"Excuse me," Julian asked one of the tailors, "did Karl come here today?"
The ghost looked up and blinked. "Karl? No, I haven’t seen him."
They moved quickly through the open work floor, checking each familiar corner. The break room...empty. The fabric shelves neatly arranged. Even the side rooms where Karl sometimes sneaked in to nap under the wool rolls—completely untouched.
Adrian glanced toward Ruby’s office door. It was closed, a warm light still glowing beneath the crack.
He walked over and knocked twice.
A pause. Then her voice, muffled but clear:
Adrian opened the door, and Ruby looked up from behind her desk, files stacked on both sides, her robe sleeves pushed up. Her red eyes narrowed slightly when she saw all three of them enter together, looking tense.
Julian spoke gently, trying to steady his voice. "Wife... is Brother Karl here?"
She blinked, confused. "No. I haven’t seen him since this morning."
Ruby slowly stood from her chair, her expression shifting from confusion to concern.
Adrian’s voice was quiet but firm. "He’s missing."
And just like that...
The air in the office turned cold.
Ruby stepped around her desk, her expression now completely serious. She looked at the three of them, her arms crossed gently over her chest, as if bracing herself.
"Tell me everything," she said quietly. "From the beginning."
Julian nodded, his voice soft but steady.
"It started this afternoon... I woke up from a nap and Karl wasn’t beside me. I thought he snuck out to gossip, like he always does." He paused, glancing at Milo who stood quietly beside him. "We all thought the same. So I didn’t worry at first."
Adrian stayed quiet, letting Julian explain.
"Milo went to check with brother Kenji and Pillu. They both said they hadn’t seen him all day. That’s when we knew something was wrong."
Ruby listened carefully, her brows furrowing deeper with each word.
Then she asked, slowly, "Did Karl... say anything strange today? Or act differently?"
Julian blinked. Then his eyes widened slightly.
Ruby leaned in slightly. "Tell me."
Julian took a breath. "Before I woke up... Karl was acting really weird. He was trying very hard to make me nap. Like, really hard. At first, I thought he was just being sweet. But now... it felt like he was trying to distract me."
Milo looked up at him, confused. "Distract you?"
Julian nodded slowly. "He kept pushing me to sleep, covering me with blankets and when I wouldn’t lie down... he looked anxious."
Ruby’s gaze sharpened.
"What time was that?"
Julian thought for a moment. "Around... 1 PM, I think. Or just a little before."
Something about that detail made her chest tighten.
She stepped back to her desk, placed her hands on the wood, and closed her eyes for a moment.
Karl wouldn’t have just vanished. Not unless he was hiding something.
And he never left without telling her.
Her voice was calm, but her eyes burned.
"We’re going to find him."
Ruby didn’t waste a second.
"Get in the car," she said firmly, and her voice left no room for argument.
Julian, Milo, and Adrian quickly followed, the three of them silent as they climbed into the seats. The air in the car was heavy—not just with fear, but with a strange, rising pressure. Ruby’s expression was calm, but her hands gripped the steering lever with a quiet anger.
She drove them straight to the Civil Protection Office, her car gliding smoothly through the evening sky, cutting through clouds tinted red.
As soon as she pulled up in front of the office, a pair of officers looked up from their benches and immediately stood straighter.
One of them stepped forward, adjusting his robe nervously.
"Miss Ruby... we weren’t informed—"
"I’m here to file a missing report," she interrupted, her tone flat. "One of my husbands is missing. His name is Karl."
The officer’s face paled slightly. "Understood. Right this way."
Once inside, the report was taken swiftly. Seeing her presence, they didn’t dare delay. Files were pulled, notes were written.
Julian was gently questioned—what Karl wore, his last known location, any strange behavior.
He answered each one softly, voice trembling but clear.
Then a pair of civil officers followed them back to Ruby’s house, where they went door to door in the surrounding area, questioning neighbors, vendors, even children playing in the street.
No one had seen Karl.
After the officers left to widen their search, Ruby stood outside her home, arms folded, her hair swaying in the soft night wind.
"We’re not sitting around," she said, eyes fixed on the sky. "We’ll look too."
Julian’s voice cracked. "Where?"
Ruby didn’t answer. She opened the car door. "Everywhere."
They took off again—this time, flying low across their entire village, Ruby steering her car slowly, scanning every alley, rooftop, and path.
"Keep your eyes open," she told them, "Look down the windows. If you see even a shadow that looks like Karl—tell me."
The four of them searched until the late night.
The wind grew colder.
But no matter where they looked...
Not even in the places he used to hide just to be dramatic.
Ruby tightened her grip on the steering.
"This guy..." Ruby whispered under her breath, hands clenched tightly on the wheel.
Her eyes swept the ground below again as she steered the car in another slow arc above the village outskirts, scanning every shadow, every rooftop, every quiet alley.
"What’s he doing? Where is he?"
Her chest ached now—not just from fear, but from frustration. A sharp, pulsing ache that made it harder to breathe the longer he remained gone.
Karl was so careless sometimes.
"You run off like a feather in the wind, and now I’m the one losing my mind," she muttered, jaw tight.
He’d always been dramatic—talking about becoming a star, faking injuries to avoid chores, making up stories just to see if she’d react. But he was never the type to just... vanish.
Not without telling her.
And that’s what worried her most.
"What am I going to do with him?" she said softly, more to herself than anyone else.
—To be continued...🪄