Somewhere far away, Rie is grabbing her hair in frustration. She rests her elbows on the table, lowers her head in depression, and digs her fingers in her dark hair.
Why did she send her son away? Just why! She was too hasty. He is her only son. Kids make unrealistic demands sometimes. That doesn"t mean that she should have given in.
For the last two week, her son has been acting strangely. Yuta was born with a high IQ. He could already speak three languages by the time he was 4. Raising her genius son was challenging. She had to catch up with him. She also learned along with him. Yuta was always a fast learner.
When he asked about his father, she gave him a problem to distract him. She didn"t expect that he would finish it in two days. She knew his programming skills. She didn"t know that he could complete it that soon. She had to keep her promise and tell him.
Then, he started the hunger strike. She lost her temper and sent him to his father.
"You should bring him back." A man with gray hair and olive skin is sitting near the fire. His fingers are curled around the bowl of rice wine. His shoulders are covered with a blanket. It"s dark outside. The land is only covered with snow. Only idiots would go outside to die from frostbite at this time. "I am surprised that you sent him to live with his father. I thought that you would bring her here this time."
"He wanted to meet his father." Rie"s eyes turn darker. She will never bring him here.
In the past, she paid Tsuchiya San for babysitting her son while she attended these meetings.
This time, he is at his father"s place. She wanted to bring him back earlier. But then, she thought that she should let him stay with his father since Kiyohira already knows now.
She"s been afraid lately. Keeping her son with her is getting dangerous. If her son wasn"t born with such gifts, she could keep her with him. She won"t let him turn into a part of the cyber underworld.
"Jordan, his father is quite handsome." The woman with brown hair and gray eyes is lying on her stomach. She"s dressed in a red jumpsuit. She should be in her mid-twenties. Holding her phone, she rolls back and says, "Rie! Your friend Ren keeps writing trash about me."
"Ignore him, Nina." Rie sits on the chair. Ren keeps making troubles. Does he not know his limits? "There are many who likes to write about us, especially the police."
"I feel like I am being bullied." Nina grimaces at her. "Rie, I want to bully him back."
Rie raises her brow sharply. Her voice is as sharp as the blade. "I hate when the bullies say that they are being bullied."
If Ren wasn"t at fault here, she would have taught her the meaning of bullying.
Nina puckers her lips when she sees her temper flaring. Pouting, she turns her eyes to the screen.
"Rie, you were the one who told me to kick him out of the DH."
Five years ago, when Nano was being constantly bothered by Ren because he mistook her as Rie, it was Rie who told her to hack him and reveal his information to the police.
"People like him don"t belong to DH." Rie stares into the distance. "He didn"t come to DH because he wanted to."
Because he was thrown out, he might have lost three years in prison. But he has started over and become an expert in cybersecurity. He often blogs about DH.
"The outer circle is not the real DH anyway." Nina turns her eyes back to the phone. "We are the real DH."
Jordan gulps down the rice wine. He flops down on the couch and mumbles to himself with closed eyes. "Others are late."
There"s silence for some time.
"Really!" Nina hurls the phone on the ground. "He keeps crying about his milf p.o.r.n. The quality was worse. Is he a virgin?"
Rie doesn"t bother to answer her.
"Woman to woman!" Nina glares at Rie. "Are you okay if I take him? Since you won"t let me f*uk him in other ways, I can only f*ck him that way."
"Go ahead."
Rie couldn"t care less if Nina f*ck him all day.
After getting Rie"s approval, an evil smile creeps up on Nina"s face. "This virgin eater will eat his virginity."
Jordan lets out a soft chuckle. "Do you plan to give him STDs?"
"Hey, Jordan!" Nina kicks his stomach. "When did I have STDs? I sleep with virgins because there"s no chance of getting STDs."
Jordan is already snoring. She kicks him once again. When he doesn"t respond once, she sits down and starts reading Ren"s blogs about her.
"This fake redhead!" Nina grumbles when she sees Ren"s thras.h.i.+ngs in the blogs. "You hate me that much, huh? Just wait! I am going to make you fall for me. Then, I will make you beg on the street. If I don"t make you kowtow to me, I will change my name."
Rie"s brows twitch. She decides that it is better not to say anything. She keeps her eyes closed, waiting.
The door is pushed open. A tall man in his mid-thirties, clad in furs, steps inside the room. Dark curly strands of hair are peeking out of the fur cap.
Beside him, there"s a lanky teenager with slanted eyes and thin lips. The boy is around 17 or 18, dressed in an oversized white fur coat. The man scans the room until his eyes stop on Rie who is seated on the chair with clasped hands.
Jordan stretches his arms and yawns lazily. Everyone"s here.