Master of Deception.

Astreille massaged her nape when she felt how tired her body was. She's been sitting and facing her laptop for hours now.

Her agency assigned her a new project once again. This time, her opponent's software will be harder to defeat so she had to endure hours.

She quickly stood up from her seat and went out of her room. She needs to unwind for a minute, she can't stand sitting in front of that laptop again while hacking that software. Its security was too tight, so she knows that her enemy, the security team, is very skilled.

Astreille went to her kitchen and made herself a glass of milk. Milk is a big help for her, she can't sleep properly without drinking milk. She also can't focus on work..

Her mother used to do this for her, but now that she's gone, she needs to do these alone.

"How nice," she whispered while pouring hot water in her milk.

Until now, she still can't forget her mother's death. Except for the responsibilities she was forced to carry, her mother also left unpaid debts in which she ended up responsible.

That's why she's working in that agency, she needs money in order to pay her mother's debts. She's tired from the insults she received from her work mates, but I need to earn money.

She wiped the tears that fell on my cheeks while blending the milk. She's really a cry baby, she cries even in the smallest things. She's like a child.

No wonder why her co-agents insult her. She can't deny that she's weak because she really is. She was trained to fight, but she's too scared to hurt a human being. Her soft heart will surely kill her.

She panicked when the alarm in her room rang. She quickly ran upstairs to stop it. She saw a red warning on her screen so she quickly sat in front of her laptop and swiftly typed numbers on the keyboard.

It took only a few seconds to block that alarm. The other system is trying to return the favor by hacking her.

She smiled sweetly because she immediately blocked it. This is the only thing she's proud of, she's good at computers because she's an expert in this field. She learned hacking dangerous websites when she was 7 years old because of her IQ.

Until now, she's still carrying that intelligence, the problem is that she only excels in this particular field. Not on the others.

Her eyes went to the bottom part of the screen when a message from the agency popped up. She opened it immediately.

"Give me this man's data, as soon as possible."

She saved the picture before typing different numbers on her keyboard. After a while, she saw some websites with the man's picture, so she quickly clicked one of the links.

It's a private website, but that's easy for her.

She copied the website's link before scanning it. When she was done with that, the password popped up on her screen.

She logged in using that password. The man's name and instantly welcomed her. She put on her anti-radiation glass while reading information about him.

A hitman?

Because it's risky to take a screenshot from her laptop, she used her cell phone to take a picture of the monitor.

She sent it to her agency within a minute.

"A hitman. Another project?" she slowly whispered before biting her bottom lip.

She felt alive again when she saw that alo the data of the system she broke in were currently downloading. They failed to track her location, they tried to hack her so the walls through their software opened. She successfully went in while blocking the red warning.

She smiled sweetly while looking at her screen.

"SUCCESSFULLY DOWNLOADED."

When she saw that pop up, she took down the software immediately and quickly removed all the traces she made.

She can be tracked by her enemy again, so she needed to destroy the laptop and throw it on a river far from her house after she got the USB.

When she was done, she quickly drove her car back to her house.

Now she can finally rest, her work is finally done. She studied those codes for hours just to break in, but because of her enemy's negligence, she easily got in.

She removed her jacket before sitting in front of the laptop which she personally owned.

She has a lot of laptops in her house that were sponsored by her agency, she needs to have a whole lot of them to maintain her clean work.

She sent the files to her agency, she waited only for a few minutes before her boss replied.

Good job, as expected, you pulled this project faster than I expected. You can rest now.

It's like the best thing she read that day. You can rest now.

"A very powerful word," she whispered before chuckling.

She slumped herself down to her soft bed and took the rest she was deprived of.

"That's a very tiring job, I wonder if he has an update?" she talked to herself.

She reached for her phone on the side table and opened the writing app that she likes to be busy with whenever she's vacant. She almost jumped in happiness when she saw a notification, her favorite writer just posted a poem!

She immediately read the poem. She knew it's a masterpiece because it's her favorite writer who wrote it.

She was smiling the whole time while reading the masterpiece.

It's all about a guy who's really into this particular girl. Based on the words the writer used, it seemed like he was the guy himself in that poem.

"She's like a flower in the garden. Fragile, sweet and innocent."

She wonders if this writer has someone in his heart already? It made her sad to think about it. She's admiring this guy from the very start. But if he already loves someone else, she'd be happy for him.

"We'll start later at 6PM, make sure that all of you can attend the meeting. And Astreille?"

Astreille quickly lifted her face to answer the commander of the agency. "Y-Yes, boss?"

