The next day, as Mr. Finch had predicted, the authorities came over to the McDonell Construction to carry out their investigations. It was then that every employee got the news that they were hacked last night. After the IT department had sorted things out after the hack, they looked through the network and noticed the hackers hadn't done much damage, and most personal details and those of the clients hadn't been compromised. It was still protocol to report the incident and for an investigation to be carried out.
The owner of the workspace where the USB drive was found belonged to Mrs. Beatrice Spencer, who worked under procurement. The authorities had questioned her when they came by. The IT department had informed her about the incident last night after the Halloween party, and she was prepared to cooperate. All those who knew about the hack were also interrogated in the boardroom. As soon as the authorities had all the information they needed, they took away the Ruby Ducky USB, the computer, and the CPU for further forensic investigations. As for Mrs. Spencer, she was told not to skip town in case anything came up. Mr. McDonell didn't see the need to suspend her from work, and a new computer and CPU were provided at her desk.
With the news of the hack, every employee grew concerned over who could have done such a thing. A good number of people knew Mrs. Spencer was innocent, while some weren't so sure. Some people thought someone amongst them was responsible, while some thought otherwise. The company had never experienced such an incident before. The fact that all this happened during the Halloween party when they had visitors made it seem that the culprit could be any of the visitors. And they weren't wrong there.
Sabrina—who had been frantic after hearing the news—went round every department playing catch-up with her friends the whole morning to see if anyone had come up with clues as to who could have been behind the hack. She was a little hurt when she found out that Angel had actually discovered what was going on and didn't let her in on it from the start. During lunch, after the authorities had left, Sabrina confronted Angel when Angel had settled down in her cubicle.
"Angel," Sabrina called out to her as soon as Angel sat down at her desk.
Angel turned to look at her. "What is it, Sabrina?" Angel asked.
Sabrina, seated on her chair, dragged herself out of the cubicle and into Angel's. "Why didn't you tell me last night about what was going on?" Sabrina asked in a whisper.
"I had to act fast," Angel replied, also in a whisper. She looked around. "There was no time for me to say anything to anyone but to those who could do the job."
"I still wish you could've told me. I wasn't going to tell a soul."
Angel pursed her lips together and raised an eyebrow at Sabrina. Sabrina sucked her teeth. "Okay, fine," said Sabrina. "You do have a point. But I still wish you could have given me a clue or something."
"You're not the type who could keep calm under a crisis, Sabrina. You could've sent David and the others into panic mode."
"Okay, okay. You're right. It doesn't make any sense, though. Could all of this have been some sort of prank?"
"I don't think hacks are supposed to be taken as pranks."
"Do you have any suspects?"
Angel paused for a bit. As much as she would rather not get caught up with the gossip Sabrina might have gathered so far, finding out what people might have seen at the party may help catch the perpetrator. Now might be her chance.
"To be completely honest with you," started Angel, "no one for me stood out as a culprit. It can't be Mrs. Spencer, obviously."
Sabrina rolled her eyes. "You're right on that one. Mrs. Spencer couldn't even hurt a fly. Moreover, she has stayed at this company for as far as I can remember, and Mr. McDonell has treated her well throughout the years. For her to do such a thing is just wrong."
"So… any ideas as to who could have done it?"
"Personally, I think if the culprit is among us, he or she must not have been treated right and acted out as a way of revenge. But as far as I can see, everyone loves it here. I'm scratching out the fact that the perpetrator is any one of us. If that were the case, he or she would've done it a long time ago. I'm guessing it has to be one of our guests from yesterday. But who it is remains the main question."
Angel slowly nodded her head. "I agree. It can't be any one of us. Who do you think amongst our visitors looked suspicious?"
"Honestly, people I don't know always look suspicious to me." Sabrina paused for a bit as she thought. "No one comes to mind, though. There were a few individuals that I saw step out of the pool office, and it could be any one of them." She sighed deeply, capturing the attention of those nearby. "Otherwise, I can't think right now. All this is making my head want to explode."
