Mel raised her head to see Alex, who was standing in front of the door, with his amber eyes looking straight at her.
He looks very casual wearing only a plain white t-shirt. He kept both hands in the pocket of his black training pants. "Yes, brother... what's wrong?"
"Dry your hair. It's freezing here; you could catch a cold. We need to stay fit because tomorrow at 3.30 am we must standby." He said worriedly.
Mel grabbed her wet hair and grinned at Alex. "I forgot to bring the hairdryer. Any chance do you have?"
Mel saw Alex's back away. He walked to the master bedroom. Not long after, he came back holding the hairdryer. "Dry your hair now. And don't sleep late." He put the hairdryer on the table.
Mel nods. "Okay."
"Good night." He said, then closed the door.
After drying her hair. Mel, busy in front of her laptop. She logs in to the hacker community site and immediately opens her inbox message, a new message from Black appears.
**********
Hi Q,
Can you test my security system?
If you could break through to the last layer, there will be rewards for you.
Black!
*********
Mel chuckled.
"Are you crazy!? Now you want me to test your system for free? Dream on !!"
Mel wanted to reply to Black's message like that, but then she has a second thought.
*******
Dear Black,
Sure, I'll put it to the harshest test, but only next week, preoccupied this week.
Q
********
After that, she log-out the hacker community site.
Mel put on earphones and quickly typing on her computer. "Max, is there anything suspicious on the server?"
"Yes, Boss. Last night someone tried to access at the Building's CCTV."
Mel froze. She didn't want anyone to know her true identity... "How do you manage it?"
"I have closed all external access to the CCTV, and I've erased all of your traces."
"Okay, Good. Access every CCTV that has any traces of me within 5 miles radius from the Apartment and also CCTV of all the places I've visited in the last six months."
"Right away, Boss!"
Shortly after that, she opens a particular application on her laptop. She types codes that have a lot of numbers and symbols. She was typing hastily, and not for long before a young man appeared on her laptop screen.
That young man looks confused, seeing his laptop screen suddenly turn black, and then an image of a beautiful woman, a queen-like, with ice-like hair, appeared on his screen. The woman is wearing a black crown. He froze, but only for a moment. He felt that the image was very familiar; he tried to remember it. He recalled something and then said nervously, "Q-Queen?"
"Yes, Stefan!" Mel replied in a modified voice and Russian.
Mel chuckled. She was looking at Stefan, who was holding his dark brown curly hair with both hands. Her blue eyes widened at the laptop. His mouth drops open. Stefan choked on his saliva, having opened his mouth for too long.
Mel continues by saying, "Stefan let's get to the point. Would you mind not wasting my time? About the mission you offer, I accept..."
"WHAT? Y-YOU ACCEPT? When will it be done, and how do I pay you?" His eyes widened; he was startled.
"I'm not done talking, Stefan." Stefan then shut his mouth. "I accept your mission but with a slight change. I already know where he is, and I will rescue him."
"Really? Where is he? And how are you going to rescue him?" Stefan's face became happy but at the same time confused.
"Now, the change. Due to the circumstances, the fee has now tripled. Do you have any objection?"
Stefan nods hard. "NO, NOT AT ALL.!"
"Good. Transfer to the account number that I've sent to your cellphone. Full payment. I will wait within two hours. If you fail to transfer, I canceled the mission."
"Yes, Queen!"
"Bye!"
"Wait! May I ask?"
"Yes?"
"How did you find out all my identities and hacked my laptop?"
"You forgot?" Stefan frowned, confused. Then he hears her say, "I'm the number one hacker in the community!"
Somewhere in Russia, Stefan was dumbfounded. Because his laptop screen suddenly turned black. He couldn't turn on his laptop for 10 minutes.
"Ugh!! My idol, Queen, is very classy." He muttered.
After closing her laptop, Mel stretches her body and does her favorite yoga movement. Supported headstand, this style can make her mind calmer and her thinking sharper.
After yoga, she took her cellphone. She read the message while sleeping on a super soft bed, making her start yawning. Quickly she replied to all incoming messages; she also made an appointment to meet with her best friends this weekend. After that, she yawned more often, and not long after, she fell asleep while holding her cellphone.
Alex woke up from sleep after he heard a woman's crying from outside. He immediately gets up and gets out of his room and walked quickly to Mel's room, the source of the sound he heard.
He opened the door and saw Mel sobbing in her sleep. He quickly approached and sat on the side of the bed.
His hand touched Mel's shoulder gently and tried to shake slowly. "Little sister... Mel, Melanie! Wake up. Are you alright? Why are you crying like this? Mel?"
Mel didn't respond.
He shook Mel's shoulders harder. And he succeeded; he saw Mel's eyelids slowly open. "Little sister, are you okay?"
"Brother, why are you here?" Mel immediately got up and sat facing Alex. She was confused to see Alex sitting on her bed.
"You are crying in your sleep," Alex said worriedly.
Mel touched her eyes, and she felt her fingers wet. She wiped the remaining tears. Then, take a slow breath. "Am I? I guess I was dreaming!" she said softly.
"Dreaming or nightmare? Why does that make you cry?"
"My past." Her aura turned cold.
Alex nods softly, shows his empathy to her. He knows about her past. However, he didn't realize that Mel still has nightmares like this. "Still can't forget it, huh?" asked Alex with a soft voice.
Mel shook her head lightly. She already tried to forget her past, but her subconscious couldn't. "I've tried, but it's hard. Brother, do you think I'm alright?" Mel stared into Alex's amber eyes. She seems to finds calmness whenever she looked into his eyes.
"How often do you have this nightmare?"
"Every winter, I will have nightmares, almost every night."
Alex fell silent "Little sister; I will make an appointment with a psychologist for you. In the military, we have a good psychologist. It would help if you talked to an expert. I'm afraid if this problem is left alone, it will have side effects on your mental health." he said worriedly.
Alex is worried about seeing Mel's fragile condition like this. Because what he saw now was the opposite of what he knew. All this time, he only saw cheerful Mel, not cold Mel, like now.
"Oh!" Mel nods.
"Now, quickly clean up. We have to get ready."
Mel looked at the clock on the nightstand; it was 2.30 AM. She immediately went into the bathroom.