Nethania

Chapter 31: Where's Nico?

AVIA

"VINO had the guts to blame me, huh? He's a liar," Hannah grunted as she pulled back a chair and sat on it.

I sipped my water after I shallowed my food. We were eating our breakfast and after this, we were ready for our class.

"Uh-huh, I don't see anything in you that would push us to believe him. He's just guessing," I replied, looking at her.

She sliced her apple and pierced it with a fork and had a bite. "Yeah, he always thought he was right, as if he knew the real situation."

Hannah felt so embarrassed when Vino began attacking her and accusing her of being the accomplice of Nethania. He shouldn't do that, and he certainly shouldn't have the right to blame others just because he wanted to.

Hilary grabbed a table napkin and wiped her lips.

"Wait, Austin's calling me," Hannah excused herself and stood. She marched away from our table. We followed her with our gazes until she stopped in front of the window.

"Are you okay now, Via?" Hilary asked, turning to me.

I nodded. "Yeah, why? I'm feeling okay."

She placed her eating utensils on her plate properly and glanced at me. "You took off your bandage from your forehead. Isn't that hurting too much?"

I smiled and shook my head. "Ah.. No. It doesn't hurt much. I took it off because it's annoying to have a bandage on my forehead. I'm not that used to wearing that sticky thing."

She looked directly at my forehead and pointed it out. "But that's for your wound."

I flipped my hair and sighed. "Geez. It's fine. It's starting to scar anyway, so I'll let it be that way."

"Okay, your choice. " She smiled at me and held her plate. She stood and before she could leave the table, Hannah was stomping her feet and crossing her arms across her chest. Hilary turned to her.

She clicked her tongue. "My gosh! How come he wasn't in their dorm?" she asked.

"What is it, Hannah?" I asked, knitting my brows while looking at her.

She pulled a chair and sat on it, placing her phone on the table. "Austin can't find Nico," she said, glancing at us one by one.

"What?" I exclaimed. "Did he try to call him?"

"Yes."

"What did he say?"

"He wasn't answering his phone."

"Call Jamsen and Vino," Hilary suggested. She placed her plate back on the table and sat again in her chair, looking at Hannah.

We eyed each other and Hannah picked up her phone and dialed Jamsen's phone number. She placed it back on the table when it started to ring. I knew she wouldn't call Vino because they weren't on good terms. She put the call on speaker mode so that we could hear what was being said.

"Hello?" she asked, looking at me.

[Yes?]

"Gosh," Hannah said, rolling her eyes. "Answer this. It's the jerk of all jerks, I can't talk to him right now," she whispered and pushed the phone toward me.

"Is Nico in there?" I asked.

[No. Why would he go here? He's not our friend.]

I sighed. "Don't be too harsh, Vino. He's our friend and Hannah's boyfriend. Don't be a jerk," I said.

[Just kidding. He's not here.]

"How about Jamsen, did you ask him?"

[Jamsen, did Nico contact you?....He said no. He's washing the dishes in the kitchen.]

"Okay, thanks."

I ended the call and stared at them. Hannah looked worried. She was constantly sighing and began biting her nails.

"Where is he?" she mumbled.

"Hey, don't worry, perhaps he went somewhere and forgot to tell Austin about his appointment," I muttered.

She looked at me so steadily. "And he forgot to tell me? He shouldn't forget to tell me about it."

"Geez, okay, okay. Just calm down and relax. Don't overthink about him."

"He's not missing," Hilary said. "He's just around the academy. There's no way he can get out, the guards are so strict."

"Yeah, I hope so."

We did our personal necessities and changed our clothes and wore our uniforms. We went to our dorm and began striding down the hallway. While we were walking, Hilary and I constantly eyed each other, worrying about Hannah, who was hanging her head down and didn't even bother herself to avoid people along the way.

Why is she acting this way? We haven't figured out yet if Nico was really missing or he was just messing with us. What if he went somewhere and forgot to inform us. Geez, he made Hannah worried by simply not telling her where he went.

Since Hannah was a little off today, I held the doorknob and turned it over. I pulled the door and we went inside. Jamsen, and Austin were already there, and when they saw us approaching our spots, they rushed over to find a spot where they could talk with us.

"Guys, so what about Nico? Have you found him?" I asked, placing my bag on my chair and sat on it.

Austin sat on a chair just in front of me. "We went to bed together last night. I saw him lying in his bed before I went to sleep and when I woke up this morning, he was no longer sleeping in his bed," Austin shared, looking at us one by one.

"I guess he went strolling around," Jamsen said, combing his hair with his fingers backwards and adjusting his necktie.

Austin eyed him. "No, I would know he went out because he is always bringing his earphones. But I found it on his side table."

"He forgot it due to a rush?" Jamsen said with uncertainty.

Hilary crossed over her legs and placed her elbow on the armchair and rested her chin on top of her palm. "But how? In the middle of midnight until dawn? It was nighttime. Where could he possibly go?" She knitted her brows while looking at us.

"That's the question," Vino said, touching his chin. "Where in the world of Alviana could he possibly go during nighttime?"

This is weird. He went 'missing' at night and he didn't come back in the morning.

Hannah slammed her hand on her armchair and heaved a long sigh of anxiety. "If he doesn't show up until the afternoon, I'll report this to the administration."

Austin shook his head. "No, Hannah, report it after 24 hours of him missing in action. The campus police won't consider it missing if it is more than five hours after being away."

She inhaled and exhaled deeply. We just stared at her, calming her system. "Okay, I'll try to keep myself calm and relax. But after 24 hours and he still hasn't shown up, I'll call the police immediately."

We nodded to her and, at exactly the right time, our teacher went inside the classroom. She began teaching her lessons and left the class immediately after she did her duty. Our other subjects followed and we ended up tired and hungry, craving for some lunch at the cafeteria.

Hilary and Hannah found us a table to sit on, and we ordered our food. We ate our lunch and for the whole time, Hannah lacked energy and all she did was play with her food. She could barely bring the spoon to her mouth and stared steadily at something far away for a long time.

"It's lunch time already yet he still doesn't show up. Am I still calm and relaxed? He didn't leave a message that would tell us where he was going. I don't want to see him dead after 24 hours. What if Nethania had taken him?" she complained, pushing her plate gently away from her and slumping her arms on the table along with her face above it.

I caressed her back. "Let's hope she didn't take him," I said.