Angel understood Sabrina well. All of this has left everyone wondering who could have taken such a drastic move to hurt the company. If the company had been hacked unknowingly, everyone would've accepted that it happened, but this one felt different. Somebody had the time to sneak into one of the offices and insert the corrupted USB drive into one of the computers. All of this had left everybody in the company in some sort of shock. Who did this, and why did they try to hurt the company? As far as everyone knew, if you hurt the company, you hurt everyone in it.
Angel placed a comforting hand on Sabrina's shoulder. "Maybe you should take a walk outside for a little bit to clear your head," said Angel. "I doubt if you will have any work done today."
"No, I don't think so," said Sabrina. "I mean, who would? If anyone did, then they are as strong as me."
"Well, some people know how to walk past this and focus on what's important. You should do the same."
"And what about you? Are you going to walk past this? I mean, they even called you in for questioning. It should have taken a lot out of you."
Angel smiled. "But I'll try and walk past it anyway. Let the authorities do what they have to do. Hopefully, they will find the perpetrator. Let's focus on moving on while we're here."
"Fine. I do need to clear my head for a bit. By the way…" A devious smile played across Sabrina's face. "Did anything happen between you and Leo last night?"
Angel quickly raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" she asked.
"Well, Francesca told me that after you left the boardroom with David, Leo came looking for you. Moreover, I noticed that the time food was being served, you and David didn't come out with the kids and Francesca. That was probably the time you and Leo were looking for the breached computer. I have a feeling something must have gone on between the two of you, because after a long while, the two of you appeared in the pool office with weird looks on your faces."
Angel continued to look at Sabrina with a bored and irritated look on her face. "Your point?" Angel asked.
Sabrina looked at Angel carefully, studying her face. Then she smiled. "Nothing," she said. "I was just trying to change the topic, that's all. So much was happening that I bet the two of you were out of sight, being alone and all."
Angel remained with the same expression on her face, and Sabrina could tell that whatever method she was using to try to break Angel wasn't working. So, she excused herself and said she would go outside for some air. She dragged herself and the chair back into her cubicle, stood up, took her bag, and left. Angel watched Sabrina leave the pool office. Until she had finally disappeared out of sight, she breathed out a sigh of relief. She could finally relax. Angel never thought she could put up a straight face for that long when Sabrina brought up the topic of her and Leo. She expected such a question to come up because of what she had been hearing in the halls of the office all morning.
As much as everyone knew Angel had discovered the hack, they also learned that in search of the point of breach, she was with Leo. Of course, stories started to speculate about what might have happened between the two of them, but there was no proof. No one from the IT department confirmed anything about the two of them acting suspicious in any way when they found the computer in the procurement office. The only witness who might have a hunch was Carly. But even she didn't seem curious when she found them together in the hall and holding hands. Angel felt she did enough to hide what had really happened between her and Leo. That's why she had to keep on a straight face in front of Sabrina, for she knew if she blushed or looked away, it would confirm it all. Something "almost" did happen last night, and it made Angel feel embarrassed.
Angel turned back to look at her computer screen. It was lunchtime, but she needed to get her head out of the clouds. She and Leo almost kissed! The thought of it made her bite her lips nervously, and she could already feel her cheeks start to blush. When she went back home, she could barely sleep just thinking and replaying the scene. For a long while, she forgot that hackers had attacked the company. All she thought of was Leo. She found it difficult to sleep, and as much as she replayed the scene in her mind, she couldn't help but ask why she couldn't stop thinking about him. Moreover, the guilt slowly started to sink in. What if Carly had caught them at the moment they were so close to each other? Already, Angel felt so ashamed. She and Leo weren't supposed to be close like that. What was I thinking? Angel asked herself. She shouldn't have allowed all of this to happen. Leo is Carly's boyfriend, and Angel shouldn't be falling for him. Wait a minute… am I really falling for Leo? Angel thought to herself.
"I need to eat," Angel said as she quickly stood up from her seat.
