Her Corporate Takedown: Entangled with a Billionaire

*CHAPTER 97: HEARTS COLLIDE*

I went crazy this evening because of the scores of places we went around to on our first 'normal' date. It was as though I tried to make up for a decade's worth of 'normal' memories that we missed out on, although considering our streak so far, I should have tried to make up for a lifetime's worth of normal dates instead.

After watching a popular romcom movie, we went bowling, then karaoke, then we finally made it to a rooftop bar.

"Thanks for bringing me around on a 'normal' date. I had a great time," he said to me, while we sat at a table away from other people.

"I don't like how you said the word 'normal', to imply that you already knew what normal dates are supposed to be like."

I was surprised to see how much Andrei smiled and laughed the entire time that I inadvertently asked an embarrassing question.

"Is this the first time you've gone to the movies, or bowling, or karaoke?" I covered my mouth as quickly as I took my last breath. It was only when I finished the question that I realized what I had asked.

Surprisingly, he didn't look that offended by my question. Was it true, then?

"It's funny that you find so much mystery in something so simple, so I'll leave that question unanswered."

"Really now. It just sounds like someone is trying to avoid the question."

"Whatever you want to think," he replied, laughing softly.

"How about answering some other questions, then?" I still had a checklist of questions I hadn't gone through yet.

"Such as?"

In our deserted corner of the rooftop, I asked my questions softly just in case there were prying ears lingering nearby. At least I had gotten permission while he was sober, since he hadn't had much to drink so far.

"Did you live in any other countries apart from Japan?" Passing the Japanese restaurant earlier reminded me that I wanted to ask about this.

"No, I haven't." He gave a simple reply while picking up his drink.

"So, you never lived in Russia? Are you not close to your mother's family?"

"I would say that I'm close with my mother's relatives but I've never lived in Russia. The most I have spent there was an entire summer. I used to go there every summer as a child."

"Oh, how many other countries have you travelled to?"

"Probably around fifty."

"Wow, and how many languages can you speak? You spoke German so fluently the other day."

"I know eight languages."

"That's amazing. I guess it's true that a spy needs to be multilingual."

"It's not required but it's a great skill to have. You can intercept foreign spies who let their guards down because they think no one understands them and they trust you more because they might think you're one of their brethren, especially if you also look the part."

The chilly midnight breeze cooled our drinks, which were left to stand on the table as we talked about random topics. The conversation was more one-sided since I had been asking most of the questions.

"So what's your favorite hobby?" If I had to place bets on whether it would be a normal hobby, I would guess a completely abnormal and disastrous one.

"Should I tell you or should I just take you to experience it?"

"No, you should absolutely tell me first. I thought for sure you would say it was street racing, since you love your cars so much."

"What made you think I love cars that much? Did you just assume that because I drive a lot of different cars?"

"Maybe that, as well as the way it looked like you enjoyed that mountain race the other night."

"They're very useful for my image and there are several awesome models, but I'm not that obsessed with cars. Besides, my initial reply would suggest we haven't done it together yet, so it wouldn't have been car racing."

"So, it's something more dangerous than street racing."

"Based on what are you making these inferences from?"

"Okay, then what is it?"

"I'll save it for another experience. I'll answer a different question in its place."

There was no way to win against him when he became this stubborn, so I gave up on getting an answer. We reluctantly left the lovely ambiance of the rooftop bar and went back to our shared apartment after I told him that my other questions broached a more secretive topic. It looked like he was trying to recreate the same ambiance as he opened the blinds to let the night light in.

He then went to the kitchen and took out several bottles of alcohol. I watched the scene curiously to see the result of his actions, but I was in for a surprise. Before long, he had brought out a shaker and whipped up an original concoction he called, 'By the Lake'. It was bittersweet, just like the engulfing abysm of my current life.

"Where did you learn to mix drinks?"

"In Russia."

"Did your mother allow that?"

"You're talking about the mother of a top secret espionage heir."

"Good point."

"The golden rule of spy training is, 'the more experiences, the better.' Actually, disguising as a bartender is the most classic but still a very effective way to obtain information. If you know how to mix drinks, anyone can be a bartender."

