Richard and Linnea leave early in the morning to go to Buvette New York for breakfast. They go to Bryant Park to wait for the mall to open after having their breakfast. They get back in their SUV and head to Columbus Circle when 10 o’clock comes around.

As time goes on, they’ve already bought the things they wanted and needed. Linnea replied, “I want some noodles,” when Richard asked where she wanted to eat for lunch.

“Hmm, I believe this area has a noodle bar; I just can’t remember what it’s called. Okay, let me ask that concierge over there where we can find that Noodle Bar.”

“I’ll wait for you here,” Linnea said with a nod to her brother.

After Richard asked the concierge where the Noodle Bar was, they went straight ahead into it.

The server asked Richard how many people there were in each seat as they arrived. “Please, for two people.” They were helped by the server to their tables, which were next to the glass window.

After taking their orders, a man in his mid-20s who had a sharp jawline and eyes that resembled Richard walked up to their table. Richard has a Greek god-like visage, a chiselled jawline, and bright blue eyes.

Linnea raised an eyebrow at the man as he stood in front of them and asked, “May we help you, sir?”

Richard was preoccupied scrolling through his phone’s emails. Without even bothering to answer to Linnea’s question, he sensed the guy was staring at him. He glanced at him before returning to his phone. “My sister has a question for you, and she is still waiting for your response. Are you not being impolite by making her wait for your response to her question?”

“I’m so sorry, Miss.” He glances at Richard, who is still busy checking his emails, before turning to Linnea, who is giving him a serious look. “The reason I approached you guys at your table was because I thought your brother looked like someone I know”. The man smiled at Linnea. “But apparently I was mistaken.”

“Well then, if you are already done, checking out my brother, please go back to your seat now sir, because your friends are keeping staring at us,” Linnea stated.

The man looked over at his colleagues, who were seated a bit far away from Linnea and Richard on the right side of the restaurant. He turned back to Linnea and smiled at her once more, but before returning to his table with his colleagues, he gave one last glance at Richard’s direction.

__________

He sighs heavily and thinks once more about the man he saw earlier at the restaurant while tapping his right index finger on his chin and resting his right elbow on the right side of the car door.

“Alex, are you okay?” The man sitting in the passenger seat questioned him while glancing in the rear-view mirror.

Alex looks back at him in the rear-view mirror before glancing out the window. “Yeah, I’m fine.” He sighs deeply. “It’s just that, the person earlier from the restaurant, I believe it’s my brother.

The man to his left asked, “I thought Michael was already dead?”

Thoughts about the man and young lady he had earlier approached caused Alex to remain silent. “What if Mark told my dad that Michael was dead but wasn’t really dead? For the previous nine  years, we haven’t even found his body. What if he is the man who was with the girl earlier?” He looked at his chauffeur and at his colleagues.

“Nathan, turn around and head back to the restaurant.”

“But sir, your father said that we need to be back at the manor before 5pm,” his chauffeur said, casting a quick look in the rear-view mirror at him. “Because of the annual mass for your deceased broth— “ Alex interrupted him.

He yelled at Nathan, “FUCKING TURN THE CAR AROUND AND GET US BACK AT THE FUCKING RESTAURANT.”

In response, Nathan turned around the vehicle and sped up his approach to the restaurant. Because of Alex’s sudden burst, his two colleagues exchanged glances.

When they arrived, Alex got out of the vehicle and ran as quickly as he could to see if the two siblings from earlier were still there, but when he arrived at the restaurant, they had gone. Alex muttered under his breath, “Damn!”

“So, did you catch them?”

He said as he breathed heavily, “No, they have already left.”

“Sir, I asked the waiters if they had seen the two siblings earlier, and they said they had been gone for over five minutes.” stated Nathan.

He groans deeply and rubs his temples, “Fuck! Okay, let’s return.”

__________

Alex approached his father and requested a private conversation after the mass was over. He went to his father’s workplace with his dad. Together with the sons of his father’s friend, as soon as they entered the office, his father’s friend was already sitting there waiting for them.

His father asks, “So, what would you like to speak about?”

“Earlier, we were having some lunch in this fancy restaurant and there were these two siblings entering the restaurant to have their lunch as well,” he said, turning to look at his friends who had been with him earlier. He sighs deeply and briefly closes his eyes. “At first I thought I was just seeing someone differently, but when I approach the man with this girl, he looks like him,” he says. “He has Michael’s looks, father.“

His father slammed his hands on the table and yelled, “Enough!” His father was aware of Alex’s persistent hope for the existence of his older sibling. He was aware of his boys’ unbreakable personality. Alex was so devastated when he learned that his sibling had passed away at his mission that he wept for a week over him.

“Father, hear my request. Even though Mark told you that it was on fire, we should have at least seen his burnt corpse by now, but we didn’t find it.” He stated “What if Michael was that man I saw earlier?”

While considering what his son said, his father tapped the table with his index finger.”

“David, I think your kid has a point.” David glanced at his friend.

“Do you think so, Antonio?” David looked over at Antonio.

“David, of course, yes. For the same reason as my sons Leonardo and Francisco need to clarify who the young girl with him is.” David looks at his son Alex while giving Antonio a confused expression.