She made her way to the lunchroom to warm her lunch. Last night, Amanda, who had remained home with Mandy for company, ordered Thai food that she wasn't able to finish. She had Mandy pack up the food in lunch boxes and told everyone to have it for lunch the next day. Angel, on the other hand, needed to get her mind off Leo. I hope that food will do the trick, she thought to herself.
Angel removed the food from the lunchbox, placed it on a plate, and put the plate in the microwave. As she waited for her food to warm up, she heard the door to the room open. She didn't pay much attention as she heard the person walk in and stop.
"Hi, Angel."
Angel's heart skipped a beat upon hearing his voice. She slowly turned around and saw Leo standing there with one hand in the pocket of his black trousers. Just seeing him stand there made Angel's face start to blush.
"Hi," Angel said quickly as she looked back at the microwave. Her heart was beating quickly now.
There was silence for a while, and Angel could only wonder what Leo was doing behind her. She told herself not to turn around and, at the same time, prayed that her food would finish warming up soon. She realized that she couldn't breathe with Leo around. This is just insane, Angel thought to herself. Or am I just overreacting here?
She heard him come closer from behind, and Angel gulped. What is he going to do? She asked herself. She wanted to close her eyes as though waiting for the killer in a thriller movie to give the final blow. But this was Leo, and she couldn't help but wonder what he would do.
Angel heard the door of the fridge opening beside her, and she turned to see Leo bending over to get his lunchbox. Angel couldn't help but feel embarrassed. Here she was thinking that Leo was going to do something to her. How pathetic can you get? She asked herself.
Leo closed the fridge and straightened himself. Angel could feel his eyes on her, and for a moment, she started to feel beads of sweat start to form on her forehead. Her eyes went back to the microwave timer. What was taking it so long? She wondered.
Leo cleared his throat as he went over to get the plate in the cupboard above the microwave. Angel felt him pass beside her, and with it, a whiff of his cologne. "Have you heard anything concerning who could be behind the hack?" he asked.
Angel shook her head. "No," she said. "Right now, everyone is in shock, and their assumptions don't seem concrete."
"Yeah, I get it." Leo settled the plate on the counter and started to dish out his food.
"What of you? Anything interesting?"
"Not on my end. Nevertheless, we should keep our ears open. If anyone has any clue as to who could be behind this, it will be great."
"But we can't rush to conclusions just yet. We don't want to blame the wrong person."
The microwave signalled that Angel's food was done, and Angel couldn't help but feel relieved. She could finally get out of the room and away from Leo. She opened the microwave and slowly took out her plate. It was burning hot, and as soon as she put the plate on the counter, she winced and shook her burnt fingers.
"You might need this," said Leo as he held out a kitchen towel.
"Thanks," said Angel as she took it from him. "I'll be going back to eat in my cubicle."
"Um… okay. I really wanted us to talk about last night, but I don't want to ruin your appetite."
Angel blushed even more. "No, no," said Angel, her voice almost coming out in a high squeaking voice. "I mean… as much as I would like to, right now and in this place isn't right." Angel looked down at the towel in her hand. "I don't know if you're aware, but everyone seems to be talking about us as well over what happened last night."
"Yeah, I'm aware. I feel bad because Eric didn't seem happy when he heard. If Carly heard about this, she wouldn't be too happy either."
Poor Eric, Angel thought to herself. She remembered that she and Eric still had a lot to talk about, and now this rumor had already reached his ears. He was already mad last night when they got home that Leo and Angel didn't tell him about the hack.
"But nothing happened last night," said Angel as she absentmindedly twisted the cloth in her hands.
"Yet we can't deny that something almost did happen," said Leo as he looked at her.
Angel found herself turning to look at him. This was a matter that needed to be addressed, as they couldn't go around pretending that it was nothing. Now wasn't the place nor the time.
Angel quickly took her plate with the kitchen towel and took a fork in the drawer. "We will talk," she said. "If anyone finds us in here, it will be a problem for us."
"Yeah, you're right," said Leo.
