For a while, neither Hoya nor Doe said a word. Instead, she listened to the soft classical music playing from the radio. Lost in the rise and fall of the beautifully haunting pieces that flowed one after another, Hoya hadn’t realised when it had started to rain, or that she had somehow, made her way to her quiet neighbourhood, where villas rested one by one on grassy land, behind an avenue of trees.
Huh, she had planned on going back to her studio for the night.
“Miss Gold, welcome,” the old butler with his familiar smile greeted her." Your mother and father are in the family room. Shall I take you there?”
“No, thank you Stewart,” Hoya smiled and made her way to the open space where two people sat on a single cosy brown couch that blended with the warm, deep, earthy tones that made up the space.
“Hoya!” Her mother, the top party planner and hostess of the century, renowned in her field, bold and brave and as tenderhearted as she was fierce, was the first to spot her. Springing up to her feet, her arms outstretched to embrace Hoya.
“You’re back,” her father turned his head slightly to see her. As a businessman who’d helped his family’s tech firm rise in ranks through deal after deal, whilst navigating every setback, real and imagined, when he took one look at her, his eye lids squinted. “I thought you were going to the spa.”
“He’s asking why you look so tired,” Her mother translated with an eye roll as she busied herself with rearranging the snacks so that they were more accessible from the couch she had placed Hoya onto.
“I did,” Hoya picked up a wafer. “Maybe it's because I got my hair done? That always takes the energy out of me.” In the space of time between driving home and seeing their faces again, Hoya decided she would keep the details of their world to herself. At least until she got some more information.
In any case, she thought as she settled down to watch the drama the older couple had been following, it didn’t change anything. What would they do? How would they cope except carrying on? so why worry them like that?
Sighing to herself, she picked up the fresh cup of tea and took a sip, not minding the way it lightly scalded the roof of her mouth because that too was tangible.
***
“Beep beep! Beep beep! Beep Beep!”
Hoya’s eyes shot open.
“Beep Beep! Beep Beep! Beep Beep!”
For a whilst she didn’t move, unsure of what was happening.The alarm on her bedside was supposed to be a buzzing sound and, should that fail, the alarm on her phone was a rain forest adventure that started at the boundary, soft and unassuming with the melody of twittering birds hopping from branch to branch. Then, gradually, the intensity of their song rose and with it, the traveller ventured deeper into the forest, right where a waterfall flowed, fast and free, sending the crashing water into the ear of the slowly waking listener, forcing them awake.
It should sound like, not- She glared at the hovering ball that slowly quieted down. “Ahem,” Doe coughed- she really didn’t know when and why he’d picked up that trait, but it seemed to suit him well- “Arise and shine. Its seven in the morning.”
“...”
Hoya stared without stirring.
“...”
Doe stared back, his round eyes blinking, unaware of the error of his ways. Leaning closer, he reached out to peel the pink flower patterned cocoon. Hoya’s fingers, adept to this kind of warfare, were much quicker than is, and before his digital lids could blink, Hoya tightened the cotton wrap around her and glared. “Don’t. Even. Try.”
“Hoya…”
Her glare intensified.
Sensing he was in a losing battle, a smart, state of the art AI would know he had to retreat, and who was more advanced that his Sir Doughball? So, forming digital lips into a comical, displeased ‘w’, he sighed, a little remorseful. “Blame me for doing my job. Anyway, its not like you have any appointments this morning.”
“If you knew, why did you wake me up so early?” If Hoya remembered correctly, she had slept around four in the morning, meaning, she hadn’t had enough rest. I.e, a certain someone should have known not to wake her up, especially after she made a show of switching off all her pre-prepared alarms.
“Because,” Doe poured her a cup of warm water before flying off to her bathroom where he busied himself with preparing her bathwater and warming her towel. “You sketched out a plan of action. Number one on the itinerary was to not sleep in. The earlier you got started, the better.”
“Tch,” Hoya set down the cup of water. It sounded like her. But, what was more important was this plan she had drawn up. “Right, right.” The night’s events flashed through her mind, one by one as she slipped her feet into her recycled rubber slippers and walked into her bathroom where pre-toothpasted brush was waiting for her.
The white bathroom furnished with dark cabinets, shelves and floor mats had an awakening brightness that made the groggy Hoya stretch her limbs in cooperation with the morning sun. After writing a summary of the plot in a little journal she had tried to identify the main characters and what role she played, if any.
Ideally, Hoya would have liked to just continue on as it were, but if there was a chance her actions were a part of a series of important events, she would prefer to know what and why. H, speaking of, “usually with transmigration there’s a little warning that tells someone not to act out of character, but since I’m me, what I do is what I would have done or could do anyways.” So, when it came to penalties for noncompliance with character descriptions, she wasn’t too fussed. Her problem, however, was a different beast. “Let's say you’re able to access the plot, or a piece the context clues together-” What, it could happen!- “and I don’t like something, can I stop it from happening? Change anything?”
“I, I am not sure.” Right, Doe hadn’t been given the power and rules of a transmigration system.
