Sophia? James was surprised. What was happening, and why did the radio mention Sophia? James had a lot of questions on his mind. Seeing that the radio was silent, he smacked the radio repeatedly, but it didn't respond again.
Who was the person that sent this message, and who owned that voice? James sat down and his mind wandered, almost forgetting his predicament. This question was not going to answer itself. He would need his computer right now. With decisive action, James headed downstairs and searched for his desktop computer.
I am not going to be tortured anymore. I've already lost everything I loved. As from now, I control my fate, James said decisively in his thought.
James could hear mumblings coming from Maribel's matrimonial room, but he was not interested as to what they were saying, so he headed opposite their room and walked to the basement.
Alas, all his electronic possessions were stored in two carton boxes, which were well arranged. At least his PC was not manhandled like last time, James thought wryly. He grabbed the box and headed upstairs to his room without fear.
He immediately set up his computer and started work immediately. When he booted up his computer, he saw the dummy account that James created to fool Josh and decided not to delete it. He still needed it as a piece of evidence.
08:01 pm. James finished all the requests in his inbox without much difficulty and refined the video he made for Angel. Then he resumed his study on SSD development.
Although James expected that Maribel would not call him for dinner, he was still disappointed about it. But James was not sad at all. Even if he was incapable of feeling sadness at the moment, he needed the time to make up for the last three days without using his computer.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
"Huh? Wait it worked?"James opened his eyes wide. It worked. James was very satisfied with what he saw. After running a lot of variables on the storage mapping, the result turned out to be 92.2 per cent compatible to store blocks of data efficiently. Not only was it more efficient, but it also turned out that with his design, you can squeeze in more data blocks to achieve bigger storage which would result in a smaller storage device.
Now comes the hardest part, to apply the design on an SSD. This would make him more than a month to finish, and that is if it would even be successful. "If I can devote eight hours a day for this, it would take him not less than a month and a half to complete." Luckily he had the equipment in his hands.
James packed the test SSD on the box and shoved them under his bed. He then logged on to his freelance account and started working till midnight.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
In a room next to James room, Josh turned on his bed uneasy. He could not believe he lied to the principal. His conscience was boggling him so much, so he could not stand it anymore.
He sat on his bed and brought out his smartphone, but notice a message from Kevin. " I save your ass man, now, you have to do something for me. Reply soon" Josh mind raged furiously. Why the hell would I do anything for you?
He then replied to him back. "I have nothing to do for you. Besides, you brought that stupid idea to implicate James, so what the hell are you trying to do now?" Josh tapped send and sighed.
He then left his room and headed to the kitchen to rehydrate himself. As he was drinking the glass water, his eyes happen to notice the basement door slightly opened. Huh? Josh wondered who was inside the basement.
He turned on his phone's flashlight and shined it on the staircase leading down the basement. "Hello?" Josh said slightly aloud, but his voice echoed back to him.
Curious, Josh slowly walked towards the basement below. His senses were heightened as he gently walked without making a sound. When he arrived below, he scanned the whole room, but there was nothing, except for some old boxes that were roughly placed beside the wall.
"But how was the door opened? Someone must have come here", Josh whispered to himself. Maybe it was Maribel. Most of the time she would pack some old stuff in a box and deposit them inside the basement.
With that thought, Josh shrugged and made his way towards the exit. But just as he climbed the stairs, he noticed an empty box labelled "James stuffs" in-between some old musical instruments.
Josh picked up the box and pondered. 'This is James stuff, but it's empty. What could be inside?' Josh thought. He then noticed a strand of red wire lodged in the gap of the box fold. He took it out and examined it.
Wait, could it be his computer? Maribel would never take his computer out of here, which meant... James must have taken it away from here!
Josh dropped the box and ran out of the basement. If James finds proof on that computer, he was doomed. He would lose everything, his parent's approval, his friends, his school life. That cannot happen.
He knew that he caused James expulsion, but he could not take that responsibility, so he planned to report it to Maribel before James struck.
As he was about to knock on Maribel's room, his phone beeped, indicating a new message. It was from Kevin.
"So you have the big mouth huh. Never mind, I won't disturb you, but be prepared to hear from the principal tomorrow. I'm sure she would love to hear the story on how to lie against James and how you were watching that thing."
Josh mind went blank. He immediately typed a message apologizing for what he said. This bastard wants to blackmail me! Damn! "Thanks, James for ruining my life!", Josh cursed under his breath.