The Ball

Chapter 9
The House

Len's Perspective

The door opened. It wasn't opened fast or being slammed open. It was a normal door-opening action. In a split of a second, Jun opened storage place under the stove and grabbed Len and they went inside, and closed the door. It was so fast Len thought for a moment the person beyond the door was attacking him. He almost screamed, but was luckily silenced by Jun. Len glared at Jun for not alerting him, and Jun glared back. (Umad? UMAD?) The person walked into the kitchen. They could hear his footsteps…they heard the fridge open, something being taken out, and the person left the kitchen. They sat there in silence to make sure he wouldn't come back, and then got out.

"Wew…" Len moaned and stretched himself.

"I think he took something out of the fridge," Jun said and opened the fridge and started examining it, joined by Len a few seconds later.

There was nothing out of ordinary, some packets of meat, some fruits and vegetables.

"Okay, we're running out of options. We have to move on, it's going to be 7." Jun said.

They moved to the door, and listened. Nothing. Len opened the door a crack and looked.

The room was HUGE. The floor was polished wooden. A grand staircase led to the second floor. There was a room on the left and right of them, and straight in front of them was the empty living room filled with sofas, and the front door. Len glanced at Jun, and Jun gestured at the door to their left. They put their ears on the door. Nothing. Jun silently opened the door and they got in the room. Len quickly closed it. There was nothing much in this room. There was a small bed, a table and chair and a window.

"Looks like some servant's room," Len said.

"Well, there's nothing here. Reckon we should move?"

Len couldn't see any further reason to stay, and they once again arrived in the room. This time they tried the door the right. It was pretty much the same as the previous room.

"Another servant…I guess." Len said. There was only the stairs left. It was already 7.30 PM. They were still early. However… The person who came in the kitchen must've gone upstairs, meaning that if they went upstairs, they would whoever was there. And yet, the ground floor was empty, meaning that Rin was upstairs. They decided to wait, and went to the room at the left, as the stairs are at the left and whoever came down wouldn't see them if they were spying. Once inside they silently ate some Mars Bars. It was now 8.

Len opened the door a crack and looked outside. Shit! He swore silently. There were now men dressed in black, sitting at the sofas. Now they can't make any move. Jun came to look. They were talking loud enough to hear them.

"When is the boy coming?" one of them said.

"Not until midnight, so we can relax," another answered.

"Once he comes we can capture him."

"How did you pass on the poisoning incident?"

"I overheard him talking to some boy, and framed him. Haven't been discovered though. No difference, anyway."

"And the girl?"

"We're planning to dispose of her if her parents doesn't reply…doesn't really matter if the boy doesn't come, but still, it will lure him here. If he doesn't come…we'll see." He replied.

Len silently closed the door and looked at Jun. They were planning to capture him…and they were the one who poisoned him! Jun doesn't know that anyway, he only knows that he was sent to the hospital. He'll talk later. And what had they meant if Rin's parents don't reply? Rin was in danger. And they wanted to capture him. He looked at Jun, as if to ask what they should do next. Jun shrugged, and they sat on the bed. There stayed like that, occasionally looking out again. It was 9. Jun opened the door a crack to check, and whispered, "They're gone. Any suggestions on the next move?"

Len thought long and hard. Should they go upstairs? Worth a try, it looked like the men had gone out. He pointed at the top the tell Jun that they were going upstairs. He was about to go, but Jun put a hand on his shoulder and took out his cane. "Good idea," Len said and took his out, and carefully went upstairs, cane in hand. The second floor was narrow, like a balcony because of the wide hole in the floor for the staircase. They saw two doors, one on the left and one on the right. Jun went to the right and put his ear on the door. He gestured a thumbs up at Len. Then he went to the left, and did the same process. Thumbs up. The men must've gone out. Jun opened the door. It was a grand bedroom, with lots of fancy stuff. There was another door at the side of the room. They did the same process and opened it, only to find a bathroom. They shrugged, and went out back into the second floor, and tried the other door. It opened to a single empty room.