Lia was very much in a dilemma now.She told Aster about her meeting with Ruby. "By this incident, we can rule out the possibility that she recognized you. And we can also infer that she is definitely not like the person she showed herself at the party. She doesn't like to hurt others but she still framed you. Why?"Yes. why would someone act in a totally different way?Unless they were coerced to do that."What if? I mean, what if the person behind the scenes asked her? There's no other reason, right?"Aster pondered. "You may be right. We have to confirm this. Otherwise, we can go the wrong way."Lia nodded but she felt that her hypothesis was right. She liked the person Ruby was when she asked her to be her friend. But she didn't like when Ruby hurt her earlier. But she saw her as two different people, not one person.It was totally different.How could she treat her nicely when she got flashes of her framing? It was a contradictory situation."I will see if I get any informatio
Lia finally liked Ruby's post. She couldn't stop herself. She had completely changed her impression of Ruby from the posts on her Wowee wall.Lia didn't think for a second if those were really drawn by Ruby. What if? What if she was impersonating someone else?This was what Aster had thought. He couldn't believe the good in everyone like Lia. He was deeply suspicious. And the way Ruby seemed to change her colors also made him hesitate.He knew that she didn't know Lia's real identity. So her actions couldn't be doubted. But what if?Sometimes coincidences happening are not coincidences. Lia acted her feelings. Aster waited till he could decode something.Both of them made different choices but they were United against the whole world.Marvin also decided to check Ruby Simmons. He had targeted her the moment he saw her targeting Lia. He was very concerned about Lia's safety. He was already suspicious when his uncle concealed their existence before his death. They knew nothing about
When Lia told Aster about her confirmation, he didn't react the way she thought."I don't think you should believe her. Maybe she is acting. We can't say.""She is a good person."Aster shook his head."You are basing this on the fact that her drawings are soulful. What if she didn't draw that? And in the case she drew that, you can't think that she is alright. Some villains are pretty normal. But they are still villains."Lia was speechless."It's hard to talk with you. Anyway, I will prove that she is a good person, you see."Lia huffed and ran away.Aster didn't take notice of this because he was very much on guard against Ruby. Even if she was his savior, he didn't know her motives for saving him.Moreover, in retrospection, his kidnapping incident seemed totally flawed to him.How could he be kidnapped when he was totally protected? That means it was an inside job. So a human intervention was found here and now he feels that the whole incident will blow open if he investigated.M
"Hello, Grandpa. How are you?""Aster, I have to come back to check some land matters. Can you clean up my old house? I have some stuff related to your grandma's property to sort out."Aster's grandma was a rich second generation. And she had only one adoptive brother. She was pampered by her parents and uncles and then by his grandfather.She had only one son and she died very early. He had never seen her. She died when his father was twenty.Grandfather also passed away after one year. And his father got married later. Aster only knew his grandparents through pictures. He had no other memories or anything related to them.But his father talked to them about his memories.That's why this call was very suspicious.It was Grandma's adoptive brother.He was adopted after his father died in the war and his mother committed suicide. His great-grandfather adopted him because he was the son of his comrade.Aster had never met this grandfather.He had a son, that's all he knew.Aster prompt
Marvin waited till they all went out and knocked on the door.Lia's mother didn't expect it to be Marvin."Hello, aunt. I'm here to talk to you about Uncle."She didn't look surprised."Ask.""Aunt, did you know that uncle was friends with Aster's father, Arden Brooks?"She shook her head."Also, there is a chance that he was killed."As expected, she looked in pain.Marvin gave her time to calm down. He went to make coffee and came back with two cups."Thabk you."She sipped the coffee. "Actually, there were some things that made me worried. Like the fact that he always went away without telling me. I thought he was cheating on me. But then he died. I didnt know what to do then. I also found that our old house, it was the residence of some other family. Coincidentally, it was a single mother. I didnt want to think bad of your uncle but I had no other way to think, right? I hoped that someone told me that he was never cheating on me. That he liked me."Marvin didnt know what to say.
