Syndedeménos (Connected)

CHAPTER 05

Karen's departure for a study trip this morning made Keenan not focus on paying attention to lessons at school. Only after Karen uploaded her travel story on the Extragram application, Keenan could calm down and listen to the teacher who was teaching in front of the class. But the calm only lasted a few minutes. Half an hour later Keenan would check his cell phone again and could not be calm again if Karen hadn't displayed something on her account. Keenan expected the same thing over and over again as if he was addicted.

If Keenan spilled his anxiety on Sean, his thoughts certainly would be ignored. Although Nathan's words about the study trip still bothered Keenan to this day, there was not enough information to trust Keenan's intuition with the facts that was currently happening. So Keenan chose not to discuss it with Sean in class or at lunch.

"It's been two hours. Should I just ask how she's doing? But Karen will feel like she's being watched, won’t she?" said Keenan in his heart as he fiddled with a pen between his fingers. Keenan was not concentrating on the last 2 hours of class. Just like when she was about to meet Nathan last week.

After school Keenan immediately gave a message to Karen. No updates within three hours on Karen's Extragram was the time limit that Keenan has set. Keenan felt that he had been patient enough to hear news from his sister.

How was lunch there?

The sentence in the message that Keenan sent to Karen had been deleted and retyped several times. Keenan tried to write as neutrally as possible even though his mind was not at all calm at the moment.

During the trip back to his house, Keenan repeatedly checked his cell phone but there was no reply from Karen. There was only a message from his father regarding a meeting that would be held in half an hour. And that means Keenan will find it more difficult to check his cell phone during the meeting later. The phone-shaped symbol on the cell phone screen was finally pressed by Keenan. The cell phone screen was held close to his ear with an awkward feeling. Keenan just needed to hear his sister's voice at that time. Only after Karen gives the news to him, Keenan can calmly attend the meeting with his father.

Can not. Karen's number was unreachable.

No signal. Impossible. The village used for the study trip is one of the famous tourist attractions.

Busy chatting with friends. Impossible. Karen is not a person who likes to socialize to the point of losing track of time. Even her social media account only has a dozen followers because she is actually a girl who respects privacy, a phone call is something that Karen takes great care of. Especially the call from his own brother.

The cell phone battery ran out. This most likely happened because Karen was careless enough not to fully charge her cell phone before traveling. However, Keenan confirmed that Karen's cell phone battery was full this morning. Means this possibility is also crossed off the list.

The three most likely possibilities have been eliminated by Keenan's logic. At this time Keenan didn't care about other trivial possibilities he had thought of before. With Karen's condition that Keenan couldn't accept, he ordered the driver to check on his sister's whereabouts.

"I'll call you again after the meeting ends. Please make sure Karen is okay," said Keenan before getting out of the car.

Keenan entered his house feeling uneasy. He didn't pay much attention to the maids who were welcoming him at the entrance, causing the maids to stare at each other in confusion. Just as the maids were about to talk about their master, Keenan turned around and said to the female maid who usually serves his daily needs.

"Thalia, take a cup of warm peppermint tea to the meeting room."

"Okay, young master Keenan," said the female servant named Thalia while walking behind Keenan afterward.

While Thalia walked towards the dining room to fulfill Keenan's request, Keenan waited in front of the elevator on the first floor while checking his cell phone again.

"How can I be calm now if all this week I woke up in the middle of the night dreaming of Mom's departure again," muttered Keenan while staring blankly at his cell phone screen.

Keenan pressed button five after getting into the elevator. The elevator door opened on the fourth floor and there is the view of the swimming pool from the glass wall on the right. However, Keenan stepped to the left, towards the gold-framed glass door with the words “Meeting Room" 1-3” and “the Ballroom” also in gold on the side of the door.

“Meeting Room 2” is a place that Keenan usually uses to attend online meetings. Keenan put his index finger beside the “Meeting Room 2” door and the door opened automatically. In the room measuring twenty five square meters, there is already a large monitor with a conference camera and a laptop in the middle of a long table along with a microphone beside it.

Keenan immediately put the cell phone next to the laptop with the screen facing up. Even though his hands were struggling with his laptop keyboard in preparation for the meeting, the corner of his eye was watching the gadget on his left. Still hoping there will be a notification that appears from Karen.

Thalia knocked on the door three times. Just as a mere formality because the door had been opened by Keenan before. Thalia came into the room carrying a tray of hot tea and mineral water. Keenan looked back at his cell phone. If it is counted how many times Keenan looks at his cell phone screen in a day, it's definitely more than a hundred times. People like Keenan don't panic easily about something. But if his intuition tells him something is wrong, all the bad thoughts can affect his life for a whole day.

"Please prepare dinner that is easy to carry and also prepare one of the SUV's in the side parking lot. I have to go so I won't have dinner at home," said Keenan looking at Thalia firmly.

When presenting the results of his work at the meeting, Keenan's cell phone screen lit up and the name of the driver he told him to follow Karen to the study trip was there. The ringer for phone calls was deliberately turned off so as not to interfere with the meeting. But even the appearance of a name on his cell phone could make Keenan unable to concentrate.

"Sorry I'll continue again," said Keenan when George, who had been connecting with Keenan via video call, cleared his throat loudly because his son had been silent for a few seconds and didn't look at the monitor.

After finishing his presentation Keenan couldn't even glance at his cell phone because his face must still be clearly exposed on the office monitor screen. Keenan had thought of turning off his internet network temporarily to check his cell phone. But he didn't dare to do it. Moreover, George's eyes are always staring at the monitor with a sharp look.

Time passed very slowly for Keenan during the meeting. Karen was right, she didn't like something as unpredictable as this. His inability in an uncontrollable situation like this made him uneasy.