Chapter 285 Shining Star, Not Monica

Day Thirty-Two...

~~*****~~The source of this content no/v(el)bi((n))

When Aiden went to Phantonflake's room, Abigail and Nathan were left alone in the living room. The place was very silent since Nathan and Abigail were not talking.

They just sat on the couch, one space apart, as they waited for others to join them. Both Aiden and Stephen accompanied Cherry.

Unable to bear the quiet atmosphere surrounding them, Abigail spoke up to break the silence.

"Cherry agreed to work under you. Please be good to her. Don't give her a hard time while working with you." Abigail pleaded on Cherry's behalf.

Nathan turned to look at her, not saying a word. His intense gaze was directed at her, making Abigail a little bit uncomfortable.

'Why is looking at me as if he wants to eat me? Is he mad again?' Abigail recalled that Nathan was in a bad mood a while ago.

"Are you mad?" Abigail failed to hold her curiosity so she asked him directly.

"No," Nathan promptly responded, looking away.

"Did you hear me? You haven't responded to me yet," Abigail nudged Nathan's elbow.

"I already promised you so many things. Why do you keep on repeating this topic? I'm not going to bother your friend. She will not report to me directly. I will ask my team to supervise her. Does this answer your question?" Nathan said spontaneously with his eyebrows drawn together.

"I just want to make sure. No need to be riled up about this." Abigail pouted her lips. Nathan's mood was always hot and cold.

Abigail avoided looking at him and just focused her gaze on the food on the table. Nathan grabbed that opportunity to stare at her for a long moment.

She just only made the first comment about Shining Star but Nathan couldn't stop himself from smirking.

"You got it right." he paused for a moment as he gazed down looking at his hands. He reminisced the moment when Shining Star suddenly attacked him. She was just a newbie on the server at that time. He was caught surreal feeling when Abigail spoke up again.

"She thought of you as a great challenge. She wanted to defeat you. She hated losing at you so she worked hard until she finally defeated you. If you only knew how frustrated she was because you kept on beating her in that game..."

Nathan's husky laugh bubbled up, making Abigail speechless. This was the first time she heard Nathan laugh like this. She could see the joy in his twinkling eyes. 'Damn! He is more gorgeous when laughing. I can see clearly his perfectly aligned white teeth.' Abigail couldn't help but admire Nathan's good looks.

Realizing that someone was staring at him, Nathan stopped laughing and cleared his throat as if nothing happened. "Ahem. Go on. Just continue..." Nathan said, hiding his embarrassment. Even he, himself, didn't expect that he would burst into laughter as he recalled his moments with Shining Star.

'This only proves that Abigail really knew about the Shining Star. I'm surprised that she shared this with Abigail. They seem closer than what I expected.' Nathan thought to himself, amusement resurfacing in his eyes.

"After a while, she forced you to become her mentor. You were the one who taught her some hacking skills. And she was grateful for that. I bet she hadn't told you directly but deep inside, she wanted to thank you for all the learnings she got from you. What a shame... you just disappeared one day and she lost the chance to thank you personally." Abigail's expression became serious as if those words also came from her heart.

Nathan was at a loss for words when he heard that. He didn't know why but the way Abigail said those words contained different emotions– sadness, frustration, regret, and annoyance.

"You know what... Shining Star told me how worried she was when you suddenly disappeared. You didn't even say goodbye to her. She wondered if you really treated her as a friend. Or perhaps, you just thought of her as your pastime. She thought something bad happened to you!"

"She tried to search for you but she didn't know where to start. You completely erased your trace. She had no way to track you. She even thought you died. And she even blamed herself for not being able to do anything for you! Why did you ghost her? Why did you suddenly disappear?" Abigail spoke spontaneously, taking out all her frustration towards Nathan. This was her chance to let it all out without him knowing that she was the real Shining Star.

Nathan grabbed her shoulders tightly, making Abigail face him. "Did she say all that to you? Was she that angry for what I've done?"

"YES! SHE DID!" Abigail raised her voice at him.

"W-Why didn't she tell me this? She said... she was just fine and she understood me..." Nathan was confused. Monica didn't react this way when they got reunited.

"How do you expect her to react? She hated you for that!"