The streets of Taipan was a busy place, as the roads were bustling with cars and the area was filled with life. It was a small business district, filled with different varieties of shops; restaurants, bakeries, pet stores, electronics and many more to suit the townspeople's needs.

It has been more than a month since Nightingale's retirement. He spent his time since then; organising and surveying the sites of his expedition. And it was time for him to meet with his crew.

It was a cold, rainy day in Malaysia, as Nightingale stood waiting patiently for the cars to pass by before being able to cross. He reached the other side and continued down the street. Walking past many different shops as he headed for his rendezvous point.

He stopped, facing the entrance of a coffee shop. He pulled out a pocket watch from within his raincoat to check on the time. It was an antique collector's model, made out of silver and would've been expensive to obtain if not for receiving it as a farewell gift from one of his colleagues.

"Fifteen minutes late." He grumbled to himself as he kept it back in one of his pockets.

Pushing the door open, he entered the cafe. As soon as he stepped in, he was welcomed by the warmth and the sweet aroma of coffees and lattes that pervaded the cafe.

He waited for his raincoat to stop dripping profusely before lowering his hood and slowly taking off the raincoat. He rolled it up towards his sleeve and proceeded towards the counter.

"Welcome." A young lady greeted with a smile.

The young lady stood behind the register, wearing an apron over her uniform. She seemed no older than he was with her brown hair tied up into a ponytail.

"What can I get you?" She asked.

"Hot chocolate, please."

"One hot chocolate." She repeated to herself whilst entering in the register's computer.

"Anything else?"

"Nothing else, thanks."

"That'll be 11 Ringgit."

Nightingale reached for his wallet and pulled out from his back pocket. He handed the exact amount to her.

"Thank you, sir." She thanked him.

"Please wait beside the counter while your order will be done shortly." She said and pointed him towards the waiting line.

He stood there waiting as he gave short glances at other customers while eavesdropping into their conversations.

"He's late." A young voice spoke from afar.

It had caught Nightingale's attention as he glanced over his shoulders to see a group of adolescence sat at the far end.

He felt a painful sting in his chest as he recognised their faces. They were the people he was to meet. Friends, that he once had in his past life.

His order arrived with Nightingale thanking the young lady. He hurriedly grabbed his warm mug of chocolate and headed towards the group. He felt excited to be reunited with them, but he slowly came to understand that they wouldn't recognise him. And the person they were once friends had been dead for more than two years.

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A young lady stepped out from the car along with her bag strapped behind her shoulders. She wore a white jacket that had pinkish pattern designs on its end. Her hair was long and black, tied into a ponytail. She was Alicia Mei.

The car's front door opened and out came her mother. She had her arms open beckoning her daughter for a parting hug.

"Be safe, Alicia." Her mother said, giving a harsh kiss on her cheek.

"Don't worry, mom. I will." Alicia assured her as they broke away from the hug.

"Oh come here, give me another hug!" Her mother gave her yet another tight hug, savouring the remaining time she had with her daughter.

"I love you, mom—"

She said, rubbing her mother's back.

"—and you too, dad."

She said as she glanced over her mother's shoulders at her father who was still in the driver's seat.

Her father made a distinct grumpy noise of a protective father who's reluctant to send her child away.

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“Just ignore him, sweetheart. You can go wherever you want and choose whatever you want to be."

Her mother said as they broke away from their hug.

"—Your father will still love you nonetheless, he’s just bad in showing it.” She assured Alicia, giving her a pat on both shoulders.

They both gave a glance at him, and he was trying his best to hide his embarrassment after hearing his wife's statement. His face looking in the other direction.

“Yeah, he does seem so too,” Alicia said with a small giggle.

She looked towards the far back seat and saw her little sister waiting for her turn. Moving away from her mother, she went up and opened the door for the back seat.

As soon as the door opened, she came pouncing at her. Her arms latched around Alicia and not letting go.

"Don't go, big sis. Don't go!" Her little sister asked in desperation as she did not want to part from her sister.

Tears dripping from her face as Alicia sat her back on the seat, and rubbed away the tears from her cheek.

"It's alright Mei, I'll be back in a few months time. So behave yourself and wait for me to return, okay?" She said softly, rubbing her little sister's head.

Her little sister was twelve years old, and they both share a strong sisterly bond, as the little girl looked up to her big sister a lot. She hated the fact that her big sister was leaving her behind, wanting to spend more time with her. Wanting to be with her.

“O-okay.” Her little sister replied. Wanting to look strong in front of her sister, she held her tears but her nose was seen running.

“Goodbye, little Mei.” Alicia said as she closed the back seat.

She turned around to face the shops nears the sidewalk. She began to part ways from her family but she stopped as she heard her father called out for her.

“Be safe, Alicia.” She heard her father said as she turned around to see him waving her with his goodbye.

Alicia gave her father a big, bright smile. As it was unusual for him to put his pride away.

"I will, dad. I will!" She replied, waving back at him.

She turned around once again to face the sidewalk. But with a tear running down her face as she hurriedly wiped it away. She saw the coffee shop's entrance. Taking a deep breath, she prepared herself before entering through.

