[Edward POV]
I stood in front of my group of friends in the living room while all of the adult guests were having a conversation by the pool. Pepper was letting me rest after my live session, which I really needed.
But at the same time, I also had the feeling that he was sending me away so he could talk behind my back. There were no microphones by the poolside either so I couldn't get Robin to listen to what they were saying.
"So, no one among you guys actually brought a gift to my housewarming party?" Edward looked at his friends in disbelief while they could only smile wryly.
"Oh, I did." Alex said while raising her hand halfway, surprising the others. They looked at her as if she's a traitor and barraged her with accusation.
"HEY! No one even knows it's a housewarming party! This is unfair! I demand a do-over!" Enid said aggrieved. Alex was startled and taken aback as everyone else agreed with Enid.
"Yeah Alex. That is a pretty selfish thing to do." Jacob reprimanded, but had a teasing smile on his face.
Jenna joined in, "How could you let us out to hang like that." She turned towards Elsa and she nodded in agreement before shooting a disappointed look at Alex.
"Wait–" Alex tried to explain herself, but even her boyfriend joined in. Finneas teased, "I didn't think you were this kind of person Alex. This makes me wanna rethink our whole relationship–"
"Listen to me!" Alex exclaimed in frustration. "I didn't bring a gift in the beginning, but he said in his live he's going to read the Percy Jackson books. My dad texted me about the housewarming and what kind of things he might like. I asked him to buy the books on my behalf. I DID NOTHING WRONG!"
I looked at Alex teasingly as she tried to catch a breath and said, "Well, you could've told them what you were doing. Then, they could've asked your dad to buy the gifts on their behalf too. So the blame is still on you."
"Yeah! It's all Alex's fault!" Enid teased as she grabbed Alex's hand and hugged it. "Ugh! Get off me! You guys all hate me!"
Everyone laughed and started to placate her while I was still looking at her with a disappointed and accusing expression. "I will throw your books into the ocean!" Alex threatened as she saw my gaze.
I clicked my tongue and said, "Don't encourage pollution of the oceans Alex. Didn't they teach us better than that at school? Mrs Henderson would be so disappointed."
Alex was speechless, so she just stomped her feet and walked away angrily. I laughed and told Finneas, "Mr Boyfriend. Go and calm her down."
"Why?" Finneas asked, confused.
I looked at him with disbelief and said slowly, "Because…It's your job?...You do know what a boyfriend's job is, right?"
"Ah..Shit!" Finneas rushed to follow Alex immediately. Jenna was intrigued and she asked while walking closer to me, "What is a boyfriend's job exactly?"
"If you wanna know, you need to get one." I replied playfully, dodging the question. Jenna widened her eyes in disbelief, nearly sighing, but caught herself just in time.
"Jerk." Jenna muttered underneath her breath.
"Hmm? What was that? Ah by the way, how did you do on your test?" I asked her casually.
Jenna suddenly broke into a huge grin and said, "Remember when you told me that you would take me out on a date if I placed first in the grade?"
I was taken aback for a bit and smiled anticipatingly, "Yeah. I remember. Why? Are you top of the class?"
"Nope. But she's close to getting there. Maybe she will get there in 10 years." Elsa suddenly chimed in as she walked past us.
Bewildered, Jenna shoots an 'Are you serious' look at her bestie. Elsa giggled and then returned to her boyfriend's side. I patted Jenna's shoulder and said comfortingly, "Tough luck. Try again next time."
"HEY! Don't look at me with pity! Get that expression away. Put it away!" She waved her hands angrily in front of my face. I held back my laughter and went to the couch to sit. Enid slid over next to Jenna and whispered before both of them giggled.
"What are you guys laughing about?" Billie asked with curiosity.
"We're just talking. Maybe, we should go to Ed's room." Jenna muttered slyly. I turned towards her in confusion, and then Enid continued, "So we can search for porn mags. His stuff is still in boxes, so we can find it easily."
Billie blushed and she turned towards me before asking, "Did you keep…um… 'it'..I mean, read–"
I smiled and replied, "Why would I? You guys can go search if you want."
"Let's go!" Enid said excitedly and stood up while pulling Jenna and Billie to stand up too. The trio went to tour my house in excitement, even Elsa and Alex joined them later on.
Finneas, Jacob and I were left behind in the living room. Jacob excitedly told me about the football team training, and Finneas was talking about a new song he had written.
