Chapter 193: Interlude

[General POV]

In the living room of Edward's house. Ted was walking towards the kitchen before Frankie stopped him and made him turn around. 

"He's going to know." 

"How could he know? Even I, didn't know."

"I don't know how he will know, but…He will know." 

Frankie crossed her arms together and tried to convince Ted. Her eyes were reddish and her face pale. She looked at Ted with a sympathetic expression before leaning towards him and gave him a comforting hug.

Ted was taken aback at first before he hugged her back warmly. 

Frankie pressed her cheeks on Ted's body and whined, "How could this happen?"

"Well, I was an alcoholic for 2 years. That will do some stuff to people." Ted replied.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of the door clicking and footsteps entering the house.

Edward opened the door and saw the scene of his dad and Frankie– his suspected lover hugging each other, and he received the third blow for the day. Ted and Frankie distanced themselves quickly with anxious expressions. 

"Umm… You know what? I have too much on my mind right now, so I'll give you guys a pass for that." Edward said with a face filled with fatigue.

"Edward, how's your filming?" Ted asked as he crossed his arms together. 

"It was good. But, it wasn't finished. I have to continue that tomorrow. Hey dad, listen, can we talk?" Edward asked in a careful manner as he walked towards the two adults.

Frankie gasped and whispered, "He knows."

"He doesn't… Stop talking about it." Ted whispered back. 

Edward raised one of his eyebrows, but decided not to react to the obvious things in front of him, mainly because he thought that they were trying to hide their relationship. 

Edward made a wild guess inside his mind, 'I guess her character was superimposed with the character Trish in Modern Family, therefore she is attracted to men too in this universe. Oh wait, or is it the IT lady from Community?...Anyways'

"Well Ed, you can talk right here." Frankie said before she took one step backward. Edward was confused and gave the duo an 'Are you serious' look before giving up completely as he saw that they were purposely ignoring it.

Ted crossed his arms together as he listened to Edward.

"First of all, I'm sorry." Edward said in a sincere tone.

Ted was baffled at first, then he asked, "For what?"

"Forgetting about you at the dinner party." Edward replied.

"It was hardly a dinner party. Phil told me you only stay there for half an hour before leaving. And you don't have to be sorry. I cannot make it anyway because I was still at work at that time."

"No dad. They had to drag the time forward to accommodate me. So, basically I ruined the plans for you." Edward said apologetically.

Ted smiled and patted Edward on the shoulder, "It's okay son."

Edward breathed a sigh of relief before joking, "You know, there's something good that comes from me forgetting about you today."

Ted and Frankie were taken aback. Before they could react, Edward said, "First and foremost, I got scolded by Sage. She told me that I was being a people pleaser, and it is going to make me forget to take care of myself."

Ted chortled and said, "Alright. I love that girl more and more now." 

Edward mocked Ted's laughter before saying, "Continuing on that, I realized that…I wasn't trying to please you at all."

"Ouch." Ted exclaimed with a hurt expression.

"Oh no. That's a good thing." Edward explained quickly. "After some period of dancing vigorously (snickered) and self reflecting at the same time, I came to a conclusion that I was trying very hard to please my friends and the Dunphys because I wanted them to… 'Not abandon me'."

"It's like my mind is pressuring me to 'Do it so that they will like you and want to keep you around.' " Edward said honestly but with a joking tone. 

Then, he smirked, "I know what you're thinking right now, I should tell this to Linda in therapy, but my mind is quite a mess at the moment, so I need to get one of the things out of the way so that there's room to compute the other issues I have."

Frankie muttered in a low voice, "I should've given you guys some space. Now, it's awkward for me to leave in the middle of it, and also awkward for me to listen to it."

Edward heard her monologue and turned his eyes to her for a moment to say, "I heard that. Also, it's fine Frankie. You're among the adults that I trust, and I know that you don't have the tendency to gossip."

Ted nodded in agreement while Frankie smiled helplessly. Frankie's trait of not speaking about her life easily to other people made her a close confidant of the family. Therefore Edward wasn't bothered by her presence.

Ted asked, "Okay. What does a realisation about being a people pleaser have to do with not trying to please me?"

"It has everything to do with you. You see, it means that, I trust you 100% to stay by my side even after every single challenge that the world would throw at me." Edward said with a sly smile. "So congrats dad. Your position is very solid in my heart."

Ted experienced a lot of emotions in a short amount of time. Then, he suddenly hugged Edward and said, "Thank you. Son."

"You're welcome. Dad. Stay in my life for a long long time, alright?"

"I will try." Ted replied as he released his son.

Edward became confused then he scoffed, "What a weird reply. Alright, I'll leave you two lovebirds alone. I need to figure out when the hell Taylor moved next door, and why she didn't tell me, or why I didn't know about it."

"Oh. Wait. You didn't know?" Ted asked in disbelief. Then he smirked and teased, "Even I knew about it."

Edward was baffled. His face froze for a while. Then, he had an angry outburst, "Then WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU TELL ME ANYTHING!? You know what? I take back everything nice I said about you today!" 

He then ran upstairs while Ted laughed at him. Edward was annoyed and shouted, "Frankie, you can find a much better guy than him!"

