Ten a.m. the next morning, Cecilia was already at my place, I was ready for departure. Cecilia insisted we called Owen to confirm if he would still be coming. I dialed his number and he took longer to answer this time. "Amelia's still holding you in bed?" I spoke.

"Nah, she never even came." He replied.

"Should we still wait for you, boy? We are running late." Cecilia said. The phone was on loudspeaker.

"It's just past ten. Why are we going this early?" He responded.

"Are you still in bed, Owen?" I asked.

"I called in sick at the office, remember? I have to act sick."

"Look who we are waiting for, Cecilia, still lying on his bed." I was disgusted. "Let's go girl, this man isn't ready." I dropped my phone on the sofa and went in to get my bag.
Cecilia picked the phone up and spoke, "Owen, you remember we promised Mike we would be there this morning. Sarah could be there already; we wouldn't want to keep her waiting so it doesn't look like we aren't serious. You know how important this is to Naomi, to her mother, to the three of us. Christmas is in two days' time, let's get this over with quickly and go spend Christmas with our families. Get your ass off that bed and be here in the next five minutes!"

"What a pep talk! I never knew you could be this motivating, Cecilia." Owen began laughing.

"Why are you laughing? What's so funny in what she said?" I spoke as I walked out. Instantly, we heard the sound of a car's horn outside my apartment. "I am outside, losers." Owen said and laughed. Cecilia went to the door and opened it; he was indeed parked outside. Cecilia and I glanced at each other and shook both our heads as we walked out. I collected my phone from Cecilia and hung up the call. Cecilia got to the car first as I stayed back to lock the door. "You are such an idiot, Owen." She spoke as she opened the passenger's seat's door at the back and got in.

"Hey!" I hollered at Cecilia. "I am not sitting beside that loser. Please move to the front."

"Neither am I." Cecilia responded.

"We'll both sit at the back, then." I said.

"No way. I am not your taxi or Uber driver. Both of you can't sit at the back, one of you has to sit at the front."

"Sadly, the one outside has to take that decision." Cecilia said.

"You know what?" Owen spoke as he alighted from the car. "Cecilia, you are driving today. I am tired of driving you two all the time."
"Great, I'll sit at the front with her. Enjoy it at the back, bro." I remarked. Cecilia alighted and moved to the front, sitting behind the steering wheel. I sat beside her. Owen had taught Ceclia how to drive since we were exiting teenage.

We began our journey to Mike's place; Cecilia and I sang along to pop song playing on the car's stereo. We both loved it. Owen was more of a countryside guy, so he just stared at us as we sang. We got to Mike's place few minutes to twelve p.m., this time, we parked outside his apartment. We met him mowing the lawn, we alighted and bid our greetings each. "Mike! My man." Cecilia was first to speak to him, she moved closer and hugged him. "Cecilia darling." He responded.

"Hey, Mike." Owen spoke afterwards.

"Hi." I spoke, too. He waved at us both.

"You know why we are here, right?" Cecilia asked.

Mike nodded his head. "Let's go inside." Cecilia had her arm around his shoulder, he had his own hand around her waist as they walked towards the door. Owen and I gazed at each other, then smiled. He tried wrapping his hand around my waist, "I would hit heaven into you if you dare." I said, shooting him a mean look. He smiled.
We got inside the house and sat on the chair; I and Owen sat on one, Cecilia sat opposite us, Mike was the only one standing. His house had a spooky decoration; a hunter gun hanging in a frame on the wall, the head of a deer and a bear also hanging, I guessed they were figures. He had no television nor radio. The room was not bright enough; he had covered the windows with curtains, a bulb, suspending from the ceiling, was the only light inside. "Are you a hunter?" Owen asked.
"Used to be. I am retired now." Mike responded. "What would you guys care for?"

Owen wanted to speak, I held his hand and interrupted him, "We are fine. Let's just get down to business. We don't have all day here." Owen gazed at me as I held his hand. "We are not here to drink." I whispered to him. Cecilia saw us and laughed softly.

"Alright." Mike said. "Sarah! Sarah!!" He shouted.

"Mike?" A woman's voice responded from inside. My heart beat faster as I heard her voice.

"Your guests are here." Mike said. Seconds later, Sarah appeared and walked towards Mike standing behind the chair Cecilia was seated on. She stood beside Mike. She looked at us and asked, "Who are you people? And what can I do for you?"

Cecilia stood up from where she sat and turned towards them. "Thank you, Sarah, for meeting us. My name is Cecilia, I am a friend of Mike." Mike nodded his head as Cecilia spoke. "Seated over there are my friends, Naomi and Owen." I stood up and walked towards her as she mentioned our names. "We are just here to ask you some questions."

"Hi, Sarah." I spoke.

Sarah squeezed her eyes in a way to show she was trying to remember my face when she saw me. "Have we met before?" She asked.
Owen stood up and walked towards us. "We have, actually." I responded. "The club at Avram street."

"I knew it!" She exclaimed. "How did you guys find me?"

Owen and I stared at each other; we dared not reveal the details to her. "That's not the point, Sarah." Owen said.

