167 Chapter 167: Lonely

[Edward POV]

"Hmmm…It's still too soon. I want you to stay here longer, but I know you have a lot of work to do." Grandma Jules hugged me and said with teary eyes as I finished packing my stuff. 

Grandma and Grandpa usually slept early, but today, they stayed up until it was almost 10 o'clock just to spend more time with me. It made me have a warm feeling inside my chest, and even had me having second thoughts about staying here longer. 

Although, the drive to keep making more money killed that familial pull rather quickly to the point that the latter didn't even stand a chance to beg for its life. 

We were standing in front of the house, right by the SUVs, and my father's side of the family all had a sad look on their faces as they said their goodbyes. My grandma kept wrapping her arms around me, extremely reluctant to let me go.

"I'll take care of ACE for a while. When you find out about the law, then you can bring him to your place." My grandpa said as he held the leash on the puma. 

Ace– the name I'd given to the beast, was looking at me in a sad and pleading manner, as if she didn't want to stay with my grandpa.

I wanted to say, "Be My Son" to her as I adopted her, but she was a girl, and also a puma, so I stopped myself from doing so lest my family thought I was being crazy. 

I rubbed the puma's head and said, "Don't worry. My grandpa is a nice man. And my grandma makes a mean brisket." 

Ace's eyes glittered, and she didn't feel as dejected anymore. Maggie and Amy had reddish eyes as they were on the brink of tears.

"Ed. Don't wait another 3 years before you come back home, yeah?" Amy pleaded as she gave me a hug. I smiled as I stroked her hair before Maggie pounced on me and gave me a hug too.

"I'll come visit you when I go to…c-college." She muttered with some guilty conscience and was checking out the reactions of the people around her – especially her mom and dad.

I smirked and said, "College?"

Maggie quickly said, "Y-Y-Yeah. I'm going to go to College in California. Gosh Ed, what's with your memory? Why can't you remember that?"

"Oh. My bad, my bad." I muttered dismissively, "I guess my memory is quite bad nowadays. I remembered something about a contract, and 200 grand? I don't know. Maybe I should ask Uncle Jim-"

Maggie laughed fakely, "HAHAHAHAHAHA Very funny Ed! NOW GO HOME. QUICK!!" 

She pushed me from behind strongly to make me disappear. I just made a quick turn, causing her to push nothing and almost fall into the SUV. She glared at me poutingly but I ignored her and said my goodbyes to my Aunt and Uncles.

"I'm going to miss this place." Aunt Camila muttered with a sad tone. Grandma Jules patted her head lovingly and said, "Then, you should come again next time Camila. You're already part of the family."

My aunt showed a rare blush as she didn't have much of an experience with maternal love. She gave Grandma Jules a long hug before waving her goodbye with teary eyes. 

My dad however was acting like he always did. He only gave a handshake to his siblings and a cursory nod to his dad. But he couldn't escape my grandma's bear hug and was shaken a few times before she let him go.

"Byeee~ I'll come back for Thanksgiving~" I waved at my family from the open window of the SUV as the car drove away. I saw my grandma wiping her eyes, which made me feel a bit guilty.

"Hmm…I should focus on medicine for the next gacha. I want them to live a long life. Only then will they be able to enjoy the result of my work." I vowed internally.

It only took us 4 hours after leaving the ranch for us to get back to our home in California. The efficiency of the staff members with Frankie Dart's management allowed me to avoid wasting my time at the airport with any bureaucracy even to immediately get back to my house.

Following my order, she arranged a few paparazzis inside the airport. Not only did this action allow people to know that I was still alive, it also helped me with my media presence. 

Although, my aunt was a bit irritated by it.

"Getting back after a family trip? Edward Newgate's surprisingly charming family." My dad laughed after he read the new articles when we were having some tea in the kitchen.

My aunt was irritated because, the media was claiming her to be my mother. 

"I think you're not that angry at the mother proclamation, rather than the idea that you're married to this tubby chubby right?" I asked her teasingly. 

"Hey." My dad retorted quickly. "I've been losing a lot of weight."

"Yeah. Two more months, and I'm sure that you'll finally get rid of your beer belly. I do applaud your commitment to this. I was sure that you were going to give up midway, but I guess I was proven wrong." I said in a convincing manner.

My dad smiled wryly as he looked at me. Now, even if he wanted to quit, he couldn't.

"I'm going to sleep." He said pitifully. My aunt was still angry and then decided to go for a night ride. However, before she could pull out of the driveway, I hopped into the car and said, "Can I join?"

"Alright. Wear your seatbelt." She said with a smirk. Then, she drove at a high speed all across the city before we returned home when it was almost dawn. 

…

During noon, as I was working on a few projects inside the kitchen, I suddenly got the urge to look around the empty house.

"Can't believe that I'm missing those kids." I muttered with a sigh. I was already accustomed to Maggie and Amy's bickering and non-stop chatter. It made me feel a little bit lonely right now when I was left alone in the empty house.