"You know, maybe I should just get homeschooled like you." Finneas muttered. Jacob turned towards him and scolded, "No you can't! Ed had already, barely come to school nowadays. If you were homeschooled too, then I would really be alone next year."
"But, you have the football team!" Finneas retorted.
"Pfft- Why are you being so dramatic?" I laughed at Jacob. We talked and caught up for a while, and mainly both of them were unloading their aggrievance of their girlfriends on me. I looked at them with a sour face and asked irritatedly, "Are you guys bragging on me right now?"
Both of them smiled teasingly and said, "Maybe."
"Hey Ed." Selena suddenly walked into the living room and called out to me. Both of them froze in place, and I smirked seeing their reaction. I patted the empty seat next to mine and said, "Hi Selena. Sit here."
"Um. I was wondering if I could talk to you in private." Selena said as she smiled at Jacob and Finneas for a second before turning back towards me.
"Alright." I agreed and turned towards the boys. "Get lost."
"Hey! You could just politely ask us to leave!" Finneas retorted and he hit my arm. I returned the hit, and we had a short skirmish there before both of them went to find the girls.
Selena sat next to me, and she was close enough that her knees were touching mine. She placed her hand on my thigh and asked me worriedly, "Hey. You know Vanessa is a mess, right?"
"I know." I nodded in agreement. Selena asked, "So? Are you really signing her with your agency? What about Taylor? Does she know about it?"
"Hmm?" Sensing that there was something more behind her questioning, I asked, "What does Taylor have to do with this?"
"I mean, I know what happened between you guys." Selena replied timidly. "Are you already moving on right now? With Vanessa?"
"I think you misunderstood the situation. There is no way that anything will ever happen between me and Vanessa." I replied.
Selena furrowed her eyebrow and replied, "You don't know that–"
"As a matter of fact, I do know about it." I leaned in and whispered to her ear, making her blush, "You see, last night, she puked on my shirt. So 'We'..are never going to happen. I won't ever be able to forget about that. Seriously, you have more of a shot than she does."
Selena looked at me with a dumbfounded gaze, and her breathing became heavier. Suddenly, Pepper rushed into the living room with some guests following him from behind. Selena snapped out of it and then rushed away quickly. " I'm going to talk to Haley."
"Ed! Look who's here!" Pepper said excitedly as I stood back up. I laughed at Selena's reaction before turning my attention towards the guests.
The two men began to introduce themselves. "Hi. I'm Brendon–"
"Brendon Beck, and Marc Marill. Nice to finally meet you." I said as I shook hands with both of them. They smiled in amazement and Marc said, "Wow, you're really ARE incredible." They watched the performance before this, and were thoroughly impressed by my singing skills.
I smiled smugly and said, "I know. Why don't we sit in the kitchen? We can talk over there. My dad doesn't want any liquor in the house but I'm pretty sure if we look hard enough, we can find Max's hidden stash. "
Brendon raised his hands up and rejected, "Oh that's alright. We-" He shot a glance at Marc before continuing, "We just wanted to meet you today. That's all."
Marc added, "Yeah. It's only for that….except-"
I interjected them quickly as I could sense what they wanted, "You wanted to see what the game currently looks like, right? Don't be afraid to just be direct with me."
Marc and Brendon smiled apologetically and said, "Well, you did make a copy of the source code. It's been 2 weeks, and the game is going to be launched, REALLY soon. So forgive us if this is a difficult request."
"Oh, not at all." I waved my hand dismissively and said, "How about this, I'll send the game to you guys tonight. I wanted to do it right now, but I don't have my laptop with me."
"That's fine. Really. Also, we aren't really trying to pressure you at all." Marc clarified.
Both of them harbored their own reservations about the game and held some doubts regarding my abilities. However, they were keen on ensuring that I, as the owner of the company, had a positive impression of their work. They understood the significance of my investment, which amounted to a staggering 60 million dollars. Flattering my ego was undoubtedly part of their strategy.
In all honesty, it was clear that their own skills fell short in comparison to mine. Marc and Brendon were businessmen, not game developers. They had hired a team to create the game on their behalf. However, when I received the nearly completed game they had produced, it was evident that it fell short in terms of quality compared to their competitors.
(Note: You can independently verify this by researching the release of League of Legends in 2009.)
