Ethon, as the host, was guiding all the family groups to the restaurant. It was a kind of open design to the hall where it and the hall were practically one, but it was a distinct and unmistakable small section of it. When they walked in, Ethon is greeted by a man who looks to be the restaurant's manager. Ethon greets him back and tells him, "I want to make sure that these people here have the best time ever alright." And the manager assures him that they will give their top service to them. It was the opening day for the restaurant after all. They already felt how new the restaurant was, as it had a new and lavish feel to it. Ethon scrambled to help everyone get seated in their place on the long table prepared specifically for this occasion. The tables were stacked side to side and stretched from about the beginning of the right side of the restaurant, up to the middle where a welcome frame was there that welcomed everyone in that said how this is their opening day.
As everyone was taking their seats, Saif's parents noticed when everyone was unshuffled that he was missing. Saif's mum asks his dad, "Hey, do you see Saif anywhere?" Saif's dad, not seeing him anywhere tells her that he doesn't and asked if she looked for him where the others were as that's where they thought he was the entire time which Saif's mother replies to with, "I know that, but if he isn't with them to get emotional and mental support, then where is he?" Slight panic starts to surface on their faces, but soon they calm themselves and walk up to Ethon to ask him where Saif is, as he was responsible for taking care of everyone. Saif's siblings didn't notice Saif or their parents' whereabouts as they were talking with the other young family members that they seem to be close with. As they walk up to Ethon who was talking with some of the waiters telling them specific does and don'ts relative to everyone's preferences that he seemed to have asked for beforehand and them taking notes of what he says. He looks back at Saif's parents and asks them if something is wrong, and then thinks he understands why they are here and says, "Oh, you are probably here to ask for the chefs to make something special beforehand, right? Just tell me what you need." Saif's dad stops him and corrects him by telling him that that's not why they came up to him.
Ethon, now confused asks them what's wrong and getting a little worried himself by seeing their also worried faces. Saif's dad said to him that they can't find Saif anywhere and wondered if he was somewhere else or something, and if he knew where he was. Ethon suddenly looked like his soul left his body for just a moment before quickly composing himself. He tells them to not worry and that he is probably wandering around here somewhere as he quotes, "He always used to just wander around when we were in Purgatory, so old habits die hard I guess." He says while putting a smile that has an air of force to it. Saif's parents, still worried, asked where he could have gone, and Ethon reassured them that everything will be fine and he will look for him himself. Feeling a bit more secure now that Ethon is going to look for him, and how relaxed he is being about this, they feel a good amount of ease go through them, and noticing this, Ethon quickly ushers them to their seats at the long table, telling them where their seats are and that they shouldn't need to worry now anymore, all in a quick pace. Not getting what's going on, Saif's parents assumed that he was just overwhelmed by being the host, so that's why he was acting like this, so they didn't want to burden him any more than he could handle, so they walked up and sat down into their designated area.
When Saif's parents left, Ethon's face slowly collapsed from the smile, to a stern face, with a hint of panic in it. He quickly scans around the restaurant with his eyes, trying to look for Saif in it to make sure if or if not his parents just couldn't find him, hoping to just find him with his eyes, but after identifying everyone in his line of sight, he finds that Saif is nowhere to be seen. But, he also notices that Isaac was also missing too. This realisation slightly calms him down a bit, as now the possibility that they are both just wandering around somewhere isn't off the table, but it's still unlikely as them not being present at such an important time means that they are doing something important, and that thought makes a few drops of sweat fall from his face. His eyes snap to his side when he sees Isaac's family also looking worried that they also can't find Isaac. Trying not to lose control of the situation, before anything could start up with group, he quickly wipes away his stern look with his hand and brings back his slightly forced smile as he walks up to Saif's family and tells them, "So, I don't see Saif anywhere in the restaurant, but I also can't find Isaac too, which could just mean that they are both probably are goofing off somewhere or just lost and don't know how to get here, so don't worry, I will go look for them."