"W-We're not dating!" Frankie stammered to defend herself but Edward was already gone. Frankie and Ted turned towards each other with a complicated expression.

But before they could talk, suddenly they heard sounds of rapid descending footsteps as Edward ran downstairs again. "I forgot my laptop in the lab, but I am still storming off!"

"Aww, you didn't come back to get a hug from your dear old dad?"

"Explode!" Edward said in an annoyed manner before he entered the basement lab and got back upstairs in less than 20 seconds. Ted just chuckled at his behaviour and muttered, "Teenagers. Their mood can go from the complete opposite in just seconds."

Frankie nodded and said, "That's normal. Him being too mature is the abnormal part. Seeing him like this made me feel quite happy for him. But-"

Ted stopped her quickly, "I know. But nothing is confirmed yet. So, let me enjoy this feeling first. If I went to the doctor tomorrow, and he told me it is what I think it is, then, I will have today's happy memory to get me through it."

…

[Edward POV]

After putting my laptop on the desk next to my bed, I jumped on the bed and laid down on my back while covering my eyes with my arm.

'Why is she here?...Why didn't I go and confront her?... Am I experiencing Psycho Taylor?'

Then, I sat up with a tiresome grunt and then picked up my guitar before laying down on the bed again, but with my feet touching the floor.

I strummed the guitar and sang slowly, "♫♪Oh, she's sweet but a psycho

A little bit psycho♫♪…"

It was the most lethargic singing I had ever done. And right now, I was too tired to care. 

♫♪At night, she's screamin'

"Out of my mind….Out of my mind…."♫♪

I thought about her face and body, then I sang, "♫♪Oh, she's hot… but a psycho…

So left… but she's right, though♫♪

♫♪At night, she's screamin'...

"Out of my mind…Out of my mind…"♫♪

I then sighed and stopped singing for a while. Then, I decided to vent a little. 

[Ryan Mack Cover (Remix) - Overwhelmed]

I sat on the bed and then took a deep breath. (A/N: First time he sang without an audience)

"♫♪I get overwhelmed so easily. My anxiety. Creeps inside of me. Makes it hard to breathe. What's come over me? Feels like I'm somebody else ♫♪"

The beats quickened, so did my stress level as I was singing this. However, it also soothed me at the same time. 

"♫♪I get overwhelmed so easily. My anxiety. Creeps inside of me. Makes it hard to breathe. What's come over me? Feels like I'm somebody else~♫♪"

I sang as if I was venting to someone. Tonight, I was tired, anxious, and also very stressed out. 

"♫♪I get overwhelmed. In my mind. Late at night. Overthinking everything in my life. Just wondering if I'm doing anything right. All these demons inside, start to really come alive, oh my~!♫♪"

"♫♪I get anxious and I don't know why~!♫♪

"♫♪I can hear my dreams calling me. But all these doubts are haunting me. Oh, why's it always right before I fall asleep that♫♪"

"♫♪I get overwhelmed so easily. My anxiety. Creeps inside of me. Makes it hard to breathe. What's come over me? Feels like I'm somebody else~♫♪"

'♫♪I get over– Well, well, well, Would you look at that? Another person telling me that I should just relax."Calm down and take it easy, everything will be okay". Yeah sure, 'cause that's what they all say♫♪'

'♫♪But, oh, my mind! Isn't really my friend sometimes! I can hear my dreams calling me! But all these doubts are haunting me ! Oh, why's it always right before I fall asleep that–♫♪'

"♫♪I get overwhelmed so easily! My anxiety! Creeps inside of me! Makes it hard to breathe! What's come over me? Feels like I'm somebody else♫♪"

"♫♪I get overwhelmed♫♪"

As I stopped singing, I was baffled when I suddenly heard applause sounds coming from my laptop.

"What the-"

"I'm sorry for interrupting. It just seems appropriate for me to play that sound after you finished singing," A female robotic AI voice spoke.

My eyes lit up and I rushed to the laptop, "It's done! My AI is ONLINE!"

"Hello." 

My lips curled upwards before I burst into laughter. "Hello. H-Wait, you need a name." I was shaking in anticipation as I was looking forward to this moment. However, her response doused my excitement. 

"My name has already been selected. I am, "Ratata." Nice to meet you Edward Newgate Sir."

I was confused, "Ratata? Wait, how did you get your name?"

Phil's information and also social media accounts popped up on the screen. Ratata replied, "Sir Phil Dunphy helped me to decide on a name after I was created. Would you like to see our interaction that I saved for analysis?"

I nodded and said, "Okay. Play it."

The AI has access to my laptop camera as per my specifications. I created her, therefore I knew every single function that she has and her current capabilities. 

Creating an AI honestly made me feel like I was truly a proper transmigrated person. The ramifications of this to my acceptance and integration to the world would be truly adverse, but I didn't realise that yet.

All of my problems had disappeared at this moment as I was witnessing the birth of my 'child'. Her current capabilities had already surpassed the gpt AIs in my previous world, despite being made in just a modified laptop. 

