Page 116 of Hidden

I consider the question for a moment. The honest answer is that nothing about Sadie has ever felt entirely normal to me. She’s always been special, always been someone I can’t stop thinking about.

"No," I say. "It doesn't feel strange."

All she does is nod and slowly places her hand in mine. I didn’t know how she would react to me after finding out who I was, but this wasn’t it. I thought she would fight me, hit me, but she didn’t do anything.

We arrive at the restaurant, it’s only ten minutes from the house on foot, which means Mason can be here quick enough if anything happens.

The host knows my name and shows us to the corner table without being asked, which means someone called ahead and my money is on Mason. I'll deal with him later.

Sadie sits across from me, takes a look at the menu and smiles as she tells me what she wants. I order our food, and I watch her as she tries to say something. Her mouth opens then closes.

The wine arrives, and she takes a drink, she tries to ask me something but stops again. Maybe she needs some help.

"Ask me," I say.

She looks at me. "I'm deciding where to start."

"Start anywhere, I’ll answer…”

“The truth?” she asks, taking another sip of her wine.

“Yes, of course.”

"You know everything about me, so what, do you have a file on me?”

"Before I spoke to you, before you knew my name..." I hold her gaze. "Your university ID photo. Your scholarship records. Your schedule. Your brother's facility."

Something moves through her expression, and I choose not to tell her that her brother is in our family clinic.

"Dan," she says.

"I know more about his situation than you've told anyone on campus."

"How much more?" The words break as she says them.

I don’t reply straight away wondering what parts I should tell her. "I know which clinic he’s in, how you’ve been paying for it for years, how you’ve been paying for so much.” I pause. “You’ve been looking after everyone, and no one looked after you.” She doesn’t say anything, and looks away, and I know she’s embarrassed. “You look more beautiful when you smile.”

She looks at me for a long moment. She’s calm, or maybe she doesn’t know what to say. Maybe hitting me in public isn’t the best way to go and she’s working out the best way to shout at me without making a scene.

"How did you get in?"

"The building's access system has a gap in the permissions architecture. I found it the first week of term." I hold her gaze. "It's been closed since I reported it to the residence security system last week."

Her eyebrows move. "You reported it."

"I was the only person using it." Now she knows who I am, I’m hoping she’ll let me in without slamming the door in my face.

"The laptop?" she asks as our food is placed on our table. "You watched me through my own camera."

"Yes."

"While I slept."

"Yes, and you look beautiful when you’re sleeping,” I say.

She's quiet for a moment. "I should be angrier than I am," she says.

She picks up her fork, then puts it down. "Why did you do it? Not the how, the why."