CHAPTER 56: SILVA ROTHRAK

"You are... Mikael, right?"

The first thing that I saw was her pearly white short hair, reaching just below her chin. And then, looking at her curious sapphire-like pupils, scanning me and then the section behind me, I couldn’t help but smile.

She stood there wearing a long white jacket over her black shirt and trousers, carrying a bunch of computer hardware in her hand.

Lisa Rothrak.

I met Lisa when I went to the Rothrak Mansion, at the time Yemir asked me to get in the car. Though because of Neil constantly buzzing me with questions, we barely talked last time.

Well, given her computer antiques and love for coding languages, I guess it’s quite obvious that I might find her here. But still...

Coding is one thing, but to go as far as to buy specific hardware accessories isn’t something that everyone does. It takes more than just an interest in computers if you go as far as to choose your own specs to get the desired results that you aim for.

Not gonna lie, I am quite impressed.

"I am Lisa. We met in the car, remember?" She spoke out her name, trying to make me recall. To which I nodded with the same smile, answering," At that time with Yemir and Niel."

Previously she showed no interest in me, but this time, perhaps finding me in a place she cared about more than the others, I guess her interest might have piqued a lot. Even now, her eyes were constantly darting over the items behind me on the counter.

I was just about to ask what she was doing here, and move the conversation from there to the parts of the computer and find more about Lisa, but then another voice came from behind her, as a young woman, probably in her mid-20s, walked towards us.

Wearing a wide-open shirt that showed most of her cleavage, making most men turn their heads, she walked in a sexy catwalk. A few men turned their heads, dazed as they gulped before their partners slapped them out of their daydreams.

Ignoring the chaos she was creating, she smiled at me brightly, her eyes locked onto me, as she analysed my entire being at once.

"Ooh! Who is this cutie?" She spoke in an interested yet unhurried tone, while I recalled all the information that I had collected about her.

She was the Silva Rothrak. The Social Genius of the Rothrak Family.

Of all the people that I have searched on the internet, especially considering the Rothraks, the one who was most present on the news, and the one I could easily spot on any news page, was she.

She was at every party, every gathering, every news event possible.

If you take the name of a random celebrity, famous or not, chances are she might have met them. She knows almost everybody and perhaps much more gossip than anyone I have ever met.

But that’s not why she stood out to me. The reason I noticed her was because of her innate talent, that is, being a rabid manipulator.

A very scary habit of taking note of the weak points of everyone around her and using them later in case she needs to. As much as I have found out, not even her own family is left from this habit of hers as she probably has dirt on almost everyone in the Rothrak, enough to let her even get away with the wildest of her antiques possible.

Just recalling a few of them makes my head dizzy...

But on the other hand, because she is so capable, she is also the one who gets the Rothrak children out of trouble most of the time. One call from her and all the problems created by Rothrak vanish, unless, of course, it’s too big a thing. And as long as she exists within the family, there is a very low chance that this family could be manipulated by anyone.

Just as I heard on the news, I saw her observing me properly. Her grey eyes scanned my entire being from top to bottom, searching for every bit of information that she could squeeze out of me. And just after 5 seconds of observation, as if she had read everything she wanted to read, a smile blossomed on her face before she continued,

"Your boyfriend, Lisa? He looks like your type."

"No! And how did you even come to that conclusion? It’s the second time we are meeting," Lisa corrected her with an irritated expression before turning to me and asking,

"What are you doing here?"

I am poor, so I can’t afford to buy a proper laptop. I thought before speaking out,

"Needed a high-end laptop but could not afford it with the money I had. So I was looking through the hardware that I can use in exchange to create an almost equal requirement."

Lisa’s eyes opened up in surprise before she asked," You know hardware? What are you going to choose?"

I pondered a bit before telling her my specifications. I didn’t go too much into detail, keeping it at the bare minimum level so that she could get the idea of what I was planning to do.

"That’s right! And you can even..." though the excited Lisa began talking a lot more just with the surface information I had provided to her.

She went to her favourite models, and then to her least favourite models. She complained about things she didn’t like, and things she liked about it. She did talk a lot, or, as a matter of fact, she talked too much about the topic she loved.

Though I didn’t mind it much. I used to be like that once, crazy for technology with no one to share my excitement, so I can totally understand where she was coming from. Instead of disturbing her, I began stepping along the counter, making both Lisa and Silva walk along.

While Lisa did not notice this sudden shift, Silva chuckled as she understood what I was trying to do. She even winked at me before giving me a thumbs-up.

As we walked and talked counter to counter, I picked up the things that I wanted while also picking up the things that Lisa came to buy according to what she was talking about. It wasn’t that hard to figure out once you got to hear about the same things at least 4 times over.

As for Silva, she had a mysterious smile on her face as she kept looking at us. She glanced at me more often than not, especially when I picked up an item and placed it in Lisa’s hands. I also answered her curious questions about things I liked and why, which kind of increased Lisa’s excitement even more than before.

By the time we finished our shopping and reached the counter, I placed the items on it. Before Lisa realised that she too had to buy many things. But then, as she looked at the times one by one in her hand, she was in slight disbelief looking at everything she needed present there.

"All right, nerds. I’ll get the car ready. Pack it and bring it," Silva said to both me and Lisa before walking out in a sexy catwalk. The shopkeeper just kept gawking at her back while I coughed, making him turn back at us.

"How much for all this?" I asked with a calculating look, ready to haggle the heck out of it.