The Author’s Loyal Fans

As the old machine whirred to life, Leona moved with practiced precision. The brand new mouse worked very well and Leona soon forgot all about the interest rate that Ignatius threatened to impose on her debts. She double-clicked the Documents folder where several folders of her novel titles were. Aside from her novel drafts, there was also a folder with a spreadsheet file for her list of debts.

The first thing Leona did was update the debt list. It was a little concerning how much she owed Ignatius but at least she no longer had to manage so many tabs. The total amount made her cringe. It might take a lifetime of writing to pay off everything. It was better to begin now.

Thankfully, Leona already had a few finished chapters waiting to be uploaded on the site. The writer quickly logged in to a familiar account and sighed. Now that she had her laptop back, it was starting to dawn on her just how boring her life was. Before she was kidnapped, Leona remembered fighting constant deadlines and checking her ranking on the site weekly. That was it. She survived the wolf den of struggling authors only to do it all over again the next day.

Her thoughts were interrupted by notification prompts chiming endlessly as soon as she logged in. Leona cringed and waited for it to stop. Despite existing for so many years, the writing platform still did not introduce a function to disable notification sounds. It was flattering to know that she had commenters and readers in the beginning but it slowly became annoying after writing with Wang Novels for a while.

Leona had two types of fans: the patient ones and the impatient ones. Nevertheless, they were all her loyal readers. In the ginger head's new private messages, some fans encouraged her by saying that they would wait. Others were discontent, demanding the missing chapters as soon as possible. Their hurtful words bounced off Leona’s acquired thick skin and she continued to browse through the other comments. Thankfully, only a few comments were complaints. They did not affect her ratings much.

Although a writer should not have favorites, Leona secretly kept her eyes peeled for a particular name. Luckily, Gun_Lord1031, her top voter, also sent a private message.

Gun_Lord1031: ‘No chap today?’

Leona could not help but smile. Despite the simple message, Leona’s world lit up. Whoever Gun_Lord1031 was, he must be super bored with his life with so much money that he didn’t know where else to spend it apart from unlocking her web novel chapters. Leona often received gifts from this mysterious reader and she was slightly curious to know if they were a boy or a girl. She was leaning toward a Senior High student with rich parents who loved action genres judging by that username.

Not wanting to ignore the kid, she replied to his message first.

gingeromance628: 'Hello there, sorry I was sick! Will upload today. :)’

While waiting for a response from her top fan, she replied to some of her other fans.

PatientReaderGirl: 'Where are the chaps!!!'

PatientReaderGirl: 'Author!!!Upload pls!!! Pls!!'

Leona wanted to laugh at the irony of her second top fan’s message. Despite her impatience, PatientReaderGirl never failed to unlock any paid chapters on time. Leona was grateful for shaving such loyal readers who would support her with their comments and even wallets. It was readers like this who motivated her to continue struggling another day in the den of writers.

After replying to PatientReaderGirl, Leona replied to more private messages from her fans. When she was almost done with her list, a familiar name caught her eyes.

Alwin1: ‘Leona? Where are you?’

Alwin1: ‘Hey, you okay?’

Alwin1: ‘I asked the police for help. If you read this and are alright, please reply.’

That name was familiar! Leona’s eyes widened a fraction when she realized it was her closest friend’s account. Tears formed in her eyes but she held them back. There was no point in alerting the mafia that she was in contact with someone familiar.

Thinking hard, Leona wondered what the chances were that the mean mafia boss would discover her tricks. Should she send an SOS message? Alwin was a police officer and was the only person she knew who could help put her kidnappers behind bars.

After a few seconds of consideration, Leona typed in the letters one by one with shaky hands. She hoped that her plan worked and Alwin would be smart enough to know what she meant. She would hate it if Ignatius found out and destroy her only ray of hope in these dark times.

While Leona was busy replying to the private messages, Ignatius ate a salad in the dining room. He sat on his special chair and browsed his smartphone, clicking an app icon with a black circle and an exclamation mark in the middle. The application dubbed ‘Philip’s Secret App’ loaded and a list of names materialized. Ignatius searched for ‘Leona Sandersmith’ and waited.

