Page 81 of Glitched Fates & Stolen Mates

Lily was grinning at me now, clearly enjoying my obvious distraction. “I asked what you’re doing tonight. You keep glancing at your phone under the table.”

“No I don’t!” I said, though Kit’s last message burned into my brain:

Kit

I’m outside your parents’ house, waiting. But not in a creepy way ;)

“I’m just… thinking about work stuff,” I lied, pushing my food around my plate. I’d been trying not to eat too much. Once I finally escaped dinner, Kit had promised hot chocolate and pastries for tonight’s date, and I wanted to actually have room to enjoy them.

“On a Wednesday night?” Appa looked up from his rice, concerned. “You work too hard, Felix.”

Eomma snorted. “I’m sure Min-jun’s IT support work isn’t exhausting him. At QuByte, our junior developers—”

“Are probably miserable,” Lily interrupted cheerfully. “Good thing Felix likes his job.”

If only she knew exactly how much I’d grown to love certain aspects of my work. Specifically, the six-foot-two, bearded aspect that smelled like pine forests and looked at me like they wanted to protect me and eat me both at once.

My phone buzzed again, and I didn’t hesitate to check it despite Eomma’s strict rules about phones at dinner.

I’m starting to get strange looks from your neighbours. I’ve had to hide behind your wheelie bins.

I bit back a smile and shoved the phone into my pocket.

“Speaking of your work, Min-jun…” Eomma’s voice took on that particular tone that meant she was about to say something I wouldn’t like. “Appa and I had coffee with your aunt yesterday, and it came up in conversation.”

My chopsticks froze halfway to my mouth. “What came up?”

“Well, I was telling her how proud I am that you’re using your degree somewhere, even if it’s not quite what we hoped for.” She dabbed at her lips with a napkin. “Aunt Jemma had lots of questions, so I thought I’d look a bit more into this company of yours. Barcode and Beyond.”

Alert! Alert! Critical failure! Emergency shutdown required!

“Oh?” I managed, my voice coming out strangled.

“Yes. To be honest, I wondered if I could find some aspect of their infrastructure that you could offer to help with. To put your degree to even better use. And I discovered something fascinating. Their cybersecurity protocols are already impeccable—better than some Fortune 500 companies. It almost seems like overkill for selling old barcode scanners.”

Warning! Warning! SYSTEM FAILURE! Error 404: Excuse not found.

Panic clawed up my throat. Eomma was brilliant. Frighteningly so. If she started digging too much into Barcode and Beyond, I was royally screwed. Yes, I had failsafes built into the system—legitimate purchase orders for barcode scanners and office supplies that would actually deliver the products to your address, thanks to a very complex, digitally masked third-party logistics network that handled the physical shipping. But my mother would go beyond that. She’d dissect our entire operation like she was reverse-engineering quantum code.

I needed a diversion. A big one.

Bomb-sized.

I set down my spoon carefully, the ceramic clinking against the bowl.

“Actually, I have some news,” I announced, my heart thundering painfully, dizzying me. “I’m seeing someone. Dating.”

The effect was immediate and devastating.

Lily released a full-blown teenage screech that could have shattered windows. Appa dropped his chopsticks, the metal clattering against the floor. Lily dove under the table to retrieve them, still making excited squealing noises.

Eomma blinked once, twice. “Oh?”

Right. Time to really rip the BandAid off. Better sooner rather than later.

“It’s a man,” I very cheerfully and very casually noted, forcing air into my lungs before I fainted from the stress of it.

The silence stretched for exactly three heartbeats.