Angel quickly smiled at Leo before turning around to leave the room. Leo watched her leave, and as soon as he was alone, he couldn't help but smirk. He went back to focus on his food as he put his food in the microwave and set the timer. As much as he wanted to be mad about the situation, he realized that he wasn't. Yes, he felt guilty because Angel was his girlfriend's sister. But that wasn't the first time he felt like he did for Angel last night. Was it normal? He wasn't even sure. One thing was certain, though: after what almost occurred between them, he too couldn't get to sleep last night, as all he thought about was Angel.
***
"Meet me at the Balthazar Restaurant at 12 PM sharp," was Carly's message from Red Lion that morning. She could still remember how she felt as a cold chill ran down her spine as she read the message on her bed. Red Lion was definitely angry with her, and there was no running away from it.
Carly now stood across from the restaurant that stood close to a five-star hotel. She waited for the traffic on the road to reduce as she soon made her way to the other side along with a few pedestrians. She started to make her way to the door on the sidewalk, taking a sneak peek through the huge glass window to see where Red Lion sat. The place was yet to get crowded since it was soon clocking to lunchtime. She noticed him seated in a booth at the far end of the room reserved for two. She expected either Hugo or Carlos to be present. Guess it's my lucky day, she thought to herself.
As soon as Carly found herself at the door of the restaurant, she felt all time come to a standstill. Is this the day Red Lion would cause a scene and shoot me in the head? she asked herself. She wasn't too sure. If he wanted her dead, it wouldn't be at a restaurant. Maybe he's invited me here to warn me, Carly thought. One more strike and I'm out.
The door flew open as a smartly dressed door attendant from inside opened the door for her. She thanked him and got in. The woman standing by the desk looked up at Carly, and Carly told her that she meant to meet someone here. The woman guided Carly into the main area of the restaurant and led her to the booth Red Lion was in.
As Carly approached the booth, she couldn't help but notice that Red Lion wore a black jacket with a black shirt unbuttoned at the top. Any woman who would've walked into the restaurant would think he was some dark, mysterious bachelor who came to have lunch on his own. Carly wished she could've dressed up to also suit the mood and the ambience. She had come straight from school and had her backpack with her.
Red Lion looked up from the menu he was looking through. His eyes fell on Carly, and he neither frowned nor smiled. He remained as stoic as ever. Carly had never seen him in that mood before. Usually, he was smiling, if not smirking deviously. She could only wonder what he has in store for her.
After the woman leading Carly to the desired table left, Carly and Red Lion shared a look. For a moment, no one spoke, until Red Lion brought out a little smile and gestured with his hand for her to join him on the white plush seat opposite him. Carly hesitated for a bit as she looked at the seat. How was she sure that Red Lion hadn't rigged her chair with an explosive device or something? If that was the case, then he would be caught in it too, you dumb ass, Carly told herself. She really had to get herself together.
She removed her backpack from her bag and settled inside the booth, placing the bag at her feet. She could feel Red Lion's eyes on her, and she slowly looked up at him. He put up his stoic face again, and that made her even more uncomfortable.
"How are you?" Red Lion asked.
For someone whose plan didn't go well last night, he sounded normal. Carly didn't expect as much as a greeting. He's just putting up a show, she thought. Once he gets the chance to express his disappointment, at least she will be expecting it.
"I'm good," said Carly. She gave him an embarrassed smile.
"You must be wondering why I don't sound mad after what happened last night." Red Lion continued looking through the menu. "Please, look through the menu and see what you would like to eat."
Carly nervously picked up the menu. She hated that Red Lion was playing mind games on her. "Um… I expected you to be upset, yes," she said. "Everything last night went wrong. I know it's all my fault. I should've seen Hugo's calls sooner."
Red Lion was silent as he looked at the menu as though he was studying a book, furrowing his eyebrows. Carly wondered if he was even listening. She found it hard to get herself to relax, for it may be the last day of her life.
"Okay… I think I know what I am going to order," said Red Lion. He looked up at Carly. "Have you decided yet?"
"No," said Carly as she shook her head. She gave up and put the menu on the table. "I have suddenly lost my appetite."
