Pastime *

"Since when?" I asked the two men. "Since when has this been going on?"

Uncle Julian shook his head, "We don't know for sure, but Ian seems to have been causing trouble for over a year. We think that's when Disaster first contacted him."

"What do you want me to do?" 

Now I understand why they made me come to such a secret place. 

Perhaps, this room was the only anti-hacker room in the mansion. 

That told me two things, that this Disaster guy was much stronger than I thought, and that they believed he would come after me now that I confronted him.

Grandfather and Uncle Julián agreed. "It 's possible that this Disaster guy attends Imperio College."

"How do you know that?"

"Your grandfather's challenge at the party was the bait, only scholarship students and your cousins can participate, so it's possible that with his skills he got into the records of the foundation and faked his identity to be a scholarship student. We've already checked the databases, but we haven't found anything strange so ..."

"He's already inside," I replied. "Does he want to be a shareholder of the company? What is he trying to do?"

"We don't know, but we can't allow him to continue..."

I nodded, what a mess. "Fine… I'll help you, but don't try to control me any longer. After this, we're done."

I looked at Grandpa and he smiled. It seemed like he was making fun of me. 

I realized long ago that maybe that old man wasn't serious when he threatened my precious friends.

"Still, you can't reveal your identity and you can't cheat in your exams."

Devils!

After finishing the strange talk, I left the room with my mask still on. 

I had to unpack again.

However, I had some doubts about those two. I won't trust their words completely and blindly. From the beginning, they were using me to catch that guy.

Maybe later, they will try to use me again. I should become stronger.

***

[Thunder: do you want to grab some dinner with me?]

[Thunder: are you awake? Do you want to have breakfast later with me?]

[Thunder: see you later?]

Looks like the idiot finally figured out that I had unblocked him, after an entire week.

I won't answer... I can't...

[Storm: ok]

Damn it!

After researching Ian in depth, without anyone on my team noticing, I began to understand what my uncle and grandfather were talking about. A year and three months ago, Ian began to change.

He was the usual arrogant jerk, but he wasn't a con man, and it seemed his pride kept him from cheating. 

All of his achievements were genuine. Although he wasn't a genius like Uncle Julian, but of all Grandpa's grandchildren, he was the most promising, besides me, of course, and Uncle Julian's son, who was still a mystery. 

At first, I suspected him, but Uncle Julian and Grandpa didn't mention him, so it must not be him.

From what I could find of Ian's background, he met Sarah at Imperio College. She was three years older than Ian, and they met thanks to Lucas.

It seems that in his first year, Ian fell for Sarah immediately. I can't blame him, Sarah is beautiful, smart, and sensitive. She was the perfect woman in every way. 

Even Maya had already relegated me to second place in her heart after meeting Sarah. She used to say that I was a goddess incarnate, but she lowered my rank and gave me the title of universal queen next to the goddess Sarah. Damn, but I don't blame her.

However, poor Ian, with all that pressure to become perfect and suitable to be the next heir, seemed to have found a small ray of hope in Lucas and Sarah's friendship. 

They were his first sincere friends and were with him for a long time, taking care of him. Until... 

One day someone called Sarah to meet at a hotel, it seems that it was a message from Ian, but... there was something strange there. Ian was elsewhere at the time. I found him in the Imperio College library. Therefore, he wasn't the one to send the message. 

Then everything changed between the three of them, and Ian started making dirty deals around and acting like a jerk.

"What do I do?" 

I sighed for the third, or maybe tenth time. At this moment, I had mixed feelings. 

Even when Ian started to behave differently, with Eve he was still the same. He ignored her and treated her with indifference, he didn't bother her like James did, but he never extended a hand to help her, instead, he seemed dissatisfied with her. As if she were a mere insect.

In truth, I didn't feel like helping him. But for my friends, Grandpa and Sarah I will make an exception.

I flopped into bed after leaving my program to find out as much as possible about Ian's info. 

There was a lot to investigate, contacts, jobs, projects, friends, everything to find the slightest clue of this Disaster.

Who could he be? Why would he be doing this? Disaster must have something against the Lark family. 

I thought of looking into that too, but it would take me years to investigate it all and I'm sure it wouldn't be easy to find.

From the novel, I don't remember anything like that happening. In fact, the only one that caused harm to the Lark family was Eve, when her jealousy led her to antagonize the FL, over and over again, until the ML destroyed her and her family.

[Thunder: I'll see you in the cafeteria, at 8:00]

[Storm: at 10:00]

[Thunder: 9:00]

[Storm: ok, this better be a nice breakfast. And don't be late...]

[Thunder: It will be the best... and I will arrive two hours early to prepare it.]

[Storm: will you cook?]

[Thunder: I am a man of many abilities...]

[Storm: Is that what you tell all your girlfriends?]

I shouldn't have said that, I was about to delete the message but it was too late.

[Thunder: I have never cooked for another person.]

I felt strange... I didn't know how to respond. It was like I was his jealous girlfriend.

[Storm: see you tomorrow, I'll go to sleep.]

I slipped into the sheets. I had a lot of things to do, a lot of things to finish, before leaving this country and the novel. 

I was wondering if Thunder would accompany me if I asked him. Would he be willing to follow me?

I don't know anything about him, his name is David Parker. He is a student with a scholarship, studying finance. He is handsome and he knows how to cook. But... I still couldn't stop thinking that maybe, to him, I'm just a pastime.