Light Up The Spark

Chapter 40

Fun

"Caden, I-" She stopped and avoided my gaze.

I crossed my arms as I watched Shelly anxiously going over the things on her table.

The fact that she avoided my question, it gave her away. She knows something.

"Shelly." I called. "I value our friendship so please, stop now."

After receiving reports from the investigation, we identified two people who may have been involved in the incident.

We were only allowed to track down the person who made the original post and the one who may have created the bot because they were the ones who violated the user agreement.

Although the original post was made anonymously, her IP address was discovered and matched to another account that used her real name. We have her details but it's up to Aly to decide whether or not to pursue a case.

As for the other one, we were able to track down the name and location of the computer shop used. There's only one person I know that would go there - Shelly.

Sa lahat ng computer shops na meron, ang pinili niya ay iyong palagi naming tinatambayan noong college para mag-practice ng coding.

"I won't fire you from this job because you deserve a second chance but if you choose to resign, I won't prevent you from leaving." I honestly told her.

"I-I-'' She stuttered, breaking down in front of me. "It was a momentary lapse of judgment. Nagalit ako, tapos I found out someone who knew her from the past and learned all those things..."

"You put our project and the company at risk." I stated. "I know where this is coming but I also made it clear long ago that we could only be friends. I didn't know you were waiting until now."

"That wasn't my intention, you know that I would never harm the company. I just... couldn't accept that you two are dating."

I listened to her as a friend, and gave her a second chance as her colleague. We talked and before exiting her office, I made sure to make it clear for the last time that we could only be friends.

I ticked a check on my mental to-fix-list. Aly is on leave, and I want everything to be fixed and smoothed out before she returns; I want everyone who has hurt her to apologize.

As a developer, I understand the value of the community; they are the ones who stick by you, support your efforts and your ideas. And, as much as I'd like to share only positive news with them, that's not going to happen because they must also be aware of activities that are harmful to both the community and the app's environment.

I know they'd call out the team if we did something wrong, and I'd do the same to them, so I took the time to compose a speech to make sure the community and the development team are on the same page.