According to Jean himself, he was pretty sure that his mom couldn't hesitate to call him back immediately he disconnected the call some moments ago. From the tone that she spoke to him with, it was easy to tell that she was restless.
After all, her only son was in adverse danger that required immediate attention.
So, the moment Jean redialed her contact and realised that she was yet to put through a call, his expressions darkened. Just as he was still mulling over the reason behind this unexpected realisation, he recalled something.
'...this place. She was about to tell me something about this place before the scoundrel intervened. Argh!'
Despite Jean abruptly cutting his mom short by disconnecting the call, the last word she had uttered didn't escape his mind. It was right to say that him noticing his mom not doing a follow up call after sometime triggered his memory to fetch this vital information that was on the verge of escaping his memory.
After analysing his experience in this new country since he found himself here and connected the dots, he started making sense of what Casper was telling him some days ago. Adding to the mixture the incident of the stray beast that almost took their lives on their way here, fear and uncertainty started gripping on him.
For the very first time since he escaped from the hands of the kidnappers, he felt hopeless.
At this point, he couldn't wait to seek for clarification from his mom as fast as possible.
He felt like the more he waited the worse the situation could get.
With that thought in mind, he quickly pressed the call button and put through the call without a second thought. Even the thought of why his mom didn't call him back for a while didn't have a room in his head.
The moment he put through the call, he immediately froze in place as his eyes widened with bewilderment.
Jean was dumbstruck when he realised that the call couldn't go through.
With a bitter expression on his face, Jean bit his lower lip before giving it a second try. Unexpectedly, the result was no different from the first.
At this point, Jean felt like he could strangle Mr. Wedge to death if he had a chance.
'If it wasn't for his stupid interference, I could have been a step ahead in my return mission. His interruption has now scrapped-off the only little chance I had to ask for assistance from mom. I don't know how long the meeting between the two will take before they come and ruin my precious opportunity of seeking for help.
Without a further thought, Jean quickly put through the call once again. The moment he got the feedback, he immediately withdrew the cellphone from his ear as his expression darkened further.
'What has my life turned into? Nothing seems to be working in my favour. When I thought that I had gotten a relief by meeting a generous guy like Casper, now this happens. Am I going to be stuck here for the rest of my life? Perhaps it is just fate...'
Just as he was still lamenting and cursing in his mind, he was forced to leave his next thought midway.
Now staring at the ringing cellphone in his hands, Jean's expression turned complicated. At this moment, it was difficult to tell what was running in his mind.
On the screen of the cellphone, a foreign contact was displayed in golden characters. During this moment, the only person that Jean could expect a call from, was his mom. But since the contact displayed on the screen was new to him, he couldn't find a reason to smile. Instead, this call seemed to have complicated his current situation.
Since he couldn't tell whether the call was intended for him or the owner of the cellphone-Mr. Adranis, he hesitated for a moment.
Although it could still be said that it was his mom calling since he had not saved the contact in the cellphone he was using, this speculation was already out of the window the moment Jean studied the contact.
Since he had his mom's contact offhead, it was easy for him to deduce that the contact calling wasn't his mom's despite it having the same country code as his home country.
But after having a rethink over the matter, Jean saw a chance of his mom calling him with a different contact due to some unknown reasons.
After lingering for a moment, he took in a deep breath before picking the call.
"...Hello"
Since he was the one in urgent need, he couldn't wait for the caller to kick-start the conversation. So, he took the initiative himself and started the conversation.
"Hello.."
The moment, Jean heard the voice on the other side of the call, he momentarily frowned.
Out of his expectations, the voice on the other side of the call wasn't the one that he had anticipated to hear.
Strangely, the voice on the other side of the call was a man's voice. At this point, it was now clear that the caller wasn't his mom.
With an enraged expression, Jean immediately found talking to this strange person as a waste of time since he could utilise this time by trying a different contact which was Axel's dad contact. Since he was the only person closest to his family, he was quite sure that he could get a chance to speak with his mom.
With that thought in mind, Jean now started figuring out the best words of end the conversation so that he doesn't leave a bad impression in case the caller was Mr. Adranis' acquaintance.
Just as he was about to utter his first word, the next words that the stranger said got his heart thumbing in his chest as an expression of disbelief appeared on his face.
"Hello Jean."
'I hope I am not dreaming...'
Jean thought to himself as he struggled to compose himself.
What had surprised Jean here wasn't the fact that the stranger mentioned his name, but it was because the voice sounded familiar to him.
"...Am I talking to Axel's dad?"
Jean inquired after a moment of hesitation.
"Yes, where are you two?"
Jean was delighted by the answer, but the delight didn't last even a second long as it was cut short by a specific detail in the second question.
The word "Two" was the detail that took away the small peace that Jean had started enjoying after the caller has confirmed his identity.
The moment Axel's dad added that word in his question, Jean immediately knew that he was going to have a long time explaining what had happened since he himself couldn't tell where Axel was up to this time.
He could have wished to find Axel, but since he was kidnapped, he had been fighting for his life until now that he is now feeling better. So, how could he search for Axel in his pathetic condition and in a foreign country where he knew no one else other than a stranger that he just met by chance.
These were enough to explain why Jean couldn't find Axel all this time. But will Bruin Dek understand this. Additionally, Jean wanted to fancy his chances and thus he didn't see a window for such an explanation with such a limited chance in his hands. So, he had seen it important to cut the conversation short in order for him to spare enough time of finding his mom on a call.
But after realising that it was the same person that he was planning to call that was behind the call, he felt lucky for the first time since he started making these calls.
'...wait! If Mr. Dek has been able to find this contact does this mean that the two are currently together or what?'
Just as he finished this thought, his mom's voice on the other side of the call confirmed his speculation.
"Give me that phone, I need to talk to my son."
Natalie's enraged voice echoed from the other side of the call. From the conversation, Jean could clearly tell that there was a commotion between the two. But still, he couldn't point out directly if the cellphone the two were fighting over belonged to Dek or his mom. But since this didn't matter at the moment, he threw the matter at the back of his head.
During this moment, he was praying that his mom wins this squabble. He knew that if she won, he would have killed two birds with a single stone. Firstly, he would avoid the difficult questions that Dek was about to ask him concerning the whereabouts of his son Axel. Secondly, he would be granted the chance to speak to his mom, and perhaps interrogate her about her last statement about this place that he was currently stuck.
'It seems that mom has some insights about this place that I am not aware of.'
Jean thought with anticipation as he thirsted for the chance to speak to his mom.
[×::×]