More Than This

He Can't Be

Harry walks towards the door monitor to check who is there. He hollers that it's Anne and Gemma, which prompted the kids to bolt up and run towards the door.

"Hello loves!" Anne kneels down and warmly hugs the twins.

"We missed you Nan!" The two little ones say in chorus. The three exchange smooches and pinches.

"But what about me?" Gemma kneels in, too, with a pouty face.

"We missed you, too" both replies. As the two little ones run to their Aunt and squeeze her with all their might.

Both Anne and Gemma gets barraged with questions from the little ones. Harry shakes his head and laughs at how our kids can be so talkative as he tugs the luggages inside and parks it in the twins' room, where Anne and Gemma will be sleeping.

"Sweetheart," Anne gives me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "How have you been? If I may say, I'm so happy that the four of you are together in one roof." Her smile could not be contained. "It has been awhile, hasn't it?"

I have not gotten the chance to answer her because Gemma groans in response. "Mum! Stop pushing them together!" She walks towards Anne and puts her arm around her. "For all we know they have already moved on from it. Like how Harry here has." Gemma points he thumb at Harry's direction, who is now busy preparing refreshments. She makes a gagging face while doing so.

I laughed at that unexpected reaction from Gemma.

"Gemma, dear!" Anne gently taps her. Gemma just shakes her head after a deep sigh. Anne then joins Harry and Gemma walks closer to me.

"Have you met her?" Her voice almost a whisper. "She's fucking annoying." She rolls her eyes as if the words aren't clear enough.

I nod sideways.  Biting my lip trying not to laugh.

"She's nothing like you." Gemma says in a serious tone. "I don't get it why he even dated her. Not when he is so head over hills with you." She scoffs.

I look at her with furrowed brows. Harry was anything but that before we separated.

"Harry feels like the biggest idiot for losing you. He constantly yaps about you and how he wishes he did better in keeping you happy." Gemma laughs. "Then out of nowhere he brings this stranger into our home and she tells us she is his girlfriend? Ugh! I hate her. Has Harry told you what she did?"

"Only that she threatened him." I scoff.

"Well Ms. Psycho has also called Mum yesterday asking where my idiot brother is. When she said she did not know, she started threatening her! Mum said she was all sweet at the start and then she became downright rude when she repeatedly denied the whereabouts of Harry!" Gemma is wide eyed and  her index finger draws circles beside her temple. "Crazy!"

"Who is crazy?" Harry pipes in, walking in our conversation.

"Who else but Anna!" Gemma scoffs. Harry laughs and mouths "she is" as he walks towards me.

"Come baby, finish what you are doing." Harry grabs my shoulder and pushes me back to my workstation. I groan and I bend backwards on his chest. He responds by kissing my head.

"Wait." Gemma signals us to stop. "Baby? Am I missing something." She is smiling though.

"Ask Mum," is the only reply Harry gave as he continued to push me away.

——————

Anne and Gemma settled and played with the kids while Harry filled them in on what has happened so far. He had to speak in code, in a way, to prevent the two little ones from understanding what really is happening. He knows how the twins like inviting themseves to adult conversations.

I am at my workstation scanning the results of my trace. The system approximates the location of the source. My eyes widen at the blinking dot that represents the location on the map. "What the?" I say loudly. I feel my head swells and the hairs on my skin stand.

"What's wrong, love?" He walks towards me.

I couldn't speak for a moment. My eyes fixated on the screen. Harry slouges and checks what I'm looking at.

"Harry," I say calmly. "The one who sent the emails to Jeffrey lives here in New York. Quite near here."

Harry looks at me in disbelief. "Are you sure, Alex?" His hand is cold against mine.

"She or he is. Most likely." I say as a matter of fact. "All emails that has been sent have been sent from the same location, even if the email addresses varied."

Harry stands and walks back and forth. "Can you not get the exact location?"

"Not that easy." I say. "Unless we can have other info that may triangulate the precise location." Harry breaks into a smile and stares at me. "What?" I asked laughing.

"I love how smart you are, baby." He smirks. "God, I think I already want to marry you." He mutters.

I laugh in response. "What the heck are you saying?" He shakes his head and laughs.

"I'll be back." He says and kisses my head.

Just then, I see a flash on the screen. It's Rye video caling. I put on my headset and clicked the green button. "Hi Rye!" I wave at him. "Any good news?"

"Of course there is," he smiles. Rye is an expert in these things. He always delivers. "A, the numbers you gave me, I traced it. One is as expected just a burner, the other is a New York number."

"Oh," Why am I not surprised. Just as i thought, that  must be the phone owned by Anna. This confirms that she is sending the threatening emails, too! What a psycho bitch. "Don't tell me, is it registered to a certain Anna?" My eyes roll.

Rye laughs. "Who's Anna?"

My face looks at him in disbelief. "Not an Anna?" I ask.

"Uhm no. The New york number is actually a line registered to a Joshua Robert Williams." He says a matter of fact.

What?! My mind screams.

"A, are you ok? You look like you seen a ghost. Do you know this guy? I can dig at his profile further..." Rye goes on but none of what he is saying is registering anymore.

Do I know Joshua Robert Williams? I feel light headed. He can't be. It might just be the same name. Heck, these are very common names.

"Both numbers are currently used in the same area. I'm sending you the location now." Rye says.

The location flashes on screen. Fuck. I'm ready to faint now.