The Blue Eyes

"Are you sure about that?" He asked the other person in the room as he leaned back on the sofa.

The other person turned around and looked up to face him. "I'm sure that Lowell is indeed Brother Kevin's foster parents' last name, but I'm not sure if this person has something to do with his foster parents. You also know Brother Kevin's foster parents' names, right, Uncle?"

Kris simply nodded at Blue's question. Of course, he knew quite a lot about his lover's foster parents. They were Selena Beischel's best friends, and the professor had told him about them in the past.

"I know that they have some businesses abroad, but I think their business is not related to the mining field," the caramel-haired commented.

Blue, who was still sitting on the floor, nodded in agreement. "They do tourism business abroad. I heard that they have some resorts abroad," she replied.

Kris bobbed his head once again. Professor Selena had told him about that matter. Even though the professor didn't tell him the details, but he was sure that it had nothing to do with the mining field.

"Can you search more about Fredy Lowell and Kevin's foster parents on the internet, Blue? They are not public figures, but there must be something about them on the internet. They are rich people and have big companies, after all."

Blue nodded and turned back to her laptop again. She quickly typed in their names and waited for the result. She scrolled her mouse to find related results and clicked on some links, but she found nothing.

"There's nothing, Uncle," the girl stated without turning around. "The only pieces of information are about their general profile, not about their private lives. It seems like they don't want to publish their private lives. They are not celebrities, after all."

Kris sighed in disappointment, but then he realized something. "I can ask Kevin about Fredy Lowell," he said excitedly. "Professor Selena had never mentioned that name before, but Kevin probably knows something since he's the adoptive son in the family. I'm going to ask Kevin later."

Blue nodded in approval. That was the best solution for now. If the case was related to Kevin's foster parents, then things would be more complicated. Kevin would feel betrayed once again for sure.

Kris hoped the case had nothing to do with his lover's foster parents. It was enough for Kevin to be betrayed once, and he couldn't bear seeing his lover got hurt again.

The tall man shook his head and groaned. He tried to brush off the negative feelings and went back to his niece. "What are you doing, Blue?" He asked as his eyes stared at the monitor curiously.

"I'm sending a request for high-resolution satellite imageries to the National Mapping Agency. I need them for our investigation."

Kris was dumbfounded after he heard Blue's answer. He was a man without formal education background, so he had no clue about what the young girl had just said. It felt like Blue was speaking an alien language.

Blue seemed to notice her uncle's confusion, so she explained, "I will try to analyze the temporal resolution of the two imageries to know Chilad's geomorphology transformation for the past twenty years. I want to find the lost fragmented overburdened material with that method. The material was not around the site, but the material may be still in Chilad District. That's why I'm going to do the analysis."

The older man was speechless. He didn't expect that his niece would be this genius.

"Did you learn all of that from your school, Blue? If so, I'll go to your school tomorrow and kowtow to your teachers."

Blue laughed heartily upon hearing Kris's ridiculous statement. "That kind of knowledge will only be taught in college, Uncle," she replied casually. "I learned about that from books and the internet. I often felt curious about many things, so I learned about them by myself."

Kris was amazed by his niece. "You are incredible, Blue," he praised his niece. "But, I still don't understand one thing in your plan. Why do you want to find that material so badly? Is that material so important?"

Blue didn't immediately reply. She was just staring at the monitor with an unreadable gaze. It seemed like she was thinking about something so hard that she was frozen all of a sudden.

"I don't know, Uncle," the girl finally answered. "I'm just really curious about the material. That's a big amount of material, but strangely, the material was gone without leaving a trace. Should I just cancel my plan so we won't waste our time on something that's still uncertain?"

Kris was feeling guilty after he heard Blue's sad tone. It seemed like Blue was quite confused herself, and the girl probably just followed her instinct.

Feeling bad for the innocent girl, Kris finally patted the girl's head in a comforting manner and said, "You don't need to cancel your plan, Blue," he said softly. "Don't you remember what your brother said yesterday? He said that we shouldn't leave the smallest clue we got from our investigation."

The older man then heard Blue sighed as the girl turned her head to him. "Now you know how to comfort me, Uncle?" She teased her uncle.

Kris chuckled and ruffled the girl's black hair lovingly. "I'm the best uncle in the world, you know?"

"Which one is the best uncle in the world?"

The two people in the living room looked up at the man who just questioned Kris's statement. They found Jack standing at the doorway. The tattooed man smirked and closed the door behind him.

"You really like to barge in, don't you?" Kris lazily asked the newcomer as he leaned his back on the sofa again.

Jack just chuckled and walked over to the two people. He placed a plastic bag on the table and said, "I bought some foods for you, Blue."

Blue seemed to be surprised as she looked up at the man. "You bought me food? Where were you going, Jack?" She asked.

"You don't need to ask him that question, Blue. I'm sure he was hunting in the forest the whole day," Kris chimed in sarcastically.

Jack glared at the other man and sat down beside the said man. "I wasn't hunting today," he rebuked. "I promised you guys that I will learn to eat cooked food, and as a real man, I have to keep my promise."

Kris just rolled his eyes, but he didn't say anything.

Blue suddenly turned around and looked up at Jack. "Then, where were you going this whole day?" She asked again because her second question remained unanswered.

The tattoed man shrugged and answered, "I just went out for some fresh air. I'm a little bored here."

"Just say that you're flirting with some girls out there, Jack. No need to be embarrassed," Kris once again chimed in as he closed his eyes.

The other man widened his eyes and turned to Kris. "I wasn't flirting with any girls!" He rebuked once again.

Kris opened his eyes again and stared at the slightly shorter man with his lazy gaze. "That sounds right," he replied. "I've never seen you dated before, Jack. You're the eternal bachelor, so I doubt you even know how to flirt."

Jack's face reddened for a bit at the mock. "I didn't date because I haven't found the right girl for me!" He exclaimed. "You've also never dated anyone before you date Kevin. You and I are the same!"

"You and I are not the same!" Kris countered Jack's accusation as he straightened his back. "I've never dated anyone else because I waited for Kevin. I'm a faithful man, unlike you with your uncertainty."

Jack's face crimsoned even more, but this time, it was caused by his anger. He was about to retort, but Blue was faster than him.

"You promised me to make up with my uncle after we're back to Nozheic, Jack," the girl stated firmly.

Jack turned to the girl and narrowed his eyes at the girl. "I've never promised you that, Blue! Don't talk nonsense!"

Jack was quite harsh to her, but Blue wasn't offended at all. She just quietly got up from her seat and lifted her laptop from the coffee table. "I will be in my room if you look for me later. By the time I go out of my room, you two have to be friends again!" She said in a final tone before started walking toward her room.

The two men didn't have time to hold Blue, and now they were left in the living room. The atmosphere was awkward in the quiet living room.

Kris sighed and leaned back on the back of the sofa. He closed his eyes with his right hand as he said, "Just go outside and find yourself a girl, Jack. I'm not in the mood to fight with you now."

Jack didn't immediately respond. He just gazed at the taller man with an unreadable gaze. After a few moments of silence, he finally replied, "Why should I find a girl when I'm not into girls, Kris?"