Chapter 55: Working hard. 

[3rd Person POV]

Inside of Jay's car.

As the family drove home from Claire's house, Gloria asked with a dissatisfied expression, "You see him not smiling much? He must've missed his mother."

She turned her face to look at Jay who was sighing as he heard the same statement more than 10 times today.

Jay spoke calmly, "Maybe he's just mature. At a certain point in your life, a surprise birthday party just seemed boring."

Gloria pursed her lip in dissatisfaction and said, "What if I'm right Jay? Huh? What if he's feeling….bad-"

"Depressed." Manny interjected to give Gloria the word.

"Yes. That." Gloria nodded to thank Manny before staring at Jay again.

"What do you want me to do then?" He said, admitting defeat. Gloria finally smiled and said, "You don't have to do much. Just invite him to our house and let him know we would always be there for him."

Jay retorted, "Well… Always is such a long time…"

Gloria glared at him, causing him to change his words, "Always it is."

-Dunphy's house-

In the kitchen, Claire and Phil both in their robes were drinking warm milk before going to bed.

"I'm telling you Claire. Something is bothering him. He faked a smile the entire time he was here." Phil said with some concern in his voice.

"Faked a smile? Really?" Claire scrunched her face in disbelief before sipping the warm milk in the mug while holding the cup with both hands. "He's not a tv series main character."

"He could be if he wants to." Phil retorted.

Claire sighed and said, "I guess something is bothering him. I'm going to talk to him to find out what."

[Edward POV]

After I went home from my 'surprise' party, I turned on my laptop and continued working on my mobile game in development – Flappy Bird. My fingers tapped the keys on the keyboard with high speed as a result of my enhanced dexterity.

"Nice. Adding Parallel Thinking to the equation, I think I can finish a 5000 word essay in just an hour."

A pixelated yellow bird was flying on the screen while passing the hurdles smoothly as my finger tapped the 'UP' key on my laptop without missing a beat.

"The time estimate for the game to complete can be cut down to this Friday. Then, I can do the alpha test for the game...that is… the mobile version."

The basics for the game had already finished. As I based the game on the original Flappy Bird, I managed to skip the pre-development, research, character designs, world-building – not that this was necessary, and fixed a few criticisms people had on the game.

"Not only was it branded the most frustrating game when it was launched, the addiction when playing the game became uncontrollable that a trend of people destroying their phone after losing the game went viral. I need to make sure to avoid these types of things while maintaining the ads revenue for the game."

Sipping my cup of coffee, I brainstormed ideas on how to combat the addiction to the game by writing on a piece of paper.

"Let see…Should I code the energy feature for people to play? Like in every 10 tries, they need to wait for the energy level to be filled up first before playing again."

To die in the game was effortless, therefore people would keep trying until hours for them to beat their own high score. If I used the energy feature to start the game, people's interest in the game would lessen, and the revenue I was aiming for would be threatened.

"Or, should I increase the sensitivity of the bird's motion? I guess I need to get data from various groups for this one if they found the game was too hard. I will do it during beta testing then."

I rubbed my chin in contemplation while mumbling, "Flappy Bird was released during the time smartphone usage became widespread. Should I really release the game now?"

To release the game early would bring me premature reactions from the game players in the world. Although the game wasn't banned, the extreme reactions from the game caused the owner of the game to feel guilty about it and deleted it from Apple Store and Google Play Store.

"Although…He might feel guilty 'cause people were accusing him of ripping off the game from another Helicopter game. So who knows what the real reason was."

After trying to rationalize my decision, I finished my work on the game at 2 am before getting to sleep.

…

"Good Morning Ed." Dad said as he stood by the coffee pot and poured a cup of coffee for himself. "Another late night?"

"Yeah." I replied as I took out some ingredients to make a sandwich for myself before going to school.

"Your Aunt called and wished you a happy birthday. She said she will try to stop by soon before going back to Cuba." Dad said as he sat on the kitchen counter.

"My hot aunt? Sure, stop by anytime she wants." I said playfully while Dad narrowed his eyes at me.

"Oh dad, I need to go to Pritchett's Closet after school. Can you pick me up there when you get home from work? I wouldn't want to make Abby wait for me until I finish my job."

"You're…the most busy 14 year old I've ever met. Rest a little. Go out and have fun." Dad said in a concerned tone.

"I'm okay. I will rest when I earn enough to rest comfortably for the rest of my life." I replied with a smirk.

"Ah. Wait a minute." Dad said before he stood up from his seat and rushed to get the mail out of his bag.

"This is a letter from your Grandma and Grandpa. They couldn't wait for you to come stay with them in the summer."

Scratching my cheek, I said, "That's still going on?"

