Sia stood to the side with her bag open, half items inside, and half of them out. Sia had expanded her items, settling her shampoo, a set of towels, hairbrush and toothpaste in the bathroom. The couch was conquered by Lock and the small desk in front of it was his domain. Two giant screens that couldn't fit into the length of the oblong table sat there. Lock's fingers flew across the keyboard and mouse. Ke walked into the door and stood in the middle of the room, observing the two. He had called Mo over to observe the two and told Aria about his predicament.
Aria watched Lock, immersed in his work, probably hacking something while Mo watched Sia. the silence was quite companionable for others but the three of them felt tense. Aria and Ke knew Lock could be stubborn when it came to protecting his own people. They didn't know much about Sia, but it looked like, Mo was equally hesitant to stop her.
Aria watched Mo closely. Initially she thought that Sia depended on Mo, a little too much, either for support or opinion, but looking at Mo now, perhaps he cared for her opinions too, even if silently. When Mo looked at her, he looked slightly lost. He wasn't asking her for help or opinion, he really didn't know what to do. Aria looked at Lock and said, "you plan to stay the night?"
Lock's fingers didn't even pause, "or else how are you supposed to sleep at night?"
"I plan to stay too." Sia poked her head out of the bathroom.
Lock looked up, "and what will you do if you stay? Sleep together? We need someone to stay up at night so that she can sleep peacefully."
Sia opened her mouth, hesitant, eyes darting to Mo and her. Aria raised her chin quickly, encouraging her to speak. The jerky movement made her slightly dizzy.
Sia said, "I can't possibly go back. Where will I go? Can't go to your house or my house. This is the only place I can stay in."
To this, Lock had not answer.
Mo suggested, "how about let Sia stay and I will keep watch."
Aria knew Mo wasn't a bad buy but she still felt uneasy. This time Ke shook his head, "it's better if someone familiar stays."
Lock and Ke, both, knew she wouldn't be able to sleep with strangers in the room, specially Mo.
Mo looked at her again. She was only just noticing, he looked at her often, as if gauging her reaction. She wondered what she looked like or if it was a habit developed from looking at Sia often.
The silence of stalemate was a little more awkward than the general quiet and friendly air they had before.
"Sia stays. Lock is probably going to stay up all night working, so it's best others take the time to rest while he works. What time will you sleep?"
Lock turned back his work, "at 7."
Ke nodded with a wide smile, looking like a wolf dog, well build but goofy, and went about opening his bag, taking out papers and setting in a corner chair. Mo didn't move from the middle of the room. He looked at Sia through the bathroom mirror. Perhaps, getting her approval before declaring, "then I will be here during the day."
"Perfect," Ke declared, not looking up from her papers, "I can run errands."
Aria looked at Mo, who was looking quite dissatisfied with the arrangement but could say nothing about it, as no one else had trouble.
Aria felt as if she had overlooked something. Seeing Mo was somewhat the decisionmaker in the other party, she asked, "anything we missed or might have missed?"
"We have three rooms to ourselves. Naturally, the nurses and the security personal know all five of us are in one room. If we don't divide between the three rooms, they will all know which room you are in. If someone was clever enough, they could get information from any of them with a casual chat."
Aren't they station right outside?
She had initially though the police or the security was station right outside the door. In fact, other than going to the bathroom, she had not stepped out of the room, not seen outside, so she didn't know if she was unaware about the infrastructure outside. Was she alone in a room, with two other rooms under Sia's name? Was she alone in a section? Alone in an entire ward? Or alone on the entire floor? Though that might be a bit excessive, it made her realise how little she knew of where she was, or how she got here. Or how Mo had rescued her, or Sia.
Before she could begin asking this, Lock said, "I have the security covered. Their channel is tappable. As for the nurses, I have run some checks. Only two of them have troubles that might be exploited by anyone."
Aria smiled appreciatively.
"Did you hack into the system?" She heard Mo's shock. Aria frowned at him, "so what if he did?"
"I am not sure if I am surprised or weary."
Lock went back to his work, "both are appreciated. You security detail isn't much tight either. One of the guard is a new hire and not taking his job seriously has left the post about five to six time today, sometimes to drink, to chat, to idle away, and once even to pursue a nurse."
Mo shook his head, "everyone has different personalities. If the company hired him, he must have some qualities."
Lock looked at the screen intently. Aria had the urge to go and check for herself. In the end, Lock didn't share what he saw or thought of the said security guard. Ke raised a brow. Aria didn't ask. Sia never heard and Mo didn't pursue.
"Whatever." He shrugged and leaned over his keys.
Mo continued from before, "since are all going to crash here, we could occupy the other two rooms. And rotate being in this room."
Lock nodded without a word. Aria didn't feel quiet right about it. "Shouldn't we leave those room for other patients?"
Sia came over explaining, "every hospital has a few VIP rooms. They are ever rarely occupied. And if they are, they do it how we did it. If someone really needed to come into this hospital in one of the other rooms, knowing we are in this one, they wouldn't feel safe and go to another hospital."
Aria considered this. Everyone had their own difficulties. Some had silk sheets while dealing with them, while others didn't even have a roof.
A sharp ping pull their attention. Lock said, "someone broke into out apartment."
Aria had no valuables. Lock had a few and Ke had some documents. Ke rose to go stand by Lock and peered into the screen. Aria asked, "what is happening?"
Curiously, Sia and Mo followed Ke's example. Ke said, "they are checking every room. Three of them. One outside. All rooms. Aria remembered the only thing to connect her to Sia's family. Hair rose on the back of her head.
"Lock. Watch the photo frame and my mother's box."
Lock nodded curtly, eyes never leaving. Ke shook his head, "why does it look like they are looking for something big?"
Mo nodded, "they are not touching small boxes but anything big, they have turned over."
Mo looked at her and said, "you cannot go back there."
Aria scowled. Didn't she know? Did she need him to spell it out to her? She had only kept the place to find how deeply she was now involved with Sia. It wasn't just her, as Sia, that was in danger. Turns out, Sia, living as her, was eually dangerous now. She looked at Sia curiously.
"How did you know it wasn't safe for you to go back?"
Sia looked up absently, "because, you are a key witness. Naturally…"
But then Sia realised what she meant and paused.
"Naturally, if the killer knows there are two of us, the perpetrator knows there are two of us. Even if I die, there is still you for evidence. Since they can't kill you, they are going after any evidence you might have. I didn't know they'd come after you so quickly, but I planned for every possible scenario."
Aris felt like she couldn't comprehend how far, how deep and how widely Sia had thought this. Aria hope Sia had also included her own farther in these considerations. She couldn't bring herself to say it.
The night passed slowly for her, and extremely quickly for the other four as they watched her shared apartment being turned upside down with great interest. Every once in a while Ke would laminate about his favourite things being broken or messed up and once Lock groaned about broken equipment, but none of them disturbed as she slept lightly.
Eventually, all of them dispersed. Aria opened her eyes once, to check a sleeping bag on the floor with Sia getting in it and Lock still sitting on his system, working tirelessly.
Then, Aria truly fell into deeper sleep.