Realm of Noah

Chapter 18

21st November 2019

NOAH

"Are you here to stare at me?"

I asked Renee, noticing the way she was watching me, transfixed. Her eyes had widened considerably, her cheeks painted a blaring red, even her mouth hung open, everything making me drown in self-consciousness.

"W-What?" Renee blabbered, snapping her eyes away and turning away from me almost immediately. "I... I came here because I had q-questions..."

"On how hot I am?" I smirked casually as if I hadn't been affected by the whole situation. I was every bit embarrassed as Renee was, my hands nearly jumping to grab a t-shirt, but I also enjoyed how flustered she looked.

"Of course not," Renee scoffed, turning around to face me, although her eyes were fixed upon the ceiling. "I only came here to ask you about the video."

I had a retort ready for whatever she said, but the last word threw me off guard.

Video?

"What video?" I asked, praying that she hadn't found out about GhostGuy. Why did the very person I wanted to hide from be the first one to see the video?

"Don't play dumb," She threw me a glare. "You're GhostGuy, aren't you?"

Damn it.

I cursed under my breath, hating the universe for not keeping this one deed of mine a secret. I continued to look clueless, hoping I could play it cool and convince Ren that it wasn't me.

She didn't need to know that I was helping out Johannes.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I muttered incoherently and slipped a black t-shirt over my head. Seducing her could wait for another day.

"Hmm, maybe your watch does," She wandered over to my bedside table, picking it up and waving it in front of my face. I suddenly remembered the sheet slipping down my left wrist for a second, exposing my watch.

It awed and annoyed me that she was so observant.

"Does this bring back memories?" She frowned. "Or are you determined to keep a billion secrets from me?"

Ah. There it was, the very reason for our fight.

How sneaky old Noah had a sudden urge to hide everything from his girlfriend.

"I... Yeah. I was GhostGuy," I admitted, hanging my head low. "I didn't want to hide it from you, but I was worried about your reaction."

"My reaction?" Renee repeated, flummoxed.

"Yeah, you're mad at me, aren't you?" I questioned in a low voice.

"Noah, why would I be mad at you when you've just saved a thousand lives?" Renee sat down upon my bed, the corners of her mouth lifting. "I'm proud of you for coming up with something like this."

Seeing Renee happy made my heart flutter again. And that's exactly when my brain overdosed on serotonin, effectively making me dig my own grave.

"Thanks, Ren," I told her, blushing slightly. "But it was Johannes's idea, not mine."

And the damage was done.

"What?" Ren was initially confused. "Why would Johannes want you to hack into LOLtube? Isn't he the founder of the channel?"

I explained to her how his ex-comrades had abandoned him, how Johannes sought revenge and how hacking into LOLtube was the perfect way to sabotage their plans.

"You see Ren, Johannes wants to be the one doing evil. He can't stand it when other people do it better than him, especially when they use up his ideas." I told her, not noticing the look of disbelief on her face.