"Is that so?"

"But I'm sure that's not the secretive topic you wanted to talk about."

"You're right. What I've been dying to know was how the rings with emblems work and how those secret doors at Bolster open?"

"Was the question that urgent that we had to cut our date short?"

"It was eating away at me for months, alright. And do you see what time it is?" I turned my phone to face him while pointing to the time showing 2am.

"Anyway, I'll answer the second part of that question first, but you won't understand since you haven't done the surgery."

There it is again - another seamless plug for the eye surgery.

"Let me just tell you. You're not hiding your irritation very well," he said while cracking up at my furrowed brows. I never meant to show any reaction, but as usual, I couldn't seem to hide my emotions when I was alone with him.

"It might seem annoying to keep hearing about the surgery, but you'll see what I mean if you get it done. Your whole perspective will change. Anyway, I digressed. The secret doors at Bolster open using a complex full-body recognition system. You can't see it but the walls are overlayed with a special computerized film that's connected to the main server and it's activated with the Klehr family's Undercode. To open a secret door, you need three things. One is that your full-body scan needs to be registered with the system. The second thing you need is the Klehr family's Undercode trait. The third thing required is my permission to access the restricted area."

"There's something that's felt off to me all this time. In the first place, what's so special about the Undercode that you can see things other people can't see?"

"You're now just asking that. Undercode carriers are born with a special layer in their retina which has the ability to see electromagnetic wavelengths outside the upper limit of the visible spectrum that the normal eye can see. However, this layer in the retina is dormant at birth."

"Are you talking about...X-ray vision?" I was afraid of sounding like a nutcase but this person was already spouting all of this crazy science fiction with a straight face.

"Ah, no. Not x-ray vision," he replied, laughing. "It's more around the ultraviolet section of the spectrum. Level 1 and 2 Undercode are in the near UV range, Levels 3 and 4 are in the UV range, levels 5 and 6 are in the Extreme UV range and level 7 is the only level in the supra-UV range."

"There's no supra-UV range on here." I searched on my phone and found an image of the spectrum to refresh my longforgotten physics knowledge.

"Level 7 is in a special range identified only by researchers in our community. Carriers are already born with a limit to their Undercode visibility potential. The limit determines what level you can see, but that doesn't mean everyone at the same level has equal ability. Being able to see even .01nm more than someone else can make a huge difference on a job."

"Is that why you're the leader? Because you can see 0.01nm more than all the other heirs?"

He smiled and chuckled as he looked away from me and lowered his long black lashes towards the ground. "That's what they said. It seems that historically, the Klehr family heirs always had the highest Undercode ability for some reason. But me, I- I apparently have the highest of all the heirs since a predecessor dating back 120 years."

"W-wow. I have no words." Literally.

"Anyway, like I said, the strip on the retina is dormant at birth. During the surgery, a biological nanotech device is implanted in the retina that takes advantage of the trait and enhances the ability to see nanoprogrammed software. Undercode is the coding language developed that encodes all types of nanoprograms. One program can be written in a variety of wavelengths depending on the person and the purpose of the program. Different styles of writing Undercode programs have been developed and passed down in a handful of families. The styles of writing the Undercode programs also vary, not just from the way the program is written but the quality of equipment and software used. Through trial and error, the six families have come up with patterns that they feel are the most invincible and that has held true up till now."

And here I thought things couldn't get any more sci-fi-like.

"Why wouldn't you just write all of your programs at the highest level you could?"

"You would do that for a top-secret program or for encryption software. However, remember programs written at higher wavelengths can't be converted to lower wavelengths, so commonly used programs are usually written at the lowest level needed for relevant parties to see and use the program. Remember when we wrote the program for Merz, we wrote it at Level 2 Undercode so that we could work on it together, but when it was uploaded, I had it converted to Level 7 Undercode so that it wouldn't be destroyed by Michelle's antimalware program."

"Ohh."

"Well, did that clear things up?"

"Not one bit."

"I thought so. That's why I didn't explain it before, but now you know for future reference. About the rings, they can act as a physical key in place of the Klehr family retina trait. That's why you were able to get inside the secret rooms."

