CHAPTER 61: THE MAN OUTSIDE

Knock... knock!

"Sylvia, what are you doing? Open the door!"

"Mom, who’s that?"

Egypt asked curiously, as if she were waiting for me to answer and open the door for whoever was knocking.

Damn it.

I shut my eyes tight, overwhelmed by the situation.

What am I even supposed to do now?

Beep.

My eyes shot to the floor where my phone had fallen earlier. I didn’t even notice I hadn’t picked it up. I quickly snatched it and saw a message pop up on the screen—it was from Alpheus.

"We’re almost there."

I didn’t know whether to feel relieved... or even more suffocated.

Rome will definitely start questioning why his friends are suddenly showing up—and the worst-case scenario?

One of them might slip and say something about the twins... or worse, the twins might end up meeting Rome, considering we’re all in the same place.

I can’t let either of those things happen.

Suddenly, the knocking stopped.

Rome wasn’t saying anything anymore, but I was certain he was still just outside the door.

"E-Egypt... my dear daughter." I knelt down and held her hands. "You’re a good girl, right?"

She nodded with wide, innocent eyes.

"Can you do Mommy a big favor, my good girl?"

"What is it, Mom?"

I hesitated. "Uhm... can you go back to our room and stay there? Don’t come out, no matter what—unless I tell you to. Can you do that for me?"

She didn’t answer right away. Her eyes flickered to the door before slowly turning back to me.

"Is the man outside... a bad guy?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly.

My heart dropped. But I didn’t have a choice.

I had to lie—to protect her.

I gently placed my hand on her head, forcing a soft smile.

"Y-yes. Do you remember the strangers I always told you and Paris to stay away from? The ones who take children and... sell their organs?"

Her eyes widened in fear.

"The man outside... he’s one of them. He’s here to take you away—and everything inside your body."

She gasped quietly.

"So I need you to hide in our room. Lock the door. Don’t come out—no matter what you hear. Not until I come and get you. Is that clear?"

She looked hesitant after hearing what I said, her eyes shifting back and forth between me and the door.

Her eyes welled with tears.

I hugged her tightly, guilt crawling up my spine—but I needed her to believe that lie.

At least for now.

If it had been Paris who woke up instead of Egypt, convincing her would’ve been a nightmare. Egypt was much easier to sway, even if it meant lying. I just hoped it worked this time.

"O-okay, Mommy... I’ll go back to our room and call for help" she said before quickly running off to the bedroom.

W–wait... what?

I was about to follow her when I suddenly froze at the sound of another knock on the door.

"Sylvia. Please open the door. Let’s talk." Rome pleaded from the other side.

I don’t know why, but a wave of dread surged through me when I heard his voice.

Did he hear everything I said to Egypt?

Our house isn’t soundproof—there’s a chance he picked up part of our conversation, even if we weren’t speaking loudly.

I didn’t know what else to do but stand there, frozen, my hand gripping the doorknob he was now trying to turn from the outside.

"Sylvia... please, open the door.."

No... I can’t open it. I don’t want to see him right now.

Please, someone help me get out of this mess.

"Rome?"

I stiffened when I heard the sound of approaching footsteps outside. That voice... it was Alpheus.

"W-what are you doing here, Rome?"

But Rome didn’t respond.

I pressed my ear to the door, straining to hear them more clearly.

"Rome... I thought you went home..."

"Tch. Why didn’t you look surprised to see me here?"

I finally heard Rome say. He sounded almost mocking.

None of his friends said anything in response.

"Maybe it’s because you already knew I was here. That’s why you’re all here too, right?" Rome added coldly.

"W–what are you saying, Rome? W–we don’t—"

Rome didn’t even let Alpheus finish.

"Did you just happen to find this place because of Gabriel? Or did you already know from the very beginning that he was here—but chose not to tell me because Sylvia is living here?" Rome’s tone was almost accusing now.

"Are you hiding something from me?"

"W–what would we even hide from you, R–Rome?" Alpheus’s response sounded almost nervous. "We came here because we tracked Gabriel too, just like you did."

