Inside a platinum suite, Kiba and ghan were sleeping on a bed. It was afternoon but they were dead tired.
~ring~ring~
A sudden phone call broke their sleep.
"A business call so excuse ," Kiba gave ghan a kiss and told her to rest. He walked to the adjacent room before picking the phone.
"Claudia, what happened?" Kiba asked.
[[Data from SBC News Headquarters’ has been downloaded.]]
"I see," Kiba took a seat on the couch. Even for Claudia hacking through a news channel’s internal servers is not an easy task since the data inside is the lifeline of the channel. To overco this difficulty, he helped her in planting required tools in SBC Headquarters.
Kiba swiped a panel on mobile screen towards the tv. A mont later, the tv was filled with the data Claudia has hacked.
"Anything we can use?" Kiba asked.
[[There is a recording of a video call between Sylvian and Daniel. It took place a few hours after what you did in the wasteland.]]
A dia corporate would always have few cards under their sleeves. Daniel was the sa. He recorded his conversation with Sylvan for worst-case situations. ’
"Sylvian? The chief supervisor of the city?"
[[Yes. He wanted Daniel’s and other dia houses’ help in fooling the commoners about the incident. To do so, he bribed Daniel with $50 million and a clearance for a pharmaceutical company.]]
The screen showed the conversation between Daniel and Sylvan.
"Wow. So Daniel used to cover an incident I created," Kiba couldn’t help but laugh at the irony. To distract people from the wasteland, SBC ran the breaking news regarding Agatha’s pregnancy.
[[The next data I acquired is related to that. The internal logs of the channel say it was Sarah who proposed the idea of using you and Lady Agatha to attract viewers. To be precise, Daniel readily agreed to the proposal so both of them are responsible.]]
"Is that so?" Kiba’s voice was cold.
-----------------
Daniel was sitting inside the living room of his house. He has personally checked all the security arrangents and was now confident that Kiba could never barge in.
~~beep~
[[A video ssage from Jody has been received in your private server.]] The AI responsible for the managent of the house said.
"Jordi? Quickly play the video," Daniel said. Jordi was the man responsible for surveillance on Sarah.
A holographic projector was activated and showed the contents of the video. There were two recordings in it: First the indirect eting between Kiba and Sarah at the art exhibition where they didn’t really et. The second recording showed Kiba’s and Sarah’s encounter on the beach.
Daniel felt his blood boiling when he saw Sarah smiling during the second video. There was no audio recording of their conversation so he couldn’t know what they were talking about.
At the end of the video, there was a ssage from Jordi saying Sarah has paid for Kiba’s drink.
"Buying him a drink?!" Daniel couldn’t understand why she will do such a thing.
Alas, Jordi and Daniel didn’t know about the encounter between Kiba and Sarah at dining spot. Their first eting was brief; sothing which happened monts after Sarah entered the hotel. So there was no way for Jordi to record or know about it.
"They only had a brief encounter so I shouldn’t think too much," Daniel tried to calm himself but then he thought what if they had an encounter inside the hotel premises. Jordi’s team were able to record the events at exhibition and beach by acting as if they were guests who were recording their stay.
But inside the hotel rooms? Daniel knew how strict Close Horizon was about the privacy of its rich patrons. There was no way he could access the security footages either.
"No! I am thinking too much! There is no way Sarah will fall for that bastard!" Daniel took a deep breath and proceeded to make a drink for himself.
Half an hour later~
~beep beep~
Daniel was sitting on a couch drinking when he received a ssage on his cell phone. His expression turned ugly when he saw the sender’s na: KIBA!
Grudgingly, he opened the ssage which read: "Every smile has a reason, every laughter has a way, every destination has a way, every lock has a key."
The last two phrases were italicized as if to denote their importance.
"Son of a bitch!" Daniel’s eyes were bloodshot as he read the ssage full of innuendo.
-----
It was evening when Sarah returned to her ho. She was surprised to see her husband sitting drunk in the hall.
"Honey, you are early," Sarah put her bag on the table and took a chair opposite to Daniel.
"Can’t I co early? Or are you perhaps expecting soone?" Daniel asked in an annoyed voice.
Sarah was startled by her husband’s words.
"What is going on with you?" She couldn’t understand her husband’s behavior from the last few days.
"With ?" Daniel’s eyes were filled with anger at Sarah’s words. He clicked a panel on the table nearby and a holographic projector was activated.
Sarah was shocked to see her personal outings recorded.
"You were spying on ?" Sarah was incensed. What has she done to deserve this?
"It should be you who needs to give an explanation and not ," Daniel pointed towards the projection in which Sarah was smiling at Kiba, "What do you have to say?"
