Ryan dropped by his house quickly, to get ready for work. Inside, he found Kitty had collapsed on the couch. Not neatly curled up, but legs sprawled out, belly exposed. Ryan sat down next to him, and stroked his fur.

“Sorry for leaving you all alone for the night, boy. I’ll make it up to you tonight. This time after work we’re really doing our Netflix couch-potato routine. You sure look like you could use it, little one!”

Kitty half-opened his eyes and looked at Ryan. “Mew,” he said and fell back asleep.

Ryan kissed the cat on his head. It smelled of alcohol. That was weird. Ryan blew into his hand and smelled his breath.

“Ah, it’s probably me…” he decided and went to the bathroom to thoroughly brush his teeth.

***

The workday was slow. There weren’t a lot of customers. So after polishing glasses for an hour, Ryan decided to check his phone. Lilah had sent him a message: [have fun at work baby!]

That looks official, Ryan thought.

He knew he was supposed to be happy about that. Lilah was a kind and goodlooking girl, enthusiastic in the sack and not as annoying as most women. Why then was he not happy? Hadn’t he just decided he wanted a girlfriend?

If he was going to give love a try, he’d have to wait a bit longer for it to settle in… Love wouldn’t just hit you in the face, would it? It had to grow, like friendship did, like his friendships with Simon and Allen had done. You didn’t just see someone and immediately realise they’d be your best friend forever. Of course not. So why would love be any different?

He thought about the girl with the green eyes. He shook his head.

“What kind of name is Narnia anyway?” he said out loud, and went back to work.

The strange guy in the suit came in again and ordered a black coffee. He sipped it slowly, while it was getting cold. After three quarters of an hour he asked for the bill.

As Ryan brought it over, the guy took Ryan's hand. He leaned forward and asked him: “Are you by any chance the son of Angela Philson?”

“Er, yes I am. Do you know my mother?”

“We’re old friends. Can you tell me where she lives now? I’d like to see her again.”

Ryan thought fast. This guy looked Japanese and knew his mothers maiden name (she’d been Angela Brenner since she’d remarried to ‘uncle’ Harry four years ago). Ryan was born in Japan, but his mom had taken him back to the states after his father had died tragically, when Ryan was only a toddler. It seemed she was afraid, probably of the guys that had killed him. She had never spoken about who they were though.

Apparently, the guy sitting in front of him didn’t know where his mom lived now. That was good, since there was a serious possibility that this wasn’t a friend at all. Maybe it was even one of the guys that had killed his dad.

Shit.

It probably was a bad thing he had confirmed being her son just now.

They wouldn’t been able to find her by her original name anywhere, so if he didn’t tell the guy, she’d be safe. But then again, they might torture him or something. Wasn’t that what criminals did?

“She died 2 years ago.” Ryan said, trying his best to look solemny sad. “Cancer. I’m sorry.”

“Is that so? My condolences then”. The man replied. He wasn't visibly moved at the news at all. Definitely no friend, thought Ryan to himself. He’d done well saying she died.

“Did she give you any siblings?” The man asked.

Now why would he ask that?

“No.” Ryan told him. “I’m an only child”.

“Are you doing okay? School going well? Got any debts?”

“Who are you?” Ryan replied, raising an eyebrow.

But the man didn’t answer. He silently paid for the coffee, added a generous tip and walked out.

***

Ryan pondered if he should call his mother about this. It had certainly been a really strange conversation. If the bad guys were after his mum, why would they ask him how he was doing? And specifically asking for debt? That was completely bonkers. But they wouldn’t do that, if they had bad intent, now would they?

Maybe it wasn’t someone with bad intentions. He never met any relatives on his father’s side, so maybe this was an uncle or something? But then why hadn’t he introduced himself?

Ryan couldn’t figure it out. He didn’t want to get his mother worried, but he did want to know more about this strange man. He decided he’d call Harry about it. Harry was a police officer, he’d probably know what to do.

“Ryan, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Harry’s cheerful voice sounded over the phone.

“Hey Harry. Something really strange happened at the coffeeshop today...”

As Ryan told Harry the story, Harry listened intently, and asked Ryan some questions about the guy’s behaviour. But he didn’t have any answers ready.

“You know what Ryan? If he shows up again, take a picture. If I’ve got a picture I may be able to check the databases to eliminate if he’s some kind of wanted criminal. Also, you could show the picture to your mum, she should know who it is… In the meantime, you could just call your mum and ask about your relatives on your fathers side. I understand you don’t want to worry her, but you can just leave the part of meeting the guy out and pretend to be interested for some other reason, right?”

“Are you telling me to lie to my mother?”

“Well, maybe for now. She hasn’t had any panic attacks for over a year, I don’t think we should jeopardise that when we’re not sure something’s wrong. Let’s just be careful for now, just see if the guy comes back.”

“Ok”, Ryan said. “Then I’ll text mom about possible family. You make sure she doesn’t panic okay?”

“I promise I’ll take care of her.”

“As you should. Thanks Harry!”

Ryan hung up and texted his mother before riding his bike home.

[Hey mom, do I have any Japanese extended family? My friend wants to go to Japan on holiday and was asking.]

There. I lied to my mum, Ryan thought to himself as he hit send. It doesn’t feel right, but it would be worse to get her panicking again, so this is probably for the best.