“Time to move on to the next phase of my plan,” Rina declared, determined to continue with her scheme, even though she had encountered a stumbling block right from the start.
However, Ava interrupted her by locking the computer and stated, [You need to rest Rina]
“I need to continue, or they will just…haaaa…haaa…” Rina tried to explain to Ava, but she immediately broke down in panic and started gasping for air. She was having a panic attack from the memory of what had happened to her.
Even though it might seem childish for her to break down, it was the first time she had ever been physically assaulted by someone, so it was a traumatic experience for her.
Despite her initial decision to continue with her plan without pause, the sudden interruption by Ava locking her computer forced her to confront her trauma. This resulted in Rina breaking down in tears, as she was unable to suppress her emotions any longer.
The breakdown continued for a few minutes, with Ava silently watching Rina without uttering a word. Ava understood the importance of allowing Rina to confront her emotions and provide comfort while the pain was still raw, preventing it from becoming deeply ingrained and potentially haunting her in the future.
After calming down from the panic attack, Rina heard Ava’s comforting words.
[You have me, so you don’t have to worry. I will always be there for you, watching over you and protecting you] Ava said.
After hearing what Ava said, Rina felt even more calm and reassured. She realized that Ava had already kept one of her promises: “I will always protect you.” It was evident that Ava had expected something like this to happen, no matter how miniscule the possibilities were, and had prepared for it.
This realization gave Rina a sense of comfort, knowing that she had someone looking out for her. This in return increased her reliance on Ava, which in turn extended to Aron, as he was the one who had created Ava to be her constant companion and protector.
“But why did you call for Alex out of the many security guards?” Rina asked, curious about why Ava specifically requested for Alex’s assistance.
[Mother recommended him after sending her a list of people who had not betrayed us. She thoroughly examined their histories and chose him because he was deemed the most unlikely to betray you] Rina replied to her question.
“If your mother chose him, then it would be wise to appoint him as the head of the security position, which has become vacant as of today. We can even use the fact that he was the one who rescued me to defend our decision to those who might question why we chose a newbie instead of someone who has been with me for a longer period of time,” suggested Rina.
[That’s what she also suggested] Ava agreed with Rina’s recommendation.
“Then I’ll inform them of my decision before I go to rest, as I really need to,” Rina said while touching her neck, which was still hurting.
[Take all the time you need to rest. The plan doesn’t have a time limit.] Ava responded with reassurance.
“Thanks,” Rina said, expressing her gratitude to Ava. She then got up from her chair and made her way to the door, to go and rest in her room.
After passing by Chloe’s table and informing her of her decision to promote Alex to the head of security as a reward for saving her, Rina immediately went to her room and slept.
….
Aron’s side.
After sleeping for three hours, Aron was awoken by Nova, who reminded him that the driver had already woken up and was waiting for him. Nova had seen him through the CCTV footage of the hotel after she had taken control of the hotel upon their arrival.
“Argh….” Aron woke up still feeling tired, regretting not using the option to enter the VR and sleep there for a longer time. Due to the time difference of 5 to 1, he could have extended his sleep in the virtual world, but he decided against it.
He desired to have a few hours of sleep in the real world to reacquaint himself with the feeling, so as not to forget it. However, he knew that in actuality, there was no tangible difference between sleeping in reality and in the Universal simulated VR.
After cleaning himself up, Aron gathered his belongings and left the room, making his way to the reception lobby to check out.
“May I have your autograph, please?” asked the receptionist after completing the checkout process, recognizing that he was the young billionaire who had been trending on Twitter a few days ago.
“Sure,” Aron agreed.
Despite feeling a bit weird about being recognized by someone from the other side of the world, Aron took the paper and pen the receptionist gave him and began to sign it. When he finished, he asked, “What is your name?” so he could write it on the paper.
In excitement, the receptionist replied with her name, ‘Shamim,’ glad that her request was granted.
Aron began writing the name “Shamim” on the paper, followed by “Wishing you all the best,” but as he was about to hand it back to her, his phone vibrated, indicating that Nova had something to tell him.
As soon as he checked his phone, he saw a text message from Nova that read, “Write down these numbers on the paper.” Without any hesitation, Aron took the pen and started writing the long sequence of numbers that Nova had displayed on his screen.
After finishing writing the number sequence, Aron smiled and handed the autographed paper back to Shamim, saying “Nice to meet you.” before turning around and leaving the hotel.
“What is with those numbers?” Aron asked Nova after he left the hotel.
Nova replied playfully, [It’s a gift from me to her if she can decode it. It also makes your signing’s quite unique.]
“Then she won’t be able to decode it in her lifetime,” Aron said, smiling at the thought of Shamim trying to decode something created by Nova using a quantum computer.
[No, I made it specially for her. She can decode it if she uses her virtual assistant and her engineering skills well,] Nova replied to Aron, indicating that she had created it specifically for Shamim to solve using her knowledge and expertise as an engineer.
“She is an engineer?” Aron asked, surprised that someone with such a profession was working as a hotel receptionist.
[A very underappreciated one at that, unfortunately.] Nova replied back, feeling sympathy for Shamim.
Nova had taken a quick glance at Shamim’s computer to know her motives and ended up seeing engineering drawings on her personal computer, which was open under the reception table just begging for her to hack it.
[If she solves it, It will solve most of her problems] Nova said in hope that she solves the message she left to her using Aron.
Aron exited the hotel and walked to the designated meeting spot where he and the driver had agreed to meet the previous night. Upon arriving, he saw the driver waiting outside the car, engrossed in his phone.
After exchanging greetings, they both boarded the car, followed by the driver asking, “Are we going back to the hotel?” He wanted to know the destination of their journey.
“No, I need to go to Oxford University,” Aron stated the destination he wanted to go to.
“Okay,” the driver acknowledged the destination and started the car to officially begin their journey.
….
Hospital VIP room.
Terry had just come out of the operating room after undergoing a long and arduous surgery to extract the bullet that was lodged in his chest. Despite the surgery being over, he was still unconscious due to the effects of anesthesia.
Outside Terry’s VIP room, there were two bodyguards standing guard. Their job was to prevent people from entering the room and to stop Terry from escaping. Terry had a punishment waiting for him after he recovered from the surgery, as he had tried to injure a Rothschild.
Terry’s attack on Rina had sealed his fate and he had lost any chance of redemption. The Rothschild family viewed it as a significant event that required a lasting example to be made. As a result, Terry would face punishment to set an example and prevent such situations from ever happening again.
The head of the family believed that a significant example needed to be made, as this was the first time such an incident had occurred in the modern history of the Rothschild family.
“If he wanted to kill himself, why try to do it that way?” one of the bodyguards standing by the door asked the other. He considered Terry’s actions to be worse than suicide and felt saddened by what was going to happen to him.
“He had better not wake up for a few years if he wants to keep living,” the bodyguard said firmly, emphasizing the severity of Terry’s situation.
“What do you think she said to make him try to strangle and kill her?”
“I don’t know what it is, but it must be something of great importance to him for him to risk his own life and attempt to kill Miss Rina,” said one of the bodyguards, acknowledging the severity of the situation.