Forbidden Link

15. El Mio Cafe

Seven o'clock at night. Leona knew very well that her lover, Mio, was still working at his own cafe that night. To save time, Leona suggested to Farrell to drive the car to Mio's cafe. A place that Farrell and Leona visited so often besides their home and office so they never recommended this place to be a meeting place because they were too bored. And of course Mio prefered to eat outside his workplace also, like the one he visited last night with Alex, Farrell and Leona.

The letters of El Mio Cafe were displayed on a rectangular name board placed above the entrance. Both the name board and the decorations that have been seen from the outside of the building have shown a sweet and funny impression. With the dominance of pastel colors, bright lights and murals of various kinds of desserts on the walls, everyone who passed by immediately knew that El Mio Cafe had a strong point in sweet foods.

After the car was parked in a public parking lot that included hundreds of cars, Farrell and Leona walked towards El Mio Cafe in the Quintice City shopping center. Mio's voice, which has almost the same frequency as Leona's voice, immediately greeted the two guests who had just entered. And when he saw that the two guests were well known to her, Mio immediately smiled broadly while waving his hands from behind the cashier which was about ten meters from the entrance.

“Well, it seems someone wants to have a serious talk today. Should I leave the cafe right now?” asked Mio who left the cashier alone and went straight to Farrell and Leona.

"No need. We'll just talk here after you don't take care of the customers."

Farrell looked at the long queue in front of the cashier as a sign to let Mio take care of the work that required additional manpower. Mio purposely sighed loudly in response to Farrell's words.

“Well… a new employee. I have to help him in this crowded condition. You just wait at the usual place, okay?"

It didn't take long, Mio had dashed towards the cashier and served one by one the customers who couldn't wait patiently. From a distance it could be seen that Mio was apologizing to the customers while giving directions to the male employee who was dizzy pressing the touch screen in front of him. Meanwhile Farrell and Leona walked towards the corridor at the end of the room that connected the vestibule with the larger room at the back of the building.

If in the front room there were only about five seats, the back of the building can include more than ten seats with a sofa as a more comfortable seating option. Most of the visitors to El Mio Cafe were students who were still in school with ages ranging from fifteen to twenty-one. Even if there were older people it would only be around five people including Farrell and Leona.

After passing through the corridor and back room of the cafe, Farrell and Leona entered a smaller room in the back room of the building. The small room cannot be seen from the outside. There was only a light blue door and two dummy windows flanking the door with a cartoon mushroom design. Farrell opened the door and saw a thirty square meter room with a long table flanked by a sofa along the wall and seven single chairs. Opposite the sofa was a fifty-inch television hanging on the wall. Even though there were only two guests who entered, not a single servant dared to forbid the two of them. The servant already understood who was inside the El Mio Cafe's private room so she treated the guest casually yet respectfully.

“Mr Farrell and Miss Leona, would you like to order the usual menu right away or would you like to have a look first?” asked the waiter while preparing two menus in her hand and would immediately give the menu if the guest needed

“We need a menu. I rarely eat the main courses here so I don't know the type of food yet.”

While Farrell took the menu book from the waiter's hand, Leona immediately said "Salmon Teriyaki with mashed potato and mineral water." The waiter immediately repeated the two menus that Leona said and then asked permission to leave the room.

“So you are going to ask Mio to find out about Lakelynn?” asked Leona after Farrell finished selecting the food and had pressed the button on the side of the table to call the waiter.

“Not only about Lakelynn. I had to find out about what Charles Donati was up to too. And all information regarding forbidden links. Even though I don't know how to save Alex if he's already pressed the link.”

“Did… Alex really followed that girl's words? That girl…"

Just as Leona was starting to talk about Lakelynn with annoyed emotion, someone opened the door to the room. At first Lakelynn thought that the one who opened the door was the servant called by Farrell. But it turned out to be Mio.

