Chapter 1

Alex's POV

"Dad, are you sure this is going to work?" I finally asked after encountering endless rejections for six months. "What? Did I ask something wrong?" I asked my brother how was now glaring at me.

"If you can't help, at least shut your mouth, Alex," he ordered.

Ignoring him for a second, I made my way towards our dad's desk only to find him emerged in his work.

"Dad," I called and he looked at me through his reading glasses. "Look, it's been six months already. No one is ready to invest in this project. How long are we going to do this, huh?"

"Alex!" Ryan yelled at me from the other side of the room and that's when I lost the patience that I was holding back for the six months.

"Dude, can't you see that no one's ready to invest in this project. How long are we going to beat around the bush?" I turned my face towards Dad, who was now standing at his desk. "Dad, we all know this is not going to work then why are we wasting our time and energy on something so useless¬¬¬ —¬¬"

"Shut up, Alex!" Ryan slammed the files on the table as he made his way towards me, fuming with anger. "Do you know how important this project is for the company? Forget about the company, do you know how important this project is for Dad?"

"Ryan."

"Not this time, Dad," my brother told dad without removing his gaze from me. "He's not a little boy anymore."

"That's right. I'm not a little boy anymore and I can see how useless this project is—

"Do you have any other idea? Huh? Let's hear it," he asked, his grey eyes sucking my soul out. I said nothing.

"Tell me, Alex. Do you have a better plan?" His voice getting louder with each word but I was mute.

"Tell me!"

"NO!" I yelled out of anger and frustration.

He scoffed and tearing his eyes off me, he walked away. "Do you know what surprise me the most, Alex?" he said rolling his sleeves. "It's your confidence to call other things useless when you are just as worthless."

As much as I wanted to punch him in the face, I was quiet because, to be honest, we both going through the same situation. The only difference was the endurance, which I lacked.

Running my hand through my hair, I let out a sigh.

"Alex," Dad's calm voice caught my attention. "Come with me, let's get some fresh air. You too, Ryan," he called my brother.

"I'll be getting a call soon, Dad, you two can go. I'll join later."

Dad nodded and walked towards the door while I simply followed him.

We ended up on the terrace of our building. The view itself was refreshing. The sun was about to set and the wind was blowing which was slowly vanishing my stress but then again it also bothered me that we ended up wasting another day without doing anything.

I looked to my side and found my dad enjoying the scene. There was no hint of frustration, anger or worry on his face. He was as calm as millpond.

"Dad? "I called, he hummed in response. "How are you doing this?" I asked looking at him.

He let out a small chuckle. "Doing what?" he asked without looking at me.

"How are you holding everything back? Don't you feel discouraged?"

He simply smiled at my question which only triggered my annoyance.

"Dad this is not funny. I'm so—"

"Done with everything that all I want is to run away and never come back." He completed the sentence for me, while I just stared at him.

He then looked at me with my most comforting smile, "I know it's exhausting. I also feel the same way as you do. I also want to run away from all these problems and never come back. But then, I can't help asking myself, 'Is it the right thing to do?' 'How long will it last?' 'Do I have enough energy to run that far?' Then, I look at you and Ryan, doing your best without giving up. All the thoughts of running away just vanish away on their own. Do you know why?"

I shook my head.

"Because when I look at you and your brother a question pops in my head 'How can I do this to my boys? When they both are ready to face the problem then how can I give up on them? If I run away right now, then who is going to support them when they will fall?"

"Dad."

"Cade, I understand how you feel. I understand that you are tired. But ask yourself, 'Is it the right thing to do?' I know sometimes it gets too tough but you should know that running away is not a fair option. If you are tired of facing rejection so is your brother, so am I and so is everyone else at the company. But they are not giving up, because they still have hope that this project will work out. They all believe like any other problem this will also pass that's why they keep trying. If you give up on them and run away then they are going to lose their hope. Do you want that to happen?"

"Dad, I understand, I really do. But…"

"But what, Cade?" he asked softly.

"This project… I still think that this project is not going to work out. You see, I have only been trying for like six months but what about Ryan and you? You both have been trying to make this work out since when? One year or so? And there is still no result," I took a deep breath. "Our company is not ready to work on something this big right now. If we keep our financial position aside, even then we don't have enough resources to make this work. Here, finance is not the only issue, dad."

"You need to have patience, Cade, things will not always go the way you want them to be. There will be times when you will need to have patience." He gently held my shoulder, "You need to have faith in people you work with, son. You must trust and support them because you cannot always put yourself first. You should also think about the efforts others are putting in to make this workout."

"Dad—"

"I heard you, Alex and I respect your opinion but remember you are the one with the least experience. Believe me and your brother when we say this is going to work out, we are more experienced than you."

"I understand," I sighed out of defeat. He's right, I'm still new to this while he has seen the worst. "I'm sorry for reacting like that earlier. I was just too exhausted with everything."

"It's alright as long as you learnt something new, "he smiled. "Come on, it's getting late."

"DAD!" I heard Ryan.

He ran at us as if someone was chasing after him. His face was awfully red which made it obvious that he ran up here.

"What happened, son? Are you okay? Dad exclaimed out of worry and shock.

I quickly gave him a hand as he was fighting for breath.

"I'm…fine," he said between breaths.

"Are you crazy? You could have taken the elevator," I said as I helped with calm.

"I was in a hurry," he said as he stood straight. "Dad," he looked at dad with a wide smile.

"What happened?" dad asked him but instead of answering he hugged him.

"Dad," he began after releasing a minute-long hug. "I just got a call from, Raymond. Mr Ashworth wants to have a meeting with us regarding this project."

I couldn't believe my ears.

"W-what?" Dad laughed in disbelief. "When?"

"On Monday," Ryan told him. And this time it was dad who gave my brother a big hug.

This was the first time in months I've seen my dad and Ryan this happy. This was sure big news for all of us. After years of hard work finally, someone showed up to help and the fact that it is one of the topmost successful business firms makes it the happiest moment of life.