James was shocked beyond words. He could not believe all this while, Josh had known his computer's password. "Wait, so he had been watching me since?" James asked and squinted his eye.
Josh, who was logged onto his computer displayed an expression of delight. "Yes, I can never be wrong. Where's the stupid flash drive?" Josh ruffled with his nightgown until he brought out a thumb drive and plugged it into his computer.
Please don't tell me he wants to infect my computer with a virus, James thought vexed. If Josh had come all the way here just to plant a virus on his pc. Thank goodness that James always made the habit of completely backing up his entire operating system after he was done working, so the virus thing would not affect him that much.
Fortunately for James, Josh wasn't planting a virus on his PC, but what he uploaded to his desktop left him shocked beyond words. From the thumbnails, he could vaguely see the contents of the video. James now understand what Josh was up to.
He would scatter pornographic videos and images, and even make one his wallpaper, and before James would wake up, he would bring Maribel to his room and accuse James of watching these immoral contents in the silence of the night.
To be sincere, this was a clever idea of getting rid of someone and completely tarnishing one's reputation. With the way Josh performed this flawlessly, he might have planned this for a long time. Maybe now was the perfect time to execute it.
After Josh left his room, James jumped out of his bed and ran to his still turned on the computer, and quickly checked for any deleted files. Fortunately, all his files were intact. When James saw the explicit image, he could not help but run out of his room to puke. It was utterly disgusting. But he did not delete the fake account Josh had logged into. He simply logged out of his computer's account and logged in with his real account, using his fingerprint.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
James had barely stretched his body when his name was screamed from downstairs. "James!" Maribel screamed. She was not happy. Josh must have probably told her the lie, but James was not scared. He screamed back, "I'm coming mom!", and quickly changed his nightgown to casual home wears.
When James reached the bottom of the stairs, he could see Maribel and her husband, along with Josh, who was glaring at James coldly and Angel who was hugging her teddy bear with sadness.
When they all saw James, Maribel whispered something to Angel, but James heard her. "Go to your room honey", she whispered, and Angel stood up and headed to her room, but as he walked past James, she held his hands and looked up, facing James. "Angel, room!" Maribel's husband whose name was Jeremiah barked, startling Angel. She ran to her room crying loudly.
Maribel breathed deeply twice and looked at James calmly. "James, what were you doing late at night?" she asked softly. James' face was expressionless, as he had a very calm demeanour. "I was studying for my school exams, then slept at around five, just like we agreed on", James explained.
However, Maribel was not convinced. "Tell me the truth James, what were you doing in the dead of the night? Is there something I should know that you are not telling me?" Maribel asked as she fiddled with her closed laptop.
James studied Maribel for a moment. With her entire posture and facial expression, it seemed that Josh would her told her the moment she woke up and seeing the disturbing content, she got vexed and called her husband.
After he saw the images, he got vexed too. Then Josh sat down on the couch and waited for the drama to unfold.
"No mom, there is none", James said simply. Maribel then opened her laptop and logged on, and it displayed the pornographic images on her screen. James could not help but look away. He was truly disgusted by the contents. He suddenly had the urge to puke.
Maribel appeared like he was about to cry. "James, I—I thought we were close. Despite all the things that happened to you, we still welcomed you here with open arms. Still, you keep hiding things from me. Why didn't you tell me you were watching… these contents? Why James?" Maribel was almost on the verge of tears.
Seeing Maribel's eyes welled with tears, he could not help but feel vexed. Jeremiah, who sat there observing James finally talked. "James, although we haven't interacted a lot, I always had a good impression of you. You looked like any other innocent kids that needed help, that was why we decided to pick you up but is this how you repay us, by watching this nonsense? James, this is a holy place, and our family's never had any records of watching these things you take pleasure on. Why did you decide to taint this record?" he said angrily.
Alright, that was enough. These accusations are already getting out of hand. "Mom, Dad, I did not do all these things you are accusing me of. Josh framed me, and I know it. He came to my room and planted all these things to blackmail me. Believe me, mom." James pleaded. Josh changed his expression to disbelief.
"What do you mean I went to your room to plant all these disgusting things? Why are you lying James, and shifting the accusation to me? Are you this shameless?" Josh asked angrily and looked like he was about to punch him. If stares could kill, James would have died ten times over.
"Josh tell them the truth before I do", James said calmly, but Maribel interjected. "Alright, that's enough. It appeared that not only are you addicted to pornography, but you are also still a successful liar. James, as for now on, you are grounded. You are not allowed to use the internet except on our permission, and you are not allowed to go anywhere, except when going to school, and Josh would pick you up himself." Maribel said with a stone face.
James opened his mouth, but nothing came out. "Now go to your room right now!" Jeremiah barked. "Mom, he still has his laptop with him." Josh helpfully reminded. "Don't worry, I'll be following him to his room", Maribel said as she stood up and glared at James.
"But mom, I did not…" James tried to defend himself, but he was cut off by Maribel. "Don't call me mom James Smith for now and go to your room and think about what you've done. I am very disappointed in you." Maribel said angrily.
James was helpless at the moment. He had planned to expose Josh, but obviously, fate never wanted him to do that easily. He could only walk to his room in a daze.