Project: Socialize (Chapters 198-Continued) [Hiatus]

308. Return

His gaze was as dispassionate as ever, betraying nothing in his mind through his eyes. However, I am guessing he was not surprised by my presence, as he simply acknowledged me with a quick glance and then proceeded to enter through the living room, leaving behind the foyer and placing a white, plastic bag containing something on the dining table. Then, with a hand resting on the surface of the table, he looked over at me once again. This time, he remained silent again as he waited for me to speak.

"Hi," I forced out. I took a deep breath as I prepared myself to be blunt and simply communicate with him why I am here. I believe being straightforward in this situation will be more beneficial than any superficial attempts at circumventing the topic and hinting at it from an alternate approach. "I'm sorry."

"What for?" he answered calmly. The expression on his face softened into an amused smile as if a cat toying with its prey.

"I...uh..."

I glanced from the corner of my eye at Alvelyn, knowing that if I reveal my sins right here, she will also know that I searched up the complete background of her brother. That would most definitely paint me negatively in her mind. But...I suppose that will be the consequence for my sin.

When I looked over at Alvelyn, I suppose I should've expected it, but she was also rather expressionless, with only a relaxed countenance resting on her face. I suppose this is the result when you hear something that you know you are not a part of.

"I searched you up," I finally forced out amid the pressure and nervousness. When I finished speaking, I felt as if a weight was lifted off of my shoulders as I let out a sigh of relief knowing that I had taken an important step forward. "Family background and everything..."

"And?"

Alevian's response caught me by surprise. His indifference regarding this invasion of his privacy was to such a extent that he appeared to be somewhat confused that I even bothered apologizing about this manner.

"You're...you're not angry?"

"Considering my methods—" he lifted his hand off of the table surface as he redirected his attention to the plastic bag. "—do you really think I would care?"

Following the lead that his words provided, I thought back on what his methods were. All that I could gather from the recollection is that he uses all methods possible, regardless of whether the methods are legal or not and ethical or not.

"You used the resources available to you," he continued. "There's nothing wrong with that. What would be wrong is if I complained."

His words made sense, but I guess only do so in the world that he lives in. As for me, this invasion of privacy is unethical, something that I would never forgive someone for if they had done so to me. However, I suppose for someone who sees the world in monochrome like him, it would be fine. Regardless of whether he thinks it is fine or not, the guilt will still linger in my mind.

"How're you feeling?" I continued, deciding to keep the guilt within me so as to not bother him any further as he had made it entirely clear that he does not see a problem with my actions.

"Oh, that..." he took a deep breath as he recalled the reason for his absence from work today. "That was just an excuse."

"So you're not sick?" I continued.

"Right," he nodded.

"You...called in sick," I repeated once again. "But you weren't sick. I'm guessing you didn't do it because you wanted to...have a day off."

"Well what if I did?"

"He's human too, you know," Alvelyn added in.

"Well..." Taken back by this response, for a second I was at a lost for words and unable to come up with a response. "You just...don't seem like the type of person that would do such a thing."

"I am honored that you think so highly of me," Alevian chuckled. "Yes, I did not call in sick just to have a day off."

Deciding that whatever it was that led him to make such a decision was not my business, I opted against pressing further. Knowing him, he probably has something he had to personally attend to. If he didn't tell me, then he decided that I didn't need to know. Knowing that is good enough for me.

"Well, it's good that you're not actually sick," I let out a sigh of relief. "We still have plenty of work to do... Josef Virilion and Nil to deal with. I've been looking at surveillance and other reports a bit today, and other investigation groups were also called in to help us on this one. I think I am close on narrowing down where exactly they are hiding."

"Other investigation groups?" Alevian frowned. "To what extent did they offer you help?"

"Well, they organized and analyzed relevant information gathered by VMASS," I answered, referencing the Vilheim Mass Automated Surveillance System that layers the entire Vilheim Empire with facial recognition surveillance cameras as well as the information collected through phone apps.

"VMASS is pretty useful," Alevian nodded.

"Took a while with a lot of people looking through a lot of data," I answered. "But we still have a lot of work to do if we want to take down the Virilion gang now that they have Nil with them.

"That..." Alevian interrupted me as he softly tapped the surface of the plastic bag against the surface of its contents with a finger. "That will be all taken care of tonight."

"What do you mean tonight?"

My eyes followed him as he began moving once again, picking up the plastic bag as he walked towards a room that I assumed is his bedroom. On the other hand, seeing that this conversation no longer pertained to her, Alvelyn returned to the couch where she retrieved her laptop from the coffee table before sitting down.

"In more specific terms, one hour," he said, walking into his room as I followed after him and approached the doorway.

To my surprise, he had stripped himself of the t-shirt that he was wearing just earlier. Standing there with his upper body nude, I could see that he had maintained an extremely fit body with almost no excess fat anywhere on his chiseled torso. He retrieved a dark grey dress shirt from his wardrobe and in one smooth motion, slipped his arms through the sleeves. After he finished buttoning up, he adjusted the sleeves at his wrist before finishing his outfit with a black tie.

"Time to get back to work," he said, looking over in my direction with a light smile on his face as he adjusted his tie.

Author's Note:

Sorry for the shorter chapter but was a good spot to end it. Felt bored in quarantine and had time to continue writing. Turns out I still want to finish the story for Project: Socialize so you guys now have my word. I WILL keep writing this story until it finishes. However, do know that updates will be slower cause I am still in college.

Please do still checkout the Project: Socialize by @jackmozarthtml as it will be a different take on the story as I would do so. It will be different directions in regards to the story with different character development and interactions etc.