"Tell Jezreel to come early, I need to discuss something with her. You don't have to come to the meeting later, you're not really needed for combat because you're just for computers," her commander coldly said and rolled her eyes secretly.

Astreille bit her lower lip when she saw how her co-agents laughed with what the commander said. She only nodded as a reply.

"I heard my name, what's the problem?" She raised her head when she heard her friend's voice.

"Hey, Jez," her co-agents greeted. "Meeting again later. Don't be late."

Her friend only shook her head while chuckling before rolling her eyes. "Stop talking to me in an informal way like you didn't insult my best friend before I came in. Do you all want to die?"

They all became silent with what Jezreel said. Astreille, on the other hand, grabbed her best friend's hand to calm her down.

"Jez, you d-don't need to say that. You might get into a fight," she said while her eyes dropped onto the floor.

Her best friend smiled sweetly at her. "It's fine for me to get into a fight, I won't even try to befriend them, you're my only friend so even if we all kill each other here, it doesn't bother me."

"Thank you," she shyly whispered to her friend.

Astreille is really thankful that Jezreel never left her side since day one. She stood as her friend and sister throughout the years that she worked at the agency.

Jezreel pinched her cheeks. "You're not supposed to say that. By the way, let's take a seat." Jezreel guided her to sit on her swivel chair before the former sat beside her.

"My girlfriend went to my apartment yesterday, and fuck it, she saw me holding a gun," she told her while chuckling.

Yes, Jezreel loathes men and she prefers to marry the same sex. Lesbian to be specific, but Astreille accepted her friend wholly. They were together for 5 straight years so they can't be separated anymore.

Astreille smiled awkwardly at Jezreel. "What did she say? Did the two of you break up? It can't be," she asked agitatedly.

Jezreel shook her head harshly. "Of course not, I told her it was just props because I need to shoot some show. And I told her that those are all fake."

Astreille pouted while looking at her friend. "You're really good at lying, aren't you?"

Jezreel agreed on what she said. Lying is one of the major skills that you need to practice as an agent. And Jezreel admits to that.

"I'm a liar, I'm a bitch, I'm an ass hole, I'm an all-rounder, Lheyden," Jezreel responded before combing Astreille's soft hair.

She loves calling Astreille's second name whenever she's teasing her. Lheyden is actually a good name but her best friend seems to hate it. And she knows why.

"Astreille," she corrected.

Jez just nodded her head, not wanting to expand the conversation any more because she knew Astreille would get pissed. She's a badass, but Astreille is way more terrifying than anyone when she's mad. To anger Astreille is the last thing she would want to do.

"Leyden is a good name, my dear bestfriend. But if you really hate it, do you want me to help you get rid of that name permanently?"

Astreille giggled mischievously when she heard that from Jezreel's lips. "I can do it in one click, Jez. But I still have debts to pay, I'll do that next time."

"Your mother's debts, not yours," her friend corrected.

"It's technically my debts too since she left all those responsibilities on me, it's mine now, since she's dead," she said.

Jezreel held her chin before cupping her cheeks. "My crybaby best friend is so pitiful."

Astreille's face reddened because of her friend's teases. She felt insulted, but it's her best friend so it's okay. "I hate you!"

"Na-uh, Astreille doesn't hate anyone," Jez uttered.

Astreille nodded her head. "I know, I love you. I'm sorry, I won't hate you, never," she said before embracing Jezreel into a hug.

Jezreel was about to say something when their commander's voice filled the whole room. "Everyone, meeting room."

Astreille sat straight and smiled at her best friend. "Go, the commander's waiting for you. Just tell me what you discussed there. For all I know, they might be planning to remove me," she joked around.

Jezreel's face darkened. "Let them try, I'll get my revenge and remove all their organs and innards. And have faith in yourself, okay? Astreille, did you already forget your title? You ranked 2nd place as the most dangerous hacker in the whole world, 2nd place, Astreille. This agency will never fire you, if not, they'll sink."

Her friend ruffled her hair before kissing her cheek. "Bye, dear. I'll just attend the meeting. Stay where you are, don't wander around."

Astreille chuckled and saluted while watching everyone go. When no one's around, she sat on her swivel chair to rest her back.

The meeting may last for an hour or two, they're probably planning how to attack in the event which was their mission. She can't help but to wonder how it felt to be put into a dangerous situation.

Just thinking about it makes her shiver.

She bit her lower lip in excitement when her phone notified that her favorite writer had updated something.

His story "Downfall" is one of her all-time favorite masterpieces. It's a story about two demons, it revolves around the two characters' perception, greed and power.

