He agreed to the arrangement and followed up by sending over a string of codes as well as the map of a military zone.
Anon was duly satisfied when he received them.
Anon: Excellent, Lieutenant Colonel Jadeson. Many thanks.
Stephen: You’re not to threaten his life. See that you do as you’ve promised.
He seemed to still be conflicted as he did not neglect to remind his counterpart toward the end.
The response which came back, though, was ambiguously expressed.
Anon: Rest assured, Lieutenant Colonel, that we’ll do as you asked since you do not wish to see him die at this present time. Trust me when I say that I’m much more competent than anyone you’ve approached before.
The middle-aged man seated in front of the computer abruptly hunched over with his face contorted for a moment as though he had been hit in the gut. Then he slammed his hand on the keyboard and turned off the computer.
That was his psychological wound that could not be healed.
Back at Oceanic Estate.
Through Janice’s explanation, Sasha slowly came to understand Jonathan’s plans for her. That hit her like another curveball.
Did this old man experience some kind of trauma that led him to make such an ill-advised impromptu decision?
Sasha did not feel up to shouldering such a heavy responsibility and decided that she would bring this up with Sebastian when she went to him the next day. Since he would be due to return the day after, someone from Oceanic Estate had to go send him some clothes anyway.
After Sasha settled on doing just this, she went on to tuck the children in and slept soundly herself through the night.
The next morning, she was up early as she needed to help prepare the children for school.
“Mommy, the teacher told us to tell you about this Friday’s parent-teacher conference.”
After she crawled out from underneath the sheets and got dressed by her mother, the groggy Vivian snuggled into her mother’s arms and told her about the conference with her kiddish voice.
A parent-teacher conference?
Sasha’s eyes brightened up spontaneously. “Really? What’s it about?”
She had never attended such an event as they had been in a constant state of flux ever since the children started attending elementary school. She was so busy that she was only able to send the children to school herself recently.
“There’s nothing much to it, Mommy. Just a routine meeting to discuss the student’s academic performance and stuff.”
When Vivian brought this up, Matteo was worried that his mother would find out that it was meant to address the matter of him and his brother turning the school upside-down.
The school was surely unaware that the mass exodus of students was motivated by the fear of being caught in the middle of a cross-fire between the Whites and the Jadesons.
At this point, the administrators might be still under the impression that it was systematic issues or the quality of the teaching that led to the mass exodus, hence the school wanted to gather the parents quickly to address their concerns and at the same time reassure them of the school’s quality.
Sasha did not suspect too much while she listened. “I see. Sure. Friday is the day after, and your Daddy will also be around. Shall I have him come along?”
“Really?”
The children were profoundly excited by this prospect; their dainty faces dimpled as they clustered around Sasha. Even the usually less expressive Ian hugged his mother’s arm with a sparkle in his eyes.
Sasha reached out to pat their heads.
“Of course! You’re all our sweeties and we both want to be there for you. Should Daddy refuse when the time comes, I’ll drag him along even if I have to.”
Sasha rounded things off with a promise.
Now fully reassured, the three children went on to brush their teeth and for the first time, picked up their backpacks on their own accord and happily ran downstairs to where Mark was waiting.
After she saw them off, Sasha put on a one-piece dress and did a little tidying up before she came downstairs.
“Morning, Tony. Will you be sending some clothes over to Mr. Sebastian today?”
Tony quickly set aside whatever he was doing and made himself available when he noticed Sasha speaking to him. “Good morning, Madam. That’s right. He’ll be back tomorrow so I’m going to bring him a change of clothes later. I believe Old Mr. Jadeson will be taking him out for a meal.”
Sasha quickly followed up. “Do allow me to go in your stead. It’s not like I have too much to do in the morning anyway.”
Tony was apprehensive and thought to himself whether he ought to tell her that the military base was not a place where anyone could conveniently walk into.
However, he agreed in the end after he saw how earnest she was.
“Very well. In that case, I shall go inform Old Mr. Jadeson of this change so that he may inform his contacts over there. As for Mr. Sebastian’s clothing…”
“I know. I’ll go pick them out.”
A jubilant Sasha hurriedly took this task upon herself and immediately turned around to sprint upstairs.
This was something she was well equipped to handle, for she was the one who did all his shopping and organized his wardrobe on his behalf. How could she not know his preferences?
Very quickly, she put together two sets of clothes, complete with ties and shoes, and had them bundled up before heading downstairs with them. With Jonathan’s tacit permission, she drove to the military base.