Red Lion raised an eyebrow at her. "Shame. It won't look good for me to eat alone, so I'll order the same food for you as well." He raised his hand to summon the waiter nearby. Carly felt like she was going to get sick.
After Red Lion made the order, the waiter left them. They were to have a full-course meal. Carly knew she wasn't going to make it through the starter with the way her stomach kept flipping in her stomach.
"So…," Red Lion brought up a wide smile. "Tell me what really happened last night."
"At the party?" Carly asked. Of course he meant the party; don't act stupid, Carly, she told herself.
Red Lion nodded his head, still with that smile. Carly could tell there was something sinister behind it. She cleared her throat to get on with the story.
"Well, just as we planned with Hugo," said Carly, "he called, and I walked out of the pool office. Nobody paid any attention to me, I assure you. And Angel wasn't even there. She was taking care of the children in the boardroom."
"What does Angel have to do with this?" Red Lion asked, looking confused.
"She was the one who discovered that the company was being hacked. It seems one of the computers was left on in one of the offices, and the girl happened to notice that something was wrong. The girl reported to Angel, and well, you know how the story went after that. Angel might not be a computer wiz, but she knew something was wrong and called for help immediately."
Red Lion scoffed as he leaned his back onto the chair. He chuckled silently. "Are you telling me your sister ruined our chance of getting into the company's network all because of what a little girl told her?"
"I don't know why this sounds funny to you, but yes. She's the reason."
Red Lion started to tap his fingers on the table. "It's funny to me because she's working against you, and she doesn't know it."
"I know that. I'm sorry that your plan didn't go as planned."
"Oh... you shouldn't be sorry at all. It was going to be a big issue if anyone saw that you were the one who entered the office. It would've spelled trouble."
"I was careful. I guess I was just a little unfortunate that one of the computers happened to be switched on at the time."
"Well, they will carry out an investigation, and maybe they will conclude that all of this was just nothing. That's if they won't find the culprit among the guests and the employees."
Their starter soon arrived. They were to have a tomato and burrata salad. Carly looked down at her salad, her appetite disappearing completely. As yummy as the salad looked, she couldn't bring herself to eat it. As soon as the waiter left, she picked up the fork beside the salad bowl and forced herself to eat.
Red Lion had his eyes on Carly as she ate her salad. Carly did her best not to look up at him for fear that she might just puke out what she had already eaten. Red Lion slowly took his fork, and the two of them ate in silence for a while.
"May I say something?" Carly as she looked at Red Lion. The silence was eating at her. She also tried her best to ignore her stomach that was on the verge of churning.
"I can probably guess what you want to say," said Red Lion as he placed a huge tomato in his mouth and chewed for a bit before swallowing. "You're wondering why I don't seem angry with you." He took a napkin on the table and wiped the corners of his mouth. He put it down and looked at Carly. "If it were any other person, I would probably have had them beat up or killed for failing. But I tend to treat women a little more differently."
Carly's eyes widened. So, there was a punishment after all. She gulped as she felt her heart beat fast and her stomach slowly starting to churn a little.
"What do you do?" Carly asked.
"Nothing too extreme. But I make sure that the woman never tries to fail me again, or else I can take things a little further."
Carly thought of all the types of punishment Red Lion might render on her. She could feel her stomach, and she didn't know how she was going to handle it.
"Don't worry, though," said Red Lion as he smiled. "I'm not going to punish you."
Carly grew bewildered when Red Lion said those words. Her whole body felt like it had just experienced a huge sense of relief. Her stomach stopped churning, but only for a little while.
"For now, I mean," said Red Lion, finishing his sentence. "Right now you look like you are about to throw up all over this table."
"You got me," said Carly as she leaned back on the chair. "I did feel sickly all of a sudden."
"You're lucky. I'm being lenient on you, or else if it were anything else that was more important, you wouldn't be here."
Carly gave Red Lion an embarrassing smile. "I know," she said. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I bet you were the happiest when you heard the news that the hack had been stopped." Red Lion raised an eyebrow. "Tell me if I'm wrong."