Hearing this, relief washes over Saif's parents after hearing this news. Ethon then quickly walks towards the door, but looks back for just a moment to see that Isaac's parents are asking if anyone has seen where he is, which he then sees that Saif's parents are intervening, just like he hoped so no one would expect anything. As he was about to walk out the door, the manager runs after him asking him where he is going and how they still need the full list of things they need to do to the food so they can start making it, but when he saw Ethon's stern look, that single glance back that Ethon gave him was enough to shut him up and stop in his tracks out of shock as Ethon speed walks out of there. As he walks out of the restaurant, his walking pace increases by each step, as he walks in a path that seems too specific, unlike the randomness you would do when looking for someone. It was like he wasn't looking for them. It was like he knew where they had to have been. Somewhere they shouldn't be. At least, not yet for one of them.
The thought of them being there made Ethon's head produce more sweat. He wasn't scared. It was more like he expected this to happen. But, he felt that it was too soon. He also didn't like how Isaac now knows too. He thought that the crumbs he left behind would have slowed Saif down as it would have led him on the long path to find everything out, but he isn't also surprised that he managed to skip his months of hard work so quickly either. As he is walking, his thought zone slightly falters when his ears hear two familiar voices. He looks to his side and sees Saif and Isaac in what seems to be an argument from what he can tell. He lets out a sigh of relief by air from his lungs he didn't know he was holding in. As he catches his breath back, he walks towards them, as he was going to try and pull both of them apart and deescalate things. But then he felt like something was off. He knows Saif and Isaac specifically don't have such heated arguments. Something didn't feel right, so he turned from walking in the light, to sneaking in the shadows, getting closer to them by hiding behind objects, and not even being seen by the public at all as he morphs his body into shapes that will keep him hidden, and doing acrobatic stunts to get himself to be at earshot from them.
He reaches hearing distance right when they both just suddenly sat on the ground. He sat there behind a poster, ears dropping into their conversation with a vicious dead look on his face. But when he starts to hear what they were talking about, his face slowly gets back some life to it, but with a lot of pain in it. As he heard more and more about what they were talking about, and Saif's struggles and Isaac's helplessness to help, the more his heart broke apart. He leans even more on the frame he was hiding behind, and puts his hand on his forehead. He stayed like that for a while while Saif and Isaac were embracing each other. He didn't know why he was doing it. Was it relief that it was this, or disappointment that he was feeling relief because it was this. He didn't know, nor did he want to find out. But it was mostly to suppress the thoughts in his mind. Thoughts that he knew he couldn't think about just yet. As he knows the best way to not get Saif's suspension is to literally not know what you are hiding yourself, as if you can't know what is, how could he. But even then, it was Saif, and that thought alone terrified him. As Saif and Isaac get up from the embrace and talk about how they need to get back before anyone noticed them gone, Ethon quickly also gets up and runs towards the restaurant before they find him missing. But before he runs away, he takes one good look at Saif, and all that was on his face was sympathy before he ran off.
He quickly ran around, going so fast that he was sacrificing stealth for speed. He was trying to not draw that much attention by his running so that Saif and Isaac don't see him, but still going as fast as he can while being as stealthy as he could to beat them to the restaurant. He pushes through people and obstacles in his path that will slow him down, as he can't take the risk of the fractions of seconds he will lose by walking around them, yet hitting them in ways that won't grab that much attention to himself. When he reaches the restaurant, he quickly looks around inside from the outside, trying to see if they beat him there or not, but he doesn't see them anywhere, and relief washes over him. While catching his breath, he places his hands on his knees while sighing in relief that he got there first. He quickly gets back up and starts to pretend like he is looking around for them the entire time from there, waiting for them to reach eye sight so he can run up to them and give the excuse of him looking everywhere for them, so that he can walk inside with them so no suspicion is raised. So he stands there, waiting, and waiting… and waiting. A few minutes later, he feels like they are probably just lost. They didn't know where the restaurant was, and probably can't find any staff that knows where it is either as after all, it is the first day, and all the staff are still getting familiar with the place. He gets a quick chuckle out of that as he then starts walking in the direction that he guess is most likely where they ended up, with a genuine smile on his face.