Kings On The Horizon (Vol. 1-3) ✓

63 | Missing Heir

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"WHY ON EARTH IS Max absent again? He finally ranked up and he's not even here," Ervin complains while he, Ari, and Felix, walk their way to the Great Hall to eat their lunch.

     As they arrive at the hall, Ari and his friends were suddenly surprised to see that Krist and the rest of the members of Jokers were already sitting in their usual seats, and sitting beside them on the other table was none other than the dukes, BND.

     When Krist sees the three friends approach their table, he immediately looks at them and asks, "Did Max come to school today?"

     "No, and it's already been three days," Ervin answers on their behalf.

     Hans, who's sitting beside Krist, takes a bite of his chicken breast and says, "Marcus hasn't come to school too. We've been trying to contact him but he hasn't answered his phone. That's why we're wondering if you guys have."

      "None of us have called him. It's not really rare for someone to be absent, especially when he just finished a pageant. He might just be sick in bed or something," Ari casually says, almost making Krist hit him with his water bottle. "Try contacting him now you idiot, this is serious. Are you guys even his friends?"

     Ari was surprised by the sudden command, but out of fear, he pulls out his phone from his pocket and dials Max's number.

     Everyone stares at Ari, waiting for something to happen. But after a couple more rings, Ari puts his phone down and says, "He's not answering."

     "Shit..." Krist mumbles to himself before angrily stabbing the meat on his plate with a fork.

     "Wait, it's only been three days. Why are we acting like Max is missing? We could just visit him in his house to check on him, right?" Felix asks, confused on why they're all worked up about it. He thought that Max was probably just sick or maybe just tired from last week's event.

     "That's because he is," Brave answers this time, immediately making Ari and the others look at him with shock.

     "What do you mean?" Ari asks, unsure if he heard it wrong or not.

     Brave, who was also eating his lunch in peace, takes a sip of his soda first before looking at Max's friends. "We were at the rooftop this morning when we saw his butler. We asked Rome and Toni to follow him, and apparently, his butler went to talk to president Janus, asking him if Max went to school or if he has any idea on where he might be."

     "What?!" Ari, Ervin, and Felix ask from complete shock.

     "We were just with him last Saturday. How could he be missing?" Felix asks, genuinely worried about where their friend could be.

      "We don't want to assume things for now, but it's best if we can contact Marcus first. If I could get a hold of him, he might know what's going on," Hans explains, and then Ari's eyes finally widen from shock, realizing why everyone is so bothered about all this.

     "Don't tell me...is this connected with the bombing incident? Did someone kidnap him?!" Ari practically shouts, making the people who were surrounding them look their way with surprise.

     Red, who's just on the other table, reaches out and hits Ari at the back of his hand before saying, "Be quiet you moron."

      "W-Wait...is he really kidnapped? Why isn't he in the news yet?" Felix asks, now genuinely concerned about the whole situation.

      "There are only two reasons. His family is probably keeping quiet about it, or Max isn't coming to school exactly because of his family. It's best if we just look for him in silence too to not attract unwanted attention," Hans explains.