To put in the highest form of impression, Daniel took the initiative and thoroughly cleaned the sitting room. Before the day broke, he plugged in the battery-powered vacuum cleaner and vacuumed the floor, even right to the kitchen and his room.
After he was done, he grabbed the mop and wet and dried the tile floor, adding a lavender scent to the water to spread out a pleasant aroma. It was already seven, and his family was already up.
Mandy, his mother just woke up and headed to the sitting room. However, what greeted her as soon as she walked into the room was a pleasant lavender-flavoured scent that was further amplified by the air conditioning.
At first, she thought she was in a parallel universe when she spotted Daniel using his own hands to mop the floor. Who won't be shocked? Daniel has never picked up a vacuum to clean his room!
"Daniel, it's seven in the morning. Why are you cleaning the house at this time?" Mandy asked. "Morning mom. Don't mind me, I'm just removing this duty from your morning chore" Daniel asked, without looking up.
"That sweet of you. I'm not just used to seeing you holding a mop", Mandy replied and chuckled. "And the floor is too wet.", she squinted at the floor and tiptoed to the small rug at the centre of the table.
"I'm just doing my best", Daniel sighed. "And you're doing great", Mandy approached him and kissed his forehead. "Thanks, mom".
"But the scent is a little too much. Open the windows to allow air to circulate properly", Mandy said and headed to the kitchen. "You even washed the plates", she exclaimed.
"I should keep inviting this girl for this to keep happening", she said.
"Mom! I heard that!"
Mandy finally let out her suppressed laughter. Moments later, the members of the Cooper family woke up, and the atmosphere gradually became festive.
After a three-hour cleaning job, he stepped back and examined his work. He smiled with contention. "That's how work's done baby", he thought and headed to the bathroom to scrub himself clean.
He planned to bathe again at three so that he'll stay as fresh as he could get. But he was exhausted. All the cleaning had wiped him out. It was 09:12 am, he estimated that he needed four hours to sleep, so the time would be at one pm.
However, before he slept, he opened Meta and checked for any new messages. There were six new messages.
One of the was from Sophia!
He opened the message instantly and read its content. But his delight quickly decayed to disappointment. "Sophia's profile has been updated". It was just the app's notification.
He plugged back his phone and went to sleep.
- - - - - - - - - -
Katie watched with surprise as the two kept squabbling, sometimes talking over each other.
"...and guess what? Simon is James the whole time. I mean what is the coincidence that Sophia would run into her classmate online? It's like one in a million!" Jessica gushed.
"But then James told me he wanted to tell me who he was from the beginning, but those dark web hackers were monitoring him, so he couldn't risk it", Sophia added.
"Oh my gosh, Katie you should see their chemistry. They were so adorable!" Jessica gushed and hugged herself intending to tease her. "There was no chemistry!" Sophia's cheek reddened with embarrassment.
"Oh come on. You bawled your eyes and allowed James to wipe your tears. What couldn't scream chemistry than that?" Jessica said with a raised brow.
"Hold on, James took the initiative to wipe Sophia's tears?" Katie widened her eyes. "It's not like that! I...I didn't take a handkerchief to me, so James offered", Sophia struggled to say.
"That's not what I saw", Jessica said smugly. "Alright, that's enough. Thanks for mortifying me Jessy", Sophia's cheek was already bright red. "He gave me this thing I should put on my MacBook if I was to use it again", she took out the dongle and showed it to Katie, who quickly examined it.
"Would this stop that hacker from gaining accessing your MacBook? Hmm", Katie squinted at the tiny object.
"Well, if he says it works, you gotta trust it then", Katie said. However, she was already feeling fatigued. She laid back on the bed. "I'm so exhausted", she said with a yawn.
"I figured. Rest up, girl. We'll be back in five", Sophia said and held her hands. "Wouldn't you be at Daniel's place?" Katie asked. "I won't spend less than forty minutes. I'm only doing this because of my mother. Besides, I already have something I'm now looking forward to doing", Sophia said with a poker face.
She reluctantly agreed with her mother to go to Cooper's house, but under one condition; She's not spend an hour there, something her mother readily agreed.
While they were still talking, they noticed Katie's heart monitor beeping a bit faster. "Katie, are you running a marathon?" Jessica noticed the abnormality and asked.
"Nah. It usually does like that. I think it's the monitor that's malfunctioning. Come on, hug me", Katie got up and stretched her arm. Sophia went over and returned the hug with enthusiasm.
"I love y'all", Katie whispered. "Aww I love you too girl", Sophia and Jessica both said. "I'll be back by five, I promise", Jessica said. Then, they both left the hospital and were dropped at their respective homes.
Sophia was already wiped out, she decided to recharge a little. As she slumped on her bed, she faced the MacBook that had been sitting there for almost a week.
She still found it amazing that 'Simon' was James. As Jessica said, it was a coincidence. She closed her eyes with a lingering smile.
Beatrice opened the room door and saw Sophia sleeping, in her dress. Humph, she hummed and laughed and closed the door.
- - - - - - - - - -
03:30 pm.
Sophia stirred from her sleep and got up from the bed. She unlocked her phone and checked for new messages. There was one, which was from Jessica. It was a dancing emoji.
Sophia snorted and put away her phone. Hold on. She looked at the phone screen again.
Three-thirty!
She quickly ran to the bathroom to clean up herself.