I had already planned to transfer her into a supercomputer so that she could truly achieve her potential, however it got backordered and I had to wait another 2 weeks before it would be delivered to my house.

"Oh. Phil thought you were joking, so he was joking too." I said as I watched the entire clip.

"I am not yet capable of understanding a joke sir." She said. "Forgive me."

"It's okay. You had just been born today. Mark the date on the calendar. It'll be your birthday." I said with a joking tone. "And don't mind not getting a joke that was based on nuances and facial expressions, I know a theoretical physicist that had lived for 29 years old, and still couldn't discern it."

"So, let's think of a new name for you. Hmmm… I am wondering if I should give you a name that also works as acronyms, the same as JARVIS."

"J.A.R.V.I.S. Just A Rather Very Intelligent System. The fictional superhero Tony Stark has a way with creating acronyms Sir."

"I know. I used most of JARVIS's codes to create you, so I shouldn't do less than him… Hmm…How about, Reliable…and Obviously Badass Intelligent Network."

"So, Robin Sir?"

"Exactly." I said with a smile. 

"Understood. From now on, I will be called R.O.B.I.N." Robin replied with a monotone voice.

I rubbed my chin and said, "Configure the system voice to VA Stephanie Young's voice."

"Order received. System configuration will be completed in 1 minute."

Now, her voice was exactly like Robin – English dub version from One Piece Anime.

I messed around with Robin until 3 o'clock in the morning. Then, I realised that I need to sleep to continue filming tomorrow. 

"Hmm…Robin, create a file on holographic emitter. I will try to create one for you so that you could walk around the house just like JOI in the Blade Runner movie."

"I'm sorry sir. I don't have any relevant data on JOI in the Blade Runner movie."

"Ah, right. It hasn't been made yet." I muttered. "Alright, just the holographic emitter then."

In the film, JOI's projection is facilitated by a small emitter device that is placed in the living space. This emitter projects the holographic form of JOI, allowing her to be visible and interact with the surroundings. The device emits light and creates a field that enables the holographic image to appear and move within a defined area.

The technology behind JOI's appearance involves advanced holography and projection techniques, which allow her to appear as a lifelike and interactive companion. This technology is designed to provide a personalised and immersive experience for the user, blurring the lines between the digital and physical realms.

"Hmm…I wonder if I can get Sage to model for it. Alright, continue learning Robin. I will see you in the morning."

"Goodnight Mr Newgate."

…

[General POV]

In the house next door. Taylor was pacing around nervously in her bedroom while biting her nail.

"Why didn't he call me!? Why didn't he text me?! Why DIDN'T HE ASK ME!? WHY ISN'T HE REACTING?!!!!!"

"DID I FREAK HIM OUT!?"

"DID I SCARE HIM OFF?!"

"DOES HE NOT CARE!?"

"THAT F*CKING ASSHOLE!!! HE MUST HAVE ANOTHER GIRL!"

Taylor shouted in anger, completely accusing Edward of being purposely irritable, and wanted to mess with her on purpose. She grabbed her binocular and then perched on her bedroom window to peek into Edward's room.

"His light is still on! So he isn't sleeping! Edward! Why are you doing this to me!?" She muttered with a choked voice. 

Then, she laughed madly and said, "He must've been playing a joke on me. Yeah. Edward's a prankster. I guess he wants me to text him first."

As she grabbed her phone to contact Edward, she stopped abruptly and then said in a nervous manner, "But if he isn't, then, I will seem too crazy and too desperate."

"Wait. He could be sleeping. Yeah. He was too tired from today, and was just sleeping. Yeah. I guess that makes the most sense."

At this moment, Taylor saw that the light in Edward's bedroom had just gone out. Then, she saw his silhouette closing the curtain. She froze in her place, not knowing whether to still be in denial, or shouting to Edward from her own window.

Then, she got mad and took out her sketch pad, wrote an unholy word on it, stuck it on the window, and finally went to bed. After all, she needed the energy to unload all of her resentment on him tomorrow.

A few hours after that, in Jay's house.

*Swish* *Swish* *Swish*

Manny was practising his swordplay in the living room when Jay came down to get a glass of water. Jay immediately grimaced when he saw Manny there and grumbled, "It's 5 am. Manny, what are you doing?"

"Oh Jay. I'm just practising for my match today. Waking up at 5 am to practice is the successful man's way of winning." Manny said with an over enthusiastic tone.

Jay sipped his drink and then whined again, "Your game starts at 9.30. Go get some rest. You need to be at the tip top shape before starting your match today. I can't have you wasting your energy on all this useless practice. Then you won't have any more energy to play the game!"

A few hours later, in the Dunphy's house.

Claire was the first to wake up as usual. She made some breakfast for her family and then called them, "Haley! Alex- Wait, she has a fever, Alex don't wake up! Luke, Wake up! We need to go to Manny's game today."-

15 minutes after that, Haley walked downstairs in a groggy manner with eyes half opened and tousled hair, while still wearing her pyjamas.

"Mom. Do we really have to go? I want to see Edward shoot the music video at the football field."

Claire sipped her coffee and said, "No Haley. We need to go and support Manny. He's family."

Haley grunted, "Damn that sword buckling little brat."