Chapter 154 - Confidant

Jedd77: So how was your date?

Scarlet groaned at that. Her newest online friend was being a major pain with all the teasing. Scarlet didn't use her real name in the chat room and she decided to pretend to be a male instead online. This way, it would be difficult for others to make the connection between the celebrity and the online college student.

Frost: It's not a date.

Jedd77: Don't lie. If it isn't a date, why are you back so late? Also, tell me all about it. Are they hot?

The singer rolled her eyes. For someone like the self-proclaimed NEET, Jedd77 sure had a very gossipy nature. Her friend could act mature and say some really deep stuff from time to time but most of the time she was dealing with his hyperactive nonsense. Jedd was someone who spouted nonsense ninety percent of the time and it was difficult for Scarlet to know when the boy was actually serious. On that note, she wondered if Jedd had already suspected that she wasn't male.

Frost: It's just a business meeting. There was nothing special but they were rather intimidating even though they were nice.

Jedd77: Hmm… maybe they had ulterior motives but didn't want to scare you away on the first meeting? What were they like? I need details!

Scarlet smiled and recounted her meeting with Ming Yang in as many details as she could without giving away too much personal information.

Frost: They were good looking and considerate.

Jedd77: Oho~ that's a plus point. They must also have a lot of money since you said they were meeting you at a restaurant they reserved. Tell me, are they older or younger than you? A career woman perhaps? You lucky dawg!

Frost: …

Frost: Is that all your mind can think about? Also, I did say it was a business meeting, what were you expecting?

Jedd77: She didn't give you her number or ask you out? No personal questions mixed with business talk? Did you sign anything? Come on, you're killing me!

Frost: …

Frost: I was getting there.

Scarlet took her time to type out a proper recount of what happened after she entered the building and edited some of her text to make it seem more believable. Jedd didn't know what she did for a living apart from how she was a college student from a fairly upper-class family who had to work at their parents' company from time to time as training to become the company's successor.

The singer told him about how Ming Yang treated her well and took care of her from her arrival to her leaving. His attention to details was what impressed her the most. Still, Scarlet was slightly puzzled about why Ming Yang only engaged in small talk about her work and activities. He also asked several other things about Scarlet's personal preference and seemed to be knowledgeable about the shadier side of the showbiz world.

Frost: As strange as it sounded, they never once asked about my personal life, preference or pry into my history despite showing interest in me as a person outside of work.

Jedd77: Hmm… that's odd. Maybe they're secretly the manipulative type who doesn't take no for an answer? They might be trying to win your heart over and make sure that you fall in love with them so helplessly that you won't be able to do anything else. A crafty woman indeed!

Scarlet rolled her eyes as Jedd started spewing nonsense again. Really… sometimes talking to him frustrated her but other times, she was glad for the company. For some reason, Jedd was always able to make her laugh and feel at ease. There was just something about the NEET that made Scarlet feel as if she didn't have to do anything to feel special around him.

The two online friends chatted for a while more till Scarlet was unable to keep her eyes open. Lately, it had become a habit for the actress to spend her nights simply chatting with her new friend until sleep claimed her.

Jedd noticed that his buddy had gone silent all of a sudden and decided to leave the chat room. The first time this happened, Jedd didn't know what to think about it. He thought that he might have said something wrong to offend the serious college student. However, the very next time he met Frost, the college student apologised. Apparently, he had been too tired to stay awake and had fallen asleep. From that day onwards, if Jedd didn't hear a reply from Frost after an hour or so, he would disconnect from the room.

On the other side of the world, Edward smiled. It was afternoon and he was having lunch with Elfie. The poor hacker called him out after a week of silent treatment since the chat room app exploded. Many things happened and Edward heard bits and pieces of what happened from his contacts. When they finally met, the university student couldn't help but feel slight pity for the programmer. He looked worse than he did when they had to pull a one-week all-nighter to catch the international hacker in action and arrest him.

"You look like hell," Edward said and Elfie deadpanned.

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious. Can we get something to eat with coffee first? I think I haven't eaten anything since two this morning."

Edward checked the time. It was two in the afternoon. Frost had fallen asleep not too long ago and Edward completely forgot about lunch until Elfie mentioned it.

"Sounds good to me. There's a good café I frequent around the campus, let's head there for food before we talk. I'm assuming you've sorted out everything else?"

The programmer sighed and Edward could almost see Elfie's soul leave his body. Without even answering, Edward already knew the gist of Elfie's current predicament. The hacker hasn't sorted everything out but he was able to get some things in place enough to carry on as planned. The chat room's fame wasn't part of the plan and even Edward was shocked by it even if he understood the appeal it had.

The café was a short walk of fifteen minutes away from the busy campus and main city hub. It was also one of Edward's favourite haunts ever since he started his studies in New York. It was only the first term of his school life in the university but Edward felt as if he had been there for too long. The teenagers were too dumb and hardly anyone held his interest. In contrast, talking to Frost and Elfie was more fun.

Elfie ordered a turkey sandwich and a strong coffee brew while Edward got himself some fries and a latte. The waitress knew Edward and smiled at him.

"You're a regular?" Elfie asked and the university student grinned. "Been here for a while now. Good spot away from the unwanted attention too. Hardly anybody comes here during this hour. It's always the dinner and late crowd that's busy in this café. So, what do you have for me?"

Elfie pulled out his laptop and asked for Edward's user ID since Edward had downloaded the app and created one beforehand. The hacker quickly tapped on his keyboard to activate the admin access right for Edward's account just so that the teen could view other user's number code.

"Scarlet's code is 0003 so look out for any user with that tag. Also, while the chat room doesn't allow for a friend's list at this stage, I made one over the week just for you. Not sure if it's going into the patch update in beta but for now, you're the only one with it. Be careful and don't let anyone know. Scarlet's contact information has been registered in your friend's list so you will know when she comes online and which room she is in."

Edward reloaded his phone's app and true enough, there was a new tab for friend contacts. The one thing that made Edward stunned was who Scarlet turned out to be. He knew that Elfie was in contact with the Wilde family. Scarlet was the adopted daughter who had recently been a hot topic ever since the Sweet Sixteen gala announcement. In fact, Edward knew more about Scarlet than he knew about Frost from Elfie and from the news reports.

Who would have thought that his newest friend online would be the second daughter of the Wilde Family?

The creepy smirk on Edward's face made Elfie regret agreeing to play cupid. Whenever Edward was in one of those moods, almost nobody could stop him from doing the dumbest of things. The hacker felt slightly apologetic towards Scarlet but he had an agreement with Jasper that they would settle the issue with Anastasia without implicating the girls more than necessary.

"Whatever it is that you are thinking about, you should cease at once. Scarlet is not the kind of girl you can approach easily, online or in person. If anything goes wrong, I'm not bailing you out of this one," Elfie warned and Edward grinned.

"Got it. Don't worry too much. I'll keep my end of the bargain. You should get going, I'm sure you'll enjoy some peace and quiet alone," the university student smiled and paid for both their lunches before leaving.

It might be chilly in New York right now but Edward felt oddly warm after finding out who Frost really was by a twist of events.