A Night Thinker

A Ghita Blom x Mads Lauritzen fanfic from The Missing, Romance Club visual novel.

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"Why does she seem so familiar to me?”

Lauritzen’s thought as his words come out from his mouth. If they had met sooner, he would surely have remembered her.

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It was in afternoon. A backpack and a notebook rested on the bench beside a girl with a ponytail. She sat quietly, switching between a history book and her sociology assignments. The world around her faded; even her best friends passed unnoticed.

“Ghita! Aren’t you coming to the dance rehearsal for prom?” Jaynie, her longtime best friend, called out, braking her bicycle nearby.

Ghita closed the book but kept her finger marking the page.

“I already told Saga I’d join tomorrow. I just need to prepare for the university test first. After that, we’ll meet at the café, okay?”

“Copy, unbeatable nerdy girl. Don’t miss that or I’ll strike you down on our pact of friendship!”

Ghita lifted a thumb in agreement and allowed herself to mimic a playful “got it!" gesture, then bent back over her notes. While many of the 3rd grade students were preparing their end-year activities, most of them were also studying for entrance exams to their dream universities. Ghita actually loved the euphoria of creating events—but if she forced herself to do everything at once, she might lose her chance at her first-choice major. So she decided to focus on what mattered most, even if it cost her moments of joy.

A cool breeze swept through, carrying fallen leaves across the park. Soon after, a man in a gray jacket took the seat beside her. He looked as though he’d just finished a walk—or a run. The smartwatch on his wrist caught her eye—it wasn’t common at the time. Maybe, she thought, he worked for a well-known company in the city. His age seemed to support that.

He opened a bottle of water and drank, glancing around. Out of the corner of her eye, Ghita noticed him, but quickly returned to her reading. Usually, it was nothing—she had encountered plenty of strangers sitting beside her. Once, it was a grandmother with her grandchildren and their Akita, filling the bench as though the whole park were theirs. Ghita had played with the children and the dog, but always returned to her textbook. Always like that.

The rustling of leaves, the crisp autumn air—it gave the moment a quiet thrill. One wave of leaves scattered, only for another to fall in their place. A girl on the verge of womanhood, chasing her dreams. A man, barely transitioning into adulthood, already heavy with ambition. Two souls, unknown to each other, sitting with their own purposes. Wandering beneath the same sky that silently protected them.

His gaze drifted to her scattered notes on the bench. He had trained at the Academy, but undercover work left him little time for theory. Every day was pressure, burden, responsibility. He gladly accepted the risk, yet sometimes he wondered how many nights he would have to stay awake while others slept safe in their beds. What recklessness would be created by his choices?

Their eyes playing hide and seek. A flicker of curiosity. A silent stutter. It's like the path itself was nudging them closer—birds singing, crickets whispering faint music orchestrating their inner monologues—for themselves and for each other. The moment lingered, then passed, as they slowly looked away.

A schoolgirl, nearly a university student, he thought. But why spread all her notes out on a park bench? How can she study out here? How does she even understand that textbook? He wondered how she managed it.

In the Academy, he had been among the top students, even cracking his first case in his senior year. His colleagues never asked how he did it; they knew he had instinct in the field—logical, deductive, unshakable. But if the girl beside him had been his classmate, he would have doubted his place.

I’d gladly surrender, he thought, because I can’t beat her multitasking brain. Just look at that book. She aces it all, and that’s… amazing.

Lauritzen allowed himself a small smile, remembering his Academy years—times when he tried to escape class, only to be dragged by his mentor to volunteer in social facilities. Everything was simpler back then. That was when he wished the moment not to die, but for his own goodness, life had to go on, like the pedals of a bicycle that must keep turning unless the rider chooses to stop.

And yet, even as he thought about duty, something inside him stirred. A strange pull. The sense that he had sat beside her before, though he knew he hadn’t. It was dangerous for him to linger on such feelings. But still, the weight of familiarity pressed against his chest, quiet and persistent.

“Lauritzen, suspect heading north side of the park. Circle around and intercept.” The headset crackled to life.

He rose quickly and walked off with purpose. Going opposite to where Ghita sat.

Her eyes followed him. For a heartbeat, her thoughts went blank. Then something inside her surged. There was an ache in her chest as she looked at him, clearly seeing his figure, yet unable to place him. The weight pressed down on her ribs, sinking deep, as though she had always known him. As though he were the one she had longed for—the one she dreamed of when watching sunsets in summer, when touching the waves at the shore as they embrace at her feet, when she whispered silent prayers at night to no one but herself...

It was too much. Her chest swelled with a longing she couldn’t understand, an ache that frightened her.

She shook her head, snapping herself back.

It must be because I’m too tired.

Literally that's the first thing my mind said when it comes to this scene.

What position if I may ask? 😏

Apparently only "I'm not" can send butterfly to stomach and ascend to heavens of gods and godesses.

OOH? FINALLY WE SEE MADS BLUSHING AFTER THAT "NO, I WOULD HAVE REMEMBERED YOU" SCENE?????

HELL YEAHHHH

Why you still deny that its YOU who wants to talk to Ghita endlessly? Ok, talk shop?

Sir, is it too early for meeting soon-to-be father in law?

Miss Mam definitely wants too know why you question her, Mads. Don't mess with ma Qweens 💅 You know how Slavic woman ('though half-Danish) known for their fierce style.

YESSSSS STRONG GIRL DAD VIBES 💪

Look, Mads. You make someone blushing so hard😗

GUYS... I'M HERE WATCHING YOU TWO.

Sorry Dmitry, your icy behavior didn't stop my Lane from teasing you 😌

Yes, Amala, because they are LITERALLY waiting for you to come to them, and use your friends as a pawn 🤣

I'm doing this for your own good. You don't know what I can be like."

Evthys: "What if I do? What would that mean? What if I want to find out? And who's going to be more disappointed? Me or you?"

This man is on my friendship path yet he always call us Dear, my Moon-faced Dear, warning Eva, try to dissolve her problem before the hunters know that she's a shesmu. Even if' you're not romanticizing him, he's still act as a chocolate. 🥰

But it seems the epistates react to "our dear Eva" differently, so he's sending his Robin to help Livius since they both are chatty according to him 😅 Idk epistates why you despise Livius so much lol.

Eva never fail to do matchmaking. If Titian get to know Herse, then Amen can also get to know Livius 🤣