That night was full of nightmares too; if anything, they were worse than before. The case was slaying me from deep inside. Xaviers did not speak a word to me since the last day, let alone answering my questions. I was sleep-deprived, so I fell asleep again in the morning after having breakfast. The next time I woke up was not because of any nightmare, or the mischievous sun poking me to hamper my sleep, or Bruno's barks; it was due to a noise that came from the other side of the door. I hurriedly put on my slippers and made my way out of the room to detect the source of the sound.

It was the crack of plates. Jonas was sitting on the treadmill, his face covered by his hands. The plates strewn on the floor were his work. He seemed utterly dejected.

"June, what happened-"

"His girlfriend dumped him," Xaviers answered nonchalantly, coming out from June's room while taking sips from his coffee mug.

I recalled Jonas going out in the morning to meet Alyssa. For some reason, more than feeling sympathetic towards Jonas, I was experiencing fury towards Xaviers.

"And you are telling that so calmly?" I demanded in a fuming tone.

Xaviers just shrugged his shoulders and took another sip of his coffee. I lost my temper and rushed towards him, seizing his coffee mug.

"Will-you-stop-sipping-on-that-coffee!" I yapped. "Your brother is crying."

"Well, I had already warned him about that girl having three affairs at once."

I glimpsed at Jonas expecting an answer, but he was quiet.

"And this is the third time in a row, like when are you going to stop running after temporary people?" Xaviers asked from the back.

"Oh please Xav Bro, you know that I can't spend a boring life like you," Jonas spoke for the first time.

"At least I don't live a life with false expectations and get my heart broken every other day," Xaviers made his comeback.

"As if anyone would ever date a rude guy like you," I commented with an eye roll, making sure he noticed it.

I wonder if he ever had a girlfriend.

Well, who was I kidding?

"Wait wait wait," he retorted.

"Firstly, my personal life is none of your business. And secondly, you're acting as if you had a lot of loyal boyfriends or something."

"Me?" I took a bit of time to think about what to say.

"Oh yes I did, if you didn't know," I faked.

"I see," he replied, crossing his arms. "How many exactly?"

"Wait, I've to count," I continued playing along.

"One, two, three..." I tried to find a good number.

"Three-I had three," I stated at last.

"Oh, did you?" he asked, clearly with the intention of not believing me.

Did I say a bit too much that he doesn't believe me?

"Um, actually I guess it was two," I changed my statement.

"Was it?" he continued while pretending to take sips from his coffee mug so that I don't see him chuckling.

I could bet that the coffee mug was empty.

"Okay let's just be honest...I'm a one-man woman, so I only had one."

"You know what the good thing about being a detective is? You just know when someone tries to lie," he grinned.

"And guess what, you can't even try."

I don't know why, but I could not indeed lie while he kept on doing that, so I just admitted the fact, "Fine, I had none!"

He let out a giggle at winning yet another point against me, which ruffled my temper even more.

"Not my fault if I didn't find someone of my choice," I huffed in my defense.

"And I don't prefer running after temporary people either," I added.

"Well, someone loves stealing my dialogues a lot, doesn't she?"

"This Angry Young Man..." I blabbered while gesticulating my hands in a way as if I was going to strangle him with them any moment.

"Will you two ever stop fighting?" Jonas sighed, drawing our attention back at him.

"See, this is all because of you," I accused Xaviers. "Always up for a fight."

"Oh wow, see who is talking," he countered.

"I hate you," I snorted.

"The feeling is mutual!" I heard his voice as he turned away to go back to June's room.

I went to comfort Jonas by giving him some head pats for some time and apologizing for the fight just now. I went on saying typical things like 'you deserve better' and 'that girl was a bitch anyways'. Jonas probably sulked in his room the entire afternoon; I thought it was better to give him some alone time.

While rummaging through the backpack for my clothes, I found my phone with its battery dead. Was it dead all these days? I had completely forgotten about my phone ever since I came here. I took out my charger and put the phone on charge to give it a life.

As I watched the sun setting down the horizon, creating a fine-looking landscape with its substantial aura, there was a continuous BEEP. My phone rang after what seemed like days. I let Bruno down, who was resting peacefully on my lap, and grabbed the phone to see Aunt Nora's name flashing. I picked up the call immediately to hear her familiar voice again. It wasn't just Aunt Nora, Sierra was also there.

It felt so good to talk to them again.

Aunt Nora lectured me for the first few minutes on how she got so tensed when she found my phone switched off even after calling about a hundred times in the past few days.

I checked my call log; there were 98 missed calls which I never noticed. I felt guilty.

She quickly forgot her anger though and started asking about my health and how I was managing to stay all alone here. She indeed sounded restless and worried. Aunt Nora was so good...

"You know Amy, Nick was really worried about you as well. He would ask me every now and then if I could manage to contact you. He isn't at home right now, or else you could talk to him too."

Was he actually worried for me? It might not be him after all then...who knows.

I could almost hear Sierra fighting with Aunt Nora to give her the phone now. I chuckled at their silly fight; they both cared for me so much. My heart found some peace at last.

"Amy Sissy, if those two detectives even dare to trouble you, then just let me know, and I'll come straight away to break their bones with my karate skills," Sierra spoke with a determined note in her voice which proclaimed 'No-one-dares-to-bother-my-sissy'.

I giggled wholeheartedly at that. Well, at least she was better than me at karate.

"Amy, I needed to tell you something," Aunt Nora muttered after Sierra had conversed with me to her heart's content.

"Yes sure, Aunt."

"Your mom had called."

My mom-

My mom called after 10 years? She was alive...

So it turned out something like this: after getting the news of Pappa's death, maybe Mom didn't want me to feel like an orphan, so she called Aunt Nora to ask if she could take me with her. She had married again. Little did she expect that I had already come far away from those who claimed to be my close ones and was seeking refuge in a stranger's house now.

'She was traumatized beyond measure', as Aunt Nora quoted it. Well, that was way too less compared to what she deserved for abandoning her nine years old daughter like that.

I didn't know how to feel about that news. I needed some time to take it in, so I made an excuse that someone was calling. No doubt that Aunt Nora understood it straight away; thankfully, she knew when to give me space. She made me promise to talk to her every single day before muttering 'Love you dear' and disconnecting the call.

There was a strong battle going on between the two shades of daughter inside me. The Momma's girl inside me wanted to return to my mom and embrace her in such a tight hug that she could never go away from me again. On the other hand, the little abandoned girl inside me could never forgive that woman who calls herself my mother but did something which even a stepmother wouldn't do to her nine years old stepchild. I couldn't let any of them win, because I knew that I would be hurt either way. I decided not to spectate the battle and leave things as they were.

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