The Visitor

"Flowers for the most beautiful flower," James said with a smile, offering the bouquet to Claire.

Claire forced and faked her smile and received the bouquet. "Thank you…"

Sarah was staring at James with a weird look on her face. Claire had told her about her latest date but she didn't imagine her date to be this big of a teddy bear.

"Come on, children. Let's have some breakfast," Mr Hoover said, arriving after closing the door.

They all nodded and sat at the dining table. James was sitting beside Claire, at her left while Sarah was sitting at her right. Mr Hoover was sitting parallel to his daughter.

He looked at James and Claire and smiled as he found the kids adorable together.

"How is your business going?" He asked James.

"It's going pretty well, dad," James replied.

Claire looked at him with a frown as she found it really weird that this guy was already calling her father 'dad'.

"By the way, I am really sorry for bugging you to come to the police station in the morning," Mr Hoover said.

"No… it's okay. I was able to feel relieved after seeing her safe and sound, thanks to you," James replied and looked at Claire with a side glance who was trying to fake her smile.

James suddenly noticed Sarah. "Oh, hi!" He greeted. Sarah nodded with a fake smile as well. "Umm…" He was trying to guess who she was until Mr Hoover spoke.

"She is Claire's best friend. They are friends since college."

James nodded and replied, "Oh, then it means you are my friend as well."

"Haha, right," Mr Hoover said with a laugh.

While they were having breakfast, Mr Hoover was noticing James taking short glances at Claire. He was ignoring it purposefully.

Claire was getting self-conscious as she noticed it as well. And suddenly…

*cough* *cough* She started coughing.

"What happened? Are you okay?" James asked, pouring the water from the jug in the glass. "Here…" She took the glass and drank the water.

She actually coughed because James suddenly started touching her feet from his feet. She got startled because it was sudden.

After the breakfast was over, Sarah took Claire to a corner to talk about this guy.

"Hey, is this person your date?" She asked. Claire nodded with a sad face.

Sarah sighed, "Do you know how you two look like together? You look like beauty and the beast."

"I know but…" Claire took a pause.

"But what?"

"I am considering him, " Claire replied. She clearly wasn't looking happy and Sarah noticed it.

"Why? You don't even like this guy," Sarah tried to reason.

"I am tired, Sarah," Claire spoke in a rushed voice and raised volume and continued in a low voice. "I am tired… I don't want to run around anymore."

"What are you saying, Claire. You are considering him knowing that Alex has returned. Your… Alex has returned," Sarah said, making Claire remind of the experiences she had the day before." If you are not thinking about yourself, think about him, at least. What would be feel if he comes to know that you are going away with some other guy?"

They didn't know that someone was overhearing to their conversation. They suddenly heard someone's voice.

"What did you say? Alex?"

They saw that it was James who was overhearing their conversation. Claire and Sarah looked at each other as they didn't expect him to overhear their conversation.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner, Claire? Is he that guy you saw in the café?" He asked with a frown. "If you had found your love, what am I doing here?"

"James…" Claire uttered as James walked out of the house in a hurry. Mr Hoover came and didn't find James there.

"What happened? Where is James? Did he go to the toilet?"

"No, uncle. He left, "Sarah replied.

"Left?"

"Yes, he said he had some urgent matter to look into."

"Oh, I hope everything is okay."

James was standing on the street outside the house. He was standing there with a clenched fist while gritting his teeth. "I won't lose…" He muttered and kicked the dustbin can beside him.

All the waste got scattered on the street. He turned and walked away.

Detective Sam was watching all this and he found this quite amusing. "Interesting…" He uttered as he always found the drama between couples entertaining.

He looked at his watch and muttered, "Alright, maybe I should give a visit as well." He walked towards Claire's house when James disappeared.

Claire and Sarah still had to decipher the scripts and red markings sent by Alex. They had to find out what he was trying to tell. While they were heading upstairs, they heard the ringing of the doorbell.

"Who is it?" Mr Hoover asked in a loud voice, heading towards the door. Claire and Sarah were slowly walking downstairs to see who it was.

Mr Hoover peeped through the peephole and opened the door. Claire got surprised to see Detective James on the door.

"May I come in, Mr Hoover?"

"Y-yes… of course," Mr Hoover answered and left the way for Sam to enter.

Sam looked at Claire. "Hello, Miss Claire." Claire nodded.

They couldn't understand why the detective was there. They had a feeling that he might have found something. Claire was fearing as she had lied to him.

"Is everything alright, detective?" Mr Hoover asked.

"Yes… until now… Don't worry, I was just passing by and decided to pay a visit," Sam replied and sat on the chair near him.

"Did you find anything?" Claire asked.

"Not yet," Sam answered and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "You know that the danger could be lurking anywhere. Close your doors and windows at night and hide yourself…" He paused, took a look at each of their faces and continued while fixing his gaze at Claire. "Don't hide anything from me though. I don't like the people who make my cases difficult for me."

Claire gulped after hearing it. She didn't know what he meant by this but she doubted that he knows about her lie.

Sam stood up and walked towards the door. Before leaving the house, he spoke, "I hope you will cooperate."