"Just for the summer. We don't have to move now. You have already saved the business, and you also need to stay here in California for your music career. You will only stay for a month instead of the whole summer, so I will let you pick the date for you to go there."

My apprehension on staying with my grandparents wasn't because they didn't treat me well.

'But there isn't any wifi over there, nor is the cellular connection great. Grandpa barely used the telephone and Grandma never learned to use it in her entire life. There really isn't much to do around the ranch. I will be bored to death there.'

"Why don't I just stay there for a week?" I negotiated.

"A month." Dad replied.

"10 days."

"3 weeks."

"2 weeks."

"3 weeks."

"15 days."

"3 weeks."

I sighed as I knew my dad wasn't going to budge on this one. As I was racking my brain to convince my dad, he said, "You haven't met them in 2 years as you need to attend summer school every time. They really miss you."

"Alright. 3 weeks." I finally admitted my defeat while Dad flashed a soft smile.

After school was over, Abby drove me to Pritchett's Closet as promised.

"Don't wait up." I said to her as I got out of the car. "My dad will pick me up later."

"That's it? Where is the driver's fee? And Gas money?" Abby said playfully while holding her palm out to get money from me.

"Where is my programming lesson fee? Two people can play this game." I said as I pinched her palm lightly.

"Hey!" Abby chuckled before driving away.

Inside the company, I was surrounded by most of the office workers in the meeting room as they wanted to watch me set up the new website and also to badger me while I was working.

"Hey, did you have Taylor's phone number?"

"Can I get your autograph?"

"Are you and Taylor dating?"

"MOVE. MOVE." Jay's assistant, Margaret chased out the annoying flies from the meeting room to let me work in peace.

"Thanks." I said to her. She nodded and sat next to me to try and study the new website.

At the top of the website, the screens were alternating with the closet designs that I received from Jay. I asked him to give me pictures that were magazine worthy to be included, and the website displayed the professionalism of the company.

Visitors that registered their details in the website would also be entitled for a free closet consultation, which was a free service for potential customers in the first place

"Custom closet as unique as you are?" Margaret's eyes twinkled in excitement as she saw the options on the new website.

"That's just the tagline." I replied. "You guys can keep it if you want, and change it if you come out with better slogans."

"No honey, the one you make is good enough." Margaret said while patting my head. Then, she gave me a lollipop again. I took it without hesitation and ate it while I continued working.

It took me an hour to finish setting up the new defense system and linking the website to the company's system. Not only did the details of the customers were kept in a tight vault, I had also cleared a tremendous amount of viruses from all of the computers inside the office.

"Why did you guys have so much? Did all of you watch porn on your computer while working here?" I asked the IT guy in confusion.

"*Ehem*....Maybe…" The fat IT guy with a full beard replied.

Jay walked into the meeting room as Margaret notified him I had finished the job wearing a black blazer as he was coming here as a company owner.

"Here, I put in something extra as you did a hell of a great job. Your level of expertise could kick several companies out of business if you opened up your own."

"Maybe in the future." I said with a lollipop in my mouth. "About the patent details, my lawyer is supposed to be here at any moment. Would you like to see the technology first?"

"Whisper Glide right? Let me see it."

[Jay's commentary]

"I will make sure to be critical in judging his work and invention. I'm not doing this to leverage the condition in our negotiation, but if he wants to try out in the closet industry, he will need a tough mentality to get him through it. It's a tough industry to jump into without proper conviction."

[Commentary ends]

The more I showed Jay about the whisper glide technology and the sock-and-roll mechanism, his initial smiling face turned into a solemn one and he listened to every word I said while chiming in here and there.

"So. What do you think? Is this good enough?" I asked him with a sly smile.

[Jay's commentary.]

"He…is a closet industry genius. When we discussed the closet together, he gave me such a warm feeling inside… as if… he was like a son I'd never had."

Jay then laughed and said, "With this. Expo Internationally Du Closet would be within reach. Now, we're no longer underneath the foot of the titans of the industry. We're now…The Titans of the Industry! "

[Commentary ends]

"It's great." Jay replied curtly before standing up from his seat. "I need to make a call to change the contract details."

"Sure. Harvey is already here. Therefore we can start the negotiation." I said. Jay nodded before he rushed out of the room while calling someone.

While we were at the meeting, I also shared a few ways for Jay's company to exploit the green tax when changing their company trucks into hybrid trucks, and still come out ahead in profit and maintenance.

The meeting took a long time and intense discussion before the agreement was finalized. I also received 100,000 dollars from the company after we signed the patent agreement as down payment.

In the agreement, I would be entitled to 5% profits from the sales using my technology. It was a high percentage that Jay graciously agreed to, which surprising both me and Harvey.

