Chapter 9

Monday. 8am. Connecticut. Chloe's court. 

     "I don't think I like that bitch."

     He grunted. Why did she decide to speak at that time? Why did the fooking Cortana decide to speak when he was closing up the work.

    He had been up since 3am and was going to complete the second half of the task before he would go ahead and take a break. Do some chores and then resume. He had totally forgotten that there was still such person as Cortana. 

   A part of his brain had been occupied by the thought of Ishbelle. The feelings were getting stronger and he knew that she was the one he was going to spend the rest of his life with. 

    He could feel it scribbled on the platter of his heart. He needed no necromancer to look it up for him. He knew what he wanted whenever he saw it like a seasoned farmer. 

    She must be his! If twould take eliminating that fooking fellow, Stanley. He hadn't met him in person but he just loathed him. You know that hatred you have for someone for no reason. You don't know what color of your shoe the person stole, you just hate them. 

    He bounced back to reality. 

   He had thought that Cortana was no interested in his affairs. She had been mute since the previous day. Since he started the sex thingy with Ishbelle. 

    He didn't give a reply to what she had said. He kept on working. His client was a Chinese man, Lui Chung. He was encoding some data for some company Chung was going to take over from the former partner, Jin Long. 

    That sole work was just worth $100k. He would have to take another work for several other functions. 

     He was also trying to keep up with the time he was supposed to notify the Chung guy that he was through with the work. He wasn't going to call him. He could be tracked. 

    Chung was hunted big time by some dickhead beefing motherfuckers. Some business dungs. 

     Connecticut time interval from Yunnan, China is 13hrs. If he would be through by 8am there or 8:30am max, twould be 21:00 and 21:30 respectively. 

    Chung needed the confirmation before 12am the next day. He had no time to waste at all. That was why to 'hell with Cortana' was the best hymn to rehearse. 

     "You know I'm best at the play-dumb game. You know that right?"

    Cortana threatened. He wasn't in for her drama. He just needed three minutes more and he would be through. Distraction was a bad vibe for that task. He wouldn't even risk it. 

     "Just three minutes, Cort. Please."

    He kept on it. He didn't flicker his eyes. His eyes were itching him but he had nothing to do about that. Probably some eyedrop or so.

    He took a swig of the cup of coffee. 

    He should be calling on friends who were chemists or so. He could use their helps in getting the glasses for the computer. 

   He was seating on the  swan chair. The PC was on his lap, he had some folded silk sheet on his lap on which he placed the MacBook. He couldn't afford suffering from rashes, skin burns or any disease at all. 

     He clicked the enter key and organized the program then binged the Chung guy on a newly gotten sim. 

   'you sure all good?'

    Chung's text slid in. 

    Eric typed in. He was using his iPhone 13 for the Bing. 

    He typed,

     'Tested and trusted. Ask around.'

   He pushed the send icon and dropped the phone. 

     He read the fellow's text again. He had no idea why those Asian and many more fellows who were not Europe actually pay less or no attention to punctuations. They just type and send. Fuck school, yeah?

    He smiled. 

    He could never do that. He knew the value of every punctuations and all. His work had taught him. Missing a letter could foil the data encoded. 

      He read his own text again. There was this pomp of ego to working online. Especially when you're damn good at whatever you do. 

     He had a beeped. He checked the phone. Twas an alert. 

     He was going to check when he heard the AI of the MacBook reading the information out. He had linked his phone to his PC. 

     'You've just  received a credit of one million dollars in your United Bank Account, an auto-transfer function from your PayPal.'

    He was stunned. 

     "One million?"

    He muttered to himself. Obviously, the Chinese clown had made a mistake. 

     "Even Zeros? Damn!"

     Then his phone beeped again. Chung texted him. He clicked on it and the message popped up,

     'no mistake. well job done.'

     He read it again. He was shocked. Super shocked. What was happening to him?

     That was some dipshit Kilimanjaro-twist. He was glad. 

    He didn't know what to say to the fellow. He clicked on message box to start typing then a new change popped up,

      'You can't chat this fellow. He already blocked you. For more information on how to...'

    "Motherfucker wouldn't even get a thank you."

    He cursed and hopped off the chair and swooped into the bed. He had placed the MacBook on the table before the chair. 

     "Cort, guess what?"

   He called. He knew the dickhead might not even reply. But that didn't matter. He was already glad. 

     "You'll make me deaf now because of a million dollars. You've not seen that ever in your life?"

    He sat up. He was shocked at the response. Like intrigued. 

     "Why do you hate everything, bitch. Why?"

     Cortana scoffed,

    "Until you start using your brain."

   He was vexed. He rolled over to the other side of the bed and stood. He wanted to grab the iPad and smash it on the floor. 

     "Think before you do that. Do you even think"?

    He tried to unstrap the iPad from the top drawer and discovered that he would need some screwdriver or so. 

    He scrambled around the room and bent under the bed. He didn't even know what he was looking for. 

    "Fool. You don't know that today is your bitch's birthday!!!"

    He stopped and try to raise his head. He bumped it against the base of the bed. He wrenched but ignored it. 

    He stood up and walked towards the drawer,

    "Whose Birthday? She didn't tell me. You meant Ishbelle?"

     Cortana went dumb. 

      He didn't persuade her. He rushed to his phone and started calling Ishabella but she didn't respond. 

    He tried texting her with several 'sorry texts' and 'Happy birthday's', 'I love you's' etc etc. 

   He even made several voice notes and sent them through WhatsApp. 

    No reply came. He stood up and walked out of the room. He should go to her office. 

    They should not end there before of some birthday wish. 

    He scrambled around trying to do the needful before he would bathe and go to see her.

    He didn't know that he could be unhappy after the $1 million bill he had just gotten. 

      "That was a prank."

    He heard Cortana say from the room but would never trust her.

    She was cunny and selfish. Ew.