Twisted History with Unexpected People

Nancy laid back to her bed after a long and tiresome night of breaking into people's houses and having to hear unexpected things.

She quickly sat up when the thought ran through her head.

'He doesn't wish to leave me alone?'

Was that supposed to be considered dangerous or affectionate? In any way, Samuel looked the least dangerous person and the most affectionate person. Considering he let her off after she practically broke into his house, it was most probably the latter.

If it was that, how was she supposed to react to it?

{System has noticed the host's heart rate to be increasing, digestion prohibited temporarily. Measures suggested.}

"What measures?" She murmured.

{Ask Samuel Rogers out on a date.}

Nancy voluntarily coughed, and her cheeks flushed. Her system knew her too well… Of course, it did!

'No, Nancy. There's no time for love.' She thought to herself with the firm belief that she needed to gain knowledge more than satisfy her affectionate needs.

She needed to focus. Today she had a birthday party to attend. Not only that, she needed to learn more about Samuel and the chip.

The system would communicate with her from time to time, but that didn't seem enough.

There should be a way to level this thing up!

But for now, it was over 4 am, and she needed to catch up on her sleep if she wanted to attend that party with full attention.

She closed her eyes tight, trying to fall asleep, only to have her head replaying the last sentence she had heard from Samuel tonight.

She tightened her eyes close, but in vain.

The expressions in the slight moonlight were vivid to her eyes. She could tell he said it with concern in his eyes.

Was it okay to trust him, knowing he might be involved somehow? She let out a light sigh before finally falling asleep.

Nancy woke up late in the afternoon, which was expected. Being Saturday, no one woke her up either or knew that she snuck out of the house last night.

She quickly had her breakfast and then gave uninvited Amy a call to decide what she was going to wear.

Even though she was going to the lion's den for different—anything other than attending a birthday party—reasons, she needed to look like the most beautiful girl present there.

She video-called Amy and tried different outfits to let her best friend pick the outfit of the night.

Amy picked a plain black dress that reached just above Nancy's knees, tight-waisted and high-necked, with full and slightly puffed sleeves embroidered lightly with white petal designs.

She wore her favorite black heels, applied the reddest shade of lipstick, and left her blonde hair free.

'I am hot as hell.' She looked at herself in the long, vertical mirror, placed in her room.

She flipped her hair back from her shoulders and grabbed a designer silver chained, black handbag that complimented her outfit. She heard the doorbell ring, from which she could tell it was Samuel.

Quickly going downstairs, she waved her hand to her mother and left the house to see Samuel leaning his back toward the car.

He looked normal in his normal formal clothing, but today, his colors were different.

All blacks and a white tie.

"Sheesh," Nancy whispered to herself.

"Yes?" Samuel asked before leaning forward to open the door for her.

"N-Nothing!" Nancy tried to ignore him and went straight to the car.

He nodded and followed her into the car before starting the engine to drive it.

"We will have to go pick up Hertwig. Is that acceptable?" Samuel asked as he started to reverse the car around.

"As long as we're not late to the show, yes," Nancy replied.

Samuel drove towards Hertwig's house first.

They patiently waited outside his traditionally built house when Samuel texted him to hurry up as Nancy's temper was above the Himalayas.

[Hertwig: Grandma telling me to bring you guys inside for tea, can't say no.]

Samuel nodded to the text he never wanted to see. But now that it had appeared, they had no choice but to oblige. Samuel had a past with Hertwig's Grandmother. Dark… Past.

"Nancy," Samuel called her out to inform her of the bad news.

"Samuel." She replied like he usually would when she called him out first.

Samuel bit his lips lightly. He must be flustered that she picked his habit up.

"What?!" She asked as she didn't receive an answer, not that she minded that.

"We might have to attend to Hertwig's grandmother-"

"Fuck no."

Yup, he should've known it wasn't going to be easy.

"We cannot reject her invitation. Hertwig would not be able to join us in that case, and then it would raise suspicions. Do you not think so?"

Nancy sighed before storming out of the car. She had never met Hertwig's family, let alone visited his house. She thought the rumors would go overboard that way. So, he had always been a home tutor for her.

Samuel and Nancy waited at the front door for Hertwig to pick them up. Hertwig quickly opened it with a sweat-drenched forehead. Must be rough for that poor guy.

Anyhow, he invited the two inside with a nervous laugh after Nancy glared at him.

In the open living room, only a table stood in the middle of the room where Hertwig's grandmother was seated.

She was old. Really, really old. She was one of those people who dreamed of crossing the century. She was healthy, too! So it was possible for her.

She was sitting on the ground. Ah, floor seating. Nancy hated that. But she had to comply when grandmother gestured for them to sit down.

Soon, the elderly's still-top-tier eyes caught Samuel.

"Sam?!" She exclaimed. "I-I thought.." She pointed her index at Samuel and looked at Hertwig for an explanation.

Hertwig nervously laughed.

"H-He's.. Not Sam, Granny…" Hertwig muttered nervously.

Samuel looked at Hertwig anxiously, wondering what kind of explanation was he going to provide to the elderly.

"Samuel died, right?" Hertwig made sure to manipulate the elderly as much as he could.

Nancy narrowed her eyes to the play.

"Yes! Then who is this young man? He looks exactly like him!"

Grandma wasn't going to buy their story. Not today.

"Zhìqiáng!" His grandmother meant business when she addressed him with his actual name.

"Y-Yes, granny!" Hertwig seemed like a soldier who was scared of his superior.

"You guys lied to me!"

Nancy enjoyed observing such a usual sight.

"Our apologies, Ma'am." Samuel stood up and performed a full bow, only to get up and pinch Hertwig to do the same.

Hertwig quickly followed up as he stuttered. "S-Sorry."

"I require an explanation! Why did you lie about such a trivial thing?" The elderly asked with complete shock. "Why did you run away from the engagement?!"

Nancy gasped.