Aster finally met the grandfather from his grandmother's side. He was dressed normal. No brand clothes and if you see him in a crowded place, you wouldn't even notice this old man.He was normal in every way so no one would notice that he walked with extra spring in his step like he had a happy news that he couldn't wait to share with anyone.Aster felt very conflicted but he didn't think anything else. "Grandfather, here!"Aster moved towards him and saluted."Ah, Aster. Hood boy. You grew so tall. Taller than me. The last time I saw you, you were just born. How fast the time goes!"Aster didn't know what to say to that. He barely knew about this grandfather so he couldn't say anything."Ah, let's go. I have gifts for you."Aster drove him to the old house. The old house was well, old. The architecture was definitely not modern and the building looked rather old despite the maintenance and painting done again."Ah, time changes everything. You know there was a jasmine plant here. A
The old man talked about his childhood and he seemed sad. But he still kept talking. Lia had to listen to him with rapt attention because she wanted to seize flaws. Otherwise, it would mean that he was a good person. Lia watched the old man and guessed some things. If he acted till now, he was a very awesome actor. Because he seemed pretty pitiful. But that also raised many questions.Like why he didn't come to meet Aster when his brother was dead. Or when his parents died. It wasn't like he didn't know about this. Then why?Seems pretty confusing, right?"Grandpa, why haven't you come earlier? We were so alone when mom and dad left us."Aster also asked the question that plagued Lia.It seemed that doubting every person was a wrong thing. But they had no other choice. How can you trust someone you just met? Even if that person was supposed to be your relative, you have to be careful. In this age and world, true feelings were seen rarely. It would be better if we could find some
"Mom, I am going to work on a website. Call me if there is something."Lia had decided to help Ruby. She wanted to make a responsive dynamic website with Ruby's animations. That way, she could get more traffic. By the time, Lia had decided the framework, she received a message from Aster.Aster- Come to my study.Lia put away her laptop and slowly walked towards the hidden door.She never thought one day she would have to sneak all the time like this."Hey, I'm here."Aster was standing against the window peering out and watching something."Sit down."Lia made herself at home."So what do you want to talk about?""Tell me what do you think about yesterday's dinner?"Lia thought for a while."I think we can't trust him. He looks soft and easy but I just don't want to believe him. I don't know why!"Aster laughed. Heartily."You are right. He lied yesterday."Now Lia sat up straight."Tell me, tell me. Tell me!"Aster smiled again and then stayed talking."The fact that he left after
The date was wonderful. When they came back, Lia couldn't stop smiling."So, I'll see you tomorrow. "Aster dawdled without wanting to leave. Lia smiled and nodded. "Yeah, you go first. I'll wait for your signal."Lia left first and opened the door to Jake's face."Have you son some lottery again?""Noo!"Lia wanted to stop her face from smiling like an idiot but it was proving to be hard."Then your experiment was successful. I knew it, let's celebrate by eating leftover ice cream from yesterday."Lia didn't pay attention to him. At this point, she didn't need to pay attention to him as he was already taking out ice cream. She slipped away to her room.Lia then opened her window and opened the balcony curtain. It was yellow, and the signal successfully alerted Aster. He smiled and sat in his room, waiting for Asher to come back.Aster wanted to talk to his brother and tell him how happy he was today.It was like he was floating. And nothing could stand in his way or hurt him today.
Butterflies were dancing everywhere. Lia felt like she had eaten some and some were flapping around her.That was really hilarious to think. But the thought of dating Aster sent her over the edge. She was being foolish but she was really happy.Lia cleaned her desk three times in a row before managing to calm herself down.Aster- How about we go to the museum today?Lia sent a reply lightning-fast.Lia- YesMuseum date, haha.She would love it.Museums were interesting and she would get to see a slow motion world there.No crowds today and more time to watch the exhibits she loved.Like the historic paintings and fossils.Lia wasn't worried about other things because she found herself wondering. The impact of the dating was this. She found herself double guessing her double guessing results.Finally, she dressed herself in a very casual way.And like always, she left her apartment with a note taped to the door. In case her brother wanted her to a grocery run, he could see the note and
Lia- YesAster grinned happily and he wanted to do a cartwheel. That ended badly as he knocked over the vase on the table. But that didn't damp his enthusiasm.It was a feeling he never experienced. It was like he was living in a fluffy cloud and he was made of a fluffy cloud too.The high he was feeling made him forget so many things. For instance, the stupid contract he made then. And the threatening things in their lives. And the fact that he never told her that the Lexor family was related to her.Yeah, love has selective vision and he was the perfect example.Lia was somehow the more clear headed one in this scenario. She just started working on her game. Lia had this habit. When she was bursting with something, she would try to delay it with some other work as a tactic. And when she felt somewhat calm, she would deal with it.This only worked for ten minutes and she kept having flashes of Aster. Lia sighed and smiled."Stupid Lia!"This showed that her tactic wasn't working an
