CHAPTER 86: THE STRANGER OUTSIDE THE DOOR

Inside the house, Paris and Egypt exchanged triumphant glances, both of them breaking into soft giggles.

"You think he already left?"

Paris whispered, pressing her ear closer to the wooden door, straining to catch any sound from outside.

"It doesn’t seem like it"

Egypt murmured, crouching down as she peeked through the thin sliver of space beneath the door. She caught sight of a pair of shoes that hadn’t moved at all.

"What should we do, Paris? It looks like he’s not planning to leave anytime soon."

And as if on cue, a firm knock echoed against the door, making both of them pause.

"Egypt. Paris. Don’t you want to know who I am?" came the low voice from outside.

The twins froze, staring at each other with wide eyes.

"Paris, how does he even know our names?" Egypt whispered nervously.

"He’s probably the same man under the Mr. Bear costume. That’s why he recognizes us."

"So... what do we do now?"

Then came the man’s voice again, more insistent this time.

"Egypt, Paris, don’t you remember who I am? I’m the man under the Mr. Bear costume who always visited you at school. We’re close, right? I just want to talk to you. Can you open this door and face me—just for a moment?"

Paris swallowed hard before glancing anxiously at Egypt.

"Seems like we don’t have a choice... we’ll have to call Mom!"

"Actually..." the man continued from outside, "...my name is Rome Hariston."

Paris fumbled with the phone in her hand, her fingers trembling as she scrolled for their mom’s number. In her rush, she didn’t notice that she had tapped on a completely different contact.

"Hello—"

"Mom!"

Paris blurted out in panic.

"There’s someone outside the door we don’t know! He says he wants to talk to Egypt and me. He looks exactly like the man we saw at the hospital under Mr. Bear’s costume!"

**********

On the other end of the line, Alpheus froze.

For a moment, the room seemed to stop moving, the steady rhythm of the meeting fading into silence. He shot up from his chair as it sank in, this wasn’t Sylvia’s voice he was hearing. It was one of the twins.

"Egypt... Paris?"

The board of directors around the long table stiffened at the sudden change in their usually composed boss. It was the first time any of them had seen Alpheus answer a phone call during an official meeting.

For him to break that rule could only mean one thing—this call was far too important.

But it wasn’t just the board members who were present that day. Rome was seated among them, and the moment he heard the name of the twins echoing from Alpheus’s phone, his brow furrowed sharply. In an instant, his attention to the meeting vanished.

"Huh... who’s this?" Paris froze when she realized the voice on the other end wasn’t her mom’s.

She immediately glanced down at the screen of the phone in her hand, and her stomach almost dropped. The caller ID clearly displayed the name, Sir Alpheus.

Her brows furrowed as the mistake dawned on her. She hadn’t called their mom after all, she had dialed the wrong number.

"Uncle Alpheus? Is this you?"

"Y-yes," Alpheus replied, unable to hide the panic creeping into his voice. "Why did you call me? Is this you, Paris? Can you repeat what you just said? Is it true there’s someone outside your house? Where is Sylvia—is she not home with you?"

His questions came one after another.

Rome, sitting nearby, couldn’t hear Paris’s words on the other end of the line. Still, the sound of her name spoken aloud made his chest tighten. His brows knitted deeper.

He couldn’t shake the urge to snatch the phone away from Alpheus and speak to the twins himself.

Meanwhile, panic flickered in Paris’s eyes as she looked at Egypt, who was staring back at her expectantly.

"Is that Mom?" Egypt whispered.

"No... it’s Uncle Alpheus."

"What? I thought you were calling Mom?"

"I-I did... but I must’ve pressed Uncle Alpheus’s number by mistake..."

"So... are we going to tell him?"

Alpheus’s ears caught the faint voices of the children through the other end, making his heartbeat quicken.

"Kids," he urged firmly. "tell me exactly what’s happening over there. If what I heard earlier is true, that there’s a man outside your door, I’ll leave right now and come to you. But I need you to tell me everything first!"

The moment those words left his mouth, Rome’s attention sharpened instantly. His self-control snapped.

Without warning, he reached across the polished table and snatched the phone straight out of Alpheus’s hand.

