When they turned, the person they saw was Tina. She was one of Mia's old friends and their classmate.
Tina came near Mia and Jame and grabbed Mia's hand. The way she was holding her hand made it clear that she knew something.
Mia: "What are you doing, Tina? Leave my hand!"
Tina (with a commanding voice): "Just come with me."
Jame also followed them.
Tina took them to the school garden.
Tina: "Do you know about the student who went missing? It's Steven!"
Mia: "What? Steven!"
FLASHBACK: Steven was one of their classmates and a member of the programming team that was working on the program for the upcoming event. He was a victim of school bullying; he used to be scared of everything, maybe because he was a constant target of those bullies, like a weak sheep surrounded by a group of wolves. They used to call him "bookdummy." Whenever they tried to harm Steven, Mia and Jame helped him out.
Regarding his abilities, Steven was a topper student and a computer genius. But because of constant bullying, he never participated in any school activities. This time, however, was different. When the teacher asked him to participate in the international event, he said "YES" without hesitation. Everyone was stunned, as they had never seen him do anything like this before, including those bullies.
BUT later, Steven started skipping school. When Mia and Jame tried to contact him, he never answered their calls or replied to their messages.
PRESENT:
Jame: "How is that possible? He has been absent for many days."
Tina: "Yes, he was. But this morning, when I reached school, I saw Steven's mom crying and pleading with the policeman to find her son."
Jame: "How do you know that she is Steven's mom? Maybe you are mistaken."
Tina: "First of all, she is Steven's mom. I have met her in the mall when she was shopping with him." (She said in a harsh tone.)
FLASHBACK
When tina was shopping in the mall while she walked near a store she saw a familier face in front of nearby store ,it was Steven
She went to greet him. "hi Steven" she said
With a happy face" hi tina " Steven replied
.as they were talking her mom gently inturupted the chat and introduced herself "hi tina I am Steven's mom".
"Hello auntie " she replied .her mom further continued the conversation by asking "are you both friends "
Tina replied " yes , we are friends and i am his classmate too "
"She ended the chat with, 'It was really nice meeting you, Auntie,' and left the place by saying, 'Okay Steven, I better go. See you at school."
PRESENT
Jame: "Maybe Steven has siblings? Maybe he is not the one who went missing."
Tina: "No! He has no siblings. Also, do you think it is as a coincidence that hard drive containing the " main " program on which he was working also got stolen as soon as he went missing?"
Mia (in a low voice): "No, I think Tina is right. Yesterday, I saw Steven..."