Day Twenty Four…
~~*****~~
[ At 2:20 am…]
Abigail left Cherry's bedroom. She was going upstairs when she bumped into Little Ethan, who was going downstairs.
"Miss Abi!"
"Ethan… why are you still awake?" Abigail asked the young boy with a hint of concern in her voice. "You have class today at Eight and need to go to school by Seven. You should be sleeping by now." Abigail held Ethan's shoulder as she bent down to put their eyes at the same level.
"Miss Abi. I was awakened by Powy and Riemc." Ethan replied truthfully. But those two robots woke her up long ago. He already fought two hackers. He managed to defeat Spade but Black Rose had escaped.
"Hmm. Powy and Riemc should not disturb your sleep. This is not the time to play." Abigail mumbled. She had the urge to scold those two robots. But unknown to her, GingerAllieAne was the mastermind, requesting the two robots to wake up their young master.
"Where are they?" Abigail added, turning from left to right as she searched for those two robots.
Little Ethan just giggled. He was happy because Abigail was concerned about him.
"Don't scold them, Miss Abi. Something urgent happened, that's why they had no choice but to wake me up." Little Ethan explained, defending his two robotic friends.
"Hmm. Okay. So where are you going?" Abigail asked him curiously.
Ethan smiled shyly and put the tips of his forefingers together. He even bit his lower lip. Little Ethan was so embarrassed to admit that he got hungry and thirsty after fighting the two hackers. Black Rose gave him a hard time.
Little did he know, the person in front of him was the same person who gave him a hard time a while ago. Abigail or rather, Phantomflake was still an expert in computers, especially hacking.
"C'mon, Ethan. You can tell me anything. Don't be shy," Abigail said, ruffling his hair. She could tell that Ethan was hesitating to answer her question. However, she urged him to speak comfortably with her.
Ethan raised his head to look into her eyes. Then he smiled sheepishly and said, "I got hungry, Miss Abi… I fought two expert hackers a while ago."
Abigail: "..."
Abigail was stunned for a moment when she heard that. Was it just a coincidence? Little Ethan had a face-off with two hackers. Perhaps, he was referring to Spade and Black Rose? Abigail felt confused.
"Come. I will cook for you. What food do you like?" Abigail tried to conceal her emotions. She was dying to ask Ethan but she couldn't neglect him. He told her that he was hungry.
'Hmm. I should provide him something to eat before asking him.'
"Yey! Miss Abi! You're the best!" Ethan pounced on her. He truly appreciated her sweet gesture. She was like a mother to him.
Abigail cooked noodles for Ethan. It would be easy to cook at this moment and it won't take a lot of time. After twenty minutes, Abigail began interrogating Ethan about what he did in his room.
"Ethan, why did you fight two hackers? Do you know them?"
Ethan just finished eating his noodles. He put the spoon and bowl down, staring in her direction.
"They hacked the security system of one of my Dad's medical facilities. GAA sensed the attackers and asked Powy and Riemc to wake me up since she froze from a strong virus sent by the hackers and she couldn't launch a counterattack." Ethan said with honesty.
Abigail just nodded her head, urging him to continue. She was all eyes and all ears on him.
"But I helped out, Miss Abi! I defeated one of the hackers and sent a virus that could destroy his computer." He was smiling from ear to ear because he felt so proud.
"I got his IP address as well as his exact location. I'm going to report this to Dad tomorrow." Ethan added.
Abigail's heart began to race. She had her suspicions. 'Hey… what's happening? Don't tell me… Ethan is the one using the SizzlingAugust08. Is this just a great coincidence?'
Abigail moved closer to Ethan and grabbed his hands. She was looking straight into his eyes.
"Can you let me see your laptop and the account you used?" Abigail asked Ethan expectantly.
Ethan would never say 'No' to Abigail so he bobbed his head frantically. "Sure, Miss Abi. Let's go to my playroom. I will show you."
Ethan got off his chair and brought the spoon, fork, and small bowl to the sink. When he was done, he grabbed Abigail's hand, pulling her upstairs.
The two of them entered the playroom and were greeted by Powy and Riemc. GingerAllieAne recorded everything on Ethan's screen when he was fighting the two hackers.
He gave Abigail the laptop and asked GAA to replay the recorded scenes. Abigail watched the recording on Ethan's laptop.