"What have I missed?" asked Mio while taking off her turquoise apron and revealing a light yellow shirt. The combination of green and yellow is the color theme of the El Mio Cafe workers' uniforms.

"We met up with Lakelynn."

"Wow. That psychopathic girl.”

It had been a long time since Farrell and Leona had heard the name psychopath in his ear. Hearing that one word made Farrell even more worried. He seemed to have forgotten the nickname people gave Lakelynn. Of course the psychopathic nickname was not used more often than Broken Angels. If Broken Angels was just a nickname coined by men who see Lakelynn as a beautiful girl, the nickname psychopath was a nickname given because there were people who actually had seen the cruelty in Lakelynn.

Farrell's tense face made Leona understand that Mio's words had disturbed her twin. Not only Farrell who was starting to think about his past, Leona also remembered how Lakelynn had the heart to kill her classmate's pet hamster. And after several people accused Lakelynn of being the hamster killer, Lakelynn just smiled and shrugged like it was nothing important. Not only hamsters, many wild animals in the school died and many suspected that Lakelynn was the culprit. Even some people were afraid of Lakelynn because they thought Lakelynn would not hesitate to kill anyone who got in his way.

“So… was the case of the dead animals really being done by Lakelynn?” asked Leona who suddenly became curious about past issues.

"I think yes. There were quite a few people who saw it right?”

"But they do hate Lakelynn, so maybe they lied to get everyone to hate Lakelynn."

"Yeah, it seems like everyone hated him by then."

Leona's gaze shifted from Mio's direction to the side. Farrell still unmoved with a frown and silence like a statue. And Farrell blinked when he realized that he was being watched by the two people around him.

"Yes, what is up?" asked Farrell, who had just returned from his daydream.

"We're talking about Lakelynn."

"We discussed that everyone must hate that psychopathic girl because she killed animals."

Farrell shook his head in response to Mio's statement, “No. She was actually quite popular back in high school. It seemed that the men chasing after her didn't really care about her behavior. And it is precisely her unique behavior that gives a unique impression in the eyes of men.”

"Hah? What man would go after a woman like that?”

“You hang out with girl friends too much, Mio.”

"Then what have you been thinking about earlier, Farrell?"

Before answering Leona's question, Farrell looked one by one at the people nearby. There was some doubt in him to say what he was thinking at that time. Farrell's face was like that of a detective trying to find clue after clue to solve a problem. His forehead was continuously furrowed and his eyes moved from Mio's face then down towards the table to think. His eye movements took the same gesture when he looked at Leona's face.

“Hearing the psychopathic words from Mio, it made me think. If Lakelynn really is a psychopath, was she the one who put Kaira into a coma?”

Leona and Mio immediately widened their eyes. Mio immediately nodded in agreement as he pursed his lips and formed an “o”. As if Farrell's thoughts were a very cool invention. Different from Mio, Leona looked unsure.

"Why did he put Kaira into a coma?"

"Yeah, because he's a psychopath."

Mio's answer didn't satisfy Leona at all so she asked back, “We all know that Lakelynn likes Alex. If he did that, wouldn't Alex hate him so much?"

"I'm not sure either. However Lakelynn seems to understand a few things regarding this forbidden link and we should also find out more. I'm sure you can get information from various forums more easily. You're quite famous in cyberspace." A compliment from Farrell instantly made Mio smile and gave an ok sign with his finger. “Then… after knowing about the Donati family and the link. I think that one of us should try to apply to the Donati family to save Kaira.”

"Huh?"

Farrell didn't respond to Leona's expression of confusion. This time he just looked at the person sitting across from him. Mio looked at Farrell then at the girl next to Farrell. And when he looked back at Farrell, Farrell was still looking at him intently.

"You mean I should do it?" asked Mio while pointing at his own face.

"You've never met Kaira's father have you?"

"Wait, Farrell. Your plan is too risky. What if Mio ends up being forced to click on the link?”

“If Mio doesn't dare. Then I will do it.”