"Ah, yes!" Joe exclaimed, excitement evident as he darted to the table where the laptop sat. "I was attempting to hack into Allan's digital devices at first, but alas, I failed."
"Well, it's common knowledge that Allan Batman is the campus' top hacker," Sienna remarked casually, her words carrying a hint of irony. "It might not be the wisest move to assume he wouldn't have his own system locked down."
"You're absolutely right!" Joe echoed enthusiastically. "That's why I opted to sneak a peek at his notebook. Seriously, you wouldn't believe how many notebooks he uses to keep track of his daily life."
"How many?" Sienna inquired.
"One."
Sienna refrained from voicing a complaint, simply asking, "So, what's the mystery here?"
"The brilliance lies in the fact that he consolidates everything important into one place," Joe said, winking, "Making it easy for us to take a look."
"So, the note receiver is in the notebook?" Sienna's patience was wearing thin.
"No," Joe responded quickly, preempting any further comments from Sienna. "That's the crucial part."
With that said, Joe's long fingers danced across the laptop screen, analyzing. "Allan has a weakness. He's terrible at remembering phone numbers, so he always writes them down before saving them to his phone."
Joe scrolled through the PDF file, filled with photos of names and phone numbers, until he found his own entry occupying a full page.
"Sorry, you know I have the habit of using aliases and different numbers..." Joe apologized, though a hint of pride shone through his tone.
Sienna shot him a sideways glance and ignored his comment, focusing instead on reading the contacts list, which ended with Amanda Smith.
"Noticed anything strange?" Joe inquired, fixing his gaze on Sienna.
A dangerous thought flickered across Sienna's mind, but she pushed it aside, unwilling to entertain it further.
"Allan could hack into anyone's system if he wants to," Joe continued, "But he's a loyal friend. He respects our boundaries and chooses to keep our numbers instead, so he can ask us properly if he needs anything, rather than intrude into our territory without consent."
"I'm well aware of that," Sienna replied, her voice smaller.
"But take a closer look at the list," Joe urged.
"I'm not on it," Sienna interjected bluntly.
Joe took a deep breath, as if releasing a heavy burden. "A girl who likes coffee, eats steamed meat buns, and lives near our mutual territory, whose telephone number he doesn't have..."
Sienna felt a jolt of realization.
"The note Allan Batman wrote was for YOU!" Joe concluded, slamming the laptop shut with a loud thud that startled Sienna.
For a fleeting moment, Sienna's mind wandered to Brandon Myles, but she quickly dismissed the thought.
"Why did I even consider him?" Sienna wondered, her expression bewildered as she turned to Joe, who wore an equally troubled look.
"But why?" Sienna inquired.
"Why? I can't say for certain what Allan thinks, but generally speaking, you're a brilliant girl, and it's normal for a boy to like you," Joe replied. Having realized that Sienna was the protagonist of Allan's drama, he had already processed the disbelief and trouble, regaining his composure to speak in a calmer manner at this point.
"No, what I mean is why did he wait until now to write this note? What prompted him?" Sienna asked, turning to Joe for an explanation.
Joe pondered, crossing his arms over his chest. "Hmm... perhaps he's grown brave enough. Spending so much time with me, he might have realized that relationships require courage."
Sienna snapped back, "You haven't even had any serious relationships to make such a comment."
"Mind your accuracy, Miss. I've never even had ANY relationship," Joe defended himself, "But I've observed and contemplated plenty."
"So, what do you think I should do, Master Relationship?" Sienna redirected the pressure to Joe. Then, she quickly added, "I... I don't think I like Allan in that way, to be honest."
"But you don't want to make our friendship triangle awkward, right?" Joe pointed out.
"Yeah," Sienna replied, scratching her head, feeling extremely bothered. Yet again, Brandon's image popped into her head.
"Do you have anyone you like in that way?" Joe asked.
"What? No!" Sienna responded a bit too hastily.
"Right..." Joe observed her suspiciously, but then clapped his hands, saying, "Then we have no choice but to handle this in a traditional way."
Joe reached out to Sienna with an open palm, saying, "Give me the note, and I'll use my number to reply to him, pretending it's you, and gently turning him down. Don't think I'm trying to overstep your boundaries. I'm just trying to save us both trouble, in case I have to give you instructions with every subsequent message."
