Chapter 3 - The café

~ Fairfield, The café ~

Sarah and Vivian got their coffee and selected few pastries. They found seats at the long table next to the window in a café crowded with students.

Location of the café is convenient, close to the University campus, and besides coffee and pastries it provides free Wi-Fi as well as 10% discount to any patron who shows student ID from Tesla University. That is more than enough to attract plenty of students. Everyone loves free things and discounts, no matter how much money they have.

Because most of the customers are students, café tables are packed with laptops, tablets and books. Who can't handle the noisy environment, uses a headset. It's very lively.

When Sarah and Vivian get together, Vivian is the chatty one, while Sarah mostly listens. Sarah is not the one who talks about herself, no matter how friendly the other party is.

Vivian was full of pride while talking about various young men who made advances toward her recently. She described their appearance, outfits, family background and their financial status.

"That is a lot of information." Sarah was surprised that Vivian can be so detailed.

"Of course!", Vivian proudly lifted her chin. "If there is a chance to hook up with someone, you should know who that person is."

Sarah noticed that Vivian puts a lot of importance of family and finances when describing men of interest. "What will you do if a guy is good looking and charming, but broke? Or his family is not prominent? Will that disqualify him?"

"Come on." Vivian rolled her eyes. "My approach is to first filter out the ones who are not real men. When did you see a real man who is broke? Even if his family is not rich, a good man will make a fortune for himself!"

Sarah helplessly shook her head. She could not understand this logic. But it's not something that she should concern herself with.

Vivian started talking about Gabriel, the young man who caught her attention some time ago. Gabriel is taking Artificial Intelligence course with them. Vivian is making advances, but Gabriel is not responding how she expects. She used her best techniques to get his attention, but they were not successful. Vivian's conclusion is that he could be blind, taken or gay, or some combination of those three. This made Sarah break down in laughter.

Sarah is in the same AI course, but she can't put name and face together. But no use spending braincells on that, Vivian will make sure to point him out anyway. As Vivian went on and on about Gabriel, Sarah lost interest and her mind wondered to last night's event and how Omega took her first prize. Unknowingly, Sarah's expression dropped, and Vivian caught that.

"Is something on your mind?", Vivian asked Sarah curiously.

"Something is bothering me…" Sarah started and paused.

Vivian was excited that Sarah finally decided to share something and was curiously probing for more. "Tell me. What is bothering you?"

"Well, last night there was an online event. A competition. I was in the lead for most of the time, and then in last few minutes a person with alias Omega swooped in and took my prize." Sarah was careful not to reveal any details. No one should know that she operates under alias Sigma.

"Competition? Prize? Do tell more!" Vivian's interest was awakened.

Sarah paused for a second and carefully chose her words. "Think of it as a competition of knowledge in computer science where you get to find mistakes someone made. The more you find, the more points you get. The prize is money and bragging rights." Sarah was smiling, pleased with her explanation.

"You do this for money? Why bother with competitions when you can earn money by doing project for other students, as usual?" Vivian didn't see the point of struggling through stress of competition if you can do get it leisurely.

"Yes, I do projects for students who are willing to pay." Sarah confirmed, "But that is mostly to fill up my time. The competitions are where big money is."

Vivian shook her head and frowned. "I never heard of such competitions."

"They are not really advertised to general public." Sarah's gaze went to the window overlooking the street.

"I see…" Vivian noticed that she is losing Sarah's attention. "And what is that Omega you mentioned?"

"It's an alias, like a nickname." Sarah mumbled.

Seeing that Sarah will not tell her more than this, Vivian started a different route. "It seems that Omega caught your attention?"

"How can that be? I don't even know him." Sarah looked at Vivian, shocked by her assumption.

Vivian was pleased that Sarah's attention was back. "Him? You know it's a male?"

"It's more like an intuition. In my mind he is male, ugly, middle-aged, fat, and bold." Sarah giggled, indicating that she is joking.

"What if he is handsome?"

"Now that is your imagination." Sarah could not believe how Vivian always thinks of handsome guys.

Vivian giggled. "Well you dream about ugly and fat middle-aged people. I will dream about handsome ones… but if he caught your attention, he must be special, right?"

Sarah frowned. "Your logic does not make sense. I'm interested to find out who is behind those computer skills, and to show him that no one should dare to take what is mine! That first place was mine. I feel like he stole it from me right under my nose." Sarah's competitive spirit was fired up.

"I see you feel energized." Vivian accurately observed.

"Of course!" Sarah didn't deny. She stuck her index finger up in the air and proudly announced, "I, Sarah Hill will find out who that Omega is, and show him my skills until he submits to the power of my code!" Sarah let out an exaggerated evil laugh, and quickly cut it off. She glanced around nervously, grateful that cafe is noisy, and no one paid attention to her outburst from few seconds ago. "Well, that is how proclamations of rivalry go in the game I'm playing."

Vivian could not believe what she just observed. "You should switch to simulation games."

"Oh, I play those also… but no matter what I play, I always go back to 'Age of Legends'." Sarah's gaze went back to the window.

Vivian concluded that she lost Sarah's attention. In general, Sarah is good at listening, but whenever Vivian tried to find out more about Sarah, Sarah quickly avoids the topic or shuts down.

Shortly after, as Sarah and Vivian left the café, at the table next to theirs, young man lifted his head above laptop. His dark eyes followed Sarah's departing back, and his lips curved into a smile. He seems to enjoy the view.

He is sitting right next to the table where Sarah and Vivian were seated, and it would be unusual that he didn't hear every word that Sarah and Vivian spoke.

'Sarah Hill… will make me submit?' He was amused by the challenge presented.

"Hey, Aiden, nice to see you here! I didn't know you are back.", one man approached him enthusiastically and pulled him out of his thoughts.

Aiden frowned. "Yes, I just came last night." He gave a small nod and focused on his screen.

"Your injury healed well?" Seeing that Aiden is not responding, the man who approached him fidgeted nervously. "Well, it seems you are busy. Will catch up later."

"Mhm", Aiden mumbled without looking up at a man.

The man had a sour face as he retreated, but there was nothing he could do at this point.

Aiden ignored him and he didn't feel guilty about it, not even a little bit. He was looking at his laptop, but in his mind, he was thinking of a young woman who announced that she will make him submit to her. 'That is Sarah Hill?'

He heard rumors about her, young lady who jumped straight into third year courses, acing the exams and scoring as a top student after her first semester. Stories praise her as a prodigy who was not seen before at Tesla University, and he needs to find out more about her.

Aiden glanced at his surroundings, making sure no one can see his laptop, and within a minute hacked into student database at Tesla University. He went through information of Sarah Hill.

The café is noisy and full of patrons. Number of females are looking at Aiden, hoping that he will return their gazes, but his sight is focused on the laptop in front of him.

He returned to University in order to get to know Sarah's skills. Based on what he heard, she is not an easy person to get close to. But there is one thing she does not seem to decline: projects for anyone who wants to pay. Aiden smirked as he recollected this part of Sarah's talk with her female companion. Now he only needs to think of a way to approach her.

Aiden copied her course schedule for the upcoming semester and removed traces of his breach into student database before putting his laptop in the backpack and leaving toward the men's dorm of Tesla University.

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