Falling in Love : I love you, Today and Forever

Nobody in the dining hall was a fool. Ivy's drastic reaction more or less told them that she knew what Mission Code X was and that whatever it was was anything pleasant. Ivy's pale face depicted that she was more than petrified and Aria, who was sitting just beside her, stood up and made her sister face her.

"Ivy, what's wrong? What's the matter?" She looked at her in worry before she glanced at her father, who too seemed to be in shock. Her frown only deepened on seeing their expressions and she darted a helpless gaze at Noah, who seemed to be as confused as her at that moment.

Ivy ignored everyone's inquisitive gaze on her and focused her attention on her father. "Dad, how do you know about Mission Code X? Was it not confidential and..."

"How could I not know about it, Ivy?" Oliver interrupted her before she could continue. "How could I not know it when it was I who started it?"

Ivy's eyes widened in shock and she looked at him flabbergasted while the others had only expressions of confusion on their faces. Joshua especially was frustrated. All he had in mind was to pull out his phone and find out what Ivy was referring to. But considering how tense the atmosphere was, he did not wish to add more to it and stayed silent, holding his itching hands to himself.

Anyway, he would find out the truth soon. There was no need for him to disrespect the people around him just to curb his curiosity.

"Dad, what did you just say?" Ivy took a step toward her father and looked at him in disbelief. Her eyes told everyone how aghast she was by his answer.

"It is the truth, Ivy." Oliver stood up and held his daughter by her shoulders, forcing her to look him in the eye. "I was the one who came up with the mission and named it Code X. But when I started it, it was all for a different purpose. Really, I promise." He let out a sigh, not knowing how exactly to explain the truth to his audience.

"Dad, what are you speaking about? What is this Mission Code X? I do not understand a thing." Aria could not stay mum anymore and walked to her family while the three men who were listening to the conversation quietly stood up.

However, all Aria got in return was silence and she stood between her sister and her father. "Dad, Ivy, can someone tell me what's going on?" Her voice rose and Noah's brows quirked up when he noticed how agitated Aria was at that moment. This was the first time he was seeing such an Aria and he could not help but feel apprehensive.

"Aria, calm down. Allow them to take time to sort their thoughts." His words somehow managed to calm her down and she took deep breaths to curb her anger.

But she did not have to wait long for Oliver himself started speaking, much to everyone's relief.

"Mission Code X or Mission Code Humanity which was initially called was a mission my friends and I came up with to catch hold of all the people who were involved in this organ trafficking crimes." Oliver walked away from his daughters as he stared into space.

"Each of us had our own job to do and at the end of the day, we would gather and look over all the information we had collected." Oliver let out a sigh and removed his glasses. "At first, the mission was going out well and we had collected a lot of information. By then, we were known to the public as honest journalists and we had a lot of followers on social media."

Oliver turned around and faced the group of people who were staring at him seriously. "We did not wish to be influenced by power or money. So, we opened a channel on social media to reveal all that we had found, all of it instead of broadcasting it on the television. The ones we found out about initially were just insignificant people, ones who had not much standing in society. Our news did not garner much public attention. But that did not mean we could not gather an audience."

Oliver ran a hand through his hair and pressed his forehead. "Slowly, as and when we released more news, we started to gain attention and the public too found out about the issue. That was how we were able to create awareness about the crimes that took place at the hospital. However, things changed when he came across a piece of information that shattered us to the core."

Noah's eyes narrowed when he noticed Oliver's eyes lingering on him for quite some time. He could not decipher the look he was giving him. It was too cryptic to make any sense. f𝗿𝙚e𝙬𝗲𝑏𝒏𝑜ѵ𝑒𝗹. 𝒄𝑜𝘮

"What piece of information?" He queried and looked at him sternly out of habit.

"We found out about a secret meeting, one that would be attended by a lot of powerful people. And the reason why they were meeting was to discuss how to put a stop to us interfering in their work." Oliver, again, glanced at Noah whose frown deepened and all of a sudden, an ominous feeling started to rise in his heart.

"We then focused on this meeting and...." Oliver pulled out a photograph from the document that lay on the dining table and held it in front of Noah. "I am sorry, Noah. I am sorry."

Noah was taken aback by the man's words. He looked at him before he stared at the photo in his hand, only for his eyes to widen on seeing whose photograph it was.

Joshua too leaned over to see what had rendered Noah so stunned, only to be stupefied himself when he saw the picture he was all too familiar with. It was the same photo he had seen before of Noah's grandfather, Jonathan with Charles as they smiled at each other. But the only difference in this picture was that he could faintly see Jared's silhouette behind Jonathan.