23 Clues 2

"Stitching is interesting but it's not compatible with me," Wendy sighed.

Sofony giggled along with the other girls in the wide living room where they were creating various props and costumes.

The packaging of junk foods and bread scattered on the tiled floor. Sofony was sitting on the sofa, busily moving her needle on the delicate fabric. Wendy was on the floor with the other girls. All of them were busy on the parts of dresses they've been assigned to work with. More than four hours had passed since they started working so a few things had already been finished.

"Sofony is really a wife material." Wendy enviously watched her seamlessly finish a smooth run on the clothing with a needle.

"I'm the only girl of my house. If I don't know how to use needles, then I will be tragic."

"I know girls should learn some crafting but I don't really have the affinity with sewing. Luckily, RTWs never got out of trend."

Sofony put down what she was holding and stood up. "Excuse me, I'll go to the restroom."

"Go ahead. Take your time finishing your business." A female classmate she was quite close with started laughing.

Sofony gave her a wry smile then turned around.

<System: Curious about what the eavesdropper device captured?>

When she reached the toilet, she immediately locked herself in and listened to what the device had, so far, captured. She was expecting a surprise from the findings.

<System: Nothing really valuable is actually captured, so far. The guy is not a talker, sadly. Hehe, stupid girl. Maybe it's better if you directly plant a spycam on him.>

"No, thanks. I don't want to accidentally watch something indecent."

<System: You mean, you don't want to watch any other porn especially if the female dame is not you? So narrow-minded. What if there's something to learn from the video? It could help you upgrade your most important skills!>

"Shut up! Lovemaking is not my most important skill!"

<System: Heh, I was actually going to say Studying, you know? You're after all studying a precious material.>

Sofony's cheeks turned redder than any ripe apple.

The system dared to wordplay on her! Ugh! So hate you! Hate you!

She continued listening to the sound recording and fast forwarded to skip the long silences, but she only managed to hear normal conversation.

'Maybe this is just not his Felicity day.'

She sighed and was about to give up when she reached the point where the guy was now alone in his room. She could hear some meowing from a cat though. It seemed the guy frequently allowed a cat to sleep in his room.

"Fel, you're being naughty again! Stop scratching your claws on my table!"

Then she heard some indignant cries from the cat which she assumed which he was calling Fel. Some footsteps followed.

"There. There. Behave. I know you're a smart cat so you should be able to roughly guess what I'm saying."

She heard a sound she usually heard when a body got thrown to a cushion. 'Guess, he's now on his bed. Did he bring his cat with him there? Sleeping with a cat?'

Her curiosity shot up. A few seconds later, her face turned red when she realized she worded it wrong. What sleeping with a cat? Bestiality? Oops, the brain wandered to the grey corner.

"Meow! Fel, come on, start meowing. Your owner will commend you for acting cute." The joyful voice was followed by the angry hissing of the cat.

"Eh? You want to run around. Not allowed! You keep leaving footprints on my notes! Just stay with me here."

"I have some stories to tell you, like usual. Listen, okay? You're the best listening companion since I know you'll keep my secret."

Sofony leaned on the wall and folded her arms below her breasts. She tried hard not to laugh at the guy who was clearly unaware that someone was eavesdropping to his talk with his cat Fel.

'You talk to cats just because you don't want others to know your secret. I learned much. Thank you, great mister.'

The masculine voice of the teenager resumed on her ears. This time he was not acting playfully with the cat. The pacing of his sentences was slow, and she could even picture him in her imagine daydreaming to himself, a cat lying in his embrace.

'He said he's really best friend with Felicity?'

'Oh, this guy mentioned his talk with Wendy. And, oh! He said Wendy is a fierce-tongued woman. Well, that is quite true especially if she's talking with strangers.'

'Eh? Wendy is now a sex addict in his eyes? What da effin!? How did he come up with that conclusion?'

Her jaw dropped in disbelief as she continued eavesdropping on his rants. She heard him say,

"Fel, you won't believe it but that girl is really unbelievable! What girl talks about that as if she's just reciting what she ate for breakfast? I know those bastards with Floyd are people who should be jailed for sexual harassment, and I know some girls hanging around them are not pure anymore, but this kind of topic is very sensitive. And that girl? She didn't even flinch or get embarrassed when she mentioned it, like it some widely known urban legends not worth blushing about. Wow, just wow."

"I am the one ashamed for her. And she even mentioned Felicity's name. Damn it. If she's only not a girl, I'd be punching the hell out of her!"

At those words, Sofony was still torn between laughing and crying, but later Sofony gritted her teeth in anger the moment she heard the latter part. This guy! Just because of that, he judged Wendy? And he dared compare Wendy to that Felicity?

