Chapter 561: The Meetup

"What do you mean unique?" Chris questioned, his brows deeply furrowed as he digested the words that Director Hughes told him. Then his eyes darted to Katherine whose expression changed from simple curiosity to bewilderment. Everything was just getting absurd with each passing second.

"I didn't mean to startle you, Christopher. I'm just saying that it is a possibility. After all, you're not new to this. As far as I know, you don't exist anywhere. Neither does Ms. Young—except her situation now is a bit different. But you understand what I mean, don't you?" probed Director Hughes.

Katherine threaded her fingers through her hair, seemingly baffled because of what was happening. She met Chris's gaze, and both of them understood how strange the possibility was.

"Yes," was all that Chris could answer.

Noticing his dispirited tone, Director Hughes responded, "I apologize that I couldn't help you much about your sister. I tried… but she's really hard to find. This information you gave me is the closest that we got in years. I will try to call a friend regarding this matter and keep it confidential, but I cannot guarantee that I can give you updates on it very soon."

"Thanks for your help, Director."

The phone call ended, and the room fell silent again. Chris's head was still in turmoil due to the different information he received that day. It was too much to handle, but he was very desperate.

"Katherine, can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked.

She exchanged glances with Damien for a beat before nodding her head and walking to the side of the room with Chris.

"What's up?"

He clenched his jaw, looking pained as he contemplated. "Is it… Is it possible for you to call her? I need to see her."

Katherine formed her hand into a fist. The thought of dragging Emma into this mess was giving her a hard time. Whether she was his sister or not, suddenly calling her now when they were 'not friends' at the moment, felt uncomfortable. Apart from that, if she was his sister, what then? Should they just bring her to hiding too? Katherine's heart ached.

"Please, Kath… I'm desperate," he pleaded.

Letting out a heavy sigh, she nodded reluctantly. "Fine… But you can't show yourself. We have to be careful when going out. All of us are basically walking targets now. I'll try to call and ask to meet up—that is if she even wants to see me."

Chris heaved a sigh of relief, nodding and smiling at her. "Thank you."

And so, Katherine went out of the house to get better reception and whipped out her phone and looked for Emma's phone number. Her slightly trembling thumb hovered over it.

"Hey… Everything okay?" Damien came to her side, his hand resting on her waist.

She told him what she was about to do, and he understood what was needed. Kissing her temple, he told her, "Take all the time you need. I'm sure she'll want to meet you. I'll arrange the place."

When he left, she finally had the courage to dial Emma's phone number. It kept ringing for a long time, and she started to wonder if her friend was busy, or was she intentionally ignoring an unknown phone number. Katherine regretted not texting her first, but if she did, maybe Emma would really ignore her call, knowing that she was the one calling.

Just when she was about to end the call, the line went through.

"Hello? Who's this?" a familiar voice of a woman answered.

"Emma… It's me, Katherine."

"..."

She listened intently, but the other didn't respond. Had she hung up? Katherine quickly checked her phone screen, but the call was still connected. "Emma… I know you can hear me."

"..."

"Fine… You don't have to talk. But I hope you listen." She cleared her throat. "I'm sorry for not getting in touch with you. A lot of things had happened. I was going to see you, but you saw me first and…" She sighed. This was terrible. She knew that this phone call wasn't going well. It was so hard when the other didn't talk. "Emma, I miss you. Can we meet?"

Katherine's heart raced, anticipating her friend's response. She could hear passing cars from the other end of the line, so she was sure that Emma was still there.

"Em—"

"Yeah, okay."

The corners of Katherine's mouth lifted upward into a beautiful smile. "Great. I'll text you the address. You're okay to meet me in a couple of hours, right?"

"Okay."

"Thank you. Take care, Ems."

Once the call disconnected, Katherine went back inside the house and told everyone about her phone call with Emma. While she was on the phone, Damien had arranged a private dining room for the two friends. The team planned the whole thing in order to ensure everyone's safety.

…

Jade Oriental Restaurant

The last time Katherine came here was when she was with Alianna and they met Margaret's father last week. The restaurant had become one of her favorites, and she hoped that Emma would love the food here like she did.

Katherine knew that they were meeting for a different purpose, but she was still meeting her friend for five years. It got her excited—at the same time, she worried that Emma was still mad at her.

She didn't have time to go home and change, so she came to the restaurant wearing jeans and black knitted long sleeves. Katherine was definitely underdressed for the high-end restaurant, but that didn't matter. She was eager to meet her friend.

Sitting at the table alone inside a private dining room, she touched the earpiece in place and drank water as she waited. Emma had texted her earlier that she was on her way, so she should arrive any minute now.

"Relax, Katherine. You got this," Damien reminded her through the comms. She smiled and waited patiently.

She was alone in the room, but Damien, along with the others were in the room next to hers. They were listening through the comms and a couple of men from the Alpha team stayed outside her room just in case something goes down.

Chris, on the other hand, was also with Damien and the others in the next room. And he was growing anxious by the second.

Five minutes later, his voice came back to her ear. "Your friend is not alone."

"What do you mean?" she worried.

"That male friend. He's with her."

"Adam?" Katherine muttered, confused why he came with her. It wasn't completely surprising that they were together because for the past five years that she knew them, they were together most of the time. But Emma didn't tell her that he was coming with her today. And for some reason, that caused her heart to quicken its beating.

There was a knock on the door, and in the next second, Katherine got up from her seat. Then Emma and Adam came inside.

Katherine could feel her heartbeat in her ear. She swallowed before she managed to pull a smile on her face as she looked at her friends. Why did it feel like something bad was going to happen tonight?