Upon reaching the kitchen, I noticed that Daphne had become a bit unresponsive. She didn't say anything for a while, and just arranged the items from the shelves. Maybe she was having second thoughts if it really was a good idea letting me in on this matter.

A moment later she shook her head. "To hell with it," she muttered.

She looked directly at me, with a serious expression. "It was on Friday," she began, opening a jar to pour flour into the bowl. "I was tired that day from school and practically collapsed on bed after I had cleaned up, and of course talked to you on the phone." She smiled. "I even skipped dinner that day. So, naturally I was deep asleep before long; but I had to wake up unexpectedly soon later on.

"It was around midnight, 2 o'clock, when I heard Hubert barking. I got up from bed unwillingly and went to see what was up. Suddenly, I heard whimpering. I dashed out to his place when I saw him making high pitched crying sounds and waving his front right paw. There on the floor lay a hammer. Then I heard the door open, and caught a glimpse of a silhouette escaping into the dead of night. I yelled at the figure and ran after it, but when I was out in the open, it was simply gone. Whoever it was had completely disappeared." She was hurting while saying all this, as she spoke her words through a pained expression. Her pretty face was scrunched up in unfavourable lines.

While saying all this, she had added baking powder, salt and sugar to the mix and now cracked a few eggs into it. "When I woke up late next morning, the first thing I had to do was take Hubert to the vet. But before that I found something unsettling." She paused for a moment, pulled her lips in and inhaled deeply. She now went for the fridge. "What I found was...the room of my parents, in total chaos." She looked at me with hurtful eyes. "There were papers lying everywhere, a photo of me and my family when I was younger lay on the ground, the glass cracked. I guessed that was what caught Hubert's attention. Anyways, I could not make heads or tails from the mess. Clearly the person who had broken into my house was after something belonging to my parents. I only knew one thing to do at that moment. To go to the police." She paused for a moment. "But, I didn't have that as an option."

She now began to whisk the mixture vigorously after adding milk and butter from the fridge.

"Let me guess, you got a call." I said, frowning.

She sighed. "Yes. They told me it was better if I stayed out of this. That I really didn't want to get into trouble. That was enough to keep me from doing anything rash. I kept shut, and simply went to the vet, lied that somehow the hammer fell on Hubert's paw and he got injured. He's been there at the vet's ever since. I should be able to bring him back by next week though. Oh, and as for the CCTV, that person took care of it. The cameras had no footage at all of the encounter."

It felt like she was finally done with it and she was glad it was over. One by one she fried pancakes. I put the ingredients back into their places and cleaned the desktop. "Daphne, this is some spy level shit. Whoever 'they' are, they are after information, documents related to your parents. Do you have any idea what it could be? What did your parents do? You obviously remember don't you?"

"Both my parents were technicians. That's all I remember. They were called upon to work on different gadgets. That's all I know. All this time after they passed away, I never once took a look at these old documents. Now I regret that." She clicked her tongue and looked away.

"Did you take a look at them afterwards?"

She looked down. "I-I couldn't bring myself to. Everytime I come across things related to them, I just lose control of myself."

I kept silent for a minute. "So...do you want me to do some digging?"

"Josh...I really don't want you to get you into trouble. I brought you to the kitchen for two reasons: one, to get away from any CCTV cameras, in case they have tapped into them, and two, you have to give an excuse to all of them, why you being the most studious guy missed out on a good half an hour of group study." She tried to smile.

Very logical. "I did help you clean up, so I guess it's technically not a lie." I grinned, and quickly put it away. "Daphne, I know, you told me all this to get the weight off your chest...but backing away like this won't solve any problem. If it turns out these people were after some secret blueprints or something that your parents had, and now they have their hands on it...if they do something immoral or catastrophic with it, that would only make you blame yourself at the end. And I don't want you to be like that." I caught her shoulder. Her eyes were glistening. "See, that's exactly the look I don't want to see. The facade that you had kept up all these days worked surprisingly well. But I don't want it to be a facade anymore. I want you to actually be happy and cheerful like your normal self. I don't want you to pretend."

Her body shook as she cried. She fell on to me, and I wrapped my arms around her. It caught me off guard for a moment, and I might even have blushed, but it was a welcome embrace. Friends are meant to have each others' backs. I was doing just that.

After a moment she rubbed her eyes and told me a 'thank you' for listening to all of it. For the meantime she told me to stay out of it, an I have to admit that was tough. I am a curious man after all.

She proceeded to serve the dishes and gave me a large tray with three plates of honey glazed pancakes, while she bore another of the same.

I carefully made way through the corridor and up the stairs, and when I entered the guest room turned study where my friends were all seated, all their faces lit up.

"Apologies for my absence. Look what I brought!" I smiled wide.