[Jay's commentary.]

"I noticed something during the meeting. He's not looking to take advantage of my company, nor was he aiming for my money. He's trying to help me grow my company in ways that I had ignored before, and even gave the company a new direction. That kid is a genius through and through."

Then, Jay sighed and said, "For him to work extremely hard to help my company without looking for much in return…I guess Gloria is right, he is a little depressed. Or, he lacked the affection of a father figure that he was trying hard to prove his worth to others. Therefore, I will help him out too, as he has helped me."

[Commentary ends.]

"Hey Kid. You watch football?" Jay asked me as I sent Harvey away to handle the contract.

I remember I still had the football training memories from my first gacha prize that I haven't opened yet.

"Sometimes." I replied honestly. I wasn't a true fan of the sport and only watched it in a social gathering before.

"Good. There will be a match this Sunday. Illinois versus Ohio State. Why don't you come by my house to watch it? Gloria had been wanting to invite you to the house for some time now."

"Sure. I will check with Pepper first cause I don't know when he will call me to make the music video. I will confirm it with Manny later."

"Okay." Jay replied curtly before he drove me home after calling my dad to tell him not to come by.

"Are you hungry?" Jay asked.

"A little bit." I replied.

We went to a restaurant and I met with the waitress, Maxine, a 55 years old kind lady who was a close friend of Jay. Her hair was tied up in a bun, and she was a really friendly person that wasn't stingy with her hugs.

She spoke with a slight southern accent while getting our order, "Who's this? One of yours? He's too handsome to come from your family, so did ya kidnap him?"

Jay laughed and said, "Believe it or not, He's my business partner."

"Really? How old are you, kid? 16? 17? " Maxine asked.

"He's 14." Jay replied before I could, shocking Maxine greatly.

"Really? Wow, you must be some kind of genius." Maxina said and patted my shoulder softly. Her gaze turned menacing as she turned to Jay, "You didn't exploit him because he's a minor right?"

Jay scoffed and said, "If I dared to do that, Gloria would kill me."

"Well…It will happen sooner or later, so it doesn't matter much I guess." Maxine teased Jay while I laughed at the joke. We talked for a while and I introduced myself before we ordered. Maxine returned with our sandwiches 5 minutes later and sat next to Jay as they talked for a bit.

"Take a picture of him and put it on the wall. He's an artist too. He will surely be a famous person someday." Jay advised Maxine.

"Really? Can I do that Ed?" Maxine turned toward me with an excited twinkle in her eyes.

"Yes. He even did a concert last Sunday." Jay added again.

"I don't mind." I replied to Maxine.

"Wait. Let me get the camera!" Maxine stood up quickly and rushed to the cashier table before getting out an old school camera.

"Smile." She said as she snapped the photo. Her action caused the people around to be interested in who was at the table.

"Wait. Is that Edward?" A random man said to his wife.

"Who?" his wife asked.

"You know, the one who sings the duet with Taylor." The man explained. The wife finally recognized me from the videos on Youtube. Not only them, but a few more tables had the same reaction as that random husband and wife and people started to chatter among themselves while pointing at me.

"Ahh…I had disturbed your dinner. I should've done that when you're leaving." Maxine said in guilt.

"No need Maxine. I need to adapt to this, so it's good that it happened." I said while waving dismissively to let her know it wasn't a big deal.

Maxine smiled and said, "You're a good kid."

"Right?" Jay added. Maxine then said, "Don't hang out with Jay so much. You'll only learn bad things."

Jay almost spit out the coffee he was drinking while I laughed again.

That night as I settled my accounts, I realized that I had made more than 200,000 dollars in my first month in this new world.

"130,000 dollars from Pritchett's Closet, 80,000 dollars from the concert. I should invest this money somewhere." I muttered as I opened up the stock market websites. I got extra money from the concert from the impromptu performance of the song paid for by the organizer instead of Taylor.

"Despite searching for so long, I still couldn't believe that no one had actually created bitcoin in this world." I muttered with some dissatisfaction as I searched for some familiar company in the stock exchange.

"Not only that, there aren't any school shootings, bullying in school is less than usual, literacy rate in students are higher, and rent around California wasn't overblown."

It wasn't as if the issues were hidden as there wasn't any news coverage on them, but the world was truly more stable than my previous world.

"Is it because I'm in a sitcom? Anyway, that's a good thing for me. I guess I don't have to wear a bulletproof vest to school." I muttered as I listed a few stocks that I had my eyes on.

"I need to open up a trading account first."

I keep the list inside my bag before going to sleep that night.

"Wait. Should I open up the memory now?" I muttered as I laid on the bed.

"I guess it won't hurt to do it now." I shrugged my shoulders before falling asleep.