A Welcome Distraction

Incidentally, Roland woke up earlier than usual that day as well. Much like Anna, he was worrying about how he was going to deal with the situation.

It wasn't good for a boss to be on bad terms with an employee; transferring Anna to another department was only a temporary fix. On top of that, he needed to disprove what she had said about Nightingale to remove the doubt from his mind.

He stared up at the fan on the ceiling, following it with his eyes as it spun round and round. He thoughts were currently much like that fan, constantly whirling, going in circles, going nowhere.

The fan stuttered slightly, the noise stirring Roland from his daze. He got off the bed and walked over to the switch to turn off the fan.

'Damn, I shouldn't have left that on overnight, seems I forgot about it when I got into bed.

'Ah, it's really cold in here now.'

As he thought that, the sun appeared above the horizon, casting rays of warmth through his bedroom ceiling-to-floor window. He stood there for a moment, soaking in the morning light.

Roland sighed as he continued to stare out the window.

'If only I could just stay here and not have to go in, that would save me so much hassle.'

He chuckled to himself, knowing full well that was wishful thinking. Putting aside the fact that Barov and Carter would come to see what he was doing, running away from one's fear and adversities was not a healthy thing to do. Whether one failed in the face of those adversities or triumphed over them, facing them was more important. Once had to always learn something new and advance forward; if one always ran away, how could one possibly grow and develop?

'Of my two main issues, Anna is the biggest worry but the easiest to solve. I have to face her at work, and I truly don't dislike her—after looking at the situation calmly, I know she was only being emotional before—so I don't want things to be awkward between us. Plus, if she's working directly for Carter now, we'll definitely be seeing each other frequently in meetings and such.

'However, as far as I can tell, I've done everything I can do without being accused of favoritism, and even Barov agreed.

'I will have to take the day as it comes; if I see her, I can deal with it then.

'Now then, as for disproving that Veronica is Nightingale, since I know Veronica can't possibly be Nightingale, it doesn't worry me. However, the only way to prove that Veronica isn't Nightingale is to uncover the identity of the real Nightingale.'

At this point, Roland lay back down on his bed. Uncovering the identity of Nightingale was easier said than done. If it was an easy feat, they would never have breached Graycastle's systems; if it was an easy feat, they wouldn't be a world-famous hacker.

A smile appeared on Roland's face as he thought about tracking down one of the world's most famous hackers. It was a welcome distraction from the other issues.