1 week before Mid-terms,
Saturday at Merrin's Residence
Lucian sat with his eyes fixed on the PC screen, the soft hum of the fan barely audible over the quiet tapping of keys. Lines of student grades filled the display.
Lucian(muttering): Hmm, most of my grades are already decent, mostly B+ to A-(smiles). I have memorized the Tests, so it shouldn't cause much of a problem. Why am I talking like I'm going to fail? I'm acing this.
At lunch,
Luna: Lucian, call your father for Lunch.
Lucian, lounging on the couch, stood up with a stretch, glanced at his phone, and then went outside.
The midday sun cast a golden glow over the lawn. As he stepped out, he spotted his father, mowing the grass with one hand, holding his phone to his ear with the other, nodding and pacing slowly along the yard's edge.
Lucian didn't interrupt, letting his father continue as he walked around, behind him.
Julian: No… Arun, you have to trim some of it; it's not like you had a perfect record before, you know. Remove some of them so that it won't be noticeable to the boss.
Julian glances at Lucian-
Julian: Alright, call you later… do what I told you!
He hung up and gave Lucian a brief nod.
Julian: Food ready?
Lucian: Yeah
A few minutes later,
While sitting at the table, the whole family listened to the movie while eating, but Lucian was thinking about something else.
Lucian: (What does it mean?) Dad, what were you talking about on the phone?
Julian: Huh! Phone? Ahh, right, it was nothing, I was just covering something.
Luna: What is it?
Julian (without looking up): Nothing serious. There's this guy at work — his wife's pregnant. With the workload spiking lately, he couldn't take time off. I told him to go be with her for now. But when he comes back, he'll still need to meet his quota.
He pauses to take a bite, then adds casually—
Julian: I just told him to trim some of his reports. If your record's too perfect and there's a sudden spike, it raises questions. Better to look average — safer that way.
Lucian was stunned. It was as if he had learned something Godlike. Lucian walked away, putting his plate back on the sink as he ran back up.
Luna: At least finish your food!
Lucian: I have already eaten. I need to study.
Lucian is entering his room, sitting on his chair as he rolls towards his computer, which is already on.
Lucian(muttered): If my marks suddenly increase, immensely at that. It would definitely be suspicious, I have already read through all the papers even something like algebra. I have to knowingly miss some questions or give vague answers.
Clicks—opens the grades files.
Lucian: Basically, what I am doing for Adam, I have to do it for myself. My current overall is around 60-70, but if I play my cards right, I can easily reach up to 80-90 without grabbing any attention.
The Following day, Merrin Residence
Luna was at home looking at her phone while in the background a TV serial was playing She occasionally looked but was mostly focused on the phone.
Creaks.
Luna: Luci... Don't just silently enter, say something idiot.
Lucian: Yeah... Mom!
Lucian went upstairs, grabbed his clothes, came back down, and went to take a shower.
5 minutes later,
Lucian came as he immediately started going upstairs when—
Yuna: You don't want to eat?
Lucian: No, I ate out with Adam.
Luciaan entered his room, and as soon as he stepped in, a paper stuck to his feet.
A paper he was familiar with—
Lucian(smiles): Can't believe I didn't tear this.
Unfolds.
Lucian: I should tear this, if Dad finds it he will immediately understand it. I—
Suddenly, Lucian stopped, his eyes flinched, and widened.
Lucian rushed to his computer as he opened his browser.
Lucian: I was so focused on the school web, that I didn't even notice the others.
_____________________________________________Staff: 2010 (School website password)
[email protected]: 123456789abcd(Mail)
Gardener.M: 123456789abcd1234(SpaceL)
_________________________________________
Lucian immediately started logging in. It took mere seconds for him to log into everything.
Lucian: SpaceL, do people still use it... I guess old ones do. 'Jokebook' is the new Social media.
He opened her account, narrowing his eyes
Lucian: What the fck- is she using this as her cloud storage?
In Miss Gardner's account, there were over 600 photos, not just hers but everything. He looked more as he saw some familiar faces, like teachers, and photos of the school events.
Lucian: Oh, isn't this the guy... I remember seeing him. Many of the photos are with him too. Her husband, this girl is in many photos too.
Scrolls.
Lucian(smiles, squints): Ohh! Found it.
_________________________________________
1 photo
Zain my loving husband
Different photo
Zara, my lovely daughter now in college
_________________________________________
Lucian looked around her profile but found nothing except her email. He decided to check her chats—expecting nothing.
Lucian: Most of her chats are two weeks old. Huh? Why is she? She is only talking to men.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Lucian leaned back, laughing — not from joy, but from disbelief at what he was seeing.
Lucian: She is around 40. It's not one or two she's talking to, over five at once, cheating on her husband.
Claps.
Lucian: Hats off— She got game.
Many questions popped into Lucian's mind, questions like Does her husband know? What about her daughter? Do these guys know about each other?
Lucian: They definitely know she is married, but do they know about each other? How many men is she talking to? She is not just flirting with them she is conning them by taking money from them.
Lucian was trying to find a way to use this started clicking the print button repeatedly.
Lucian logs off.. the site
_________________________________________
Would you like to remember this Password?
Yes or No
_________________________________________
Lucian: No why would I want to remember this... Oh my god. Her email—
Saved login info.
~to be continued