Carly didn't know how to answer that. There was no lie to what he said. She did feel relieved. He made her try to hurt the family that gave her and Angel a roof over their heads. It's no wonder she was angry with Alex the first time he told her about what she had to do.
""Well, you were trying to hurt the people who have already done so much for me and my sister. How would you feel if you had to betray the ones who have done so much for you?"
Red Lion smiled. "You do have a point. But I would do it for a greater good."
The waiter came by to take their plates back into the kitchen and left.
"What greater good?" Carly asked, looking confused. "What could the family have done for you to hack them like you did?"
Red Lion's smile turned into a grin. "You'll understand later as we continue to work together."
Carly shook her head. "Don't tell me you plan on letting me go on some sort of mission."
"I do. This hack was a let-down, but you were useful."
"To you, I'm afraid." Carly rolled her eyes.
Red Lion scoffed, and the smile from his face disappeared. "But don't get too comfortable, Carly. I'm going to let you off the hook this time, but don't mess things up from here on out."
Carly looked on nervously at Red Lion, knowing that he meant what he said. "I'll do my best," she said.
Soon the waiter came over to serve them their main meal.
Stepping out of the luxurious hotel next to the restaurant was Zac McAlister. He stepped out with sleepy eyes and a slight headache. He stopped himself when he set foot on the pavement. He had a crazy Halloween night with his girlfriend, Felicity. They had gone for a Halloween party of a friend of his, and when heading back, Felicity suggested that they book a room in a hotel. There they had a party of their own, and they both drank so much that they couldn't remember what they did. They woke up to a messy hotel room just an hour ago, and they freshened up and thought of getting something to eat. Zac thought of coming down to the restaurant right next to the hotel. Besides, they had to come and get some fresh air, and walking to the restaurant sounded better than ordering food from room service. Soon enough, his girlfriend walked through the door in black sunglasses. Zac couldn't help but laugh at her when he saw her.
"Wow, you look worse than I do," said Zac when she came to stand close to her.
"Well, if I hadn't told you to carry some extra clothes for the night, we would be walking over to the restaurant in that lobster costume of yours," she said as she wrapped her arm around his.
"Yeah, it's so thoughtful of you. Come. I'm starving."
The two of them walked over to the restaurant, and the door flew open as they found themselves at the door. They went over to the reception first before being led to an empty table in the middle of the main dining area. As the two of them looked through the menu, they couldn't help but ask questions about what they could remember of what happened last night in the hotel. When it was obvious that they didn't have a clue, they went on ahead to talk about the party they had attended.
Meanwhile, Red Lion and Carly at the corner of the room were soon finishing their tasty main meal. The feeling Carly had of puking had suddenly gone after Red Lion had assured her that he wasn't going to punish her. They had a tasty roasted lamb and roasted potatoes. After eating their food in silence, Red Lion beckoned for the waiter nearby to come and get their plates. The restaurant was slowly starting to fill up with customers who simply came in for lunch.
After the waiter had left the table, Red Lion wiped his mouth with a napkin and said, "I want you to keep me up-to-date with whatever comes up over the investigation of the hack."
Carly didn't seem surprised as she bored her eyes at Red Lion like she was unimpressed with his request. "Of course, you would want that," she said as she took her glass of mango juice and drank.
"It's not only for my benefit but yours as well. If anything comes up, we'll know what to do to divert it."
"I'll do all I can." Carly placed the glass back down. "I just hope that my sister will be willing to talk about it. She tends to keep to herself at times."
"Not only do you have your sister. You have Leo, don't you?"
Carly didn't like that Red Lion mentioned Leo's name. She wished she could do whatever she could to keep Leo's name out of his mouth. She wanted to say something offensive, but the waiter soon came to their table to serve them their dessert: chocolate mousse.
Zac ordered a shepherd's pie, while Felicity ordered spaghetti and meatballs. As soon as their plates were served, they quickly dug in. They did their best to eat as eloquently as they could, but their hunger wouldn't let them as they chowed their food down. They ate as if they hadn't eaten in days.