"Do you want to confront him?"Marvin asked Aster.Aster really wanted to ask that person how could he betray his family. This guy was his mother's cousin. And to do this, it was really bad. Simon had sent so many items from his mother's collection and they were more or less bad. Similar to the stuff the old man gave. Now he was really doubtful about the old man too.Was he also involved in this shady stuff? Was he the mastermind behind this operation?Aster didn't know."What's the guarantee that he will tell me everything if I ask him?"Lia nodded. Yes, he could lie. Then they would lose their edge by making the enemy know that they were onto him."Yes, you are right. I think all of the people we found are scapegoats. If it was that easy to find him, your brother or your parents would have found him. And to keep doing this stuff for such a long time, he should be somewhat proficient, right?"Lia rambled.She really thought that way. "Also, we found this organization. Maybe there are
"Yes, the animal categories are very disturbing. It makes no sense why they used that but then again, it all depends on the person who is making the categories. If it was me, I would give them artistic names. Like painting, singing, dancing, you get it, right?"Albert answered and chuckled.But who asked him anything about this? No one. He was very interested in knowing and answering questions. "Hey, you are still working on the cats' folder, Marvin is now combing through monkeys."He also provided status updates.Good guy.This was making Lia nervous and competitive. She felt like she was taking a competitive exam and she had only thirty minutes left to solve half of the question paper."Got it. Your decryption algorithm worked, let's see the results."They all surrounded Aster."Let's see the first image."It was actually a cat playing with a red dot but after the decryption, it became something else.There were words instead.59 million gain 15 million lossAJ recruited"What's thi
Lia watched Aster set up the equipment and do a final check. She stood out of the way watching everything.Albert just stayed there in the chair hanging his legs out and nearly falling asleep. He slapped himself awake and it was very funny to watch.Lia then watched Marvin coming out with cups of coffee.She took one because let's face it, she wasn't awake completely."Okay, we are ready. On your signal."Marvin nodded."It's time. Start."Aster pressed the button and the screen started changing. The text was scrolling and Lia found it difficult to read."This is going well. We don't have much to copy. It will be done in three minutes."And like he said, the status bar came to a stop."It's done."It felt less party kind of an exclamation but they were still happy. Lia thought that they would all jump in the air and celebrate. But the reality was that even with coffee, they were all very sleepy.""I'm going to sleep."Albert fell asleep there.As it was done, Lia nodded and went to her
"Mom I have to talk about the class schedule with Marvin and Aster. I'll be home late.""Okay, have fun."Lia had finished her dinner and when everyone were watching television, she got a signal from Marvin."You go. I'll watch Asher and Jake."Oggy declared. Well, if he was so sure, then why not?"So, what is that water thing?"Lia almost forgot. Oggy was also a member of the kid gang.Seeing their attention drawn to the fountain, the three of them left the room.They went to Albert's apartment because apparently Aster's was not totally safe now.They didn't get rid of all the spy chips there. They left one as a formality.And that's why they had to change their Lair."Tell me, tell me, tell me."Albert started repeating."Wait, let Lia settle down."Yes, Lia was searching for a good cushion. She was embarrassed at having that pointed out "I'm okay, you can start."She coughed."Okay, so here's what we found."Marvin then motioned for Aster to start talking."Marvin connected my cop
"Whew, we are back home. The whole thing was very stressful."Aster felt like he was in heaven when he saw his couch. He was that happy."Yeah, take rest now. We will check the computer in the evening. Let's get the information sooner so that we can work on other things later."Marvin changed out of his clothes and he was ready to go out.Aster was surprised."You aren't going to rest?"He questioned Marvin."Yes, I have to go check the company. With the headquarters not here, I have so much backlogged by being out."Aster felt sad for Marcin. Good thing Ray did his work in the meantime.Maybe when his brother woke up, he would be free and sleep till he naturally woke up.Those were some happy days.Aster sighed and fell asleep on the couch."Uncle, you are back."It should be later because he was woken up by Asher."Yes, Aster, you are back. When did you come back? We didn't know anything."Jake was with Asher."I came around afternoon. Then I fell asleep. I would have met you all in
"This is a disaster," Aster told himself when he saw the bustling crowd in there. The club was totally filled with people and it was getting on Aster's nerves.He had never seen these many people in such a closed space.He made his way to the other end to get to a secluded place.Marvin had gone to the other side so he could keep an eye on people coming and going out of the side door.Aster felt that Marvin was doing a very focused job. Marvin kept shooting him messages that kept popping before his eyes and Aster wanted to block him.Marvin was having fun with the glasses but Aster had worked on them for so long so he didn't have any preference over it."Hey, handsome, are you alone?"Aster was brought out of his reverie by a voice.It was a guy.He had short spiky hair that looked like it could really hurt someone."Oh, no. I'm in my company."That guy came near him and sat beside him."Crazy night, right?""You realize it's just afternoon now.""What? Its night. See."Aster saw no p