Chapter 175 - The Call Pt.1

"If not now, when? There is no right timing for this type of work." 

Which it was, no one could tell him he was wrong for this type of statement. The earlier the better in general but there is no better time to research someone. 'Better time' was the time you did it and when it was convenient for you. Even if Xi Long was mad at him, this was an undeniable fact.

"There is no right timing but there could be better timing. The day after meeting her seems like a slap in the face, no?" His voice was gruff but remained calm. 

Every second that Xi Long spoke to him in this calm tone, the more stressful it was. His face had a relaxed expression on it but his heart was pounding. It was weird since he knew that other than a lecture a small "get-even" on the account of Valentina, nothing else could happen. Nothing he had done was irreversible or 'so bad' that it would ruin their friendship. 

"Did she complain to you? Well she had to since you're calling me now. Why be so evasive? Its clear what I did and I would do it again if placed in the situation. So instead of walking around a bush, just straight up tell me how you feel."

Five minutes had passed since they got on the call and half of it was spent in silence. Between them going back and forth with the random commentary, it would take another thirty minutes for them to get to the crux of the matter. Not to say that each sentence wasn't important but he was trying to hear the 'consequences' first. The long lecture and disappointment can come later after his mind was settled. Putting him through the entire conversation while sitting on pines and needles was a torture in itself.

"What walk around am I doing? I'm speaking to you calmly and trying to get your side of the story. Why do you rush me, do you feel guilty about what you did? Or at least guilty for the position you put me in??"

To speak with so many hidden messages and little inflections in tone was unsettling. Xi Long first spoke calmly naturally but the more he spoke, the more he felt like it was on purpose. To tease him and make him slip up with his words. 

"Is this an interrogation from you? Trying to make me feel guilty for something I don't. If you're mad just say it, you know I don't regret anything. She's a random girl that came into our lives, I am happy for you but doesn't mean I can't be cautious. What her background is, what her name is, all of that information is important. You would look into someone for me and I just did the same, especially when the person in question was romantic."

"I get that it's all new but we've been through this last night. Or at least I thought we did, I understand your concern and I promise I am being cautious as well. Its the way you are doing these things that are making things harder for me. We just barely got through the fake gun incident which already made you look stupid. That was dangerous and filled with faulty logic, in what world is using a gun logical as a test? A test for her skills just out of the blue, especially when I carry one on me? I could've accidentally shot you yesterday, then immediately after pretending to be tired this morning. You went behind my back, out of care fine. But still went behind my back, went to the base, then created an entire code to find her history? Doesn't it look like the timing is horrible, you're my best friend and I can't say anything against you looking out for me. All I'm asking is that you look out for me in a way that doesn't cause such a huge backlash or scene. Or give me a heads up before I get pinpointed as the culprit out of the blue."

Xi Long managed to say everything in two breaths and got it out as fast as he could. The calmness in his voice finally broke to carry a bit of aggression. His voice sounded gruff at the end and he could feel the anger radiating from the mic. The only question was if the anger was directed at him or the situation itself. Or if it was both of them and if it was an equal division. 

"So what I'm hearing from this is that you received a call this morning accusing you of being the perpetrator. You were caught of guard and obviously, don't agree with me searching her up. Plus it caused problems in your relationship with her, did she get extremely angry? Are you guys ....you know...?"

The meaning behind his words was clear and he hoped the answer was "no." No matter the consequences he was ready to face them as long as they did with me. He did not expect it to be so sever that they would break up. It wasn't even something he considered would happen since the situation was so small. The only reason it got big was due to the hacker's interference, they should cut him and Xi Long some slack knowing they didn't achieve anything. No gain and pure intentions should lessen the blow.

When he first planned on the code and inputted her parameters, he wasn't expecting much information. They were vague in itself and he didn't know her background. How much of that information they would leave online on for other people to access was up in the air. Depending on who she was, every single thing about her could have been wiped from online. It was hard to do but considering their hacker, it wasn't as impossible as estimated. There would be some traces but they could distort what it said or the lead backs towards it. 

In general, his parameters were so vague that it was hard to see if anything would be caught or not. He didn't know what identity she used to do other things or if her current identity was her real one. Her face and build were standard to other ethnically Chinese woman, the combination of the features is what made her stand out. From the dinner they had, he could tell that there weren't any prosthetics or extra misleading makeup on her face. However, that was not enough to give him any guarantee about her. 

Her actions and gestures could also be a product of intention and of her current identity. He knew that showing her face was an act of peace between them. but how much could he read into it?

The first time they met was when she did that little drama scene at the office. Without knowing who she was, he appreciated her acting skills and her whit. If he did not see the slight glint in her eyes and had not been an expert at observation, he would have been fooled by her act. It was at such a performance level that it looked seamless and showed experience. So she had done this multiple times and was good with thinking on her feet. Her words twisted the situation perfectly to her favour, that was commendable as long as it wasn't directed at him. This is an aspect that made him subconsciously doubt her more. 

In person, their interactions were light and distant. Even their teasing was him testing to her to see if they could get along. He intentionally made himself more clingy and more affectionate to see how she would respond. To his delight, she responded back in the best way and her words protected Xi Long as well. Those actions won over his heart a little bit and he noted down mentally her good points. So at that moment, he had both negative and positive things about her floating in his head. None were strong enough to give him a conclusion and his d.e.s.i.r.e for control made him search for more. 

That was the reason for the code and it was the solution he thought would be best for him. With nothing really to go off of other than his own remarks, a vague code that pulled information was ideal. He could then search through what he did get and narrow done to things that he felt suited her. Just some crumbs or pieces of information that would send him in the right direction.

Having someone catch on so quickly after he tried to run the code and then compete against them for close to forty-five minutes was outside of his calculations. That sort of skill or presence of a hacker was not something anyone, let alone him would have expected.

Just thinking about it time wise, it was literally seconds after he ran the code when he was caught. He didn't realize he could be caught so soon, it was almost embarrassing to him.