Chapter 7 The growth phase

That day was the day in which Alex started blacksmithing and began his legacy. A day that was a mark of his astounding career.

A week had passed and it was Alex's birthday. John wanted make it a memorable birthday, John knew deep in his heart there was something wrong his body and didn't know how long he could spend time with Alex so he wanted it to be memorable.

John had gone shopping the previous day after a very long time to buy ingredients for a cake as he wanted to make a cake for his grandson on his birthday. The last time he had baked a cake was on his wife's birthday and ten years had passed away in a blink.

John was a superb cook and Alex was learning everything from John and he was getting good at cooking , but still he was not as good as John.

John had gone shopping while Alex was blacksmithing that evening, when he came back he hid the ingredients and acted as if he had gone to meet with someone who contacted him after a very long time. And John baked the cake before Alex even woke up.

And on the day of his birthday , before Alex woke up , John had baked the perfect cake and the perfect gift , a small book containing photos of everything they had done together for the past five years . "HAPPY THIRTEENTH BIRTHDAY ALEX !", They had spent five years together and five birthdays had passed by , but Alex felt that this birthday would be different. He loved the gift grandpa John had presented him and was looking at it without stop ,tears filling up his eyes, "Thank you grandpa".

"Alex, skip school today let's go out today", said John joyfully. John wanted to visit the amusement park with Alex , but he had to do some preparations for it , he brought some really good stuff to make him seem young as it can so that he can access every ride with Alex .

John and Alex took the old bike outside , Alex was getting big for the side car , bug he still managed to settle in comfortably. Everyone looked at them weirdly when John rode with Alex on the old rustbucket . Alex and John were not minding them as they were too busy enjoying the ride and no one could recognise them as they were wearing helmets.

John and Alex had their breakfast at one of the best restaurants and went for the biggest amusement park in the city. They got their tickets and went in and enjoyed every ride there was , John acted as if he was the same age as Alex when going through the rides. They shouted as loud as they could everytime the Ferris wheel went up and down and they felt the tingling feeling in their stomach. They enjoyed every bit of the amusement park and had a pretty good day.

After the amusement park ,John brought Alex to the theatre , it was the first time Alex was going to the movies so he was pretty excited. After the movies , they had their dinner at a streetfood shop and made their way home . It was the best day Alex had experienced so far in his life and his best birthday.

The next day Alex went to school as a very joyful teenager. Alex had a very interesting school life .Alex's blacksmithing was not the only thing that was impressive about him. He excelled in everything he did. Whether it be his studies, club activities or sports , he aced them all. He had only one small problem . He was not really good with children his age and neither was he good with his communication skills.

He was an introvert, an extreme one at that. He would come to school and sit at the corner of the class. Listen to all the class , answer questions awkwardly, eat his lunch doesn't bother others , goes to his club activities and then goes home. He didn't have a lot of friends , there were people who would talk with him, but he didn't have someone whom he could call as a friend.

But whenever he does club activities he was a bit different, it was the only time he talked to his peers, and the talking would not go more than a sentence , often ended with a word at times. But he was really talkative with his instructors and made sure to approach them if he had any doubts of any sorts or any problems in their teachings.

Years passed by and somehow John had reached eighty . He was not the same person as before , he couldn't lift any heavy weights , but he could still move around , talk , cook and teach Alex . He had nearly reached a point where he couldn't teach Alex anymore. He had learnt everything from him.

John's skin had become more wrinkled and his old age was showing up. His hair had become as grey as the silver cloud and his strength was getting less day by day.

Alex had turned seventeen and was an ace in the school. He still didn't find any true friend.

Every year he chose a different club activity and he always excelled in it, so far he had joined the track and field club, archery club, cycling club, football club, swimming club and the music club.He also learned taekwondo and made sure that he had completely mastered it.

He represented the school that he studied in 'Alpha International School' in all sports in different levels and made sure to win a medal. It was as if everything he touched he excelled in it. Everyone had a high amount of respect for him and the pricipal and the teachers acknowledged him , and his subtle, introvert, humble and gentle nature made him a celebrity among people of all genders.

When John found that he had nothing left to teach Alex , he sought out ways to help Alex learn something new. Alex had also mastered cooking and was a pretty great cook .

John finally found something that could really help Alex. John knew Alex was too shy to connect with people, afterall it was the only drawback that he heard from his teachers during the parent teachers meeting.

"Alex is too good at everything, but he is too silent in class , he doesn't interact much with his peers, he sometimes avoid them completely , if this is left unattended it can really harm him and his future eventhough it is too bright, he won't have the help of others during difficult time", this was the comment the principal had made about Alex recently when he had called John to talk about the achievements he made and how it made everyone in the school proud.

John had learnt that smartphones were really useful to connect people around the world. Alex didn't have a smartphone so far, John had bought a mobile phone just so he could talk with the vendors instead of meeting them directly. It was not a smart phone so it won't really be of any use to Alex, but he thought of buying Alex a new phone and thought that it would really help Alex .

John had purchased a new bike two years back that he was able to ride comfortably. That day John and Alex went to a nearby shop to buy a smartphone, Alex was totally against the idea of buying a smartphone as he felt that he didn't have a need for it. But John forced him and they ended up buying the latest "Tapple's" smartphone with all the advanced features in it.

Alex learned how to use the smartphone from the worker in the shop and everyone in the shop was looking at Alex strangely as if he was an alien . Alex was well build and handsome and he looked like a celebrity and when he said that he didn't know how to use a smartphone it suprised everyone.

John was looking at everyone and their looks were really annoying him. "Why haven't you people ever lived without smartphones", and the moment he said that everyone went back to their weeks as if they had never looked at them in the first place.

John didn't have much interactions with the people of this generation , but he did know how to make friends, but it was not suitable for Alex. John used to go to a bar, make friends on the counter , men can easily make friends in the good old days. You can't do the same now.

They returned home that day and Alex was going through it the entire day just so that he could figure out how to use it completely. The next day just before Alex could get to his high school his grandpa called him, "Alex I know I haven't forced you to do anything so far, you did everything on your own , I have never meddled with your life directly, but now I ask of you , no I force you Alex make some good friends, you will waste your life if you are lonely".