The following evening, Miller decided to have dinner with Stephanie, and they chose their favorite local noodle restaurant, a place they had frequented for years. The familiar, steamy atmosphere and the scent of spices pulled them into a comforting embrace as they settled in, and soon their orders were served: steaming bowls of perfectly cooked noodles.
Stephanie spoke, her voice heavy with frustration. "I am really getting frustrated with my new job."
"Why? Isn't this what you always wanted?" Miller asked as she picked up her fork.
"I know, but it's the little things. I keep mixing my work password with my personal one, and today I ended up locking myself out of the company tablet completely," Stephanie lamented, pushing her own food around listlessly.
Miller reached for the company-issued tablet. "This is the one you locked yourself out of?"
"Yeah. I guess I'll have to find a hacker or something. It's going to be a whole thing," Stephanie sighed and finally put the food in her mouth.
Miller scanned the tablet intently. A strange certainty settled over her: she could do it. The thought was clear and inexplicable, even though this was far from anything she could do. Her fingers began flying across the screen, inputting complex command lines and cracking security protocols with an instinct she didn't understand.
Stephanie, hearing the rapid taps instead of the expected slurps of noodles, looked up. Her brows furrowing in confusion seeing Miller's intense focus. "What are you doing? You can't possibly know how to crack that?" she said.
Just then, Miller dropped the tablet on the table. "I already did."
Stephanie stared at her in utter shock, then immediately snatched the tablet. The home screen glowed back at her, fully accessible. "How?" she questioned, her eyes wide.
"I don't know," Miller admitted, her voice low and thoughtful. "Since I met Devion, I feel... something in me has changed." To demonstrate, she picked up the heavy ceramic mug in front of her. With a slight, almost careless exertion of her grip, the mug cracked and shattered in her hand, sending shards and water across the table. The sound made several patrons nearby turn to look.
"Goodness," Stephanie muttered, her eyes bewildered as she helped brush the fragments away. "It seems marrying him comes with an extra package."
Miller looked at Stephanie as if a crucial piece of a puzzle had just clicked into place. "What if Devion is really the cause?" she said. "The first time we met... we had a one-night stand."
Stephanie was even more shocked. "You said you met him through an accident!"
"Yeah," Miller said, her cheeks flushing slightly. "I mistook him for an escort."
Stephanie gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. "He was the escort from that night?" she exclaimed, her voice rising enough to attract more curious glances. Miller face-palmed, wishing for the floor to swallow her.
"How is he related to this, then?" Stephanie asked, finally reducing her voice to a whisper.
"The night we got married, my eyes changed color for a few seconds; I thought I was seeing things. But a few days later, I broke someone's arm without even trying. I moved a bed I wouldn't normally be able to move with just a kick. And yesterday morning... I and Devion... kissed...."
"You did!" Stephanie exclaimed again, her shock morphing into glee.
"It was because of Madam Montgomery," Miller explained quickly. "She came to the house trying to test the authenticity of the marriage and demanded proof." Stephanie was all bright-eyed.
"So that kiss... I think it... made me do this?" Miller said as she gestured to the cracked mug and the unlocked tablet.
"A marriage with an extra package," Stephanie repeated her earlier words with a smile.
"You should go back to him quickly and get more intimate. Who knows what you'll be able to do next!" Stephanie said, only half-joking.
Miller gave her a dull, unamused look and went back to eating her noodles, though her appetite was low. For the rest of the meal, Stephanie couldn't stop talking about the bizarre developments, her theories becoming increasingly wild until they finally parted ways when Stephanie boarded a bus home, while Miller continued down the quiet, dimly lit street to find a cab.
She had only walked a short distance when a sharp sound cut through the air. Out of pure instinct, her body moved before her mind could process it, and she dodged to the side. A tranquilizer dart hit the lamppost in front of her, falling harmlessly to the ground. She frowned, her senses on high alert. Under attack again.
Another dart whizzed through the air. This time, Miller calculated her move. She let out a feigned gasp and crumpled to the ground, pretending the dart had found its mark. Just as she expected, a group of five mercenaries, dressed in black tactical gear, emerged from the shadows, moving swiftly toward her.
"We have her," one of them said into his phone, his voice gruff.
The moment they were within reach, Miller sprang into action. They were skilled, professional fighters, but she was more skilled. Years of combat training she had hidden because of Aunt Janet's orders now flowed through her with unleashed fury and the belief that no one was around to see her fight. Coupled with her newfound strength, she was a whirlwind. Her movements were precise, powerful strikes that broke bones and disarmed her opponents with terrifying efficiency. Within moments, all five men were lying on the pavement, groaning and incapacitated, almost lifeless.
As she stood panting amidst the wreckage of her attackers, she noticed two groups had arrived on the scene, both clearly there for her. On her right stood Ricardo and his team, Devion's elite guards. They held their weapons at the ready, but their faces were etched with sheer shock and a newfound respect as they took in the scene she had single-handedly created. On her left were the men in uniformed brown from the hospital attack. They were silent and cold, a stark contrast to Devion's men. After a moment of silent observation, they retreated back into the shadows as seamlessly as they had appeared, and this confused Miller.
"Madam... we would be happy to give you a ride home," Ricardo finally said.
"Did Devion ask you to follow me?" Miller asked, her tone sharp.
Ricardo laughed awkwardly. "No, madam, we were just in the vicinity..."
"Of course you were," she interrupted, not believing him for a second. "Help clear the scene since you are already here."
"Definitely, madam," Ricardo said, and the men snapped into action.
Miller turned to continue on her way.
"Wait, we can still take you home, Madam!" Ricardo called after her.
"Forget about me and remember to also take care of the paparazzi on the tree," Miller said without looking back.
The men looked up. Sure enough, a man with a camera was perched in the branches, attempting to scramble down and flee on seeing he'd been spotted, but Ricardo's team immediately caught him, while Miller walked farther away till she was able to hail a cab.
As the cab drove away, she leaned her head against the cool glass. She had a new power; her brain and intuition were sharper, but one question dominated her thoughts, a question she wasn't sure how to get answers to: 'Was it really Devion?'