There should be a limit to blindness! Hey!

Or maybe he was truly blind to the maximum level...

Out of a sudden, her eyes mellowed out and confusion was on it. She wondered, he even condemned Wendy just because she could straightforwardly say that his group and the girls around them are a lustful bunch. It was just saying, but he was already spooked out. What would be his reaction if he will be faced with a girl who already lost her virginity?

She could already imagine.

She's having a hunch that this Chris guy was different with the others. She meant, the other rotten eggs.

'Wendy should be only open about things like that in a discussion. However, Wendy's much purer than anyone else.'

'Wendy's unlike me. I'm already conscious of bodily pleasure. She's not. And this boy is acting weird. Don't tell me he really doesn't know that Felicity, his best friend, is a nympho?'

'A pure guy could be best friends with a nympho?'

With doubts lingering on her expression, she continued to listen. And the more she did, the more the thought solidified. She listened as he ranted about school, about Wendy, about Floyd's group, about Felicity.

Horror filled her eyes when it all ended. Due to her enhanced intelligence, she had immediately connected some scattered dots and came up with a conclusion.

And she was having a hard time believing it!

<System: Lucky you. You find out some important clues.>

She breathed deeply. Her head shaking left and right.

"He obviously hates Floyd and his gang. He also obviously likes Felicity. And he's still thinking she's the cleanest lady in the world...?"

<System: Hehe, Felicity hid it deep. I'm so impressed.>

Sofony shouted, "I'm not. She's unbelievable! She's probably lying to this guy every single time. How did she hide her odd behaviors to him? That's weird! And he's part of Floyd's circle because every lunch break I see him mingling with them. Is this guy having the idea that Felicity only does it with him? No, he's thinking she's still pure! Which means he's not bedded Felicity yet!"

<System: Maybe she's also maxed out her acting skills like her sex skills. You see, even the people from your school only know she's a pitiful girlfriend of a playboy, not a cheap slut. I'm telling you, she knows acting. Why don't you ask for a few pointers?>

Even though annoyed, she continued explaining her points. "I don't get it, I clearly saw and heard her partnering up with those boys. This Chris is also known to be part of that group, but he seems to be ignorant of how his friends are playing around with Felicity's body every single time. Is he playing dumb or really clueless about it?"

<System: You already said that; you just changed the sentence construction.>

"Is he being excluded by Felicity? If so, then why? And this girl, she's a lover with Floyd, but she's okay having intercourse with his underlings! What's with this? What kind of love game are Felicity and Floyd having?"

Sofony almost broke down from thinking.

"This kind of love, how could it even last? The boyfriend is a playboy, the girlfriend is not much better. This world should just end if this is how love is."

When this crossed her mind, she started pitying Chris for liking a girl like Felicity.

She closed her eyes. There was a feeling coming from within that she's now closer to the truth.

"This is very weird. I have to snatch Felicity's lover from her. But who? And why?"

After remembering her real task, she froze. A sudden realization struck her, making her feel like she has been stuck in a circle for a very long time and only managed to realize it by now. She scolded herself for being stupid.

'Damn, my 13 Intelligence is a joke. I only have a little more than a month and I just realize that a lover is not always the official boyfriend.'

Sofony had taken a long time to calm down. A few minutes passed, and when she finally came out of the restroom and walked back to her classmates, she had already decided to test what's Felicity's feeling for the person she introduced to Sofony as her best friend.

She planned to do it tomorrow.

....

In a dark alley next to Sofony's apartment, three men could be seen. Two were standing. One was lying dead on the cold hard ground with dark liquid pooling underneath him. The place was dark, however, the place stunk of blood.

One of the two other men crouched down next to the dead person and started rummaging through the pockets and clothes of the man.

The one still standing opened his mouth, "This man did not knock on the door and just went inside the apartment. Then, he immediately turned around and tried to flee when he saw me."

"He's courageous. I think he's someone who works underground."

"They should be after her, right?"

The man crouching nodded. "Yes. Our men in charge of monitoring Wendy Gomez copied a sound recording sent to her brother who is in the police department. This seems to be related."

Gio turned around, not without giving a cold glance at the dead man whose face riddled with bullet holes could hardly be recognized. The coldness coming from his aura eclipsed even the coldness of the moonless night. Blood did not make him flinch a bit. If Sofony was here, she would have fainted from the shock since even if she had an idea of his ruthless side, she had yet to see it and couldn't imagine it too.

"George, as soon as possible I want to know who's behind this man."

George nodded and proceeded to call several people to help out with the task. The cloud filled night skies made the atmosphere gloomier than any other night. The alley where the death happened was especially creepy tonight. However, after an hour, the place was cleared and no evidence of the crime was left.