Untitled, 2018

Chapter 52: Four Strikes

An instant rush took over me and I sprinted into the room, shut the door, and locked it behind me.

I scrambled to the phone in the dark and pulled my own out to remember the password. 5281 — I'd written it down. I went ahead and typed it in. Wrong Password. Try again. My heartbeat quickened in my panic. I was sure it was 5281. I tried it again. Wrong Password. Try again. I let out a little frustrated scream. Thank god nobody was in the area. I put her phone down and pressed down on my chest to calm down a little. Think think think.

Was it something else? I remembered thinking that it could have been one of two, but I couldn't remember the other number. I pulled Hanna's password screen up again and breathed in hard. At the very least I had at least one more try? 3 tries and you're locked out, right?
I typed in 5-2-9-1 and her phone buzzed again. Wrong password. Try again. I almost hurled her phone across the room.

This is so stupid. What am I doing? If Hanna noticed her phone was locked after too many attempts, there's no way she wouldn't realize what was going on. My decision-making skills must be absolutely awful, because I just picked her phone up and decided to try again, since apparently I had another try.
5-2-5-1.

Her phone unlocked and I breathed out in relief. I let out a laugh and immediately tried navigating her phone to check her mail. This is so awful, I told myself. But I never listen.

Her recents were all subscriptions and mail from school, so I scrolled to no avail. I searched for keywords like "research" or "files" but didn't find anything out of the ordinary. I then switched over to her texts and tried seeing if she had a history about the research with any unknown people with a search, but nothing turned up. I was suddenly starting to think this was a really awful and intrusive idea, and guiltily berated myself for doing it. I looked through her files, and then when I got bored, her pictures. Among them, I did find a few of her and that guy I'd seen her with before, posing like a couple.

Ugh, maybe I'm close-minded for immediately suspecting her for this. I moved back into her email and just scrolled through a page listlessly. I clicked on her little profile icon to see her picture closely, and a menu popped up underneath asking to switch accounts.
I drew a shaky breath... maybe this was it. There was only one other account on the device, and the email address had a strange nonsensical combo of characters and numbers. I switched accounts.

I scrolled through its emails, of which all were addressed by and to people with similar addresses. I clicked on the first one.

Attached are a copy of the ones from this batch. Send the replacements soon, thanks.
- H

I kneaded my forehead in anger. Bingo. The rest of the emails were similarly vague enough that you wouldn't know what it meant, unless you understood the context of it all. I sighed and sat down, and put her phone down on the floor next to me. This was it.

I had been almost certain, but now that the evidence was right here, it still came as a shock to me. I thought about a good way to get back the files and started forwarding the emails with original files to myself, one at a time. As soon as they were sent I deleted them for good to make sure she wouldn't realize what had happened.

I did so for a few weeks worth of work when I heard the clacking noise of shoes outside our door. My ears perked up and I grabbed onto Hanna's phone tighter, immediately deleting the draft I was working on. The door lock clicked and I ducked under the main table. Thankfully it was dark, and whoever opened the door did not bother to turn the light on.

When I peeked from a side, I saw a female silhouette hurriedly and quietly walk up to the table next to mine, looking for something. I quickly closed all the applications I had opened and slid the phone onto the table to my other side, before crawling back to my hiding place. I hoped her vision hadn't gotten used to the darkness too quickly or anything because I doubted I was completely hidden by the table slabs. But she passed by my table safely, patting around for her phone until she found it.

Something made her stop suddenly, and I immediately froze and held my breath. I realized the phone might be a little warm with my use, and slowly closed my eyes to send a silent prayer that she'd leave and ignore it. I heard her breathe in hard and walk back around the way she came, even ducking her head into the little office rooms on the sides to ensure that she was alone. But then she tsk'd, muttered a small "whatever" under her breath, and went out the door, locking it behind her.

I heard her shoes clack away and groaned in frustration. If she had left me with the phone for just an hour or so more I could have recovered all the lost files. I checked my own phone to make sure the files and emails had arrived in my inbox.

I scrolled through my saved numbers and wondered if I should tell Wang and Kang. I needed advice. I didn't know what I was supposed to do in such a sensitive situation. I didn't want Hanna to get in trouble, but she wasn't doing right, clearly. I pressed my phone to my ear and let it ring a couple of times before the phone was answered with a quiet voice.

"Hello, Riti?..."
I stopped thinking and looked at the number I had dialed subconsciously: Jimin.
. . .
I hung up immediately, and then lay on the floor dramatically, clutching the phone to my chest and sincerely regretting my ability to breathe.