Gasps rippled across the conference room.

Everyone present was stunned. It was already unusual enough to see Alpheus answer a call in the middle of a board meeting—but Rome? The stoic, cold man, famously intolerant of disruptions when it came to work?

Everyone expected him to end the call immediately. But to their shock, Rome pressed the phone to his ear, as if he actually wanted to listen to the voices on the other end of Alpheus’s line.

Alpheus could do nothing when Rome snatched the phone out of his hand. He wanted to protest, but he couldn’t afford to show how frustrated he was with Rome.

On the line, Rome heard a small, trembling voice. If he wasn’t mistaken, it was Paris.

"Should we tell him?" she whispered.

"Yes. I’ll be the one to explain him everything" came Egypt’s voice, clearer this time, as if she had taken the phone from her sister.

"Uncle, hello? This is Egypt. Actually, we were supposed to call Mom, but—"

Tok... tok...

"Egypt. Paris. Do you hear me? I know you’re in there. Don’t you remember me?"

Rome’s brows furrowed. That man’s voice, faint but familiar, reached his ear.

"Uncle, did you hear that voice?" Egypt whispered.

"Paris and I... w-we’re scared. The man we saw at the hospital, the one under the Mr. Bear costume... he’s outside our house right now, knocking at our door. He keeps saying he wants to talk to us. Paris and I... we don’t know what to do."

Rome froze. The man under the Mr. Bear costume?

But that was him.

His chest tightened, cold realization slamming into him. If it wasn’t him outside their door, then...

Daniel.

Rome’s jaw clenched hard, his fist curling tight at his side.

"Uncle, are you coming here?"

Egypt’s voice cracked with fear, pulling him out of his spiraling thoughts.

Rome didn’t hesitate. He grabbed his coat from the back of his chair and moved immediately toward the door. He was halfway out of the conference room when Alpheus stepped in front of him.

"W-wait, Rome! Where are you going?"

Rome shoved the phone back into Alpheus’s hand and brushed past him. His cold voice cut through the tense silence of the conference room.

"Paris and Egypt need me."

The directors watched, wide-eyed, as Rome strode toward the exit. He cast them one last icy glance.

"Continue the meeting without me. I’m leaving."

With that, he slammed the door shut behind him and disappeared down the hall.

Inside the conference room, Alpheus exhaled heavily while the directors exchanged uneasy glances. Rome never left meetings for anything.

But Rome’s mind was far from the conference room now. That bastard Daniel.

The moment he heard the man’s voice over the line, Rome knew. Daniel had discovered the twins. That explained everything, why Daniel had been so quiet since returning to the country.

He wasn’t planning to just stay silent. He was already starting to interfere in his life once again.

And now Daniel was at Sylvia’s doorstep, ready to stir chaos for them all.

Meanwhile...

"Hello, uncle?"

Egypt said after Alpheus hadn’t uttered a single word on the other end of the line.

"He already hung up" Paris pointed out.

Egypt pouted when she saw the call had ended.

"Do you think he’ll come?" Egypt asked hopefully.

"Maybe we should just wait for him to show up." Paris replied.

"Or maybe we should just call Mom?"

Paris hesitated, then quickly shook her head. She gently tugged Egypt away from the door so they wouldn’t be overheard by the man outside.

"No—we can’t call Mom. That man out there is probably our father. What do you think will happen if she sees him? Her nightmares might come back if that happens."

"So what else should we do?" Egypt asked nervously.

"Maybe we should just wait for Uncle Alpheus to come... or wait until that man gets tired of knocking."

Both of them let out a heavy sigh as the sound of persistent knocking echoed from outside.

Knock, knock.

"Paris? Egypt?" Daniel called out as he knocked several times, but no answer came from inside.

"Mister, who are you?"

Daniel turned his head and saw a child standing beside an elderly woman, both watching him curiously.

"Do you know Paris and Egypt?" the child asked, his eyes wide with wonder.

The old woman beside him suddenly gasped, her hand trembling as she clutched the boy’s shoulder.

"W-who are you? And w-what is your relationship with Sylvia?"

Daniel’s lips curled into a sly smirk.

"I am Sylvia’s husband... and the father of the twins."