I don’t say anything right away.I just stand there, caught between past bitterness and the unexpected sting of empathy.I still don’t know how I feel, but I can tell she means it.
‘What are you doing here?Zayden is out.’
‘I know,’ she says, and I recall Zayden mentioning he fears she might be tracking him.I stare at her, surprised she basically just admitted that shamelessly.‘I’m here for you.’
The threat of a headache pulses behind my eyes at the thought of dealing with Leasa and whatever she is scheming right now.I don’t have the energy after everything else that has happened.
‘Whatever you have to say about Zayden and me, please just refrain from it.I can’t handle it right now.’
‘Firstly, I want to apologise for what I said to you when you were visiting Bliss Bay.That was uncalled for and I felt shit for weeks.It was hard for me to see Zayden moving on and seeming so much happier than he ever was with me.It had nothing to do with you.I’m sorry for the way I treated you, and the boundaries I crossed following Zayden around.’
‘Oh,’ I say, because I have no idea how else to react.
‘I am going to stop tracking Zayden.It’s a gross invasion of his privacy and I realise how wrong it was.I honestly did not think much of it, or what kind of person it turned me into, obsessing over him like that, until all the stuff happened to you.’
I blink, completely surprised at the direction this is taking.
‘It made me realise what I was doing and how wrong it was.’
I still have no idea what to do or say, so I stand there, just staring at her.
‘I know it won’t make up for how I’ve acted, but I’d like to do something for you, if you’ll let me.’Her eyes turn to the table.‘Can I sit?’
‘Er … sure.’
She strides over to the dining table and swings her bag onto it.She pulls out her laptop and sits down.Cautiously, I sit down beside her.When she opens her laptop, my eyebrows raise as I take in the screen.It doesn’t look like a normal laptop.
She begins typing, and I can’t keep track of all the different screens popping up on her desktop.
‘I’m going to need some things from you.’
With nothing else to lose at this point, I tell her my email and all other information she requests.After about ten minutes, she looks satisfied, pushing the laptop away from her.
‘Try logging into your accounts.’
I frown.‘Huh?’
‘Your social media accounts.Trying logging into them.’
Still not following, I do as she says, and all of a sudden, I’m back into my accounts as normal.My jaw almost hits the floor as all my notifications start rolling in.
‘Oh my God,’ I breathe, eyes widening as I one by one log back into all my hacked accounts successfully, and everything looks normal.I have been back and forth relentlessly with the different apps trying to prove my real identity, but since I had no real photos or anything of me, I have consistently been denied.‘How did you do that?’
‘I specialise in IT security.I haven’t recovered many accounts before but I wanted to try.It worked.’She smiles at me and for the first time ever, it’s genuine.
‘Wow, Leasa, thank you so much.You have no idea how incredible this is.’
She shrugs, closing her laptop, looking like it literally was easy for her to have done something that seemed so impossible to me.‘No problem.’
‘Seriously, thank you so much.’
‘You’re welcome.’
We stare at each other for a few moments.‘I’m happy for him, you know.He deserves to be with a nice girl like you.’
I smile at her, touched by her words.Wordlessly, she gets to her feet, shrugging her bag back onto her shoulders.stiffly, I get up and walk with her to the front door.
‘See you around, Nora.’
