Chapter 104: Who Is Watching Her?
"Aria!" Nora called from the back. "Movie night later?"
She paused.
It took real effort not to just say no.
"What movie?" she asked instead.
"Something dumb?" Nora replied. "Loud. No thinking involved."
Raya popped up next to her. "You’re coming. No excuses."
Aylin hesitated for a moment, feeling that familiar tightening in her chest. Getting close to people meant risk, but she nodded anyway.
"Okay."
Raya grinned as she’d just won something.
By the time Aylin and Nora locked up the apartment that night, the city had quieted down to a more relaxed vibe. The tailor shop below was dark, with a rusty metal shutter, and the sign gave off a weak flicker.
Aylin kicked off her shoes and set them neatly by the wall.
Routine was important.
She checked the locks, made sure the windows were secure, and reminded herself that the emergency exit was in the stairwell, all while Nora had already headed to her room.
Aylin’s room was small but tidy. It had a nice, comfy bed, a narrow desk by the window, and a lamp on the side table. Nothing extra. Nothing personal enough to connect back to her.
She sat down at the desk and opened her laptop.
Not the one for work. The other one.
It was older, heavier, and never linked to public Wi-Fi. This was the laptop she managed to bring here thanks to Reyes; she had no clue how he pulled it off, but he did it for her.
The screen lit up.
Folders were scattered across the desktop. Most of them were just empty shells, decoys. One folder sat at the bottom, its name a bit faded from age.
ARCHIVE
She clicked on it. Inside were files she hadn’t touched in two years: encrypted logs, ghost accounts, and old keys.
And one server.
Private. Isolated. Offline.
She stared at it for a moment before closing the laptop. Not tonight.
The next day, the shift went pretty well.
Aylin worked the register with a friendly tone and a laid-back vibe. She remembered customers’ faces, what they liked, and their usual orders. The café had learned to trust her with the cash and the keys.
Trust could be risky.
A guy hung around the counter, glancing between her and his phone.
Her shoulders got tense.
"Can I help you?" she asked calmly.
He blinked, looking surprised. "Sorry. I thought you were someone else. Wrong jawline."
Her heartbeat didn’t settle until he left.
"Wrong jawline," she thought, feeling bitter. "That excuse again."
Later, while the staff wiped down tables and stacked chairs, Madam Suri handed Aylin a small envelope.
"Extra hours from last week," she said. "You deserve it."
Aylin gave a slight nod. "Thanks, ma’am."
She didn’t peek inside the envelope until she was outside.
It was enough to cover rent. Enough for groceries. Enough to run if she needed to.
The movie night was loud, silly, and fantastic.
They packed into the theater, popcorn spilling everywhere and laughter bouncing off the walls. Aria sat between Raya and Nora, her hands neatly folded in her lap at first.
After a while, she relaxed.
She laughed when they laughed and groaned when the plot fell apart. For a little while, she forgot about counting exits.
"You’re smiling," Raya whispered.
Aylin blinked, surprised, then grinned wider. When Raya put her hand on Aylin’s, she froze. A moment later, when Raya leaned in to kiss her, Aylin pushed her away and said, "What are you doing?"
Raya looked embarrassed and said, "Sorry, I wasn’t thinking clearly."
Aylin knew she was a lesbian and had been seeing one of the other staff members, but that girl left the café two weeks ago. Since then, Raya had started acting in ways that made Aylin uncomfortable, and sometimes, she felt a bit scared of her.
"I don’t feel that way," Aylin said calmly. "I don’t want this to be misunderstood."
Aylin nodded and replied, "Please, take care of yourself. Don’t do stuff like this. You’ll find the right person eventually, but it’s not me, okay?" She said it nicely because she wanted to avoid another tricky situation. She was aware that Raya’s brother was involved with a gang and was super protective of her sister, treating her like a princess, who couldn’t stand to see her upset. Aylin didn’t want to come off as harsh.
Raya nodded in understanding.
After the movie wrapped up, Nora and Aylin made their way back home while Raya headed off with her brother.
Later that night, Aylin was sitting on the edge of her bed, feeling completely wiped out.
She hadn’t checked her phone at all that night, but there was a message notification blinking at her.
Raya: Next time, karaoke.
Aylin chuckled softly and fired back a reply:
Aylin: You’re trying to kill me.
She sat there for a bit, soaking in the quiet buzz of the city outside.
Then her laptop made a noise, a different one. It wasn’t the usual sound; it was from the program she had opened the night before.
A soft, unfamiliar ping.
Aylin froze.
That laptop wasn’t hooked up to anything. It hadn’t been connected for two years.
Slowly, she turned back.
The screen was on. Not her desktop. Not any of her folders.
Just one little notification in the corner.
SERVER: 1 NEW MESSAGE RECEIVED.
Her breath caught in her throat. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard but didn’t move.
With shaky hands, she opened the message, barely able to breathe.
Only one server in the whole world could connect to that machine.
And the last time it was active, people had died.
Her heart started to race. Carefully, she clicked to read the message, which appeared line by line.
"You disappeared. But you didn’t vanish."
Her blood ran cold. Another line popped up.
"Ghosts don’t stay buried forever."
She swallowed hard.
Then the last message showed up.
"Welcome back, Lunel."
The screen locked itself. Connection terminated.
Aylin closed the laptop with trembling fingers and hugged it tight against her chest, as if that could stop the past from coming back.
Life went on, but she knew one very scary thing: the ghost she thought she’d buried two years ago just knocked on her door.
Meanwhile, somewhere in Italy, a guy was smoking while looking out the window. His assistant came over and said, "Lunel, check the message."
The guy nodded. When he saw the look on his assistant’s face, he said, "Just say it."
He paused for a second and added, "And the location is Malaysia."
