"12th floor, please," answered a fat man who looked like he was in a hurry. In his hand, there were many boxes and bags containing doc.u.ments. He nodded with a grateful expression. His face seemed overcome with anxiety, and it was clear that he was eager to arrive at his destination immediately.

"I'm headed to the restaurant, 20th floor, please. Thank you," said the beautiful girl behind him with brown hair tied in a ponytail and a pair of sungla.s.ses that hid her eyes. She didn't wear any makeup, and they could see her freckled cheeks, but she just looked naturally stunning. She wore washed out jeans with a white s.h.i.+rt and a thin gray scarf.

"17th floor, please... Thank you, young man." A pair of middle-aged man and woman and their teenage daughter nodded to him gratefully. The daughter seemed to steal glances toward Haoran several times.

"Please press the b.u.t.ton for the 25th floor. Thank you." A woman in her 30s who looked like a supermodel in a s.e.xy dress nodded towards Haoran. Her face was layered with thin makeup and a sweet smile. She was so elegant and graceful.

Haoran nodded. He pressed all the requested floor b.u.t.tons and then turned to Emma. "What about you?"

"The 10th floor," Emma said, indicating that she chose to go to Haoran's suite directly. The young man nodded and pressed the b.u.t.ton for 10th floor. Emma then remembered something and asked Haoran. "Is Goose still not giving news?"

Haoran shook his head. "Not yet. Maybe she is swamped. But you can check yourself later, who knows maybe she sent something this morning."

"All right. The tenth floor, then," Emma finally said. She felt no need to stop by her room first. After all, she also didn't need to do anything there. She had finished packing, and now she just needed to relax.

Not long after, the elevator stopped on the 10th floor, and both of them immediately exited. They walked side by side to the door of 1012. Haoran opened the door to his room and invited Emma inside.

"I want to lie down for a while. Make yourself at home. Make tea or whatever," he said, pointing to the kitchenette and living room. Emma nodded.

"I can open your laptop, right?" asked the girl after she plopped herself on the sofa.

Haoran nodded. "You know the pa.s.sword."

"Thank you." Emma took Haoran's laptop from the desk and put it on her lap. She then opened the screen with the pa.s.sword Haoran had given her. She was excited when she saw there was a new message for Haoran from Goose. "Looks like Goose sent you a message. It just got in before breakfast."

"Oh, really? What did she say?" Haoran sat beside Emma and watched his computer screen as she opened the message from Goose. Haoran furrowed his brows. "Usually, she didn't need a long time to do something. Given the specific location and time you've provided, she should have been able to easily find the answers we are looking for."

"She said she was having a personal matter," Emma said. She then read the contents of the message from Goose. "Sorry for the delay. In the last few days, I experienced a big problem and had to take care of it. I've got a few pictures that you want. Unfortunately, not much, but hopefully, they could be helpful."

They then examined some of the images sent to Haoran's computer, and Emma immediately felt her chest tighten. She could recognize the figures of her father and mother in the pictures. Both stood side by side or walked together, but both their faces were not clearly visible because they seem to reflect light, so they were not captured by the camera.

Emma recognized several locations where the pictures were taken. They were seen at the Arch de Triomphe, then at Pont Alexander, and finally entered the metro (subway) station and disappeared. She sighed.

"Wait a minute ... there's something strange here," Haoran said. He pressed his laptop screen and opened a few photos then observed them with frowns. "In some of these pictures, it's not just your parents whose faces aren't clearly visible. There are two more people. Look at them! They seem to be following your parents from Pont Alexander to the metro station!"

"Gosh..." Emma's eyes went round in surprise. She just realized that Haoran was right. At first, she only focused her attention on the figures of her parents. She did not see anything suspicious around them.

Her heart immediately pounded very fast when she saw in the last picture, besides her parents and two mysterious people, there were two more figures who seemed to be sitting leisurely on a park bench across the street from the metro station. Their faces also seemed to reflect light so that the camera could not capture them.

"Do you think ... they are trailing your parents?" Haoran asked Emma in a trembling voice. This discovery really made both of them nervous. "In the last photo, the number of people following them increased ..."

Before Emma could answer, there was a new incoming message.

BEEP.

Haoran opened the message and found it sent by Goose. Why was Goose sending a message again? Did she find additional information?

[Kids, please do not mention my name in public places. Walls have ears. Sorry, I can't help much this time. Good luck to you, guys!]

Both looked at each other in surprise.

"What ... what did Goose mean?" Haoran asked in confusion. "When did we say her name in public?"

"Crazy! She even knew we talked about her in a public place ..." Emma said. Her brows furrowed as she tried to remember when she and Haoran talked about Goose. "I don't remember ever talking about her. Maybe in Versailles? Or was it in the elevator just now...?"

Both stared at each other in puzzlement.

"Do you think, she is one of the people we met at the elevator?" Emma voiced her suspicion. She regretted not trying to read people's minds when they were in public. It was tiring and she became used to shutting it down.