Chapter 502 Our Secret Hideout
“I’m not sure about that,” the admin said while shaking her head. “Perhaps you can give him a call.”
“Alright. Thank you so much for your help!” Sonia beamed at the staff before turning to head out of the building. While walking back to her car, she pulled her phone out to dial Charles’ number. However, once the call went through, Sonia was greeted by the flat, robotic tone of a female instead of Charles’ voice. “Hello. The number you’ve dialed is unavailable. Please try again later…”
Sonia frowned as she pulled the phone away from her ear. That’s odd. Did Charles turn his phone off? What’s up with him? Sonia bit her bottom lip as she stuck a finger out to tap on her phone screen. She made another call—this time, she contacted Grace.
Grace’s phone wasn’t turned off, and she picked up the phone after it rang for a while. “What a surprise, Sonia! Why are you calling?” Grace’s gentle and warm voice filled Sonia’s ear once the call went through.
Sonia smiled. “I’m calling because I miss you, of course! Apart from that, I also have something to ask you.”
“What is it?” Grace sat down on the couch and elegantly sipped on her coffee.
Sonia leaned against her car seat as she explained herself. “Well, I was wondering… Do you know if Charles is home now?”
“Charles?” Grace shook her head. “He’s not home. He should be in the office at this hour.”
“He’s not here,” Sonia uttered as she rubbed her temples. Grace put her coffee cup down when she heard this. “He’s not in the office, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“Hmm… Perhaps he’s out to meet a client. Otherwise, he might have gone to supervise one of the factories. Why don’t you just call him if you’re looking for him, Sonia?” Grace asked.
“I called him a while ago, but he had his phone turned off.” Sonia rested her forehead against her palm as she spoke in an exasperated tone.
Grace shrugged upon hearing this. “Well, I can’t do anything to help, then. He can be really stubborn sometimes, and no one ever manages to find him when he decides to hide. I’m surprised that he’s hiding from you, Sonia. Did you guys get into an argument?”
“No. We didn’t argue about anything,” Sonia uttered with a glazed look in her eyes. “He called me earlier, and we had a decent chat. However, he sounded rather emotional toward the end of the call, and he disappeared after that. I’m not sure what to do with him either.”
“What were you guys talking about? Can you tell me about it? Perhaps I can put the pieces together,” Grace offered. Sonia nodded as she gave Grace a summary of her conversation with Charles earlier. After Grace listened to Sonia’s explanation, she remained silent for a long while.
Sonia felt her heart sinking when she realized this. “Why are you being so quiet, Mrs. Lane? Did I do something to make Charles mad?”
“No,” Grace replied with a smile. “You didn’t offend him in any way. This has to do with his own issues.” There was a hint of frustration in Grace’s voice.
“His own issues…? Sonia tilted her head sideways—she felt more confused than ever. “Have you figured out what’s wrong with Charles, Mrs. Lane?” she asked directly.
“I think so, yeah. That brat knows that he missed his chance again,” Grace uttered with a sigh. “I’ve told him about this a long time ago. I told him to gather his courage and to stop hiding his emotions, yet he never took my advice. Well, look at how things turned out now! He lost all hope again. In my opinion, he deserves all of this,” Grace grumbled.
“Mrs. Lane…” When Sonia heard what Grace said, she had a vague idea of what was going on. However, she wasn’t too sure if her guess was right.
“Alright, Sonia. You should just ignore that guy. Just let him disappear for a while, and he’ll come back when the time is right. I have to go now. I’m meeting a few other ladies for our facial appointment, and I should be heading out soon,” Grace said.
“Okay,” Sonia said with a nod. Once the call was over, Sonia threw her phone aside and pinched the bridge of her nose. Did she just ask me to ignore Charles? How could I do that? We’ve been friends for more than 20 years now. We grew up together! Furthermore, it seems like his sudden change in demeanor has something to do with me, so I’d feel bad if I just left him alone. Our 20-year-friendship means too much for me to do such a thing.
Sonia decided that she would have to figure out a way to get to Charles. With a finger tapping against her right temple, Sonia made a mental list of all the possible places that Charles might visit. After thinking about it for a while, Sonia widened her eyes as she jolted upright in her seat. I got it! I know where he might be! Perhaps he went to the park that we used to go to all the time.
Sonia recalled an incident that occurred when she was eight years old. Back then, Sandra slapped Sonia on the face, and Sonia ran out of her house while bawling her eyes out. Coincidentally, Charles had shown up on her front doorstep to ask her to play. When Charles found out that Sonia had been slapped, he gave Sandra a harsh scolding. Sandra was furious, so she lifted a broom to attack Charles. However, Charles didn’t hesitate to grab onto Sonia’s arm, and they sprinted out of the house to a park nearby.
The park was an abandoned spot, and it was also Charles’ secret hideout. When they were there, Sonia could laugh and joke all she wished to—Sandra wouldn’t be there to complain about how noisy Sonia was. When Sonia was there, she didn’t have to deal with Sandra’s hateful glares. After spending some time there, the abandoned park eventually turned into Sonia’s secret hideout as well.
Whenever Charles called her out to play, they would meet at their secret hideout. That spot practically held all of the happiest memories that Sonia and Charles had shared throughout their childhood and adolescent years. When did I stop visiting our secret hideout? I think it has been about six years now. I stopped going to that spot after I got married to Toby. If Charles didn’t disappear today, I might not even have thought of this spot that we used to go to.
Sonia felt a pang of guilt in her chest as she took a deep breath. Finally, she started the engine and made a move. It took about 40 minutes for her to arrive at an old, abandoned park.
Sonia stepped out of her car and looked up to see the dangling signboard that had the park’s name on it. The metal pieces were coated with rust, but Sonia smiled when she saw the familiar sight of the rundown place. Her gaze softened as she realized how much she had missed the place. It’s been six years. I’m finally back at this place that’s filled with joy and laughter.
As she tore her eyes away from the signboard, Sonia parted her legs to walk into the park. She observed the park’s surroundings to see if anything had changed since she last came here. Soon enough, she arrived at one of the old swings in the middle of the park. There, she found the person she had been looking for.
Charles had his back facing her, and his head was hung low as he held the metal chains that the swing hung from. He used his feet to tap the floor beneath him so that the swing would sway back and forth.
Click, click. Sonia walked over in her heels, and Charles immediately heard the sound of someone getting closer to him. He stopped swinging himself, and the swing came to a gradual halt. After letting go of the metal chains, he sat upright and turned around to look at the person behind him.
He had assumed that it was some random stranger approaching him out of curiosity. However, he hadn’t expected to see Sonia standing in front of him. A mixture of shock and surprise spread across his face as he leaped out of the swing and stared at Sonia. “What are you doing here, darling?”
“Are you surprised?” Sonia responded to his question with another question.
Charles nodded. “Of course. You haven’t been here in years. I assumed that you had forgotten about this place. What made you decide to come here?” he asked.
Sonia opened and closed her mouth a few times before she gave him an answer. “I couldn’t find you anywhere, so I started thinking about the possible places that you might visit. I came here because I recalled that we used to come here a lot. I can’t believe you’re actually here,” she uttered.
“So… Did you come all the way here just to find me?” Charles cried excitedly.
“Yeah.” Sonia nodded. “Your mood changed so abruptly, and you ended the call without telling me what was going on. I was worried, so I went over to your office. However, your admin told me that you weren’t in and that she had no idea where you went. I called your phone, but it was turned off. I called Mrs. Lane to ask if you were home, but she said that you weren’t. After all that, I finally ended up visiting this place.”
