恶霸鲁尼 奖学金

[ Cliste: You Fool! She is not dead yet! ]

Abigail couldn\'t help but call Nathan dumb. How could he think that she was dead? She was supposed to be the one thinking that way. Nathan was the one who disappeared like a ghost.

Meanwhile, Nathan felt more annoyed when he read Abigail\'s last message. His expression turned grim, clenching his fists. He had the urge to punch his laptop monitor.

Who was this Cliste? How dare she used Shining_Star. She was just triggering Nathan\'s emotions, reminding her of Monica.

"This person is just mocking me while spouting some nonsense," Nathan mumbled through his gritted teeth.

Nathan slammed his eyes shut and took a deep breath to calm himself. He didn\'t know if Cliste was a friend or a foe. Though he was furious at her, he couldn\'t deny the fact that the person who helped him to locate the exact address of the Red Dragon Mafia\'s Sanitarium.

[ SizzlingAugust08: Stop contacting me if you will only tell more nonsense. You don\'t know Shining_Star at all. Don\'t pretend and don\'t make absurd stories up. ]

Nathan warned her since he didn\'t believe her. The Shining Star he knew died in his arms two years ago.

However, Abigail was still confused as to why Nathan was thinking that she was dead. For what reason? She would insist that Shining Star was alive. Phantomflake was not yet dead. As long as she could accomplish her mission, she could return to her original body and she would live.

[ Cliste: I know her well. Shining Star is your mentee! She is your playing buddy. You and Shining Star always played Mission XXX, competing with each other. You were the one who taught her about hacking and programming! ]

Though Abigail was only using her left hand to type her message, she made sure to tell those specific details to convince Nathan that she was not lying. She definitely knew Shining Star because Shining Star was Phantomflake, her own self!

Meanwhile, Nathan was taken aback after seeing her last message. What she said was true. He became Shining Star\'s mentor. He taught her everything about computer programming and hacking. It was no doubt that this Cliste knew Shining Star.

\'Maybe this person is not lying. What if this Cliste is one of Monica\'s close friends? Only Monica and I knew about our usual bonding... Did Monica tell her friend about us playing Mission XXX together?\'

The annoyance and anger he felt toward this stranger suddenly disappeared after thinking that Cliste might be Monica\'s close friend.

[ SizzlingAugust08: If you are her friend, then you must know that Shining Star was gone. She died two years ago. Haven\'t you heard the news about her? ]

A deep crease appeared on Abigail\'s forehead. She couldn\'t figure out why Nathan was insisting that she died. Well, two years ago, she almost died. But she was still in a coma so typically she was not dead yet.

\'Who\'s Shining Star he was talking about? Is it me or another person?\' Abigail mused to herself.

[ Cliste: I heard that something unfortunate happened to her. But she didn\'t die. She is still alive. ]

Abigail was also stubborn. She wouldn\'t stop insisting until Nathan would believe her words. She must convince him that his old friend was still alive. Perhaps, part of her was hoping that once she survived, Nathan would still forgive her for what she had done to Monica. She was hoping that Nathan would consider their friendship and he would stop hating her.

\'Sigh. Why do I feel this way? I am wishing for his forgiveness and mercy...\' Abigail tugged her hair tightly. She was also confused about her feelings. Instead of hating Nathan, she was softening towards him. Knowing that he was her old friend affected her feelings greatly. Even her plan of getting her revenge against Nathan was slowly changing.

Abigail was still lost in her thoughts when Nathan sent another message which shocked Abigail to the core. She had never expected to know this revelation coming from Nathan.

[ SizzlingAugust08: Believe me or not, Shining Star is gone. She died... in front of me. I held her in my arms... ]

Nathan\'s heart still clenched whenever he would remember that tragic incident. He felt suffocated. His mind was replaying the sad and dark memories of losing his beloved woman.

Abigail, on the other hand, had a nagging feeling about the message she received from Nathan. She was connecting the dots. And she concluded that Nathan might be referring to Monica. No way! How could that be? Was he referring to Monica? Not her?

[ Cliste: How did she die? ] Abigail\'s palms and fingers were already sweating when she typed those words. She was already anxious. She just hoped that she was mistaken. After one minute, Nathan responded to her question.

