her stomach was clenching, going home was probably the best option in the circumstances. Besides, it wasn’t as though she was never going to see Asher again. She’d be going over tomorrow.


    They moved along towards the exit of the shopping centre that Gabriel would be picking them up from. Asher still didn’t seem talkative in the slightest. Now that they were holding the things they needed to break in to the worker’s cottage – which was, naturally, Gabriel’s home, too – Lila supposed it was starting to feel real to Asher. Sneaking around his own house… that was one thing. And even though his family did own the cottage, from what Lila could tell, they didn’t really visit it. This was a whole different ballgame, filled with so many unknowns.


    “We’ll be fine,” Lila said quietly, glancing at him. His eyes rested on hers for a moment before he tightened his jaw. He looked back at the bulging shopping bags and nodded stiffly.


    “We’ll be fine,” he agreed, though it sounded more as though he was trying to reassure himself than anything else. “After all, Marlene won’t be there.”


    “It’d be hard for her to randomly leave a shift at the café, I think,” Lila said reassuringly. “So, if we time it right, we shouldn’t get caught.”


    “What if Gabriel decides to go to the cottage?”


    “Aren’t we having an intensive lamb dish for lunch?” Lila responded, raising an eyebrow at him. “Don’t worry about that.”


    “I feel like we should worry about that,” Asher mumbled, poking one of the bags. “It’s one thing, getting caught in his nightclub and him letting it slide. But breaking into his house?”


    “Aren’t we just going into Marlene’s side of the duplex?”


    Asher paused, placing his hands on his hips. “Guess so… if their central divider is closed, then… even if he does come back… he may not even realise that we’re there.”


    “Exactly,” Lila smiled, feeling comforted by Asher’s consideration. “We’ll be right as rain.”


    Asher inclined his head to indicate that he heard Lila, but, with the pondering look on his face, Lila knew better than to continue disturbing him. If she could hazard a guess as to what he was thinking about, he was probably trying to reconcile what he had to do tomorrow. Or perhaps he was trying to prepare for whatever was lurking within the depths of the cottage.


    Marlene was still quite the mystery – a professional young maid and barista, who managed to take down a man much bigger than herself efficiently and without Gabriel’s notice. Beyond her jobs and the politeness she exhibited towards Lila every time she visited, Lila had absolutely no idea who Marlene was behind all that. Was the image she held during her duties a mask behind which was something more sinister? The proficient punches she pulled without hesitation – perhaps that was the mask slipping. She could really be dangerous… and she lived with Asher… if she was dangerous, and she knew that they broke into her cottage and saw her actions on CCTV – perhaps she’d be in a mood to silence Asher, and even Lila, like Tabitha was silenced…


    ‘Shut up,’ Lila admonished herself with a revolted shiver. ‘You don’t have any evidence to conclude that. Tabitha… might be fine.’


    As Lila stared at the tiles by the exit, she couldn’t help but think that ‘might be’ wasn’t a good enough answer. It was definitely not a good enough answer for Asher, anyway.


    Suddenly, Asher gripped Lila’s arm tightly, snapping her out of her thoughts.


    “We gotta go,” he murmured, his eyes wild. Was that fear she could detect? Without question, Lila scooped up a few bags and followed Asher outside.


    “What’s wrong?” she asked in a low voice once they rested their shopping on a free bench just outside the shopping centre. He pinched the ridge of his nose, audibly taking a deep breath.


    “Piper’s wrong. She’s fucking standing in the shopping centre, staring at us.”


    “What?” Lila’s voice rose to a panic and she frantically looked behind her, trying to spot Piper through the glass of the shopping centre doors.


    “I’ve been feeling like someone was following us as we were grabbing this stuff,” he gestured rigidly towards their break-in gear, “but every time I looked back, there was no one. Then, I caught her in the reflection of the stupid bin next to us.”


    Lila gaped at him. In the reflection? But the reflective finish along the sides of the bin was hardly large enough to mirror much.


    “Are you sure it was her?” Lila asked tentatively, shivering both from the cold and the disturbing implications of Asher’s observation.


    “Dead sure,” he said, starting to bite the fingernail on his left thumb. “She’s burned into my brain now. Wish she wasn’t, but here we are.”


    Lila couldn’t muster up a response to that as she tried again to find Piper through the doors.


    “Gabriel can’t get here fast enough,” Asher muttered under his breath. Lila drew her arms close to her chest as she bit her lower lip, anxiety prickling the back of her neck like a deadly spider. They stood, their postures tense, for several minutes in complete silence, both staring breathlessly at the doors. Many customers came and went, but none fit Piper’s description. Maybe she’d fled after realising she’d been caught by Asher…


    The sound of a car horn made both Asher and Lila jump, and they spun around in unison. Gabriel waved at them as he passed before pulling into the adjacent pick-up zone. Lila carried a few bags to the car and Asher carried the rest, his face stony.


    “Hi Gabriel,” Lila greeted without her usual enthusiasm. He seemed to notice this as he turned in his seat to look at her in the back.


    “Hello Lila,” Gabriel said warmly, concern folding his brow slightly. “Everything alright?”


    “Of course,” Lila said smoothly. “Just… tired.”


    “Understandable,” Gabriel laughed. “Judging by all the bags, you guys must’ve run the length of the shopping centre at least once.”


    “Sure did,” Lila confirmed. Asher closed the door to the front passenger seat with far more force than necessary, brusquely clipping his seatbelt. Lila could see Gabriel’s jaw twitch, but it seemed that he was reigning whatever he’d been about to say in. The car ride to Lila’s wasn’t filled with much chatter, though Gabriel did try a couple times only to receive monotonous one-liners from Asher for his efforts. When he asked about what was in the bags, however, Lila saw Asher’s body language instantly become agitated and Gabriel dropped the topic immediately.


    They arrived at Lila’s soon after that failed conversation starter, and she speedily exited the car.


    “I’ll see you both in the morning,” Lila said softly. Asher turned in his seat to look at her, his eyes seemingly filled with panic. He blinked and the effect was gone. Had she imagined it?


    “See you then,” he said just as softly.


    “I better be seeing you,” Gabriel admonished. “I’m putting my heart and soul into the ginger mango and sriracha lamb shoulder. I’ll be very disappointed if you’re a no-show.”


    “I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Lila replied, smiling genuinely for the first time since Asher had mentioned Piper’s appearance at the shopping centre. “I won’t forgive you if it’s not good.”


    “Have you known me to make something not good?” Gabriel asked playfully, chortling. Lila joined in his chortling before gently closing the car door. She made sure she had the Squirtle in her hands as she stepped back, waving. She caught sight of both Asher and Gabriel waving back before they sped off down the road.


    Just a few hours apart… then… she’d be back with Asher. Then… they’d make their move. The scent of secrets lurking behind the locked doors of the worker’s cottage was unmistakably alluring. Would they find the answers they were hoping to find?


    ‘Hopefully we don’t find the Uni student there… corpse or otherwise,’ Lila thought with a shudder, opening the front door to her house. ‘Please let it either be a normal, humble home, or chockful of answers about Tabitha. And… I hope to heck that Piper doesn’t watch.’