บท 34: Chapter 34: The Case of Vijay and Ji Jing

When the weight of the situation finally settled in, Mrs. Devin the first was the first person to react accordingly.

"Check her room!" The old omega wailed. "Ji Jing might still be in her room."

A pair of butlers rushed out the dining room that instant. Mar and Liam continued eating their dinner, their forks hitting the plate sent echoes of sound throughout the quiet room.

Slowly, the sounds of mumbling and whispering returned, and not long, the room reverted back to its original chaos. The twins continued building their salad tower, Sieg got back to cutting carrots. Liam just noticed the third Aster child's T-shirt was telling a chemistry joke. Printed on the white fabric, the blocky black letters said:

Fluorite. Uranium. Carbon. Potassium. Oxygen. Fluorite. Fluorite.

Sodium bromate.

In translation, it's F U C K O F F and NaBrO.

The platinum blond alpha chuckled as he chewed on his meatball. His action caught the attention of Sieg, who flashed him a grin before going back to cutting his carrots.

"What's so funny?" Mar whispered to him, and Liam's eyes landed on the shirt again.

"You'll know when my dad notices it." The taller alpha whispered to his companion; he could barely hold back his grin. "Sieg doesn't even major in chemistry."

"No, I'm in biochem." The man himself replied, his light grey eyes were focused on the carrots. "I can hear you little fuckers, you know?"

"We know." Mar chuckled as he reached for more salad. "Can I get more grape tomatoes?"

"Right away, young master." Arkham's voice surprised them before he ran off into the little door that's connected to the kitchen.

Blue eyes blinked and returned back to his dinner. Was the butler listening? Liam was pretty sure his best friend was asking his older brother.

"Cool. That guy's definitely new." Sieg commented as he put the neatly cut carrots in a bowl. Then, he pushed it towards the twins. "Now you don't have to fight Nox for tomatoes."

The pair of younger alphas laughed, but they were cut by a familiar voice from the far end of the table.

"I heard my name, what's up?" Nox looked from his plate full of pasta noodles and tomatoes.

Somehow, the sight of plain pasta underneath whole grape tomatoes seemed so cursed to Liam. However, the fifth Aster child's T-shirt was telling another story. "Ionic is iconic." The platinum blond alpha visibly cringed as he read the words in his head, and the guy who's wearing the shirt noticed.

"I borrowed it from Sieg." Nox shrugged and picked up his fork. "Mr. Velison said the same thing. I know."

Liam didn't even say anything, so he guessed his face said all the words Nox needed to hear. The brunette alpha got back to eating, starting by plucking up a grape tomato with his fork.

In that moment, the two butlers who left came back into the dining room. One of them is a dark skinned man with a buzz cut, probably in his late thirties. Despite his intimidating appearance, the butler was sweating. The other butler is younger, but not new. His blond hair was nearly pulled back, and his brown eyes were shifting nervously.

"Silence, please, everyone!" Madison's voice grabbed the guests' attention. Then, he pointed at the butler. "What are the news?"

"Young mistress Ji Jing's room is empty." The blond butler said out. "Her closet was untouched, and the suitcase which we delivered to her room previously is missing. Senior Petrov found a note, but it is better to discuss with Mr. and Mrs. Devin."

Mrs. Devin began crying again, her tears ran down her rosy cheeks, and her magical makeup wasn't ruined. Next to her, her husband's face was three shades redder than it was.

It was at this moment when Liam noticed poor Arkham was at the door connected to the kitchen, holding a bowl of grape tomatoes. He probably came in when the blond butler started talking.

"Young Master Vijay Patrikovsky's room is empty, too." The dark skinned butler talked. Hos voice was even, but he was obviously nervous. "The contents of his closet were gone, as if he wasn't here a few days ago. He left no note."

"Petrov." Mr. Aster's voice remained calm as he addressed the head butler. "Can you read Ji Jing's note?"

"Right here?" The head butler's question showed his hesitation. Petrov was standing not far from the door, and in his hand held a piece of tissue paper.