[ SizzlingAugust08: She was shot... by an assassin. She died because of me... ]

Thud!

The laptop was dropped from Abigail\'s lap. Her eyes were wide open. A whirlwind of emotions filled her heart.

\'Nathan... was referring to Monica... Does it mean... he was thinking that Shining Star... his old friend... was Monica, n-not me...\' Abigail didn\'t know what she should feel at this moment. She couldn\'t believe this.

\'Perhaps... Monica pretended to be me just to get closer to Nathan. But how she was able to pull it off? Or did Nathan just mistake her for me since we have the same account name?\' Abigail started to ask and speculate with herself.

Abigail slumped her body on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She felt like her energy was drained because of this discovery. After a while, Abigail let out a humorless chuckle.

"Nathan, Monica, and I... seems like our lives got entangled with each other. What kind of fate is this?" Abigail murmured, putting her left elbow on her forehead, and covering her eyes. Abigail didn\'t know if she was mad or shocked.

\'Monica... I feel like she had become more mysterious. I have to know her more. What did I miss? Is there another scheme? Or there is another secret story behind all of this?\'

Abigail was reminded of the guy whom she saw a few days ago. She saw him with Monica before. That guy was talking about Monica as well.

\'Are you alive... Monica? Did you fake your death? Who was the woman who died in Nathan\'s arms?\' More questions and mysteries about Monica kept coming into her mind.

"I will get to the bottom of this..." Abigail declared as she clenched her left fist and slammed her eyes shut.

Abigail didn\'t respond to Nathan. Her mind was already preoccupied with Monica. How did she become Shining Star? How did Nathan and Monica meet?

As she racked her brain so hard, Abigail recalled something in the past. There was an instance wherein her account was hacked and locked for several months. Since SizzlingAugust08 stopped communicating with her and she was no longer playing Mission XXX at that time, Abigail didn\'t pay more attention to her hacked account.

She just focused on training herself as a full-fledged assassin and accepting more missions.

\'I wonder if that incident was connected to this kind of mess?\' Abigail considered this a great mess. Nathan met another woman whom he believed was Shining Star. How many Shining Star has he met before?

Just thinking about it, Abigail couldn\'t stop herself from feeling upset with Nathan. \'Can\'t he even determine who is the real Shining Star who became his mentee and playing buddy before?! Did he ever treat me as a real friend?\'

"Nathan Sparks... you are quite a fool and dumb not to notice our differences!" Abigail sat up and grabbed the pillow using her left hand. She started punching it, imagining it was Nathan whom she was hitting. She was venting out her frustration, unhappiness, and anger toward SizzlingAugust08, Nathan\'s other identity.

*****

At Nathan\'s Chambers in Syphiruz Mafia Headquarters...

Nathan had been waiting for Cliste\'s response but to his disappointment, the stranger stopped sending a message to him. He wondered if she got shocked by the revelation he told her.

"That strange person didn\'t know that Monica died. Did she get shocked when I told her what happened to Monica?" Nathan wondered to himself, his eyes staring at the chatbox of their conversation. Thirty minutes had passed and he didn\'t get any message from her.

"Is she still processing the content of my message?" For some unknown reason, Nathan got worried about the stranger. He thought she wasn\'t prepared to hear the bad news regarding Monica\'s death. A while ago, she kept on insisting Monica was alive but he corrected her wrong assumption.

Unable to control his curiosity, Nathan typed another message and sent it to Cliste.

[ SizzlingAugust08: Are you still there? ]

If Cliste was Monica\'s friend, Nathan wanted to continue conversing with her. He was longing for Monica and he would like to hear if Cliste knew more things about Monica. Perhaps, he just wished to talk about Monica because he yearned for her. He missed her.

An hour had passed... Nathan didn\'t receive any response from her. Nathan could only sigh deeply before shutting down his laptop. He lay down on his bed and closed his eyes. His mind began to wander off somewhere.

Nathan reminisced about the moments he had with Monica. But strangely, he couldn\'t remember well the first time they slept. He was drunk and totally wasted but his body could feel the strong intimacy between them. One thing was for sure, both of them were very passionate at that time. Little Ethan was the product of that passionate night.

After a while, his tired body finally drifted off to sleep. But the person who appeared in his dream was another woman... it was Abigail.