"Yeah," Alfonso chimed in, trying to support Alpheus. "Didn’t we promise you that we’d bring Gavriel back to you first thing in the morning?"

But Rome still didn’t sound convinced.

"Don’t try to fool me," he said. "I know you’ve been keeping it from me—that Gabriel’s here. And tell me—aside from Sylvia, is there anyone else I should know about? Someone you’re deliberately hiding from me?"

A chill crept over me. Rome didn’t sound like he was guessing anymore. He sounded sure.

As if he had already pieced everything together and was just waiting for one of them to slip up.

Then a calmer voice spoke—probably Dave, based on how much more composed he sounded compared to Alpheus and Alfonso.

"What are you even saying, bro, all of a sudden? Look... maybe you’re right that we didn’t want you to come here. But it’s not because we’re hiding anything from you. The reason we didn’t want you involved is because of Sylvia. We’re afraid you’ll stir things up again and won’t leave her alone—just like you’re doing now by showing up unannounced."

Silence fell once again outside.

I didn’t know what to do at that moment, but I could feel my anxiety rising. What if Rome suddenly forced his way in? I didn’t want that to happen.

"Mom, is the bad man still outside?"

I froze. Slowly, I turned toward the voice—and it was none other than Egypt.

Right beside her were Paris and Gabriel. It looked like she had woken them up. Gabriel was holding a phone, while Paris had a baseball bat in her hand.

Wait—why were they all awake? And why did Paris have a baseball bat?!

Only then did I remember—I had scared Egypt earlier by telling her there was a bad man outside, hoping it would make her go back to sleep. But instead of staying in her room like I told her to, she went and woke up the other two!

"Mom, what happened to you? You look tense. Is there really a bad man outside like Egypt said?" Paris asked as she walked closer, still gripping the bat.

"K-kids... you shouldn’t have come out of the room..." was all I could say.

My chest tightened with even more dread. I shouldn’t have told Egypt someone dangerous was outside. I should’ve just calmly convinced her to stay in the room without scaring her.

"Miss Sylvia, don’t worry," Gabriel said calmly. "I’ve already informed my uncle to send some of his men here to chase away the bad man you mentioned. Is he still out there?"

I wanted to slap my face over and over, just to convince myself this was real—that it was all happening at once.

Why did the kids have to wake up now, of all times? And worse, why did it have to be while Rome was right outside?

I didn’t even know how I would handle things if they ended up seeing him.

What if the kids started asking who the man outside was? What was I supposed to say? Scaring them even more wasn’t an option.

And just like that, the silence outside deepened.

Knock... knock...

Did they hear us, perhaps?

The knock on the door came so suddenly—it felt like it scraped the nerves right off my face. My heart jumped.

"I know you’re listening, Sylvia. And I heard voices. Is that my son?"

I tightened my grip on the doorknob, my hand starting to tremble.

"W-wait... that voice... is that my d-dad?" Gabriel muttered, suddenly wide awake as he moved closer to the door.

"D-dad, is that you?"

"Gabriel? Gabriel, are you in there? Son, can you please convince Sylvia to open the door?"

Panic surged through me.

What should I do in this situation?

I could feel cold sweat forming on my face from the sheer anxiety. And just as I feared, Paris and Egypt had also walked closer to me, their expressions filled with curiosity and confusion.

"M-mom... who’s the man knocking outside?" Paris asked, eyes narrowing. "Do you know him? He seems to be Gabriel’s dad... so why won’t you open the door for him?"

My heart dropped at her words.

I took a deep breath and slowly turned to the twins. Gently, I placed my hands on each of their shoulders, trying to steady my voice despite the fear building inside me.

"S-sweethearts... can I ask you for a favor?" I whispered softly. "Can you please go back to your room for now and stay there until I say it’s safe to come out?"

They looked at me with concern, but I forced a small, reassuring smile.

"The man outside... he really is Gabriel’s dad. I just need to talk to him privately, okay? So there’s no reason for you to meet him."