I am currently editing this and the succeeding ones.
---
Jack felt his safety secured, he immediately tried contacting his parents.
The only problem was how his bag was gone. Likewise with his wallet, phone and IDs.
Fortunately, however, Jack spotted a sleek laptop on the desk. It was a brand he didn't even recognize with controls that seemed better than his laptop at home.
After fumbling for a minute, he figured out the controls and logged in.
Unread messages and missed calls from his parents in the family group chats were lined up one after another.
Jack panicked.
This was the first time he hadn't informed his parents of where he was going. The other times, he lied, but he always had a prior or late notice. This one however was too late! It was already another day!
"WHERE ARE YOU?!" His mother's voice screamed through the earpiece, loud enough that even Lucy, sitting quietly across the room, flinched.
Jack winced and quickly lowered the volume.
"Relax, Mom. I'm fine. Totally safe. I'll be home soon," he said, forcing a laugh.
But hadn't expected the next words.
"It is all right. You're an adult now. You can stop reminding me. I heard what happened. You saved your cousin who is coming to live with us soon, right ? I haven't met her yet but be good to her."
Jack froze and made a glance at Lucy.
'Her integration into your life will be seamless.' The words of Brian echoed on his head.
Jack could not believe what he'd just heard.
"Is that so?" he replied and repeated her mom's words on the phone as if to make someone hear them, "Yes, yes, you are right. She has just arrived from the mountains yesterday and was seeing the city for the first time. Then she almost got run over by a truck and for some reason, I was there and saved her. Her relative who was with her then recognized me and suddenly left saying she had an important business trip."
While conversing, he kept his smile while talking as if recalling real events from the past when in reality this was the first time he was hearing it.
"It's a real coincidence, mom. It must be fate," Jack said with sarcasm agreeing with his mom and eventually cutting off the line.
Apparently, the story was Lucy was traumatized so much she didn't want to leave her apartment. So he was asked by the relative to watch over her until they come back, which would be today.
'What a crappy story!' Jack screamed internally. Even he could make a better story.
Jack politely smiled at Lucy.
He only just realized.
'Seamless, he says.'
Like Brian said, a total stranger would now monitor him. In order to do so, she would be living with him and his family for six months.
'They sure worked fast…'
Jack couldn't even begin to fathom if this was truly happening. How would the set-up even be?
Would they really just move on like this, as if everything were normal—just like in those novels? What would his family and friends think? And what about hers? How could they leave such a beautiful young woman in the care of someone of the opposite sex?
Jack wanted to bash his head at the concrete from just thinking, but for now, he has priorities.
He received an alert panel at the corner of his eyes.
[You are hungry.]
[You need to eat].
[Nutritional intake insufficient. Recommend consuming protein-rich food.]
[Get out of the room and find food. Use this opportunity to know more about the previous user.]
'Even without the system telling me, I need to see it for myself….what my life's really like now and where the hell am I?'
Jack concluded, slowly getting convinced that this was real life.
'For that, I have to at least talk to her.'
"Hello." Jack was the first to speak as she looked at Lucy with a smile.
Jack grown up and gone through school with a great self-esteem not only because of his personality but because he did not exactly lack praise and confessions from the opposite sex. So, he was low-key confident in social interactions.
Most importantly, he didn't shy away from girls. On top of that, Jack already knew he was older than her. What good would staying silent be in this situation was what he thought.
Instead of replying however Lucy glanced over her shoulders.
When realized she was the only one in the room with him, her face turned red before she greeted him back embarrassed.
'???'
Jack lightly shook his head, still trying to make sense of her.
'She's more beautiful than most girls I've met… so why is she like this or is she messing with me?'
"Can I call you Lucy?'
"..."
"Are you hungry?"
Jack maintained that same charming smile he'd perfected over the years.
But Lucy looked around once more, checking over her shoulders as if still expecting someone, before replying.
At that moment, he almost believed that the girl must not be shy and was deliberately conducting some masterclass in the art of pretending he didn't exist.
"Hungry? No, no, I'm not sir. You do not need to worry about me."
"I see."
Lucy started stammering, making Jack sigh inwardly and shook his head in response. It was as he'd predicted: the girl was quite anti-social.
'There's no point talking to this girl. It's not like I need her permission anyway, right?' Jack wondered for a while and prepared to leave.
"S-Sir… wait! Where are you going?" Lucy stammered again, as Jack slipped on his indoor slippers. "D--do you need help?"
Jack stopped.
'Why would I need help? He thought to himself and pointed at the bathroom door.
The bathroom was as luxurious as the rest of the suite. Warm lights, mirror sensors, even a built-in closet.
As the hot water poured over him, Jack couldn't help but feel spoiled.
'This is nicer than any hotel I've ever stayed in…'
Afterwards, Jack then noticed fresh clothes folded neatly inside the closet. All of them were training clothes in neutral colors. But Jack doesn't have the luxury to be picky.
While showering, Jack had a lot of thoughts about Lucy. He still couldn't figure why someone so timid had been assigned to him. By his own reasoning and from what Brian had said, her role was to monitor his movements. But how could someone who could barely hold eye contact and seemed to shrink to her own skin carry out such a task?
After mulling over it he figured that this was better than having someone who would be up his business all the time or someone always asking him where he went to. After all Lucy seemed like a total pushover and most importantly she was not a killer.
Soon they stepped out of the room, making Jack breathe in relief.
Outside, He saw a corridor lined with identical doors which were bristling with high-tech security. Every so often, someone in a black office uniform would pass them by.
The system couldn't stop notifying from time to time.
[First mission in progress: Advancement detected.]
[You have gained knowledge about yourself.]
[10 exp received]
[70/100 exp]
'So I gain this "knowledge about myself" whenever it's tied to that guy's past…'