Noah’s face froze for a second before he finally revealed, “I have lost contact with Andrew. We are looking for him as we speak, and once we have anything we will inform you in the earliest timing.”
Matthew’s palms which were on two sides of his body slowly balled up into fists. His voice sounded a little exasperated, “How long has it been?”
“It’s been… half a month.” After saying that, Noah looked down at the floor.
Matthew’s heart was in a mess now but it barely showed on his face. He was afraid that his composure would break, and he would disclose it to Dolores, which would complicate things. Based on how Dolores was holding up, the worst thing that could happen was her falling sick again.
“I see. You must keep it a secret. You can’t even tell this to your family.” He meant to hint that Noah shouldn’t tell this to Chloe too in order to prevent her from accidentally spilling the beans to Dolores.
“I got it. I never tell anyone yet. You’re the only that heard it from me.” Noah looked torn as he said that.
“Was the situation precarious at that time?” Matthew wanted to find out more.
“I heard that it’s dangerous, and it’s not just only him. His whole team had faced much difficulty.”
Noah wasn’t with them at that time, and he only learnt about this when he heard it from survivors of that mission himself.
Matthew told him, “Tonight, we will stay at the hotel.”
“We have space here at home.” Noah tried to make him stay, “We have tidied up the room too.”
“You can’t even hide it from me, so what if she found out? It’s not like you don’t know about her health condition.” Matthew had made up his mind.
Noah had nothing to say to that. Indeed, he was not a good keeper of secrets, and he had revealed the chinks in his armour in front of Matthew just a moment ago, even though not many people could fool someone like Matthew even if they wanted to.
He was like a clairvoyant.
“That would do too. However, since it’s been decided that you are staying here, how should you explain to her about the sudden change in staying place?” Noah asked worriedly.
“I will explain it to here. You don’t need to worry about this.” Matthew’s voice turned a notch lower.
He had some ideas circulating in his mind, so Noah said nothing to that. In fact, he was fearful to face Dolores too. What if Dolores noticed something strange about him? He wouldn’t know how to explain.
It was a good idea for them to stay outside later on. At least, he wouldn’t appear very nervous if she were to ask about Andrew again.
Matthew loitered in the study for some time before finally getting up. Chloe was still talking to Dolores in the living room.
“Let’s go,” Matthew announced.
“Aren’t we staying here tonight?” Before Dolores could ask, Chloe had asked in her stead.
“It’s been too long since we were here. There’s a place we need to go to.” Matthew simply answered, and Noah added to his excuse on the side, “They haven’t come here for a long time, so they must have many places they want to visit.”
Chloe stopped asking and Dolores got up at and looked at Matthew. She asked, “Where are we going? Why didn’t I hear about this before?”
Matthew answered noncommittally, “I just didn’t tell you about this in advance. Let’s get going now.”
“Okay.” Dolores agreed, looking like she didn’t get suspicious.
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