Getting A System In A Modern World

Chapter 79  Unwanted Attention(II), Alex's Thoughts And Outburst

Few hours later, at the dining table, Silas was just getting up from his seat after he was done taking his breakfast. Alex and Kim were almost done with theirs.

"I will drop Alex off at school?," Silas said to Kim.

"Ok," Kim replied, as she cleaned up the dining table.

"Alex, go get your school backpack." Alex nodded and grabbed his backpack from the sofa, and walked towards Silas.

Silas looked at Alex and gestured to him to come closer, so that he can he dress his hair and straighten his clothes.

"Let's go," Silas said and grabbed Alex's hand, and left the house.

Outside, Silas and Alex walked towards the Corvette and got in, and Silas drove off.

On the way to Alex's school, Silas noticed Alex's unusual silence. Unlike before when Alex would be smiling and happily chatting with Silas in the car, Alex was unusually quiet and he had a very familiar expression on his face. An expression that he was familiar with and understood its meaning.

"You overheard me and dad fighting yesterday night?," Silas asked with a wry smile, as he looked at Alex's face, closely,

Alex looked at Silas' face with his red and moist eyes.

"..Why?," He asked. He was confused. Since the time he could remember, his father has always been abusive and violent towards them, especially towards his older brother.

He was curious and confused as to reason why. He has never remember him or his older brother being disobedient or disrespectful to their father, but why does the man treat them so.

Every time he watches cartoons, he always sees his favorite characters take good care of their family. He always sees the smile and happiness on the children faces, even though he knew that what he was watching isn't real, he couldn't stop himself from wishing for such a life.

He's completely aware that Kim isn't his real mother but he didn't care as she treated him like her own.

To him, his brother is the best person in his life. He knew how Silas would always takes the blame and beating for him, never allowing their father to lay a finger on him whenever he wants vent out on them. For this reason, he hated his father.

This was also the reason why he felt so sad and angry when he overheard his brother and their father fighting yesterday.

At that moment, Alex wanted nothing more than his father to disappear from their lives but he was conflicted. He also want a complete and happy family just like those he sees in the cartoons he watches.

Unable to control himself any longer, hot tears started flowing done his cheeks, freely, as he burst into tears.

Silas saw this and sighed as he looked for somewhere to park. After parking, Silas hugged the crying Alex and started caressing his hair lovingly.

"It's okay, Alex. Everything is fine now. You don't need to worry about him any longer. I'm here for you, okay? Same with Kim," Silas said, as he tried to soothe Alex and stop him from crying.

Silas felt very sad seeing Alex cry. After Alex's mother died, Silas made a decision and a promise to always be there for the little boy and do his best for him, but the question is if he actually kept his promise and how much progress and effort has he made on that promise?

He knew that there was no way for him to completely fill the voids caused by the absence of a mother and father in Alex's life.

Silas sighed when he thought of this, 'I guess I will have to put in more efforts and more of my best.'

A few minutes later, Alex's crying had already subsided to quiet sobs, before he finally stopped.

Still in Silas' arms, Alex decided to stay like that for a few more minutes but he was unable to when he heard Silas' words.

"You still have to go to school and you're already running late," Silas said with a smile, as he continued caressing Alex's hair, "But it's fine if you don't want to go," Silas continued.

"I want to go," Alex said as he detached himself from Silas' arms.

Silas saw this and smiled, "Okay then," He said and removed the car from park, and continued driving towards Alex's school.

The remaining drive was spent in silence but Silas saw that Alex's facial expression has improved significantly, and he was radiating a happy aura around him.

.....

After dropping Alex off at school, Silas got into the car and was about to start making his way back home, when he received a message from LUNAR.

{Master, I have gotten the identities of the hackers' contractors.} n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Go on."

{The four groups in USA were contracted by Gelead Scientics, Con Chai Precision Industry, Safrane, Synorpses, Automata Data Processing.

The four groups in China were contracted by different Chinese companies, and the two groups in South Korea were contracted by  companies from different parts if of the world, including those from USA, France, Germany...

A new attempt was made from a different location and I was able to trace it back to the Pentagon.}

Silas wasn't surprised by the identities of the hacking groups contractor, but he was shocked by LUNAR's last sentence.

"The Pentagon, as in the actual Pentagon?!," Silas asked in a mixture of shock and surprise.

{The actual Pentagon, the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense.}

"But why?," Silas couldn't help but ask. Silas knew that ELLA was good enough to attract the attention of the top companies around the world, but to attract the attention of the US Department of Defense is a whole different matter entirely.

{That's what I'm trying to find out by going through ELLA's database to see if there's any usage data from anyone inside the Pentagon.}

"Good, do that and let me know when you're done," Silas said with a sigh.

He felt like he has been sighing a lot lately but it couldn't be helped.

'The Pentagon? Hope it's just a nobody who's curious and nothing more.'

Silas decided to put the issue surrounding ELLA and the Pentagon aside from now until he gets more information from LUNAR.

Silas started the car and was about to drive off when he saw his 'best friend' walking towards him with a 'beautiful smile' on his face.

"Well, well, well. Would you look at that? If it isn't the newest big boy in town, the one and only, Silas."

Silas heard the b*stard's voice from a distance.