1 Deceptive Facade

(This is a rewrite of my first novel, and I will appreciate your support very much. Please tell me my shortcomings. This novel will get a little dark in the future, not now. I will try to do my best. I am writing on the phone, so you should know already.)

(English is not my first language.Even then I spent half an hour correcting my mistakes in this chapter) (Please leave a message if you find any)

(And please leave a review 🙏)

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Haridwar, India 10.30 pm

As I strolled through the busy streets of my neighborhood, I couldn't help but wonder about the unknown future that lay ahead of me.

Every thing will eventually meet it's end that is why we should live freely and independent and always in control.

That is why I desire more power, even though I currently have little control over things. However, it's still not enough.

[ You know, you have come far from an innocent boy to a person who can manipulate his life. ] A voice sounded in my head. He is the reason I was able to accomplish everything I am today.

"Yes, you are right; we have come far," I said as I remembered the past.

I looked at the screen of my phone and smiled. They were the photos of girls I have slept with or who have been my girlfriends as I scrolled through them. I came towards a particular folder. My heart ached at the thought of her.

"Should I call her? Nah, I don't think she would want that, she should be happy living in another state," I thought and sighed.

[ You still can't forget her; you know she is your biggest weakness, and you very well know that weakness should be discarded. ] The voice whispered in my mind.

"You should know how much to talk; don't cross your line," I said to him with coldness dripping in my voice. If my friends and family were to see me now, they wouldn't believe it was my voice.

I looked at the screen of my phone to check the time.

"It's time to go home," I said as I thought about college, which will start next week.

"It should be alright; Matsuo should have taken care of all the issues of paperwork, "I thought as I remembered Matsuo Tanaka.

He was a person I found on the Darknet. He was offering his organs for his daughter's surgery. Even though I didn't have much money at that time, I gave him more than half of my money at Damien's suggestion, and he agreed to become my puppet.

He is the person I used as a puppet to hide my identity from the world.

For the whole world, I am Daemon Blackwood, a model A-grade student who is friendly to talk to and a state-level chess player, but to the underworld and the Matrix, I am a billionaire who got lucky with bitcoins.

My nickname for the dark world is Whisper.

I have even signed a contract with the Matrix saying that if I don't interfere with their work of controlling the world from behind the curtains, they will not interfere with me.

"Well, it is really funny that even the matrix, which controls the world, cannot even uncover who made the Darknet. Was it made by some aliens or some high humans?" I asked Damien about all of these.

[ You will get answers in the future. Concentrate on living your life to the fullest for now. ] Damien again did not answer my question about how Darknet was able to hide my identity from The Matrix.

"Well, I have to praise you on that, Damien. How do you know all these future events? Did you come from the future? I have asked you so many times, but why can't you tell me a little? "I asked, hopefully even to get a little information.

[ Five years from now, you will get all your answers; now don't ask me again; otherwise, I will not help you from now on, and you can forget about Preeti. ] Damien said in a threatening voice, and I decided to comply with that.

As I listen to the hustle of the streets, It's still lively at night here. I walked towards the apartment where I lived with my parents. A 3-bedroom flat with a living room and other necessities.

My father didn't know that he got this job because I arranged it for him. I thought it would have been different if I was living in a rundown apartment.

After which I walked towards my bed, and my mom called me, "Daemon, can you come over here?"

"Ya coming," I said, walking towards the kitchen as I looked at my Mom Grace Blackwood ,She was 38 this year and still looked like she was 29 or 30 years old. She has an hourglass figure and very good body proportions, I got all of my genes from her; she was 5'8 inches tall, had shiny black hair falling to her back, white skin, and a very beautiful face.

My father was very lucky in the arranged marriage as he was 6 years older than her, but the biggest problem was that he was average in terms of everything except his eyes, which were light brown, and I was lucky I only got my father's eyes.

"Daemon, your father should not be coming home today, so you should have dinner already, and if you don't eat dinner before 9 p.m., Starting tomorrow you will not get your pocket money," my mom reprimanded me as I took my food and walked towards my room.

I chuckled inwardly at her words. Money is the least of my problems, but still, my mom is one of the three people I truly love, and I will do anything to protect her.

[ Well, considering you have hacked her phone and placed secret cameras around here, I don't think anything would happen to her, and because of you, your father rarely comes home. Now that I think about it, you are a Mom-con. ] Damien said in a teasing voice, Well, he is right about that; she is the one who was always with me, so what's the problem with that?

After eating dinner, I walked towards my room. I was bored, so I decided to do some pushups to get myself tired so I could sleep. It's my daily routine to do pushups at night before sleep; I don't know why. Even though I go to the gym. After that, I take a shower and then sleep to maintain my very good health.

After doing 3 sets of 50 pushups, situps, and some crunches with a 3-minute plank, which is hell for me, I got up to take a shower.

During the shower, I heard Damein's voice again.

[ What are your plans in college? There will certainly be many girls you can get with your charm and your good-boy personality. Are you going to continue with the boring route? ]Damien asked 

"I will maintain my persona on the outside, and this time I will do things differently. "I decided to be vague. Well, considering we are the same person, we think mostly alike. Coming out of the bathroom and drying myself, I lay on the bed.

As I started to remember how it all started, I felt a pang in my heart, and I sighed. I still can't forget that. It looks like it was just yesterday.

(Flashback)

I was always a good student with the potential to be the first in my class during school from kindergarten on. The only thing stopping me was my very bad writing, and they deducted marks for writing. Still,  my memory was remarkable for a child.

We lived on the outskirts of the capital of the state at that time. It was not a very good place, even though it was near the capital; it was more of a village, but considering my father's financial status, it was good. I studied at a school that was the best in the local area. I was around 9 years old at that time.

I was a very curious kid at that time, but I had a secret that I never told anyone, not even my parents, fearing that they would think of me as someone with brain problems or psychosis. I could hear a voice in my head.

It all started when the bully in my class started making fun of me because of my long hair. He started calling me a girl. Although he never got physical, it was tolerable. I didn't want to tell my parents because my bully, Simon, was a rich kid, and I didn't want to disturb them, so I didn't say anything.

Why did I have long hair at that time? There was some ritual in the family where I couldn't have a haircut before I turned 10 years old. It was hell for me in school.

He had the perfect reason for bullying me. One day During lunch, it looked like he was pissed at something as he pushed me out of nowhere. Unluckily for me, behind me was a rose garden, and I fell into it.

It hurts. With little spikes in my buttocks and arms, seeing me like that, he started to run. I don't know what came over me at that time, but something was fueling my anger as I got up with little spikes around my body and picked up a decent-sized rock and threw it at him.

Luckily for him, because he was running, the stone only hit his leg, and he fell on his buttocks and started crying.

By the time some senior students came and called the teachers, we were taken to the infirmary, where he and I were treated. The teacher was scolding me, but my attention was somewhere else.

I thought about the whole ordeal; it's not like me to hit someone.

"Hey, are you listening?" my class teacher asked, looking at me angrily. He was a middle-aged man with an average face. I looked at him.

"Honestly, I am disappointed in you; I thought you were better," he said, looking at me disappointingly.

I lowered my head and clenched my fist. Why was he not scolding him? I looked at Simon, my bully.

Looking at his smug face that day, I knew he was involved in this. Today I learned my first lesson: money is very important if you want to live your life with ease...