Same.
"The new intern, you mean."
The nurse had corrected Chloe who was still standing by the door. Drake rushed to Chloe and grabbed her left arm, pulling her with himself out of the office.
"Come with me right now."
He didn't care whether or not the nurse was startled.
"What are you doing?"
Chloe snatched her arm from his grab as soon as they got to a corner. He didn't let the confusion in her face get to him. He lashed out,
"Are you trailing me or what? What are you doing here? How did you find me? How did you know that I was here?"
Chloe only got more confused. She replied,
"What are you talking about? Do I know you?"
Drake derided, rumpling his hair,
"Is this how you wanna play it? Play dumb?! Now you don't know me?!"
She scoffed,
"I don't think it's important to keep explaining myself to this freak. But FYI, I won't let it slide if I miss this opportunity I strove for for years."
She smacked her lips in indifference then added,
"And do yourself a favor. Visit one of the doctors before leaving. Even though it's a video game, a simulation, you shouldn't roam the street in this state. It's not good for anyone."
She hit him out of her way and stomped off in the direction of office 325.
"Where do you think you are going?"
Drake reached out to the air, raising his voice. Suddenly his eyes strayed to a random standing mirror. His eyes widened as he came to the realization,
"Oh, shit! What have I done?! How could I forget that I'm not wearing my usual face. Fuck!..."
"I'm not sure if I'll ever get used to this strange feature. I don't know why I have to keep a strange face but my old body."
He grunted,
"Shit. Thank goodness she didn't figure out."
He paused suddenly,
"But why isn't she a dog this time? Why is she in a human form? Her real form for that matter. "
He akimboed,
"There must be something."
He discarded the distraction and edged towards the office,
"Hey!"
As he stepped into it, he saw her wondering. He looked past her to the table of the nurse. The nurse was no longer there.
"Where did she go?"
He asked. She snapped,
"Let assume you are dumb and creepy. Are you also blind?... Are you? Didn't we step out together?"
He won't go down easily,
"Hey, bitch!! Should I remind you that we left her in the office to a corner...?"
"Dumbass, I had my eyes on the door all through the dumb talk. I couldn't had missed her even if I blinked an eye."
He shook his head in frustration. He was smart enough to knuckle under the fact that there was no winning with her.
"But where did she go all of a sudden? She couldn't possibly had disappeared into thin air."
She jeered,
"What do you know. How about you just keep up your status?!"
"What status?!"
He strutted towards her, eyes about to pop out of his sockets.
_____________________________|
Earth.
"Did you do it?"
The nurse was back to Earth. She was in the living room of their duplex, still in the position she took before she was simulated into the game. And she had directed that question to a man standing before her.
The man was glaring. He had no shirt on, his protruding stomach round like a plain football. Of extra size though. He had only a fancy knicker on. He asked her,
"What do you think you are doing?!"
She swallowed, seating up, unwilling to remove the clip from her temple. She shook her head like she was disappointed,
"What do you mean? Don't tell me that you suddenly brought me out of the game because of something as petty as this."
"Hailie!!!"
The man yelled, then tried to catch his breath. He continued,
"Did you really think that I wouldn't be watching you in the project? Have you forgotten what fuss you made because I refused to let you participate? Now you want to throw everything away by telling that random goofy ball about the secrets of the system?"
He was becoming more and more impatient,
"Have you forgotten what I can do right now? Everyone else live separately in this world but I make your family live together in the GRA. A location hidden from the populace. Don't you think I can have them displaced right away and even crush their skulls and have their neurons donated to Perfect Life? Are you really testing my patience?! It's just a call away!"
Hailie removed the clip suddenly and stood up in rage. Suddenly she bursted out crying. Her husband was confused and he sought an explanation with his curious gaze.
She started, amidst tears,
"I can't believe that this is all I mean to you! I can't believe that after every decades you still can't put your trust in me. You seat there watching every of my moves in the games and even have the bots take turns when you wish to rest. All because of what? Because you don't trust your wife who carried your two sons and made sure they survived, even when a protest broke out during the early days of the Perfect Life Project."
She sniffled, cleaning her face with the back of her hand,
"And now what? You think I would sell you out and endanger the life of my sons?!!! How could you even think that? How could you, Rodney?!!!"
Rodney really wasn't moved. He retorted with a straight face,
"Then what? What explanation do you have for telling him all those?! And even on top of that --"
He scoffed,
"You love younger men? Isn't that what you told him?"
She sighed. Her face had dried up now. The shrills of the air-conditioner has its pecks. She explained,
"Boys like Drake would rise up. More of him. Do you think isolating them is the only solution? You think he doesn't know about how many people have been isolated? Yet, he seeks knowledge."
"What are you saying?"
He was beginning to calm himself down. She continued,
"Everything shouldn't be about harsh measures to silence curious minds like him. We could manipulate them, tell them what they need to hear then use them for our purpose. It'll be too late before they discover how far they've gone with our plans."
She moved closer to him and touched his stomach, caressing it,
"So allow me to tell him the truth. And gradually pull him in till he's become ours. And slowly he would bring in like-minded folks like him."
She chuckled suddenly, looking away,
"I've seen it in his eyes too. He would fall for it."
He exhaled deeply. He leaned forward and kissed her.
"Keep going. But -- Do know, if you try anything funny, or out of context -- You know right? It'll be out of my hands. I won't be the one to decide your fate."
She nodded and he pulled away.
"Come, your sons are here. Let's have a party. The game can wait."
He walked away from her. She turned her middle aged frame in the direction of two teenage boys who had walked in with a female who was about their age. They were around Drake's age.
"Mom!"
Both boys called.
"You came too, Hayden?"
She called at the girl, smiling. She walked towards the dinning table.
"Let's party y'all... call the bots in."
She ordered and the boys whooped.