"Black Rose and Spade… they are the hackers," Ethan informed Abigail as he observed Abigail.
Abigail almost dropped the mouse when she heard that. Then she saw something on the computer screen. Ethan used SizzlingAugust08's account!
'No way… how could this happen?' Abigail was in a baffled state right now. Ethan was too young to become the SizzlingAugust she had known.
"Ethan… why do you have this… account?" Abigail asked Ethan, feeling uneasy.
"Oh, this SizzlingAugust08 is my Dad's former account," Ethan answered matter-of-factly with his two adorable round eyes.
Thud!
Abigail dropped the mouse to the floor! She felt like a lightning struck her when she heard that revelation coming from Ethan. 'SizzlingAugust08 is Nathan's account… Does it mean… he is my virtual friend?'
Abigail refused to accept this fact. She was still in denial. How could she accept it? The friend she valued the most was her mortal enemy. The enemy who annihilated her entire assassin guild!
Abigail was absentminded for several seconds until Ethan nudged her shoulders to get her attention.
"Miss Abi! Miss Abi! Are you okay? Do you feel unwell?" Ethan got worried about her. Her focus disappeared and her face became pale. She looked very shocked!
Ethan's voice snapped her out of her deep stupor. Seeing Ethan's concerned look, Abigail was reminded of the person she should protect.
Abigail held Ethan's shoulders and faced him. "Ethan… Can I ask you two favors?"
"Sure, Miss Abi. What are they? I will do my best to help you out." Ethan was willing to do anything for Abigail.
"Can you give me a copy of the hacker's IP address and his location?"
"Of course, Miss Abi. I will give this to you. So what is the second one?" The young boy replied cheerfully, eager to know what the second request was.
"If you will report this to your Dad… can you please omit some information, especially about Black Rose? Please… don't mention that name to your Dad," Abigail pleaded.
Ethan blinked his eyes several times, unable to comprehend why Abigail wanted to hide the existence of Black Rose. But since it was her humble request, Ethan would fulfill it without asking more questions.
"I got it, Miss Abi. Don't worry. I will never mention that name to my Dad," Ethan said, reassuring her.
"Please … Don't tell him that Black Rose was one of the hackers…"
Ethan could only nod his head. "I promise."
Abigail heaved a sigh of relief before patting Ethan's head. "Thank you, Ethan. I promise to compensate you in the future."
*****
[ At 6:00 am… ]
Nathan went downstairs with dark circles under his eyes. It looked like Nathan didn't have enough sleep or rather, he hadn't slept yet.
He was awake all night until dawn, just thinking about what he had done yesterday afternoon.
He stole kisses from Abigail and he used Abigail's punishment as an excuse to justify his action. After doing that, he realized that he was insane for thinking that way.
He shouldn't have kissed her while she was asleep. He shouldn't have taken advantage of her. But, he couldn't help it. His hidden desire won over him and it was too late to stop himself.
This was so unlikely of him. He didn't understand why he was physically attracted to Abigail. He had met different women– beautiful with outstanding backgrounds. But, no one caught his attention. Monica was always the exception.
But now that she was gone, someone like Abigail reappeared. She was affecting Nathan's emotions as much as Monica.
Feeling suffocated by these thoughts, Nathan decided to take a walk outside, roaming around the garden. The maids, helpers, and cooks were already busy doing their household chores so Nathan was alone in the garden.
'Sigh. What is happening to me? I should clear my mind. Why do I feel like setting boundaries with Abigail is so hard?' Nathan lamented to himself as he took several deep breaths. He kept sighing and sighing while he walked around the vicinity of the flower garden.
Nathan was still walking around when Butler Li came running in his direction.
"Master Nathan!" Butler Li called him, making Nathan turn around to look at Butler Li. Butler Li had worried and anxious expressions on his face.
"Yes, Butler Li?" Nathan gave him a puzzled look. The head butler was still panting. Then he raised his hands, giving him the phone.
"Master Nathan! An urgent call coming from Branch 14 of your Medical Facilities."
Nathan frowned but he still accepted the phone. Veronica was the one on the other line. She was now talking to Nathan.
A few seconds later, Nathan's eyes widened in disbelief. He dropped the phone. Then his shocked expression suddenly turned into a cold and angry one.
Without saying a word, Nathan dashed inside the house to get something. He moved at lightning speed as if his life depended on it.
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