New York City was shining under the slightly red sun of the dawn. Nancy was sleepy as a cab drove her back to her house from the airport, accompanied by her bodyguard, Samuel.
At this point, she could call him 'body fraud' instead, but she kept her stance strong and decided not to make it obvious that she was going to start avoiding him.
Upon reaching her house, they rang the doorbell, and Daniel opened the door. Seeing Nancy, he jumped straight for a hug.
"Thank you, God!" Daniel exclaimed as he tightened Nancy in his grip.
"Leave me!!" Nancy muffled from within his grips, failing to even breathe.
"Thank you so much, Samuel! I'm glad to see that the two of you are safe and sound. Come on inside." Daniel wasn't planning to break the hug.
Nancy was struggling.
"Thank you, Uncle. However, I shall visit Sir Roth and report our arrival." Samuel bowed his head lightly before leaving the father and daughter at the front door.
Nancy pushed Daniel away with all her might, finally being able to set herself free.
"Dad." She called him as she pouted.
"What?" Daniel asked. "I just hugged you… Now I can't even do that?"
"No... That's not what I meant." Nancy said before she walked towards the couch and sat. "The jet lag is real."
Daniel nodded before pouring water into a glass and giving it to Nancy.
"Dad, can't you just…" Nancy took a sip, "Can't you just fire Samuel?"
"No." Daniel bluntly replied, without second thoughts.
"Why not? I don't like him being around me. I don't trust him. Fire him."
"No." Daniel shook his head. "I trust him, Nancy. I've known him since he was in his teens!"
"But, Dad!"
"Nopes. I can't hear anything against that pure boy."
Nancy sulked before running upstairs to her room. She wondered why everyone trusted him so much.
Maybe she was just in denial.
The next morning, Nancy called Amy over just because she didn't want to go out. She didn't want to face Samuel just yet.
Amy didn't take as long to arrive.
Nancy's parents led Amy straight to Nancy's room where she knocked, and Nancy quickly opened the door.
"Amy!!" Nancy called her while dragging her inside, slamming the door shut, and making her sit on her bed. "Amy…" Nancy pouted.
"What? Are you sulking? I should be sulking! You went on a hiking trip in the middle of the semester without me?!" Amy complained first thing.
"It wasn't a hiking trip, Amy!" Nancy couldn't hold the secrets. "There's something I haven't told you."
Amy narrowed her eyes. Nancy didn't tell her something?! That's impossible.
The two of them had known each other since elementary school. No way in hell Nancy didn't share something with Amy.
"Wait…" Amy tried to guess. "Pfft! You fell in love with Samuel?" She laughed.
"You know, I wish that would've happened instead." Nancy sulked. "If I could fall in love with him, I wouldn't have to worry about trust issues."
"You should be grateful that he's a hottie."
"He's a hottie, so it doesn't mean he's pure of mind."
"You just… admitted he's a hottie."
"Amy! I'm having trust issues with this hottie! And I want opinions!"
"Trust issues?"
"You know Sebastian is after me, right..? But do you know why?"
Amy shook her head.
"Samuel said it was because you survived a life-threatening surgery…" Amy concluded.
"Amy… Ever wondered how I survived and woke up after just 10 minutes? Or why did I ace my accounting test? I even know fucking Russian now!"
Both the girls blinked several times, trying to catch each other's attention.
"I have a chip in my brain." Nancy dropped the bomb.
And Amy dropped her jaw.
She was so speechless that her unsaid words could be heard.
Pure shock.
"Okay… So… Now what?"
Nancy explained all of her thoughts to Amy. From why she couldn't trust Samuel to all her experiences in Russia. She explained every tiny bit to Amy.
"That… That is epic and scary at the same time." Thankfully, Amy was the only person who shared the same type of energy with Nancy.
"I know, right!" Nancy exclaimed. "How do I trust Samuel though? I think everything will be fine if I trust him… But how? It's so annoying. Can't go out without his sorry ass."
"Handsome ass." Amy corrected her.
"Yeah, whatever, Amy! Give me a solution."
Amy rolled her eyes as she thought of a solution that wouldn't offend Nancy.
"So, like, in my opinion, he's innocently involved. I'm not biased or anything. It's just the situation that tells me this. He said he'd find out if he's involved at all or not… So, how about you trust him for the time being?" Amy suggested.
Nancy dropped her shoulders in disappointment.
"Fuck no. I declared war on him already." Nancy sulked.
"Then just keep him on standby until he gets proof."
Right. Standby.
How hard could that be?
"By the way, nothing else happened?" Amy asked with narrowed eyes.
Oh no, that meant trouble.
"What was supposed to happen?" Nancy asked, raising an eyebrow.
"You two were alone in a motel room…" Amy giggled and smirked as she excitedly punched Nancy's shoulder.
"Huh… I wished something other than me being awkward with his wound happened…" Nancy muttered lifelessly. "Wait!" She gasped. "Did I tell you he ran miles with an abdomen gunshot wound? How is this possible? Do you think he has something in his brain, too? Because my ankle healed pretty quickly thanks to the chip."
"Oh my God!" Amy explained in surprise. "Are we inside a novel or what?"
"If he's involved this way, then I don't know what to feel about this."
Just imagining the fact that another person might have some sort of extra thing to their body made Nancy curious.
She recalled Samuel telling her that she was the first Human to have led a normal life after the chip implantation.
What if he was a failed attempt?
Or if not that, what if he was used to a different invention?
These were the most reasonable scenarios she could think of.