The Woman From Hell

Theo did not reply and only looked deeply at Jerome." Did you come back just for her?"

"Of course. The years of our friendship are not just for show. I may not be an expert in this area but I'm still pretty reputable in the mental health community." Jerome shone with confidence when he got to talk about his field of expertise.

"The elevator is here, let's continue this conversation another day. I'm really tired today." I smiled as I interrupted them, worried that as they continued their conversation, they would finally realize that they had been talking about entirely different things.

Jerome still wanted to talk but his phone rang. I took this opportunity to wave goodbye, grabbed Theo’s hand, and left.

"Remember what I said, find some time and go overseas. I'll arrange for you to meet experienced experts." Behind me, Jerome's voice rang out.

I pretended that I did not hear him and left in a hurry.

After we got in the car, I wanted to ask Theo about it but I did not know where to start. Hence, I chose to remain silent.

Theo turned and glanced at me. "It's too much hassle t

o go overseas, so don’t worry about that. We have reputable experts here as well. I've contacted those who’re in Whaldorf and I'll bring you there in a few days."

I looked at him and asked hesitantly, "How did you find out?"

"Mason had his suspicions and mentioned them to m e. He wasn't sure then, but after seeing how you stood i n the rain a few times and how easily depressed and agitated you get, he became sure

about it. It's just that you didn't want to talk about it and I wasn't sure how t o bring it up."

Theo ignited the car engine and said to me gently," Don’t worry, this is a common illness nowadays. It can be cured easily."

I nodded my head faintly. He was right, depression was not a terminal illness but it was not an easy illness to cure. Jerome was right, I had to first have a positive mindset.

I looked at Theo and asked, "Can we visit Grandmother before you go with me to my yoga class?"

Theo was a little taken aback and joy flashed in his eyes as he answered, "Okay!”

We did not talk on the way home, and since it was boring, I fell asleep.

When we were home, Theo did not wake me up. He carried me up to the second floor right away so I could continue sleeping. ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

It was a long nap. It was 11 at night when I woke up to a well-lit room. I scanned my surroundings. Theo was not in the room.

Where could he be at this hour? I was slightly puzzled. After throwing on some clothes, I opened the door to find the lights in the study still lit. I pushed the door open and walked in.

Theo was at his table, smoking as he stared at his computer screen.

Theo rarely smoked. He would only do it when he was in distress or had something to ponder upon.

I walked in.

"You’re awake?” He extinguished his cigarette once he saw me walk in and got up to open the windows.

"Still working?"

I walked over and glanced at the screen. It was the company's backend system. After paying a closer look, I asked curiously, "I thought the proposal to acquire Al-Link and Bluewind was amended a while ago? Why wasn't it updated in the system?"

Theo pulled me over to sit on his lap and chuckled. " Not bad, you can tell what it is with just a glance."

I was speechless. I was the one who made the proposals, and I was the one who amended them. Naturally, I would be able to tell right away when something was not right.

My view was not very clear when I was a distance away earlier, but now that I was right in front of the computer screen, I realized something was off. I exclaimed in shock, "Theo, are you phishing?"

The bottom corner of the screen indicated that the firewall in the company's backend system had been breached by hackers. However, Theo was just sitting casually while blatantly displaying the initial version o f the proposal on the screen. Was this not bait?

He did not respond to my exclamation and looked at m e with surprise. "You know how to hack?"

"Nope, but I can vaguely tell. I learned some simple tips when I was in university." When my slip-up was caught, I denied it.

To know how to hack was a forbidden skill. Ordinary people would not be able to understand it, and it was something I momentarily forgot about.

The reason I knew all this was because of Tyler Schuman. He was really good at these and taught me several things in the past. Due to the lack of exposure, I had forgotten most of the things he taught me.

Theo glanced at me faintly and said, "To be able to understand it is something remarkable. I don't think these kinds of things were included in IT courses in universities."