"Don’t bother..."

"It’s alright, Miss Anderson. It’s not in any way dangerous for your health so you can just take it."

Shikera shook her head in denial.

"It’s not that. I would not want to trouble you when it’s just a single check up..."

"What? I’m actually thinking I am the one troubling you. I am giving you this just so you can feel comfortable with me. Doctor Krystal’s private patients are all wealthy men and women so I believe it’s only human nature for me to want to please you," the doctor smiled.

"Oh...if that’s what you want then," Shikera smiled and received the glass. She brought it to her mouth and took one large gulp before dropping the now half filled cup.

"Let’s start now," she whispered.

★★★

"I’m still curious," Shikera began, as soon as they were comfortably seated in the car. Her check up had been completed a few minutes ago and she had managed to persuade Ethan to come down immediately without waiting for Krystal or Leonard. She still wanted to see if she would get a chance to see her father that day.

"About what?" Ethan asked.

Before she could answer, he raised a finger up to stop her before turning to Raymond, "You can go pick Miss Leigh up."

"Alright, Sir!" Raymond replied enthusiastically.

He jumped out of the car immediately and walked away. In the car, Ethan took the driver’s seat while Shikera sat beside him.

"You were saying?" he asked, when they were done fastening their seat belts.

"I’m still curious. You could have just sent Raymond to pick me up and Preston, why did you have to come yourself?" Shikera asked.

"So you wouldn’t have the chance to give excuses," Ethan answered simply.

"That’s not it. You don’t like reporters, Ethan, but you walked right into their den today. What has really happened?" Shikera probed.

A few seconds of silence passed before Ethan spoke again, "Nothing happened. I just didn’t think it was a big deal. I went to the hospital without my mask the last time so..."

"What?! When?...If I remember correctly, that was because of..." She didn’t complete her sentence, but both her and Ethan knew what she would have said next.

"Let’s go home, Ethan. I miss Esther," she whispered instead, before resting her head back on her seat.

"Esther? Or Ethan?" Ethan teased, a wry smile tugging at his lips that surprised Shikera.

"Woah! Is that a smile?" she exclaimed, forgetting her earlier despair.

Ethan’s face blanched immediately, "Not a smile. It was just movement of the facial muscles."

"Movement of what?" Shikera laughed out loud. Quieting down slowly, she asked solemnly, "Did anyone see your face?"

"Your friend did. The rest are insignificant and will probably not even remember they say me that day."

"Really?"

"Except that some incidents that occured in their lives this past few days might make them to always remember me."

"What do you mean by that?" Shikera questioned, knowing that Ethan would never say anything meaningless. Did he do something to those who saw his face?

"It’s nothing for you to worry about," Ethan answered. He started the car and drove out of the parking lot, increasing the speed when they got onto the highway.

Ethan had removed his facemask immediately they got into the car so Shikera just took her time admiring his face, while his own eyes were pressed on the road in front of them.

As she was gawking admiringly at him, Shikera was shocked when the car suddenly stopped and they were not yet at the villa.

"Why are you stopping?" she asked.

"Maybe you will know if you take your eyes off me and look around," Ethan deadpanned. He wore his facemask and unfastened his seatbelt, before opening the door to get out of the car.

Shikera looked around and immediately recognized her favorite ice cream parlor. Her eyes sparkled in excitement and her hand went to the door knob, ready to push it open when Ethan stopped her.

"Don’t come down."

"Why?"

"Because I don’t need attention. I know the flavor you want and I’ll try my best to get it—"

"What attention? I love walking through ice cream parlors!" Shikera protested, pouting her lips pitifully.

"Back at the hospital, so many people were eyeing and pointing at you. It will soon escalate from pointing hands to stealing pictures and videos and I would not like that to happen if you are walking with me," Ethan opposed. Without waiting for Shikera’s answer, Ethan turned away from the car and walked towards the entrance.

"What? Is it my fault that Elovien bought me that much fans?" Shikera asked out loud, her voice echoing in the empty car.

Harrumphing in defiance, she sat back on her seat and took out her phone to message Mrs Mason. At least, Ethan leaving her in the car would allow her the chance to think about how she would make plans to see her father.

[I’m so sorry I’m running late. Where is he now?] She texted to Mrs Mason and the reply came immediately.

[It’s alright. I actually was not able to keep him at the office so he left a few minutes earlier.]

[Did he leave for home or went somewhere else?]

[He didn’t go home. He told me he will be visiting Talon’s ice cream parlor.]

Snapping her eyes away from the phone’s screen, she tilted her head.

"Talon? Talon...Yes! We are at Talon’s ice cream parlor now," she muttered. Forgetting Ethan’s word from a few minutes ago, she got out of the car and rushed into the parlor.

As soon as she was inside, her eyes roamed around and when she could not find neither Ethan nor her father, she went towards the cashier. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"Hey!" she greeted.

"Hey...wait! It’s you from Elovien’s Spotlight, right?"

Shikera smiled awkwardly.

"Yes, I am. By chance, did you see a tall man wearing a black facemask? Or a man in his fifties with hair like mine?" she asked hurriedly, praying that the cashier would not think of her as a odd person for describing someone like that. After all, there were thousands of other people with brown hair like hers.