"Esper,
wait," Ariel called after her curly-haired friend.
The
curly-haired girl turned back.
"Esper,
who did you inherit the money from?" Ariel asked.
"My
grandfather."
"What's
his name?"
"I
don't know if you've heard of him." Esper thought for a moment.
"It's Oscar Killington. I really have to go now."
"Okay,
bye!" Ariel waved her former classmate goodbye.
Esper
waved back once before boarding the first cab.
Sandy
watched the cab drive away. The name of Esper's grandfather seemed
familiar.
"San-dy..."
Ariel behind her began with an ominous tone, "Do you remember
the time when we were kidnapped...?"
"By
that man in that broken down house?" Sandy asked. Strange that
Ariel wished to discuss the event that had driven a wedge in their
friendship.
"Remember
that he wanted you to sign a document...?" Ariel continued.
"Ah...
yes..." Sandy was unsure where that was going.
"Do
you remember what was the name on the document?" Ariel asked,
"The name of the person whose money you thought you would get?"
"Not
really," Sandy said. The disappointment of not getting that
money still hurt and she was uncomfortable about being reminded of
it.
"Was
it not 'Oscar Killington'?"
Sandy's
brown eyes suddenly widened as she made the connection. So the person
who had inherited all the wealth that Sandy thought was hers was
Esper!? Esper was the heiress!? Was that
why Selina had always kept close to Esper? Was Selina's real job to
protect Esper?
"San-dy..."
Ariel interrupted the brown-haired girl's thoughts, "that means
that the person that that man was looking for was actually Esper..."
"Yeah,"
Sandy agreed.
"And
not you..."
Sandy
was suddenly aware of the silent threat in Ariel's voice.
Apprehensively, she turned to look at her friend.
"That
means that we could've been free any time if you had just signed that
meaningless piece of paper...," Ariel summarized as she leaned
closer. The dangerous glints in her narrowed bespectacled eyes were a
sharp contrast to the cute stuffed cat in her hand.
Sandy
swallowed.
Ariel
grabbed a fistful of her friend's brown hair with her free hand and
pulled down hard. "We could've gotten out anytime!" she
cried.
"Ow,
ow, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Sandy pleaded.
***
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