My aunt went to pick up a few supplies from Calexico. She had a proper job now as she opened an auto shop that specialized in car modification. She had started to work on setting it up even before we went to Wisconsin, and needed to be finished with her store before the grand opening.

My dad wanted to stay at home, but I ordered him to go to the port as he was needed there, after all I had bought the ship he had fallen in love with – the one with the flaw in the engine, and right now a team of mechanics was currently working on getting that in order. I had actually figured out how to sort out the main issues a long time ago, but the manual labor needed to modify the ship was taking a long time, in fact I didn't even think it could be finished before summer end.

"Hmm…I can't focus." I stretched my arms upwards before leaving my laptop and going to the fridge since it was almost time for lunch, therefore I decided to fix a special treat for myself.

Unfortunately, there was nothing interesting in the fridge, so I could only make spaghetti with meatballs for lunch. 

A gush of loneliness suddenly blew all over me as I sat there eating alone as the warm memories of eating with my relatives surfaced in my mind. 

"Am I really missing them already? It's been less than a day? How is this possible?" I muttered to myself as I twirled the spaghetti. 

Before I went to Wisconsin, they were just a few memories and faces that I was terrified to meet. However, they had crawled their way into my heart and built a nest there. 

"I look forward to meeting them again. Although, if I really wanted to, I could just fly there." 

With a private jet, the distance between us didn't matter much. I heard a notification sound from my phone when I was finishing eating. I checked the group chat and smiled. 

Wolf Cub sent a picture : Pic.jpg. 

Enid sent a picture of her pointing towards a pack of wolves from afar with an excited look on her face. 

Edward: Meeting your relatives?

Wolf Cub: 😤😤😤(Angry Emoji) I will bring them all to California to EAT YOU!! 🐺🐺🐺

Edward: Go ahead, bring them. I'm not scared! 🐯

Edward: Pic.jpg

I sent a picture of me having a selfie with ACE- my adopted son– Pet. I meant Pet. 

Enid: 😱😱😱 (Surprised/Shocked emoji) 

Nun: Is that real? 

Nun: Pic.Jpg

Jenna sent a pic of her in a catholic schoolgirl outfit. Not the sexy kind. But her mom beside her with a deep chest cleavage and tight fitting clothes could induce a few nosebleeds among teenagers. 

Horny teen: 🥵🥵🥵 (Flushed.Emoji)

[Abraham was kicked out of the group by the admin.]

"What the-" I was surprised then chuckled a bit as I saw it.

Ice Queen: I kick him out first before his pervertness explodes!! 

Elsa then sent a picture of her with her family going on a trip together. 

GymBro: You look beautiful babe ~ 😍😍😍 

Jacob sent a picture of him shirtless and was doing pushups on the football field.

Emo girl: You're still training?

Billie appeared out of knowhere again. She kept her online status private so people never knew if she even read the messages. 

GymBro: My dad won't let me rest. Help! 

We laughed reacted for a while before Alex entered the chat with a picture of her dad wearing a little orphan Annie outfit.

My Spy: Edward!! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!!

I laughed out loud in real life until my stomach hurt. As I was wheezing, I replied to Alex.

Edward: I want to see more photos!!

My Spy: NEVERRRRR!!!!

Then, she sent a picture of her with wet clothes– captured from when she was doing a physical challenge inside the family camp where they had to swing from a rope across a pit. She sent a good picture of her, but her sister privately sent me another version of the photo. In that version, clearly, she fell into the pit. She even fell face first so there was a lot of dirt on her skin.

My Spy: I'm done with Family Camp.

Edward: Put some ice on it to prevent getting swollen. 

At the time Alex sent me her picture, Haley also sent a sexy picture of her tying her shirt to reveal her belly button and paired with a booty short while she was resting inside her family's dorm room. 

Haley pretended to have cramps to avoid the physical activities– a trick that Alex wished she would've thought of sooner before getting dragged by her mom and dad to participate.

I texted Haley: When are you getting back?

Comet: Why? You miss me already?

Edward: A little bit, and also I need to confirm your place for the concert tickets.

Comet: Ah, right! That…

I was fixated on the chat group for a while and ended up dragging my work on for an hour. But I did get back to it soon. I wonder what the people I was texting would feel if they knew my nickname for them. 

Claire was nicknamed 'OCD1' while Frankie was 'OCD2'. Phil was the 'Magician', Gloria was 'ColombianCartel', Jay was put 'ClosetsClosetsClosetsClosets' – a name that I knew he would kill me if he saw it.

Mitch and Cam were 'Queen' and 'Queener', while Pepper was the 'Queenest'. I didn't think much when I was doing the nicknames, and was too lazy to change them. 

"Let's see. The gala is tomorrow." I muttered to myself as I checked my schedule. "I need to make sure that my outfit is finished. It's a Fashion Gala after all…"

"I wonder what Taylor is going to wear tomorrow?"

…

[General POV]

It was a hot California summer day. The port was filled with visitors trying to book a cruise trip and plan for activities for the day. The hustling and bustling at the port however, brought a headache to the lone manager working at the Whitebeard Tourism Industry.