Wait, what was with this transmigration thing? Hoya frowned as she cleaned her teeth. She had said again and again that she wasn’t an outsider in this world, and so strict rules shouldn’t apply to her, right? In her thinking, she decided that since she wasn’t a foreign species or ‘virus’, everything she did would be considered natural, and if they were too extreme, maybe the laws of the bookworld, whatever they were and if they applied, would stop her somehow.
Until that happened, she could test the waters, slowly pushing at the boundaries until she got a reaction.
That was still easier said than done, though, she realised as she soaked in the scented bathwater.Without a clear idea about what was meant to happen everyone’s lives, especially in the lives of the two main characters, it was more like she was free falling and not testing any boundaries.
She didn’t like that. That feeling of uncertainty,not knowing, constantly guessing whilst things just unfolded, letting it happen until it affected her. What if she didn’t like what it did? Her full rounded brows furrowed.
With her mouth twisting in displeasure, Hoya slipped into a comfortable black jumpsuit, accessories her wrists, neck and ears with a dainty floral gold set and gently pulled her hair back into a low ponytail.
“Back to square one,” she decided as she picked up the black journal by her bed. “The main characters…lets see…”
To be very honest, It was strange to think of someone as the protagonist of her world, or their entire world in general. She didn’t feel like people’s lives revolved around just one normal person, and she really couldn’t imagine the phenomenon where one person’s actions could change the trajectory of everything she knew.
Still, no matter how odd it was, there was a protagonist here. Someone special- ah, maybe not? She went over the books she had read. Protagonists didn’t have to be special, superpowers or extraordinarily eye-catching. They could be everyday people, one dimensional to a point, refreshingly human. At times they were protagonists simply because the focus was on their story, or the world was viewed and presented through their individual lens. Ah, there was even a novel she had read where the protagonist wasn’t even the hero of the world.
In that case, then. What happened between the protagonists might have no larger impact on their lives? Weren’t pure romances meet cutes, getting together, maybe a little conflict before or after, and conclusion.
How was she sure, though? Doe had said something about their road to success so…
“I’ll have to meet them before I know for sure, wouldn't I?” She closed the black book and sighed. “All right. Mister Major General and Miss Tech Genius, they have something I can look out for- ah, Doe, do you know where we are in their story? Or, or how they meet?”
How had she forgotten? When they were, it was just as important as the ‘who’, ‘where’, ‘how’ and ‘why’ she had been mulling over. They were her bearings, her way to finding who was who and what was what, and, if need be, how to act.
“Just a moment,” Doe scanned through the information he had. “From what I can tell…there's a big, unlikely run in, somewhere the female lead feels out of place…very high end, lots of big ranks are floating about…” Doe did his best to piece together the jumble of scattered words so they made some sense. “The plot starts when the protagonists meet at a high profile venue. I’m not sure where, but, there’s something about the female lead feeling out of place?” His digital brows furrowed as he worked and Hoya, completely taken back by the new information, blinked at him, her eyes wide with interest.
“That’s a lot more than I had expected,” Hoya couldn’t help herself from pointing out the obvious. Just yesterday he could barely give more than a two line synopsis,nothing but a vague outline. Had he decrypted the data? She leaned closer, her eyes shining with curiosity and expectation.
“Please don’t get too excited,” Doe looked at her and sighed. “It's more than I could access yesterday, but its barely more than a few lines.” His frown deepened, “I didn’t do anything special to get this data so it must have decrypted naturally.”
Looking at his dissatisfied expression, Hoya asked, “is that a problem?” If they could get the information they needed naturally, without any extra trouble, she could keep things running as smoothly as possible. It should have been a complete win, so what was Doe worried about?
“Normally, it won’t be a problem, but its happening too slowly” Doe explained, “barely a few lines in fifteen hours is too little.”
“Ah,” Hoya got it. If the story was decrypting itself from the beginning at a snail’s pace, she wouldn’t be able to have any foresight into the events. Forget being able to plan ahead, she wouldn’t even be getting any real time updates. At best, if things continue as they were, she would get deeper insight into the past.
“Haaa,” Hoya flopped back onto her large bed and groaned.Closing her eyes as she exhaled, her hands pressed against her forehead. What to do, what to do, she kicked her feet back and forth until she felt her calf muscles burn from the effort.
“Its okay,” she said to herself, “its okay.” It was fine. She had something to go off of. Previously, she was just going to look around, dig through records and see if anyone knew anything about the two protagonists based on their roles. Now, at least, she had something to buff up her starting point - they were going to meet when the big shots did.
Big shots.
“Big shots,” Hoya’s hands slid off her face. “The leaders of the military and tech industry, military and tech- weapons- AH!” All at once Hoya’s body jolted up and in the blink of an eye she was on her feet, dashing out of her room and into the corridor.
Of course! Of course, of course!
“Mum! Dad!”
She wanted to know about a tech event where the who's who of the nation would be there, or at the very least, represented.
Who better to ask than the king of tech and the queen of socialites?
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