SCARLET [POV] :

Who's this man? Why is Elijah so happy to meet him, anyways? "Raijin?! It's been like, what? 15 years since last saw each other?" exclaimed Elijah as he saw that young man wearing a child's hat.

"Wait a minute... little buddy?! You've grown so much!" he exclaimed. "I didn't think that I'd find him here. It's such a coincidence! Finding him after all these years is probably fate... right?" admitted the stranger.

"Probably! You've grown so much, as well. It's like just yesterday you were still the same 13 year old." he screamed.

"Mmhm. How did you even recognize me?" questioned the man.

That's a damn good question, there. How in the hell did he recognize a man that he hasn't even seen for such a long time?! They were probably 12 years old, back then! I remember meeting my middle school teacher, a few months ago. She recognized me but I didn't.

I've grown so much and yet; it's probably because of my hair. I'm the only one who really styled her hair better than anyone, back in middle school. We could say that I was acting 'perfect' without noticing. I would always help around class, I would share my food with the students who didn't have food or who have unhealthy food (unhealthy as in junk food) since I always had food with a lot of proteins and other good stuff. My mother cared for my health since she wasn't healthy. Ah! Not that I am bragging or anything!...

"It was thanks to the earrings and the cap you're wearing." he uttered. "I- honestly don't know how I recognized you so quickly. Was it my instinct?" assumes Elijah as the man in front of him inspects him.

What about the cap? Did he know he'd wear something like that? Why do I keep hesitating as if I'm in their conversation? I'm having a headache just thinking about how he could just assume something like that.

"I gave it to you on your 13th birthday, before you left the neighborhood. We didn't even get the chance to contact each other, either. You wore those earrings since childhood because that was the first gift your dad bought." explained Elijah.

Talk about fine memory... "Right... I wore it since it was the only one I had and because of the hot sun coming on my beautiful face." he answered.

"You are foolish enough to believe that you have a beautiful face? I guess that was expected since you're the dumb one." uttered Elijah.

I started laughing. I really didn't expect to laugh so hard until I noticed that his friend stared at me with a surprising expression on his face. My idiot-self couldn't control puns. I would always make puns. I know they suck but I can't 'kelp' it. HAHA!! Ah-

"Who's this? The friend you replaced me with?" he complained. He had a grumpy look on his eyes as he looked at Elijah. I don't understand the jealousy flowing around here. He was gone for about 15 years, then when he reappears, he expects Elijah to become his best friend directly?

He started drinking the juice that filled the cup he was holding. "I'm Scarlet. Elijah and I have known each other for... about 2 or 3 days...?" I told him, sincerely trying to win over his trust with a smile and a kind face.

He spit his juice out, without even thinking. "What?! You haven't even known each other for a week and you guys are already going out?! Don't you think this is moving a bit too quickly?" he panicked. What does he- Oh!

"Says the man who takes them out on a date the moment you set eyes. Love at first sight, ay?" Elijah snickered. The man turned around with embarrassment. "I stopped doing that..." he said with a tomato-looking face.

"No, you got the wrong idea. Elijah and I are trying to figure out if his dad is my dad and if my mom is his mom. We've had our suspicions for a while." I explained, as clearly as possible. I don't want some other dirty misunderstanding since I am 'clean'.

"Alright, I guess..." he muttered while putting his arm behind his neck. "How far have you guys gotten into this 'mission' of yours?" he asked. "Hmm... a mission.. I wouldn't say mission since nobody assigned us to do this. We could say that it's an obligation for the both of us." I answered. They both understand what I just told them... right?

ELIJAH [POV] :

I saw the way Scarlet was talking to Raijin. She isn't scared to talk to strangers. She's... really social. That happened once when we were at the appartement and I met a child calling her 'Big Sis Scarlet'; they aren't even siblings! She doesn't know me enough to know if I'm ever going to misbehave towards her and yet, It's like she completely trusts me. It melts my heart just thinking about it.

However, I'm the total opposite. I'm anti-social and cautious. I didn't even hug Raijin just so I can be sure that he won't be doing anything disgraceful towards me or Scarlet. At first, when I met "Elij-" Scarlet, I paid the security guard of the building to check up on me if I don't come out in 7 minutes. "Elijah.." I'm too anti-social that I sometimes think that anyone can stab me in the back anytime and just leave me. I've had my ways of finding of finding out... in very wrong ways.

"Elijah Lopez! Are you listening to me or not?!" screamed Scarlet with utmost anger. "We are discussing about the plan to make our 'parents' meet up in one place. This is really not the time to be day-dreaming." she remarked as she looked at me with anger.

"Y-yeah. I'm sorry. I just blacked out for a while, there. Alright, then. If you don't mind restarting, what were you saying about the plan?" I asked.

"Well, I suggest that we should ask them to meet us up at this place, whenever they're free." suggested Raijin. He doesn't even know what we've been doing and yet, he helps us out? God, you have given me such great people in my life. If only my father was a bit 'modified' as I want him to be, my life would've be so much better. It would've been to the point where I would rather call it 'perfect'. Unfortunately, there's no such thing as perfect.

"I don't think that we should do that." said Scarlet, directly to his face. "Why not?" asked Raijin. "My mother is at the hospital because she fainted. The doctor said that they had to make an operation on her and inspect her body to see if there was anything wrong. They don't think they can help if this happens again so they got her under their roof, for now."

"Oh! I- I am so sorry to hear that. I didn't know at all!" panicked my friend, trying to put himself in a better position. "It's alright. It's not your fault, anyways. You didn't know so I certainly can't blame anything on you, can I? And anyways, I believe she'll recover quickly since... she's my mother. My mother never leaves anything half-way done!" she said with utmost confidence.

Seeing Scarlet trusting her mother to the point where she brags positive things about her makes me a bit jealous. I wish I had a good dad to the point where I would say those kind of words about him. He's never been the dad I wanted and I can't blame him for it. We started out poor, when I was born but  a few days later, he got a nice paying job. I don't really know the pain of being poor since I don't really have a memory of ever being in that state.

"If we're being honest here, I really want to try asking relatives and family friends that knew about them and their relationship. There is at least 2 people that I know that are close with my mom." explained Scarlet.

"That is a good idea. I don't see where the problem is. I'm in! And lil buddy... apparently, my parents were an old friend of your dad. They met for the first time, 36 years ago. They were really young and were probably high school or college students. Sorry but I wanted to text you about it but I- forgot to get your number before I left. [LAUGHS]"

"It's understandable! I'm not mad even a bit. This actually might help us. Scarlet has her part and you have yours. The only one who doesn't is me." I told them, sulking in my side.

"It's actually more useful if you don't have anyone you think of. AH- I didn't mean it like that!" she panicked. "Sorry." she whispered. "It's actually a good thing since there's three of us and three people we need to visit. Even though one of you would meet up with a stranger, it's helpful since we're in this unhelpful situation, ya know?"

"Okay, so... who goes to who?" she asked, holding a journal on one hand and a pen in the other.

"I will go to my parents. They're not the type to tell random strangers about their life. They would probably answer me but I know I won't have all the answers; my parents weren't really close with your parents." he uttered.

"I'll go with one of the family friends of Scarlet, than. And Scarlet, please don't give me a family friend that are like Raijin's parents. They might end up giving false information to me or even kick me out." I explained, hoping to have a good family for an exchange.

"I have the perfect one for you..." she told me with a wicked laugh. "I say good luck in advance to you, dear Elijah, because this is a dangerous journey." she told me with an evil voice before doing another menacing laugh.

I have a really bad feeling about this...