Seconds later, Leona’s laptop screen duplicated itself on Ignatius’ phone. Ignatius watched his favorite author reply to her fans as he ate. Although he knew that gingeromance628 had a solid fan base, he could not help but worry for her. Wang Novels' messaging feature prevents spam, and automatically filters suspicious messages and threats. However, it did not prevent weird messages or harassment.

It was only to filter those undeserving jerks, Ignatius told himself. He watched with a hawk’s eye as Leona replied to every single message. Originally, he thought that the author replied to only top fans. However, he was wrong. Leona was so hard working that she replied sincerely to every fan who sent her messages. Through peeking at her communication with others, the mafia boss learned more and more things about his favorite writer. It was all good until he caught sight of a familiar fly’s name.

Alwin1 sent many messages to gingeromance628 with obvious contents that gave away his identity. There was only one Alwin that Leona knew who submitted a missing person report at the police station. He was obviously that officer who went to Chief Fedora. Immediately, Ignatius put his food down and gripped his phone tightly.

What should he do if his favorite author asked the man for help? Should he kidnap and throw him in a desert? No, that would be too merciful. It was obvious that the officer liked Leona. Perhaps it would be better to feed him to the sharks like the other nuisances.

For a while, Leona only stared at the message without moving her fingers. Ignatius felt his heart pounding. What was she thinking? Was she still planning to escape? If she dared send the message out for help, he would call for someone to immediately find and silence Alwin.

Monitoring closely, Ignatius was almost disappointed when he thought Leona was typing “Help”. However, he let out a sigh of relief when it turned out to be “Hello” instead. Whatever it was that went through Leona’s mind, she decided against risking it. The writer was smart and Ignatius liked her even more. However, the threat remained. He had to find a way to ban Alwin from ever using the platform or creating any new accounts.

Proud that he momentarily won against Alwin, Ignatius donated one hundred fifty dollars. Although the money would be wired into his other account ultimately, he wanted Leona to see Gun_Lord1031’s neverending support.

‘Gun_Lord1031 donated $150!’

The new notification surprised Leona. She had just finished replying to Alwin when it happened. The timing was too good to be true and the writer was touched. Was Gun_Lord1031 encouraging her to upload? It was a shame that her loyal fan's donation would end up in her kidnapper's account. However, Leona appreciated the kind gesture and quickly replied to her reader who might still be online.

gingeromance628: ‘Thank you again for your support!’

Gun_Lord1031: ‘You’re welcome… By the way, if you need someone to talk to, I can listen.’

Although it was a risky move, Ignatius still did it and wondered if Leona would take the bait. The timing was too much of a coincidence with Alwin’s question but there was also a chance for them to become closer as online buddies.

Why did a stranger’s message bring tears to Leona faster than a childhood friend’s message did? If Leona could, she wanted to tell this kind soul who had been supporting her unknowingly over the internet everything. However, it was unsafe for her to share too much. It wasn’t as if they could do anything for her over the internet. Leona did not want her top fan to get into trouble so she merely composed a cheerful reply as usual while wiping her tears.

gingeromance628: ‘Gun_Lord1031, thank you <3 Just knowing that you’re there for me lifts up my spirit! I will do my best to upload on time!’

Unknown to Ignatius that his favorite author was crying, he felt that it was a shame she did not fall for his bait. The mafia boss was looking forward to becoming one step closer to his cute captive.

Gun_Lord1031: ‘No rush, take your time. I look forward to your chaps. :)’

Inspired by this brief interaction, Leona got fired up. Even after crying a little, speaking with someone like Gun_Lord1031 put her in a better mood. She uploaded her remaining, finished chapters quickly and started adding words to her latest drafts.

As she wrote, Leona remained blissfully unaware that her top fan ordered his subordinate to bring her a cup of warm tea and a bowl of cheese fries.