"I understand that." Sienna said, "But he has all of your numbers already."
"Not all," Joe smirked, pulling out a tiny watch. "You always need backup for everything, right?"
"Besides, who knows if the number on the note is even Allan's real number, right?" Joe chuckled. "Trust me, this is definitely the best way forward."
"Right..." Sienna replied, her hands instinctively diving into the left pocket of her trousers, only to find nothing. Switching to the right pocket yielded the same result. Next, she reached into the tiny pocket of her coat, but still found nothing.
Pausing for a moment, she unzipped her backpack and rummaged inside, her head nearly buried in the depths of the bag.
Yet, even after thorough searching, the note remained elusive. She even took out a book and flipped through its pages, but the note was simply nowhere to be found.
"Where could I have put it?" Sienna frowned, trying to retrace her steps from the moment she received it from Joe. She distinctly remembered tucking it somewhere close, but where exactly eluded her.
"It must have dropped somewhere," Sienna mumbled, lost in thought. "Perhaps in the canteen; I spent the longest time there."
"Let's go back and look for it," Joe suggested, also eager to prevent Allan's secret love action from being exposed.
"I... don't think it's still there," Sienna refused, her mind flashing to the strange encounter with Brandon. She feared he might still be there, or worse, that her return would spark gossiping comments. "Don't worry, I tore the name off."
"But I seem to have a vague idea about the number on it, though," Sienna said, nodding towards the laptop. "Show me Allan's number, or numbers, and I might recognize which one is written on it."
Joe nodded and reopened the laptop. He began typing into the personal disk system that stored his thousands of contacts, intending to sift through the list, when he encountered a problem.
"What is going on?" Joe tapped and clicked busily on the keyboard and mouse
"The Wi-Fi is gone," Sienna pointed at the icon in the right corner of the screen.
Joe clicked the grey symbol, then noticed the adjacent power icon indicating that the laptop was not being charged either.
A horrifying idea struck them both simultaneously as they turned their gaze to the cable connecting to the electricity. It didn't appear as taut as it had been, almost as if it had lost the pressure that once held it tightly. Trembling, Joe gave the cable a gentle tug, and gradually, it was pulled from the edge of the terrace. Its end was severely cut loose, dangling in mid-air like a lifeless snake.
"Didn't you say that... the neighbor next door is never at home?" Sienna whispered to Joe, her voice trembling with nerves, her eyes refusing to leave the horrible sight of the cable's ruined end. It had once been firm, strong, and flexible, transmitting the best and fastest electrical current, and it had always been Joe's favorite.
Yet now, it lay in ruins, its red secondary cables, thin and exposed, peeking out from the outer insulation as if bleeding in pain.
If the neighbor was so cruel as to cut such a valuable item without a word or any chance for negotiation, It essentially meant that the neighbor was sending them a warning — he was not someone to be trifled with.
"I think we should face the music calmly and properly," Sienna suggested, "Before any further harm is done."
"Let's go!" Joe sprang up and immediately ran downstairs with Sienna. They arrived at the gate of the villa next door.
"You stand behind me, and I'll do the talking," Joe said, positioning himself in front of Sienna, shielding her with his body. "If this maniac dares to make any move, run and call the police."
Sienna nodded, though in reality, she had already grabbed a club and concealed it behind her back as she left Joe's villa.
The gate appeared pristine, and the doormat seemed untouched, resembling a place where no one had ever set foot.
Joe pressed the bell, and it rang loudly. Within what felt like half a minute, the lock turned, and the gate opened.
"Excuse me, neighbor. My name is Joe Sullivan, and I have just..." Joe began, but paused in astonishment.
Before him stood none other than Brandon Myles, wearing his usual, expressionless look.
This sight startled Sienna too. She took a step aside, unable to suppress her curiosity. "What are you doing here?"
Brandon's brows furrowed upon seeing Sienna's figure revealed.
"So, you're the ones stealing my electricity?"
Joe fell speechless. Suddenly, he recalled that when he was buying the villa, the agency had mentioned how fortunate he was to acquire it. Apparently, the original owner had decided to sell because he had too many properties and didn't need all of them.