âAll right, Iâll do that. Be sure to inform them first, or else they might not trust me.â After a brief pause, Josiah complained, âWeâve finally gotten something after looking into this for so long.ââOkay. Winnie called me just now. If thereâs nothing else, Iâll hang up now,â Xavier said.âAll right. She called me too.
You donât think she has guessed something, do you?ââWhatâs there to guess?â Xavier retorted, then continued, âItâs not like itâs shady for us to call each other. All weâre doing is withholding the fact that we are investigating Jacinta. I donât want it to affect our relationship before I gather any solid evidence.âJosiah hummed in response and said, âYes, I understand. Donât worry, I wonât tell her.ââI know. I trust you.âWith that, the two of them quickly hung up.Around ten minutes later, Josiah took out his phone and replied to Winnieâs message because he figured she would have ended her call with Xavier by that time.He texted: Iâm at home waiting for your arrival, Ms. Garland.Winnie replied almost immediately: Wait. She reached Josiahâs doorstep in less than five minutes.Josiah was pleasantly surprised the moment he opened the door and saw Winnie carrying a bowl of pomegranates.âHave you come all the way to give me these?â Josiah asked in disbelief.Winnie shot him an annoyed look. âWhy else am I here? Is there someone else staying here? Seriously though, I thought I saw someone just now.ââDonât you try to scare me. I donât believe in ghosts. Are you only giving me these pomegranates because you canât finish them, and you feel like itâs a pity throwing them away?âSpeechless, Winnie snatched the bowl of pomegranates back and said, âYouâre so fussy. Give them back if you donât want them. I couldâve peeled fewer pomegranates if I canât finish these.ââNo, no! I want them. Josiah snatched the pomegranates back from Winnie. âCome in and have a seat. Do you want a drink? Iâll get one for you.ââItâs okay. Iâve drank some water before coming over to give you some of the pomegranates. After all, youâre the one who went through all the trouble carrying the pomegranates back from the hospital.âSmiling as he adjusted his glasses, Josiah asked, âNo, itâs all right. It wasnât really heavy. Letâs talk inside, shall we?ââTalk about what?âLeaning against the wall lazily, Josiah said with a half smile, âIâm concerned about your mental health as your friend. Iâve heard about what Nateâs fans did to you. You must be frustrated.ââThatâs it?â Winnie raised her eyebrows skeptically. âItâs not that bad, but Iâll have to admit that itâs kind of frustrating since Nateâs fans are mostly fourteen or fifteen-
year-old teenagers. They are neither mature enough nor capable of taking full responsibility for their actions.ââYouâre right.â After choosing his words carefully, Josiah continued, âIf this behavior is not curbed, these teenagers may get out of control in the future. The best way to deal with this is to make a police report and let the police handle it. However, if it is a serious case, the teenagers may carry a criminal record forever. It must be horrible for the parents to see their sweet and obedient daughters become someone who would do anything for their idols under the influence of these idol fan groups.
How scary is that? What if someday you realize someone who is the closest to you has changed?
What will you do?â âSomeone who is the closest to me?â Winnie allowed herself to ponder for a while before replying, âIf itâs someone whoâs close to me, I will be more tolerant of them compared to strangers. However, they must learn from their mistakes. If they insist on going their own way, there is nothing else I can do other than part ways with them.âJosiah nodded. âThatâs what I think too.
Tolerating them is one thing, but in the end, we cannot condone their mistakes.âWinnie agreed, âYouâre right. Tolerating is not the same as condoning. All right, I need to go.ââOkay. Let me walk you to the door.âAlthough it was just a few steps away, Josiah walked Winnie to the elevator.However, before the elevator arrived, he called out to her.âIâm working the day shift the day after tomorrow by the way. Letâs have dinner together after work.ââOkay, itâs settled then.âThe elevator arrived just as she agreed to their dinner arrangement.He watched the elevator doors close after she entered.Hopefully, Winnie wonât condone Jacintaâs mistakes once we have proof.To lure Harold out, Winnie made sure there were minimal changes to her daily schedule.Other than her house, the company she was working at, and the mall near the company, she went nowhere else.On most occasions, she went to the mall to eat, and she always chose to dine on the top floor where there were fewer people.It was half past seven at night. As usual, she headed to the mall to have her dinner after getting off work.She was able to have a birdâs-eye view over the mall because the elevator was transparent, and she could even see the people in the elevator next to her.To her surprise, she saw Josiah in the elevator beside her. He was carrying a suitcase.She instinctively thought that he came to the mall to meet her, but then she remembered their dinner arrangement was supposed to be on the next day.Not overthinking the coincidence, she didnât intend to contact Josiah about it because he might have some personal matters to attend to.However, she didnât expect Josiah to head for the eighth floor too.Once she exited the elevator, she turned left while Josiah turned right.At first, she didnât intend to go over and greet Josiah, but she suddenly noticed someone stalking Josiah stealthily.She couldnât possibly ignore what she saw.However, she wasnât sure why the man was stalking Josiah. Would I make things worse if I were to suddenly appear?
At the thought of the possibility, she immediately dialed Josiahâs number.However, Josiah didnât answer his phone. In fact, he didnât seem to notice his phone ringing.Guessing that Josiah left his phone in his suitcase and put it on silent mode, Winnie decided to follow them.The restaurant Josiah chose had dim lighting and private rooms.Winnie guessed that Josiah had a reservation because he entered a private room right after going into the restaurant.As for the man who was stalking Josiah, he went into the private room next to Josiahâs.After considering for a while, Winnie decided to follow Josiahâs stalker instead of going into Josiahâs private room.As she peeked behind the door, she realized something fishy was indeed going on.The walls inside the private room were thick. If someone were to speak softly in the room, there was no way the conversation could be heard by people in the room next to it.However, the man came prepared.When he produced a stethoscope-like device and stuck one side of the device onto the wall and another side into his ear, Winnie realized what he was doing almost instantly.He was obviously eavesdropping.