"Gosh, this shepherd's pie is so good," said Zac as he held out his fork. "I might just order another one. I haven't had anything this good in a long time. Want to try?" He asked Felicity.
"Yes, please," she said as she brought herself closer and opened her mouth. Zac placed a piece of the pie into her mouth. After she closed her mouth to chew, she couldn't help but murmur in ecstasy. "This is really good. Or is it that the food tastes this good because we're just really hungry?"
Zac paused to contemplate over the question. "You might be right. Let's come here for our next date and order the same food. But I swear this is really good."
Carly finished her chocolate mousse quicker than Red Lion. As soon as she put her dessert spoon into the empty bowl, she looked up at Red Lion.
"I'm done," she said. "Can I leave?"
"And leave me eating by myself?" Red Lion asked with an eyebrow raised.
"Well, we're done, aren't we? Even with our discussion. You want me to keep an eye on the investigation, and that is exactly what I am going to do."
Red Lion soon finished his dessert and looked at Carly. "Since you seem to be so much in a rush, I will let you in on a warning."
"And what's that?"
"You should watch your back. Those close to you might be looking into you, and we don't want you giving yourself away."
Carly scoffed as she took the bag up from the floor and stood up. "I've been watching my back ever since you made me start working for you."
"What can I say? I don't need unnecessary heat on me, you, or my organization."
"Relax. You worry over the simplest things. I'll be more careful. I'll see you later."
Carly swung her bag over her shoulder and made her way out of the booth. Just as she started to make her way out of the restaurant, she paused in her tracks when she saw a familiar face looking at her.
"Carly?" Zac looked at Carly with wide, surprised eyes. Felicity turned to look behind her at Carly.
"Hi, Zac," said Carly. She felt a little uncomfortable, not because she and Zac had a little history in the past and Felicity was around. But because he might have seen who she was with. "How are you?"
"I'm great. Felicity and I just came here for lunch."
"Hi, Carly, nice seeing you again," said Felicity. "How have you been? And how is Angel?"
"I'm good, and Angel is fine. I really need to go. I would've loved to sit and chat, but I need to rush back for class."
"Oh, sure," said Zac. "Let's not take up much of your time. Say hi to Angel for me."
"I will." Carly brandished a huge grin. "You two enjoy your lunch."
"Before you leave," said Felicity as she looked behind her at the booth Carly had been seated in. "Who's that man you were with? I must say, he looks very handsome."
"Babe," Zac warned, raising an eyebrow at Felicity. "It's rude to pry into other people's privacy."
"Oh, no, he happens to be an old friend of my mother's," said Carly. "We met earlier, and he offered to take me out for lunch."
"How sweet," said Felicity. "Alright, let me not keep you waiting, Carly. Hopefully, we will see each other again soon."
"Sure. Bye." Carly continued to smile as she made her way out of the restaurant.
Zac and Felicity continued having their lunch when Felicity said, "Do you really believe that the man is a friend to her mother?"
"Why, yes, I do," said Zac. "Whether she was lying to us or not, it's none of our business to meddle, Felicity."
"Fine, you're right." Felicity looked down at her food. "He's handsome, though. That's why I asked."
"Well, why don't you go over there and ask him for his phone number, then?" Zac asked.
"Okay, let's just end the topic here. It's clear to see that you're jealous." Felicity smirked at him.
Zac went on to finish the last of his shepherd's pie. He noticed the man Carly had been dining with pay his bill by slipping some dollar notes into the black server book and placing it on the table. The man stood up confidently and started to make his way out of the restaurant, bypassing Zac's table. A look of surprise appeared upon Zac's face as he turned on his seat and watched the man walk out of the restaurant. Felicity looked at Zac with a confused look on her face.
"Hey, what's wrong?" she asked. "Did the man also capture your attention? I told you he was handsome."
"No," said Zac as he watched the man through the huge glass window walk down the pavement. "I think I've seen him somewhere. I just can't remember where."
our attention? I told you he was handsome."
"No," said Zac as he watched the man through the huge glass window walk down the pavement. "I think I've seen him from somewhere. I just can't remember where."