Chapter 136 - Parting (2)

It hasn't even been a week after Wilmer left them and yet the Wilde household was going to lose one more member. Elfie was tearful when he had to say his goodbyes. Even though he wasn't technically a member of the Wilde family, Orita and the three children had already treated him like one of them.

Danny had come by so suddenly, announcing that he was back for a short while. Then, they borrowed the study room for a few hours where the other occupants of the house heard them shouting at each other in Arabic. Elfie was definitely crying but it would be inappropriate for anyone to interfere with their personal matters. Eventually, the crying and yelling stop. Danny talked to Orita for a bit and Elfie started packing his belongings.

Scarlet was worried when that happened but Scarlet reassured her that he didn't breathe a word about their six-year plan. Danny only found out about Elfie's hacking activities with the Interpol and wasn't pleased with it. As a result, he was getting withdrawn from school and getting sent to another country to hide in for an unknown period of time. Danny also has to leave his job because Wilmer has started to step up on his efforts to fight against Anastasia.

"Danny is going to join Wilmer as a consultant. He's going to work side by side instead of from the shadows so I have to leave," he explained.

Scarlet nodded and placed a hand reassuringly on Elfie's shoulder. "Don't worry, even if something happens as long as you can access the chatroom, we won't be apart for long. See you in six years, watch out for our news. Britannia will be having concerts very soon and if we're in your area, let us know. We can give you backstage passes."

Elfie laughed at that. "That's nice to know. Sure, see you in six years. Please say goodbye to everyone from the E.C. Class and Special Class for me when you see them. If they want to, we can plan another gathering like the last barbecue in six years. It'll be interesting to see how much everyone has changed and grown by then."

Scarlet smiled and agreed. Then, she started helping Elfie to pack even if the programmer didn't have many belongings. Most of Elfie's clothes were already in the suitcase. The only other important belonging was Elfie's customised laptop and phone that were already in the backpack. Now that the room was cleared, Scarlet didn't know how Jasper would feel sleeping alone in his room.

Scarlet carried the backpack while Elfie carried the suitcase down the stairs. When they arrived, Danny was already exchanging a few words with Claire and Orita. Jenna helped to call for a taxi and Jasper looked at his roommate for a few months.

"Heh, you're looking well. I will finally be able to sleep without hearing you talk in the dead of the night now," he smirked from behind his bangs.

Elfie pretended to be offended when Jasper took a jab at his sleeping habits. Alex laughed along with them, feeling the mood lighten somewhat despite the sad goodbyes. This time, Jasper hugged Elfie and whispered lowly.

"The business will take off in six years. When that happens, you better not turn down my invitation to work with us. Don't think I'm letting you slack off on our game development just because you're not living with us."

Alex, who was close enough to them heard it and felt reassured. The parting was merely temporary and it wasn't goodbye forever. The farewell was only for six years. While six years felt like a long time, Alex did her best to see it in a different way. They were now ten, going on eleven. In six years, they would be seventeen. There were many things to do before she was seventeen and Alex decided to make a promise of her own.

"In six years time, I'll become a very famous person from singing to modelling and even acting. Even if we cannot often meet face to face, you can see me whenever you turn on the television!" Alex declared and Elfie nodded.

"In six years, I will look forward to being employed by Jasper so please make good character designs for the game. If it isn't famous, it's no good. We need to make a lot of money before six years to invite everyone out again to a barbecue party," the hacker stated and Scarlet laughed.

Danny turned around when he heard the laughter. Not too long ago, his son was crying at not wanting to leave. Despite the evidence and harsh reprimanding from Danny, Elfie didn't want to admit to hacking the Interpol and meddling with Anastasia's case. However, in the end, Elfie simply turned over all his collected 'research' for Danny to make use of.

Danny looked through the evidence stolen from the Interpol and was silent for a while. Many of the evidence was not discriminating enough but the conjunctions that Elfie drew from them made Danny think again. There were several other small irrelevant cases that had been archived included in Elfie's findings that the hacker claimed was related to Anastasia based on a 'hunch'. Danny was initially reluctant to look at them but when Elfie became heated up and explained the reasons for his 'hunch', Danny could no longer deny it. These cases were the missing leads they required to find out Anastasia's true purpose of acquiring the Wilde Empire as well as his base of operations. He didn't want to admit it but his son was becoming more capable at him at his work and Danny feared that any more meddling, Elfie would become too deeply implicated in his crooked world. Elfie was only ten-years-old and dealing with murder cases and prostitution rings aren't things a child should be dabbling with. If it was merely a job about hacking firewalls and passcodes to gain access to files and videos, Danny could turn a blind eye.

For Elfie's safety and the safety of Wilmer's children, Danny made the tough decision of pulling his son out of school and leaving his cover day job to relocate. Wilmer had asked him to join him officially to work against Anastasia now that Robert was dead. Danny initially refused to, saying that Elfie shouldn't be in the limelight from his involvement. Now that Elfie was neck-deep in all of it, Danny knew he no longer had a reason to refuse his old friend. Instead of hiding Elfie away and trying to keep him away from getting involved, Danny thought it might be better to have Elfie by his side so he could keep an eye on his son who was also one of their strongest allies at this point. Elfie's expertise and genius talent in the hacking world was something they badly needed. Right now, it was impossible to hold against Anastasia because the crime lord held all the cards while they were left grasping at straws in the dark. In just a few weeks, Elfie had discovered more than what Wilmer and Danny could have ever found out together for the past ten years.

Of course, Danny didn't tell Elfie about his plans to involve him in the war against Anastasia. Wilmer's children and Elfie grew very close over the last few months and the counsellor simply didn't need Elfie blabbing away. The sooner they cut ties with the Wilde children, the quicker he could fill Elfie in on the private job. They had only six years to make this work if Wilmer wanted to grant Scarlet's unknown wish and return to his family alive.

-Season 1 End-