"Then, what about Roshni? Did you lend him one of your rings?"

"Absolutely not. The rings contain more secrets than you know. No matter how much you trust someone, you should never give the ring to anyone. Worst of all, you should never trust anyone that asks you for a ring, even if they look like people you know."

"You're saying those people would be imposters."

"Everyone I trust knows that if they ever lose their ring, they should only ask me for a replacement even if I'm not available. They are aware that they will lose any access or privileges until I give them a replacement."

"And Roshni?"

"I granted override access to Roshni to certain areas for a certain duration of time at Bolster. I used his retina scans to give him access. It's easier than giving him a ring since I can set a time limit on the override access and it was possible with Roshni since he has the highest level of Supportcode."

We were on our third original drink concoction that Andrei made. The first one was 'By the Lake', then the second one was the 'Crimson glaze'. Both were great, except that I couldn't help but notice they were a subtle reference to me. I refrained from asking about the possible connection because I didn't want to hear any cheesy lines at this time of the night.

He carried the third drink in the shaker and two glasses over to the sofa where he set up two huge thick blankets. I felt like I was becoming lost in the massive blanket that I wrapped around myself, but it was most certainly warm and comfy.

He poured out the 'Sparkling cosmos' which I was surprised to see was really glittering like he had trapped tiny stars in the bottle. I watched the pieces of tiny stars floating in the colorless liquid that took on the color of the darkness surrounding us. It reminded me somewhat of Andrei, who was very much like a master chameleon.

"I was thinking about the situation with Gillian the other day. What if you weren't able to foresee that she was a spy and the disaster she would cause? Do you think you would still have been able to prevent that?"

"That's an interesting question. If I were being truly honest, there was no way I could have prevented that disaster if I wasn't prepared."

As I swished around the liquid in the glass while lost in thought, another brazen question slipped from my lips.

"How do you really feel, having to bear the burden of being the Klehr family's heir?"

Andrei, who was casually enjoying his creation paused in the middle of a drink and licked his lips as he lowered his glass. The question might have slipped but I was too curious about the answer to retract it. However, on seeing his reaction, I was beginning to think I was not going to get an answer.

"That's a question no one has asked me before. It might be more accurate to say, no one has bothered to ask that."

For starters, he didn't seem upset that I asked. That was a good sign.

"Not even your parents?"

"Nope." His eyes stared lazily at the blanket while he replied, but it was hard to tell if he was feeling depressed from my question or just sleepy.

"That seems like something they should be concerned about."

"Sadly, it's not. There was only one outcome, no matter how I felt about it. Sure, I might have had different kinds of feelings about the issue, but that was their way of telling me I needed to figure out how to deal with it on my own because I had a far bigger responsibility to manage for the rest of my life."

"That seems kind of sad. I thought they would've been more supportive."

"Don't get me wrong, they are very supportive parents. It's also possible they never asked certain questions so that I wouldn't brood needlessly over certain feelings. At the end of the day, they were raising an heir to the family."

It sounded like a complicated relationship.

"Like I told you before, I really didn't want to become the heir and I initially wanted to run away from all of this. After I met you, my perspective changed. If I'm being honest, the only thing that kept me motivated all these years was looking forward to the day when I could put a ring on your finger. It was the only reason that I felt like becoming the heir was worth that tedious training."

I almost choked on my drink since I wasn't prepared for what he just said.

"That was the only reason I was able to get through my training and complete my missions, since I knew that I had to be strong enough to protect both of us and the rest of the family. If they were not confident in my ability to do all of that, then no one would accept our marriage."

I deeply buried my head out of sight in the blankets so that he couldn't feel my embarrassment, mostly due to the unnecessary egotistic thoughts I had while this man was pouring out his heart in the quiet apartment.

"Somewhere along the line, I suppose I no longer thought about the burden of this job or vented my feelings in any way, since I had to remain composed at all times and have every possible solution thought out to spare our family from turmoil. So, I want to thank you for thinking about how I felt and asking those difficult questions."

"Not at all, I appreciate that you didn't shy away and answered honestly," I replied in a muffled voice from the depths of the untidy blankets.

So much for avoiding cheesy talk today.