"Where else?" The Aster Family patriarch chuckled. "Bring my friend and his wife some peace of mind."

The couple mentioned was looking at the head butler expectantly. Petrov sighed and uncurled the tissue paper. Instead of reading it, he turned it around and lifted it up for everyone to see.

There were several confused noises coming from those who are close enough to read it. Liam was a little far, but he could see just fine. However, he can't read that. It's in another language.

Mrs. Devin cried harder after reading; this time she didn't hold back her sobs. Her husband slammed his hands on the table, and his plates shook.

"How dare she?!?" Mr. Devin the first stood up from his seat. "Such an ungrateful girl."

"Brother, it's best to let her go." Mr. Devin the second stood up and faced his brother chest to chest. The omega that was entertaining the second Devin couple was now sitting on the same chair with Mrs. Devin the second.

Little is know to Liam about the context of Mr. and Mrs. Devin the second's marriage, Rita and her brothers don't talk about their parents. However, it seems that the marriage is pretty open, and Liam doesn't know what to make of it. He usually leave it alone.

"Are you sure the note is even from her?" Mr. Aster frowned, but he didn't move from his seat.

"That's my daughter's hand writing!" Mrs. Devin shouted in tears. "I would recognize it anywhere! She has a distinctly bad calligraphy! And that's her usual brand of tissue!"

A scent of jasmine and omega pheromones suddenly wafted towards Liam. Instead of being enticing, the scent was showing distressing. So much distress with a tiny hint of anger.

"Auntie Jiang, please calm down." Rita got up from her seat and ran towards the older omega. Perfect manicured hands held the crying woman's shoulders, and Rita was mumbling so soothing words in the same language as the note from Blue.

After a few seconds, the male omegas Hua and Tian joined Rita in her mission to calm down the older omega. Even other omegas in the room who aren't related to the Devins began releasing their scents and pheromones.

Mr. Aster sighed, and his eyes met Mr. Devin the first before moving on to Petrov. "Are there any signs of forced sentences?"

"No, master." The head butler walked towards the Aster family patriarch. Once he's close enough, he handed the tissue paper to Mr. Aster. "There's no signs nor scent of Vijay on it nor in her room. Thus, your son wasn't with her when she wrote this. She naturally has no scent, so I couldn't find anything in Vijay's room."

"He's right." Mar suddenly piped up. "Liam and I were trying to reason with Rex after he and Blue parted ways. They reunited with their stuff and left in Rex's car."

"Check the security footage!" Mr. Devin growled. "My daughter is not the brightest in terms of emotional intelligence. She could be manipulated."

"Brother, you should read the note again." Mr. Devin the second put a hand on his brother's shoulder. "She said that it's her choice to leave, and that she wanted to leave a long time ago. She was the one planning, brother."

"My son..." Mr. Aster suddenly let out a laugh. "Oh, my dear boy Vijay."

"Vijay thinks he could extort you by taking away your daughter." Madison was once again jumping into conclusions. "In no time, he will contact Jin Long."

"We'll call Jin Long and let him know." Rita sighed as she huddled her aunt.

Meanwhile, Liam was eating his food while all of this was going down. What could he say anyways? And now the Devins planned to call Jake. What would Jake do? Tell them they mistreated his sister and that's what they get?

His thoughts were cut off when Arkham placed the bowl of tomato in between the platinum blond alpha and his best friend.

"Thanks, Arkham." The black haired alpha immediately scooped up a few and put them in his salad.

"Did young mistress Blue really leave willingly?" The new butler asked.

Mar let out a small chuckle. "Yes, she did. I forgot to tell you, don't go around asking questions like that. The others don't like it."

"Mostly the older generation." Liam added. This guy really is new, but don't new butlers receive training for this? Well, Arkham is a welcomed difference.

"Yes, young masters." The new butler nodded, and for once, Liam saw calculating green eyes looking at Blue's note being passed through the Devins one by one. Now it's in Tian's hands, who's frowning as he read his younger cousin's writing.

The platinum blond alpha will have to pull his best friend aside to talk about their butler.