The poems he wrote before a chapter starts make the novel even better. And those poems are all connected, like they're the continuation of each other.

Astreille tilted her head before reading the new chapter. She'll be entertained again.

She dropped her bag on the bed when she felt tired. She worked straight 3 hours sitting in front of the computer, no breaks and no rests because they were actually running out of time.

When her co-agents went into the meeting, no one informed her that there was needed information and data. She was only told about it after their meeting was dismissed.

Even Jezreel was tempted to say it to her but they can't leave the meeting without a proper permission. And leaving without any warning is a kind of disrespect.

Astreille has no complaints about her work, but that was always the system every time she's in the agency. She needed to exhaust herself too much because they gave her tasks late.

She faced the mirror before wiping her tears. "No, don't cry. You are a strong woman, right?"

She composed herself while forcing herself not to cry.

"You have to pay your mother's debts, Astreille. You don't have any right to complain about your work."

She slowly sobbed until it became louder when she remembered what their commander said to her.

She wiped the tears on her cheeks like a child. "I said s-stop crying!" she scolded herself.

But it's not a big help, everytime she remembers those words, she can't help but to think that she's the weakest person on Earth. She can't really complain on how they treated her, except from the fact that she couldn't complain, she also doesn't have the right to.

She bit her lower lip while holding the necklace that her mother gave her before passing away. "Y-You left me with nothing, but only this house that daddy owned. Now I'm paying everything for you, you're the one indebted to them, you're the one who spent all of daddy's money for yourself and for your lover. But why, mom? Why am I the one carrying all your wrongdoings?"

She sobbed violently. "I didn't do anything wrong, I've been a good girl b-but why?" She lowered her head because of her chest tightening.

There's a lot of questions left in her head since her mother died. One of those is how she'll be able to survive alone, how she'll pay for her mother's debts. Fortunately, her father bought this big house when she was a kid, she didn't worry about that one concern which made her chest lighten a bit.

Her mother left a big debt on the agency she's currently working for. Her mother used to be a hacker too, but she stole billions of money just for her lover. Then she died in a car crash, leaving her debts to her only daughter, and that was her.

They offered her a good offer. She'll work as a hacker in the agency, her salary, 100 thousand pesos per month. But she can only get 50 thousand because the other half was slacked off from her mother's debts which she'll pay for a few years.

She's glad that she managed to stay alive by working hard, her life was fine. She can buy what she wants, she can provide for herself. But her mother's debts were billions, so it will take her years to endure her work just to pay for everything.

She tilted her head before sitting on the swivel chair, in front of her laptop. She opened her writing account before composing herself.

"Calm down, Astreille. Don't cry, there's nothing to cry for, okay?" she told herself.

She spent her time writing chapters continuously for her novel. Unlike her favorite writer's story, her story revolves around two couple angels with the same ambitions.

The conflict of the story is disturbing but she doesn't care, one of the angels needs to be punished for breaking the rules. A fallen angel. And as soon as she stepped on the mortal's world, she realized how powerful people are to balance being evil and being kind at the same time.

"Wow, I didn't even notice," she whispered while smiling when she saw how many chapters she finished.

She's almost at the end. 13 more chapters and the story will end. It's the first novel she'll finish.

She quickly stood up from her seat and went down the kitchen. She can feel how tired her body is, it needs a rest, but her sleep will be better if she wrote just one more chapter.

She walked towards her kitchen. "My milk, where's my milk?"

She clapped when she saw the container on the upper part. Because she's quite short in height, she needed to stand on a chair just to reach for it.

She pays a caretaker weekly to clean her house. She doesn't have time to do those things. She always reminded the old caretaker not to put her essentials on a high place, but the caretaker always forgot about it due to her age. She understands the caretaker's work so she pays a higher price.

Parents, like her caretaker, deserved to be treated fairly. They're the people who work for their family.

"Hey, how's your day little cutie?" She greeted her small stuffed toy on the counter while smiling.

She kissed its cheek while stirring her milk. The stuffed toy is already 14 years old, her father gave it to her as a gift for her 7th birthday. Until now, she still has it.

"Your mommy is having a hard time, as always," she whispered while stirring the milk.

She smiled sweetly and started telling her stuff about her day although it won't even respond nor hear her. This is her routine, everyday. This is where she lets all of her emotions out everytime Jezreel is busy and she's got no one to talk to.

She's used to being alone, especially if Jezreel is not around. It's not new to her any more.

But it's much better if you have someone by your side, everyday. It's much better than being alone.