The Double ( or More ?) Life of The Fake Heiress

estiled back onto the couch with a sigh and reolled, “Just a pen.”

who cherished collecting masterplaces from renowned artists generally hailed from cultured and scholarly families, and gifting something as sophisticated as an item from a writer’s set was the perfect touch.

Mirabella nodded, not probing further. She drained her last cup of tea and stood up room. Still got two essays to finish.”

“Alright, don’t stay up too late,” Shawn cautioned.

“Mhm.”

“I’m heading to my.

With a polite nod to the others in the living room, Mirabella quickly gathered her things and retreated to her

room.

After a refreshing shower, she sat down at her computer desk, booted up her laptop, and entered safe mode to punch in a series of commands.

The screen soon turned black, flickering with lines of code not much different from what she had seen on Curtis‘ computer next door.

A minute later, the display shifted, filling with dense data parameters. After contemplating briefly, Mirabella tweaked the firewall settings slightly. With the changes made, she hit the confirm button.

The computer was off in no time, and Mirabella pulled out two essays from her bag, burying herself in academia.

Halfway through the first essay, her phone on the desk buzzed. She paused, glanced at the screen, but ignored it, focusing on her writing.

Only after completing the second essay did she leisurely pick up her phone and check the messages.

Unknown sender: [Kid, can’t sleep without showing off your tech skills, huh?)

Unknown sender: [How about a little respect for the hard work of all the hackers out there, okay?)

Mirabella’s brows arched slightly, her slender fingers dancing across the keyboard as she typed back: [Oh, no can do. Even a kid’s gotta level up]

Unknown sender: […… Friggin‘ unbelievable!]

Elsewhere, Curtis‘ eyes were ablaze with excitement as he stared at his computer screen, fingers flying over the keyboard. After half a month, he was on the verge of cracking the first level of security, a breakthrough that would bump him up in the rankings.

He took a deep breath and hit the enter key for the final step, but instead of the anticipated success message, a glaring red exclamation mark popped up on the screen, freezing his triumphant expression into one of disbelief.

Failure? NôvelDrama.Org owns © this.

Curtis rubbed his eyes. Was he seeing things? How could he have failed?

Wyatt, who was slumped over the back of his chair, yawning and resting his chin on his arms, asked lazily, “Curtis, did you crack it yet?”

Turning his head toward the computer, with half–lidded eyes, he caught sight of the red exclamation mark

11:02:

ond shifted in his seat, saying, “Another fail, huh?”

Curtis pressed his lips together and sat in silence. The screen quickly reset to the initial interface, but now the difficulty level had changed from A to A+.

Curtis, with a dark expression, was at a loss for words. Dammit, could someone explain why the difficulty– level just spiked out of nowhere?!

He was so close!

Wyatt glanced at Curtis, touched his nose, and muttered with a hint of skepticism, “Curtis, it seems like your skills are also… kinda not up to par.”

Curtis‘ temple twitched, and he slammed his laptop shut, turning a steely gaze on Wyatt. His tone was laced with threat. “You think you’re better? Be my guest!”

Wyatt recoiled slightly. It was just another failed attempt, not the first nor probably the last. Why the rage?