Frankie Dart shouted calmly to the long line of people queueing in front of the office, "We're already booked for the entire summer. You CAN check out the trip date at our website."

"Why don't you expand?!" A voice shouted from the crowd. Frankie was taken aback for a while before saying, "We don't have enough captains– Okay, I know that you guys have woken up early to queue, so we won't let you go back empty handed. Here, take this consolatory bread and coffee from us."

The crowd finally relented after that and dispersed. Frankie wiped her non-existing sweat before smiling at the woman next to her, "Another day, another issue right Dina?"

"Do we really have no more prospective captains?" Dina asked.

Frankie shook her head, "We have. But we cannot expand the scale here. There's no more docking space for the ships."

In Entertain Company, Harvey had yet another headache.

"It's a nice day outside, don't you think so Mr Bruce?" Harvey said with a slight sarcastic tone to the FBI agent sitting in front of her office desk.

Bruce chuckled a bit before saying seriously, "Well I'm sorry Ma'am. But this is a matter of national security. I need confirmation as soon as I can."

"Basically you want backdoors to the apps to monitor potential threats. You want to do it yourself, but you CAN'T cause Edward encrypted everything for privacy."

Bruce smiled wryly as Harvey stared at him menacingly. However, Harvey leaned forward and joined her hands together before staring at him right in the eyes.

"Edward also predicted this. Laws about internet communications are full of loopholes, so he wants to keep his product's clean for as long as humanly possible and he gave me clear guidelines on ways to do so. First, you need to get an official investigation document for us to open up the backdoor to a target's chat logs-"

"That won't work-"

"Let me finish." Harvey stopped Bruce from speaking. "I know what you think, and I didn't mean a judge's warrant. We just need an official letter from you asking us to cooperate, and proof that we had complied with the request."

Bruce was a bit puzzled, "Why?"

"We have our reasons." Harvey said dismissively as she leaned back on the chair. 

"Does this include all the apps, or just the Whatsapp app?" Bruce asked.

Currently Entertain holds ownership over 3 social networking service apps and 1 mobile game. LinkedIn, Instagram, Whatsapp, and the Flappy Birds games.

Some of the apps currently in development were the Entertain Video Streaming app– which was basically Netflix in 2020, Angry Birds mobile game– to continue Edward's bird based game legacy, as well as another game called Temple Run. 

More than 1000 people were now hired by the company, which expanded the company's business greatly. 

"Depends on what you need. As long as there's an official letter from you guys, we will cooperate." Harvey said in a tired voice. 

She was hired to be the head of the legal team, which was a promotion from her job as head of the Entertain Entertainment Company legal team. Currently, she was regretting the promotions as even though the salary was great, the job kept piling up endlessly which made her can't catch a break. 

Edward needed to ensure one party didn't throw another party under the bus before he did it. Sometimes, too tight of a security would be a problem. That's why he was complying with the FBI – but he would still keep them under his supervision. 

Humans always fear the unknown, that included things out of their control. So it stood to reason that the government would want some control over his apps, and he would comply, as long as they gave him some benefits. 

This was an example of compromise. However, there were still a few people that were determined to destroy anything out of their control. Such as, a teenage pop star that signed an 'iron clad' contract early in her career when she wanted to break free, something that said company couldn't stand and thus would give her an ultimatum. 

Taylor was sitting in front of the devilishly good-looking vice director of her entertainment agency. Her face was pale, and her eyes were reddish.

The Vice-Director said cockily, "Yes. You can break the contract. It's in your right to do so. Just as we have the right to hold back 'your' album, and restrict your camera appearances during the whole negotiation process plus… Don't you remember what you signed? The album is actually already ours so not only do we get to do all that but we also OWN the masters. Add to that the fact that during said process we also hold purview over anything else you might write and I guess you can see how things stand already."

"And sure maybe MAYBE you can get out in the end but even then… How long would that take? 2 years? Five? Will people even remember you by then?"

"You SURE were prepared to get help from a third party, I admire you for that. I didn't even notice the hidden clause until it went and bit me in the ass." The Vice-Director stood up, buttoned his suit and walked next to Taylor. 

He sat at the edge of her chair and put his hand on her shoulder. As she was becoming wary, he grabbed her chin and made her look him right in the eye, "Love? The media is really stupid. How can they not see how greedy you are? You just want to go to Entertain because they gave you more money."

"That's not-"

"And Edward sure is eye-candy. But as long as I pay a little bit more money, I can twist up your relationship with him, painting you as a predator, ruin your reputation, and also your career."

"Why are you doing this?" Taylor broke into tears.

The Vice Director chuckled a bit and released her chin. He stood up and walked to the window, "Because…If I can't have something, I'd rather destroy it then to let others have it."

"So choose Taylor. Love, or your Career?" He turned and looked at her with an evil grin, his gaze carried no trace of remorse for what he was doing.

Taylor gripped the edge of her shirt tightly until her hands were pale. Her eyes shook, and she thought for a while.

"I will give you an answer, after the Gala." She said to the Vice-Director before walking out of the office.