"What do you mean?"
"If these clues were left out randomly, then I won't believe it..."
"Why?"
"It's simple..."
"Why did the mysterious leaver of these clues bother to visit the same place twice?" James made a conjecture. Bruce and Ron Samuel fell into deep contemplation. Ashlynn, on the other hand, still had that frown on her face as she pouted.
"Let me in! Dumb it down for me!" She turned to look at James and protested.
James was dragged out of his train of thought by Ashlynn and he couldn't help but bitterly smile.
"All right..."
"What I wanted to say is if these clues were indeed left out by that rogue Predator randomly. There should be no need for him to visit the same place twice. Yet, take a look at this. He visited Elmo's Woodworks twice..."
"Right after visiting Dannie's Entertainment Company, he went back to Elmo's Woodworks."
"This is obviously deliberate."
"But for what reason?" James wondered.
Ashlynn scrunched up her eyebrows and said, "What if he's trying to send a message to us?"
Bruce interjected, "What are you talking about? If he wanted to send a message to us, he can just..."
"Wait..."
Bruce lazily interrupted Ashlynn's words, but at the end of his sentence.
He suddenly realized that there was something wrong.
James and Ron Samuel glanced at each other before turning to look at Bruce.
"The reason why he's using such a roundabout method to send a message to us is that he's indeed a rogue Predator! A rogue Predator can't possibly make contact with the Cavaliers so easily..."
"After all, we're the guardians of the three Orthodox Gods and the gods condemned the gods that the rogue Predators worshipped..."
"There's bound to be a conflict of interest."
Ron Samuel nodded his head, "That's right. It seems that you're quite smart. Why don't you use that head of yours often, eh?"
Bruce awkwardly scratched his cheek out of embarrassment.
Ashlynn boisterously laughed and said, "So, I was right? Then, what are we waiting for? Let's decipher his message!"
James shook his head, "I wish it's that easy..."
"Bruce collected nine days worth of clues. If that rogue Predator wants to send a message to us in this method then we need to know how to decipher it. What's more, we also need to know if the clues that we received are sufficient for us to understand what he wants us to know."
"So, you are saying that..."
"That's right..."
"We should closely observe these nine locations to see if our rogue Predator appears in the next few days to give us some clues. If he does, then we will capture and interrogate him. If he doesn't, then it only means that we already discovered all the clues that he wanted to give to us..."
"In that case, it's now up to us to decipher his message."
"Scout the location for several days?!" Ashlynn exclaimed before letting out a sigh, "How troublesome..."
"What did you say?" Ron Samuel turned to look at her.
Ashlynn abruptly trembled, "I-I said... you're so handsome..."
Ron Samuel stared right at her for a moment before he nodded his head and replied, "Quit the nonsense, decide who will go to what location already." He then turned around and walked behind the front desk of the Coffee Shop.
His expression was coolly and it was hard to know what he was thinking.
Thus, the three Cavaliers started their investigation. Since there were nine locations, each of them chose their own location to observe as Ron Samuel gave them explicit instructions not to do anything against the rogue Predator until every member of the Cavaliers were present.
In other words, they were not to capture the rogue Predator alone.
Meanwhile, the subject of the Cavalier's investigation, Calvin Villanueva was having the roughest time of his life.
He looked at the still crying Cecilia and complicated emotions appeared on his face.
But when he saw the genuine sorrow in the little girl's heart and Charlotte's desperation. Calvin let out a sigh and said these words that stunned Charlotte silly, "From now on, I will always be by your side. I will watch you grow up, go to school, get married and have your own family..."
"We will now be inseparable from now on." Calvin wiped the tears on the little girl's face and focused all of her attention to her before saying, "Cecilia, daddy's back."
"Really? Daddy, Mommy, both of you are not lying to me, right?"
Cecilia's huge eyes were full of hope and naivety; she was immeasurably happy.
Charlotte glanced at Calvin and realized that he was telling a white lie.
She felt aggrieved, yet touched that a complete stranger like Calvin was willing to put up a mask and pretend to be Cecilia's father. As Cecilia's birth mother, she couldn't bring herself to ruin a six-year-old child's fairy-tale dreams.
"Yes, it's true... I'm back, and I will never leave you again, Cecilia."
"Let's pinkie swear!" Cecilia stuck out her little plump hand and broke out into a smile.
Charlotte and Calvin looked at each other before offering a pinkie. Under the moonlight, the three of them held their fingers tightly and the scene looked mesmerizing and romantic.
"A pinkie promise is never to be broken!"
Cecilia shouted in joy.
Her tiny face brimming with happiness and sweetness, "I have a dad now! My daddy is back!"
A child's world was always naive and pure. Looking forward to the family dinner that would happen with her long-lost father, Cecilia snuggled deeper into Calvin's embrace. She laughed non-stop at Calvin's silly stories and even neglected her dinner.
It was only until Charlotte feigned anger did she gave up and finally separated from her father.
Eventually, Charlotte coerced her to get ready for bed, and the little girl almost immediately fell asleep.
"Calvin... Thank you. Thank you for helping me out and pretending to be Cecilia's dad and helping me out of this tight spot. I can't even imagine what will happen if she knew what happened to his dad..."
"She will be so sad, and heartbroken..." Charlotte who was carrying Cecilia on her embrace could hear the soft and stable breathing of Cecilia.
She looked so delicate and peaceful as she slept.
But she felt conflicted, and grateful at the same time to Calvin.
This was the first time that she saw her daughter being so happy.
Now, she understood that Calvin's actions were right.
Even if a white lie was still a lie in the end. It was better than the cruel truth.
This white lie was, after all, to give Cecilia a complete and happy childhood. In this case, white lies were far better than the cruel truth. The moment that Charlotte realized these intricacies, she decided to go with the flow and pretend that Calvin was indeed Cecilia's daddy.
All of these were done to give Cecilia a balanced and happy environment to grow up in.
This was the priority and of utmost importance, at least, for Charlotte.
But what about Calvin? What does he feel about suddenly being Cecilia's dad?
Charlotte glanced nervously at Calvin.
She didn't even dare to meet his eyes with her gaze.