"You are an asshole," Sarah has enough of her husband’s rudeness as she continued, "Kiba made a funny remark so I smiled. Or do I need permission to even smile?"
"You were with Kiba! KIBA!" Daniel couldn’t help but rember the ssage Kiba sent an hour ago.
"You are dirty minded so you can only think of dirty stuff," Sarah stopped the projection and said, "Do I beco suspicious when you speak with won? I thought you were better than this."
"Stop lying! Only a whore would hang out with Kiba!" Daniel instantly regretted his words.
Sarah felt her eyes turning moist.
"I didn’t an th--" Daniel wanted to apologize but then his private number rang. He wanted to cancel the call but then he saw the call was from his chief secretary. Soone who would never call on this phone unless it was an ergency.
"Sarah, please understand I didn’t an what I said," Daniel hurriedly apologized and then picked the call. Soon his expression turned unsightly after he heard the words from his secretary.
"I have a eting," Daniel quickly took his leave.
"STOP! You better give an explanation first!" Sarah tried to stop him but Daniel didn’t listen as he left the house.
Sarah couldn’t understand her husband any longer.
"He is not the man I loved," She left the house as well after asking the nanny to take care of kids.
-----
Love Heart Beach was located in the outskirts of the city. It was a beach accessible to all and sothing frequented by rich and poor alike.
Sarah absent mindlessly walked on the beach. This beach was her asylum whenever she felt lost or broken.
"Daniel...just why?" Sarah looked at the setting sun and wondered about her husband’s recent behavior both at ho and work.
"Is this midlife crisis?" She wondered in her heart as she walked further. Suddenly, she stopped when she saw a man sitting on the sand floor.
Kiba?
Kiba’s face was towards the water. He seed to be lost in thoughts as he threw a stone across the water. The stone bounced on the surface few tis before sinking in.
"Life is like a stone," Kiba slowly muttered to himself. Sarah, who was so distance behind him, could hear his words.
She didn’t want to et him after her conversation with Daniel. But now that she saw him all alone in thoughts she couldn’t help but beco curious. She felt there was nothing wrong in striking a conversation.
"We et again," Sarah slowly said as she walked near him.
Kiba’s eyes were filled with surprise after Sarah sat next to him.
"My luck is far too good for to et the goregous lady again," Kiba said.
"You are not with your girlfriend?" Sarah asked. She rembered he was with ghan in all the previous encounters and from what she saw, they seed close.
"You an ghan?" Kiba continued after Sarah nodded her head, "Well, she has a modeling assignnt so I ca here to clear my thoughts."
"Clear your thoughts?" Sarah was surprised.
"Thoughts about life," Kiba threw a stone on the water surface again and said, "I wonder why we are born only to die."
"That is sothing hard to answer," Sarah said.
"Sotis I think we are like the stone used in stone skipping," Kiba looked at the stone as it bounced on the water," We bounce a few tis only to sink."
Sarah saw the stone sinking.
After thinking for a minute she replied,"Perhaps just like stones we exist to create ripples. Ripples of change in this world."
"That’s so deep thinking though I don’t understand what you an," Kiba said with a smile.
"I just spoke so gibberish so don’t think much," Sarah also smiled. She has always enjoyed conversations about life so she was happy to see another person sharing the sa passion as her.
"Where are your friends or are you alone?" Kiba asked after a minute of silence.
"Alone. I also wanted to clear my thoughts so I ca here," Sarah said.
"What thoughts can affect a pretty lady like you?" Kiba asked.
"I had a quarrel with my husband," Sarah looked at the sky before saying, "He has been an asshole lately."
Kiba didn’t say a word.
"You are not going to say things like he is not an asshole or maybe he is really an asshole?" Sarah was surprised by his silence
.
"It is a conflict of interest so I can’t speak," Kiba said with a sigh.
"Hmm?" Sarah looked at him in surprise.
"A lady I am admiring is married so you can imagine how conflicted I am now," Kiba said in a bitter tone.
Sarah couldn’t help but smile.
"You were right when you said you are always like this," Sarah said.
Kiba smiled as well.
After a few monts of silence, Kiba said, "You only quarrel with a person you love."
Sarah was startled.
"So give your husband a chance to explain himself," Kiba said after hearing no response from her.
"I did give him a chance but instead he rushed outside by making an excuse," Sarah said a minute later.
" If he has rushed outside perhaps he has a reason," Kiba looked at her in the eyes and said, "Maybe he is involved in a trouble or perhaps he is having a hard ti expressing himself."
"I..." Sarah was shocked by the words. When she thought further, she felt maybe he is right.
"So give him a chance to prove he is the man you married," Kiba concluded by saying, "You are his wife so you owe him this much."
"Thank you," Sarah felt heartfelt gratitude.
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