"Who are you and why are you after me?" She asked. "How did you manage to escape the club? I remember you got hit on the head."

"We somehow managed to escape." I responded. "Please, that's not important. We are in search of someone and we don't have much time."

She and Mike glanced at each other, then directed their gaze back at us. "Who's that?" she asked.

"Nathaniel, your brother." Owen replied.
Sarah looked surprise as we mentioned the name, then she started walking back. "Mike, I told you this people could be dangerous. They are from the Uptown gang." Mike stared at her as she walked backwards, gazed at us, then directed his gaze towards the gun hanging on the wall. I saw his eyes looking at the gun, "I think he's going for the gun, guys." I walked backwards slowly. Cecilia quickly blocked the way leading to the gun. "Mike! Relax. We are not from any gang." Cecilia said.

"Who are you guys for the last time?" Mike stood like a predator ready to pounce on its prey.

"Relax, Mike. We are not gangsters. We are just people." Owen said.

"You do not trust me, Mike?" Cecilia asked.

"Right now, I do not know who trust." He replied. I stood in silence, watching them talk. Sarah had retreated far from us in the room, she stood afar, looking fearful.

"We have not brought anything harmful with us, we are only looking for Nathaniel." Owen said, trying to pacify Mike.

"How did you know about my brother?" Sarah asked. "Who sent you?"

"Yeah, who sent you?" Mike added.

"Why do you guys believe we were sent or from a gang?" I gathered the confidence to move forward and speak.
"This was the same thing the guy at the restaurant came looking for." Mike responded.

"The gangster at the restaurant that killed people?" I asked.

"Yeah. He came asking for Nathaniel and when I refused to tell him, he threatened to kill the customers." Sarah responded as she walked forward.
"You didn't tell him, did you? That was why he shot the customers?" Cecilia asked.

"Nothing would make me reveal my brother's whereabout. Besides, the guy was from the Uptown gang."

"Why's a gangster looking for your brother?" Owen asked.

"Why are you looking for him?" Mike responded.

Owen, Cecilia and I looked at each other, contemplating if we should tell them the reason we were in search of him. Sarah saw the way we looked at each other, "Mike, I don't trust these guys. They could be undercover agents. Let them leave. I am done seeing them." She turned and walked away.

"Wait, Sarah!" I shouted.

"You heard her. She's done with you guys. Get going." Mike responded.

"Mike, please. Just a moment more." Cecilia said.
"Cecilia, I did what you asked me to do, I helped you get Sarah. I am done helping you, Sarah doesn't like your friends, please just leave."

"Please, we need to find Nathaniel." Owen said.

"It's either you guys leave now or I go for my gun." Mike threatened.

Hearing that, I told them we needed to leave, there was no point walking out of there injured or dead. We all began walking towards the door, "We will be back, Mike." Owen commented.

"For your own sake, don't." Mike responded.

We left the apartment and got into the car the same order we arrived; Cecilia would drive us home again. "Something's not right." Cecilia said.

"Drive, girl. Let's not wait and find out." I replied. She started the car and we drove off. There was silence for some minutes midway through the journey back till Cecilia said, "I'm telling you, something's off."

"Why won't she reveal her brother's whereabouts?" Owen spoke from the back.

"I am more worried on why a gangster was searching for him." I added.

"Is your father also a gangster?" Owen asked.

"Owen! That's not nice." Cecilia retorted.

"This is all getting complicating." I said.

"Aren't we going back to see Sarah seeing she knows where he is?" Owen asked.

"Mike's not going to let us see her again." Cecilia answered.

"She doesn't stay with Mike, how about we stalk her to her residence?" Mike said.

Cecilia and I turned our heads to glance at him. "What? It's a suggestion." He retorted.

"It's a stupid one. Are you so comfortable stalking people?" Cecilia asked as she took her focus back to the road.

"My stalking abilities has brought us this far. I am only trying to help."

"You would only make us look more suspicious. She would really think we are from a gang when we approach her again." I stated.

"You should have just told them Nathaniel was your father." Cecilia said.

"I wasn't ready for that, not even in that circumstance of being threatened. Moreover, what makes you think she would believe me if I had told her?" I replied.

"So what are we going to do now?" Owen asked.

"I don't know. Let's head back home first, I am having a headache already." I responded.

"There she goes, quick to give up." Owen stated.

"How about we go ask Jeremiah or your mother about Nathaniel? If he was involved in any kind of gang activities, so we could at least know what we are up against." Cecilia stated.

"That's true. Those two are the only ones that know about him." Owen added.

"I am not sure if they would. Let's just give it a try. Let's go to Jeremiah." I said.

"Your mother would have been closer to Nathaniel than Jeremiah. Let's go see her instead." Cecilia replied.

"Absolutely. It's been a while I have seen your old woman; let's all pay her a visit today." Owen added.

"Okay, okay." I replied.

We re-routed our journey towards my mother's place. I was so livid and disappointed Sarah didn't tell us about Nathaniel. The meeting I had waited the whole night for had gone all wrong. The thought of visiting my mother with no news of finding Nathaniel burdened my heart. Christmas was in two days and I still hadn't found my gift.