"Alicia!" A familiar voice called out to her, as she looked towards the source.

"Over here." Another voice called for her.

She saw five of her friends sitting near the far end, waving her over. She smiled and hurriedly walked to meet them.

It had been awhile since the last she met them after their graduation. Most were busy with college, and some just hang around. It was their semester break and all six of them had gathered together under a man's request.

It had seemed to her that the five of them had arrived earlier than the appointed time. Settling themselves early so that they would be able to have their reunion first before meeting with their host.

As Alicia drew closer towards the table they were seated in, she slowly recalled each of their names and faces.

Darren Lee a Chinese boy. He had a round face, with his hair combed towards the side. His body was slightly built as he was a hard-working person who once became an outstanding scouts member in his high school.

He was rather known to goof off at times, making silly jokes all around. But he was looked up to as a knowledgeable and reliable person.

Then there was Telvinder, a Punjabi boy with frizzy hair and a broken nose. His most distinguished feature is that he always wears glasses.

He too loves goofing and making pop culture jokes a lot following with his clownish look, but even then, he was a kind and honest person. She thought.

Pee Aun on the other end, who sat beside him was a tall skinny Chinese boy. He had a bowl cut and he was at most 10 centimetres taller than all of us. He may be rude at times but he is honest and dependable and smart.

Then there were two girls who sat across them, Shuen and Arielle, who like she was, were all Chinese.

Shuen Yee, a model student who scored top in her grade and had managed to receive scholarship offers to study overseas. Why she didn’t accept them remained a mystery to her. But she had an idea to why, as she was known to treasure her friends close.

She was pretty with beautiful white skin and silky long silky black hair. Her personality on the other end would turn out differently than what others would expect. She was a feisty girl who loves chatting with friends more than any other.

Arielle Tan, the last of the two girls, is her best friend. One would exaggerate and say that she's an 'Angel' as most boys did in school. She is a kind, quiet and honest person. She apart from the rest was an introvert who enjoys reading books. Her brown hair dangled along her side and was long and shiny.

All her friends were wearing sweaters, jackets and hoodies, all in different colours and patterns.

Alicia noticed that they had their bags laid under the table and left hers on her seat and went away to order a drink at the counter.

It started raining outside when she returned with her drink, the others were in midst of their conversation as they were talking about their lives in college.

When she came back with her drink it had started raining and her friends had started talking about their lives in college and reminiscing on their past memories of high school.

“So I heard that we were going to England,” Alicia forced herself into the conversation.

“From what I heard, yeah,” Telvinder said as he raised his head from his arms.

"Don't you guys think that it's rather suspicious for a guy who we don't know invited us along on an expedition?" Shuen stated with caution.

"Of course, we do. And that's why we're here to sniff him out. Especially since he claimed to know our old friend." Darren said.

The mood changed as a friend they once knew was brought up. None of them spoke his name for he had been a person who once was a big part of their life. But he was gone, died in an incident years ago.

"Well if anything, we'll just have to press questions onto him cautiously."

The other’s agreed to his words, but Alicia on other hand was deep in thought, wondering why the mention of the host, stung her chest.

Her thought was broken off as she was surprised by the sudden bell that rang as the door pushed open. A tall man wearing a raincoat had entered through the entrance.

She looked away and joined back into the conversation. The mood seemed to have gotten better as they were now talking about how they would expect the expedition to be like.

“We’d probably just find some artefacts and old vases.” Pee Aun said.

“Hey, don't look down on vases. They might sell a lot to the museum,” Darren stated with a chuckle.

"Or we hit the jackpot and found treasure!" Telvinder sprung his idea out.

“As if.”

Both the boys said as if they were in sync, and began laughing at Telvinder's wild idea.

"How long have we been waiting for the host?” Arielle asked Alicia who was sitting beside, with a soft voice.

“It's been fifteen minutes,”

“He’s late.” Pee Aun grumbled with his arms crossed and his face looked annoyed.

“I’m not the type of person who likes being kept waiting.”

“You're not one to say that, you kept me waiting everytime we're out on our outings!” Telvinder scowled.

"No? I don't normally appear late. Only when it's you of course." He chuckled and grinned.

“A wizard’s never late, he arrives precisely as he means to.” A man interrupted their conversation.

"Wait, when did he get here?" Pee Aun asked in his surprise.

"Sorry to keep you, young lads and lassies waiting. The sudden downpour of rain had made it a bit tricky and delayed me from reaching here early."

The man bowed his head in apology.

“So are you a wizard then, Sir Host?” Telvinder joked with a stoic face.

"Was that supposed to be a joke? Or are you just making weird assumptions of whether I'm a wizard or not? Cause I can't really tell when you're making that weird face."

"Please, do look goofier when you're making a joke."

The boys began to burst into laughter as Telvinder was left in confusion.

“So I guess you’re the one who’s hosting the expedition,” Shuen wanted to confirm.

"Indeed, I am." The man replied.

They looked at him and saw a man who seemed to be no older than they were, but it was impossible for such an age to be able to host an expedition unless if he was rich.

“Let’s start with introductions then, shall we?” The man clapped both his hands together to break the boys off from their laughter.

“I go by the name Nightingale."