Chapter 13 Erased Traces
10 min le
As Lucas spoke, he seemed to have his head down, but in fact, he
was surreptitiously sizing up Victoria and Eleanor’s reactions from the corner of his eye.
After he finished speaking, he leaned forward slightly, lowering his stance and showing an air of abject humility.
“I know this request of mine is kind of…‘
Before Lucas could finish his sentence, Victoria cut him off. “Hey,
it’s no big deal!
“It’s just a prescription. It’s not like Kenneth formulated it himself. It’s not some top–secret treasure. It’s just a casual inquiry. It’s a
piece of cake.”
Victoria said cheerfully, her face beaming with pride, as if she was
thrilled to have helped Lucas once again.
As if that wasn’t enough, she nudged Eleanor’s shoulder. “Right,
Eleanor?”
Victoria’s reaction made Lucas‘ heart leap with joy. But he also
knew that when it came to decisions, especially those involving Kenneth, it was ultimately up to Eleanor to make the call.
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Both of them turned their eyes to Eleanor, waiting for her
response.
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In fact, not having seen Kenneth for some time, Eleanor did miss
him and felt a bit lost.
Somehow, she always felt that the rift between them seemed to
be widening.
It was as if there was an unbridgeable chasm between the three of
them and Kenneth.
If it were just a matter of treatment costs for Lucas, it would have been a minor issue. But when it came to this prescription, she was
at a loss.
Originally, Eleanor intended to meet with Kenneth first and discuss the matter before making a decision.
But now, after a while without Kenneth around, an unsettling feeling gnawed at her heart.
As she met the expectant gazes of Victoria and Lucas, and heard a cough from the bedroom at that very moment, Eleanor’s heart skipped a beat.
Her fingers on her knees tightened slightly as if she had made up her mind. “Okay, Lucas. Don’t worry about this. Leave it to us.
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We’ll talk to Kenneth.”
(1) 10 min (aft
left
In just a few seconds, a cold sweat broke out on the back of Lucas‘ neck. Fortunately, he got a rather satisfactory result.
“Then, really, thank you so much.
“Once this is done, I’ll treat you and Kenneth to dinner. I hope you
won’t mind it being a simple meal…”
In the process of making friends, if one person always showed excessive self–abasement, it could be tiring for others.
But Eleanor and Victoria were the opposite. They only felt more
protective and caring towards Lucas.
As a result, Eleanor’s initial misgivings were dispelled.
After the two of them walked out of Lucas‘ house and crossed a dirty street, Victoria took a deep breath of fresh air and tilted her
chin at Eleanor.
“Okay, I’ll call Kenneth right away.”
Eleanor nodded and let out a sigh of relief.
She really didn’t know how to face Kenneth at the moment.
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10 min leff
Victoria was the impatient sort. The thought of getting Kenneth’s prescription and passing it on to Lucas the very next second was
like a fire under her feet.
When she noticed that Eleanor didn’t put up any resistance, she
wasted no time in whipping out her phone.
But all she got in return was the monotonous, mechanical busy–tone buzzing in her earpiece. “Sorry, the number you
dialed…”
“That’s weird!” Victoria muttered under her breath as she hung up
the phone.
Then, her fingers flew over the screen as she opened the
social–media app, found Kenneth’s chat window, and fired off a
question mark.
But in the blink of an eye, the red symbol beside the chat window
drained the color from her face.
“No way! Kenneth blocked me?” Victoria gasped, clearly caught off guard by this bombshell.
Eleanor’s heart plummeted. Without hesitation, she snatched up her phone, only to be greeted with the same disheartening sight.
“What is he thinking? Why’s he going nuts all of a sudden?”
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Eleanor’s voice was laced with disbelief.
9 10 min loff
The unease that had been knotting in Eleanor’s chest gave way to a seething annoyance. Her brows knitted together tightly, and a faint flush crept up her cheeks.
Eleanor’s words were like a spark that ignited Victoria. She jumped right in, her voice dripping with frustration. “Look at Kenneth, all ‘grown–up‘ now! No wonder we’ve been radio–silent with him. So he just went ahead and blocked and deleted us behind our backs,
huh?
“Seriously, what’s the deal? Is it because of what happened at the hospital last time? Or is he still butthurt that we didn’t sit with him
at the stadium game?
“Come on! He’s supposed to be an adult, but he’s acting like a
total drama queen!
“He’s probably cooped up in the school lab, doing his
experiments. Let’s head over there and give him a piece of our
minds face–to–face!”
As she spoke, Victoria waved down a taxi, then grabbed Eleanor’s arm and practically dragged her inside.
Upon reaching the school’s laboratory building, Victoria and Eleanor scoured every single classroom, but Kenneth was
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nowhere to be found.
*****) 10 min (eft
Standing in the corridor, Victoria crossed her arms over her chest, her breathing growing ragged with anger.
“Kenneth’s never skipped class before, right? So now he’s pulling this stunt just to avoid us?
“Fine. Since he’s being a coward and dodging us, we’ll go tell the
department head on him! Let’s see where he can run and hide!”
Normally, Eleanor would have reined Victoria in and come up with
a more sensible solution.
But the gnawing unease and anger had eroded most of her
rationality. So, the two of them stormed towards the department
head’s office.
Once they were inside the office and mentioned Kenneth’s name,
the department head pushed up his glasses and stared at them in
disbelief. “You’re looking for Kenneth? He dropped out of school
half a month ago.
“Aren’t you two tight with him? Didn’t he say a word to you about
this?”
As they stepped out of the laboratory building, Eleanor and Victoria were struck dumb.
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( * ) 10 min left
They exchanged a stunned look, both still reeling from the shock.
“He dropped out half a month ago? Does that mean he filed the withdrawal papers right after the last game?” Eleanor murmured, her voice quivering unconsciously.
But Victoria planted her hands on her hips and shook her head stubbornly.
“I just can’t buy it. Maybe he bribed the department head to lie to us. It’s probably some crazy revenge scheme to get our
attention!”
Victoria’s eyes roamed across the playground. Suddenly, she caught sight of some of Kenneth’s former basketball teammates
and scurried over to them.
Eleanor trailed closely behind, her palms already moist with
nervousness.
After peppering them with questions, they got the same
responses.
“We’ve got no clue where he went.”
“Yeah, about half a month ago, he just said he needed a break,
and we haven’t heard a peep from him since.”
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(**) 10 min left.
As they left the school and made their way back to Eleanor’s place, the atmosphere in the car was a far cry from when they’d
first arrived at the school.
This time, it was deathly silent, broken only by the rhythmic
sounds of their overlapping breaths.
The air was heavy with a palpable sense of unease.
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