Hacker

Chapter 14 - Two Sides of A Coin?

Lavender-scented candle.

It's the first thing that came up in my mind as the smell went through my nose. I opened my eyes. The room was unfamiliarly luxurious. Memories filled in my brain as I sat up from the bed. I should be panic, but the smell, somehow, made me stayed calm.

He remembered this thing about me.

I looked down at my clothes to see nothing changed. My hijab was a mess, but it still covered my head. I wasn't smelly so I mustn't be here for long. Probably 3 or 4 hours top as it's already dark outside. My eyes focused on the window, planning an escape. It was a sliding glass window and I didn't know how thick it was but a shot wouldn't hurt. Object by object I skimmed to see which I could use to break the glass.

I was about to pick the chair when the door opened.

"Good evening." Ed greeted with a flat smile.

He closed the door, and locked it. I made a calculation if I just throw the chair now would it break the glass fast enough to -

"The window wouldn't be broken even with a bullet, so don't even try." He spoke calmly.

I sat still on the bed, eyes following his every movement. He dragged the chair to in front of me and sat on it. We both just looked into each other's eyes. Silence.

Finally, he broke it. "Why?" The tone was pretty much upset.

"I was threatened."

"Why didn't you trust me enough to tell me?"

His disappointment; instead of anger, made me bit my lip. "I don't know..." I whispered.

He let out a small sigh. "How can I help you? Did he has your secret?" He asked directly. "You should be honest with me. You know what I'm capable of, Lyn, I can help you escape them."

I hesitated. 

"Do you think he wouldn't use it against you, if he knew what I know?" Zack's line voiced out in my head.

"You can't help me." I looked away.

This time, he sat on the floor, kneeling in front of me. "The fact that you failed today means he'd let your secret out."

My heart beat faster realizing it. But, how did Ed know it's a he?

"So please, give me a chance to make things right." His tone was almost like begging. "I knew something was wrong the moment I saw you at Hers." He didn't look at me anymore, but to the nothingness in front, as he remembered the moments. "It's weird how you're chatting with me, but wasn't holding your phone."

Seems like that carelessness did cause a trouble. I thought.

"I hoped I was wrong. Unfortunately, my gut wouldn't let it slide so I kept checking on you since," His eyes darted back to mine. "And I saw you with him."

Oh, that explains. 

My stomach naturally made the butterflies things. I refused to admit it was because he was mentioned. It felt more like because of nervousness as no one - I repeat, no one - ever saw me and him. We kept it very low key. The fact that Ed figured us out...he surely wasn't just check on us physically.

"Like, saw me with him in the call log or something?" I raised an eyebrow.

Ed just blinked with an empty expression.

"Honestly Ed, I hardly see any difference, you and him. You're both hackers, you both screw other people -"

"What?" He cut me with a deeply furrowed brows.

"Don't what me. You know exactly what I'm talking about."

"No, seriously, I don't know what you're talking about." He pressed.

"The virus, Ed." I reminded him. "What did you do with the virus?"

He didn't seem taken aback but was still quiet for a second. "I sold it."

Then it's my turn to furrowed my brows, non-verbally asking 'What?'

"I sold it to someone online. They're an organization. I didn't think much back then. What I cared about was they paid me well and they did, so I gave it to them." He answered.

I processed the new info. If that's what happened, then Ed wasn't the one behind Zack's father's fall, but the organization. All of this might just be one huge misunderstanding. But how could Zack missed that important piece? Is Ed lying? Or did Zack know but he's just hungry for revenge? But then why did he never mention about the organization?

How far do I actually know about both of these guys?

I was silenced.

Ed seemed to catch my confusion as he guessed. "He wasn't being honest to you, didn't he?"

I shook my head and stood up, walking away a few steps. "It doesn't make sense." I noticed Ed standing up to and turned to my way. "Why would he lie? Why would he troubling himself doing these if it's not true?" I spoke my thoughts.

"Maybe he misunderstood."

"Then why didn't you just meet him and tell him the truth?!" my voice rose unintentionally as I turned around to face him.

"I didn't know!" He said. "I have no idea what's going on here, Lyn. I only knew that he wanna ruin me and use you for it. I didn't know the reason." He justified.

My head felt like exploding. I didn't know what to believe.

"What did he tell you about me? Why were you so scared that you lost all your trust and view me as the devil?" He stepped forward.

"You have no idea how much he can do."

My mind played back the words that came out of Zack's mouth.

We stared each other's eyes for moments before I looked away. "I wanna go home." I requested. "If Zack had let the cat out the bag now, I need to move from this city and transfer to another uni. I can't stay." I shook my head, thinking about the consequences of my failure.

Ed looked surprised and curious at the same time, "What did you do, that that big?"

I didn't answer.

Alarm suddenly interrupted us. It caused the panic in me and my body turned on the freeze mode. Ed hurried to see what caused it and left me alone, locked in the room.