Dear Enemy
Chapter 3 - Lunch

Elios ran from one place to another. The boy continues to be the pursuit of the security who tried to catch him. Meanwhile, he was already no longer able to sense Carlota's existence. The woman seemed to have been looking elsewhere.

“I'm sure the boy just ran this way,” said the man to his two colleagues who are now walking with him. They continued to search for Elios, who had suddenly disappeared without a trace. They just do not realize that the child they are looking for is actually hiding in one of the aisle junction. He hid behind a pot of plants while trying to catch his breath. Every now and then the child tries to peek to make sure that they are not aware of his whereabouts.

Elios breathed a sigh of relief. Just now that he was feeling a little calmer, Elios was again made to panic with a voice he had accidentally heard. The boy overheard the sound of some food trolleys being carried by some hotel employees. Realizing that, he immediately went back into hiding, intending to wait for them to pass by. But everything changed when the boy accidentally smelled the smell of such delicious food from the direction of the trolley that passed before him.

The aroma was so fragrant that it made his stomach rumble. Elios could not help himself. The boy immediately ran over and jumped into the bottom trolley and hid behind the curtain that covered him with some food in it which he instantly ravenous while the trolley was continuously pushed past the trolleys security earlier.

The hotel staff who intended to bring the food to each room walked past them. Security initially did not feel suspicious of anything strange, until then they saw one of the curtains of the trolley that they carried twitching. It made them suspicious, and rushed to follow him from behind.

...*...

“Ella—“

“Mummy!” James exclaimed as soon as he heard the voice of the woman across there.

“James, sweetie? Is this you, baby?” Sheilla seemed surprised to hear James picking up her phone. James could hear the voice of the woman speaking in a different tone than before.

“Ya, it's me.” James smiled. Her face turned excited as soon as she heard Sheilla who instantly recognized her voice.

“Why did you pick up the phone? Where's Ella?”

“Ella is in her room. Looks like Ella's sick, so I asked her to lie down.”

“What?”

“Mummy always says that if we're sick, we should rest right? Therefore I ask Ella to rest, so that she quickly recover.”

“Ella hurts? Then if you ask him to rest, who are you playing with?”

“Self.”

“Okay... have you taken a nap?”

“I just woke up.”

“Good son. Then did Ella make you milk?”

“Hm, the..” James went silent. The boy stared at the cup in his hand that still contained the milk he had just made. James really didn't want to tell Sheilla that he had just made his own milk and it didn't taste good.

“Sweetie, are you still there?”

“Huh! Yep! I've been drinking milk..”

“Thank God. Then listen to mummy, okay. Soon someone will come and deliver lunch for you. So wake Ella up and ask her to get everything ready. Mummy and daddy will be home soon.”

“A-I understand..” James said in a panicked tone. What panicked her was that she had just heard that her parents were coming back soon, and she was also asked to wake Ella up. That's bad news.

“Then see you again, sweetie. Wait for mummy and daddy to come home. I love you.”

“I love you too,” Reply James. The phone connection was cut off. James hurried to put his phone on the table and immediately ran to the sink to carry out his plan. But he had just climbed up, the sound of the bell at the front door had already been heard first. This made him spontaneously abandon his intentions. Especially as soon as she heard Ella's voice stepping out of her room. It seemed like the woman was about to go open the door.

“James, have you finished making the milk?” ella asked as she passed by the kitchen room and saw the boy standing there. James just nodded his head with a stiff body. Both hands he hid while still holding a cup containing his milk. “Smart child. Then wait here for a second. I'll check to the front door, looks like there's a guest.”

“Ah! Last phone mummy, she said she already ordered lunch for me.”

Ella allowed the servant to enter. The waiter walked into the kitchen with Ella. By pushing the trolley in his hand, he was about to put all the food he brought onto the table that was there.

On the other hand, James' attention shifted when he accidentally saw something moving out of the trolley and ran towards the other part of his kitchen. Curious about what he had just seen, James then stepped off his footing and stepped following the creature he had just seen. Meanwhile, the waiter was about to take out all the food he had ordered and intended to put it on the table. But as soon as he opened the curtains covering the table, he was surprised to find the bottom trolley empty without any food left in it.

“Gosh!” The waiter was surprised to see it.

“What's up?” Ella looked at him with a confused face.

“The food is gone. It should be here.”

“Lost?”

“Ng. Let me get down first to make sure.”

“Good.”

“I'm really sorry for the inconvenience.” The waiter bowed his body, apologizing for what happened. He rushed back to close the curtain and intended to leave. Ella then drove him to the front door.

On the other hand, James continued walking towards the direction the figure had disappeared from. The figure had just run towards the sofa in the middle room. Once he got there, James couldn't find him anywhere at all. What exactly was that?

James was silent with a confused face. The boy continued to circulate his gaze around, looking for a figure that had just crawled quickly in that direction. “James!”

Ella suddenly called out to him to make the child surprised and spontaneously turned to the direction of the voice. Ella seemed to be looking for herself, and once she managed to find her, Ella immediately approached her. James who noticed the woman approaching, rushed to hide his milk cup behind his back. “What are you doing here?”

“Ti-no. Where's my lunch?” James immediately switched the conversation so that Ella was not suspicious of what was behind her back.

“So his servant said he took the wrong trolley, so he had to go down for a while and take your food. It's okay if you wait a little longer?”

“Ya, it's okay.”

“You are a good boy.” Ella smiled then rubbed the top of her head full of tenderness. “Oh yes, now let me prepare the table for you, after that we just have to wait for the waiter to come back with your lunch.”

“Hm... How about I take it later? You just rest."

“No, I'm fine.”

“Really I can do it. I think...” James muttered softly at the end of his sentence, he then glanced back at his milk cup. Meanwhile, Ella had now walked towards the kitchen to prepare cutlery for him.

“Oh yes, have you been drinking milk?”

“Y-yes..” James smiled stiffly while hiding the thing again.

“Good. You're not hurt, are you?” ella asked to confirm, and James just shook his head to find the woman's question. After asking this question, Ella then went to the kitchen and prepared a table and cutlery for James, while James returned to focus on finding the figure he had been following since.

That's her! James saw the figure he was looking for. He sat behind a window curtain with his legs and lower body not covered perfectly. With his tiny steps, James walked over to the figure.

As James drew closer to him, Elios could feel the boy moving towards him, he could detect it even though he could not see it. When James was right in front of the curtain, he then opened the curtain until he could see Elios sitting while biting a strange tool in his mouth. James was silent with a surprised face when he saw the boy sitting there and clashing with him.

“You who?”

...***...