Thankfully, Robin and I had already taken the initiative to make significant improvements to the game. It now closely resembled the League of Legends game from my memories, and Robin's expertise had breathed new life into the source code. Redundant code had been eliminated, and the gameplay had been enhanced with a higher level of intelligence.
Pepper stood by my side, casting a sarcastic glance at the departing figures of Marc and Brendon. "Oh boy, they still think they're in charge, huh?" he remarked.
"That's right. Reality hasn't quite hit them yet," I whispered back to Pepper. He snorted in agreement and said, "Hand me the game, and I'll personally show it to them. I can't wait to see the expressions on their faces."
"Sure thing. Robin will send it to you via email. Just remember to make a copy on a pendrive before giving it to them," I instructed.
"Alright. Oh, and one more thing, Hudgens? Really?" Pepper looked at me with a mix of incredulity and curiosity. I chuckled and responded, "What? Do you think she's some big star? She's currently broke and without any job offers."
Pepper asked, "What about BandSlam?" referring to Vanessa's new movie. Despite being a good film, it didn't perform well at the box office. So she's still broke.
"Eh," I shrugged in response. Then I turned to Pepper and asked, "Where's my housewarming gift?"
"To be honest, I didn't even know this was going to turn into a housewarming party. I'll send the gift soon. Is there anything specific you want?" Pepper asked with a kind smile.
"A blanket would be nice," I replied. Pepper nodded and waited for a moment, but then he seemed puzzled. "That's it?"
"Yeah, I don't need much. Oh, if you can find me a nice ceramic pot, that would be great too."
"A pot or a blanket? Come on! Be a kid! Ask for something ridiculous!" Pepper exclaimed, his frustration evident. "Shoes! Games! A CAR! Don't you want a new car!?"
"Eh," I shrugged once again. I didn't really care for any of those things. Pepper rubbed his temples, clearly getting a headache. After some negotiating, he finally managed to convince me to agree on an expensive electric guitar as my gift.
"Why is it so difficult to settle on just one gift? You know what? I shouldn't have asked in the first place. I should've just surprised you," Pepper muttered, exasperated.
Half an hour later, I walked all over the party and made small talks with the company employees and guests. The sight of me getting into my professional character thoroughly shocked my friends though. They thought I was faking it the whole time– in which they were not 100% wrong.
As I was walking by the pool, suddenly I heard someone calling me. Phil waved his hand excitedly as he arrived with Claire, Jay and Gloria, "Hey Ed! We're here!"
Gloria rushed over and hugged me apologetically, "Ay Ed! I'm soo sorry I missed your show. Manny is with his father, so I have no idea how to watch it."
Jay added, "Yeah kid. I'm sorry too."
As Gloria was hugging me by pulling my head right into her chest, I replied with a muffled voice, "No. It's fine. It's REALLY fine."
Claire gave me her gift soon after. It was in a paper gift bag with ribbons on it. "Oh, thank you Claire." I said as I picked up the bag.
"Open it now." She said excitedly.
"Oh, Okay." I replied and opened up the bag. Inside, there was a black hoodie, but it seemed a bit childish. Regardless, I smiled and said, "Thank you Claire."
"Do you like it? I thought really hard about what to give you." Claire muttered. However, I caught Phil holding himself back from saying something.
[Phil's commentary]
"Claire…is the world's worst gift giver ever. I recommended her to get things Edward will enjoy, but all she cares about is getting him something warm for the fall."
[Claire's commentary]
"I'm really glad he likes the gift. He's been wearing a lot of thicker clothes these days, so I had a feeling that a hoodie would be a great choice."
[Commentary ends]
Then, I saw my dad talking with Frankie and the rest of the ship's crew by the veranda where they could oversee the ocean. Despite being major alcoholics, none of the ship's crew brought a drink with them today as they knew my dad's condition. They toasted to my dad– who managed to fulfill the dream of every sailor in the world, to have a house next to the sea.
While I was watching them, I suddenly heard a sneeze coming from behind me. Alex was holding the squirmish Vader in her hand and her face was becoming quite red because of it.
I quickly took Vader away from her and said, "Why are you still holding her? You know you're allergic."
"She's trying to get out of the house, and I don't want her to run away." Alex replied while rubbing her sore nose. "Do you have your allergy meds?" I asked.
"I forgot to bring them." She replied. "I think my mom has some in her purse."
"Go get it then." I pointed to the direction of her mother. As I did that, I saw Haley getting admonished by Claire– presumably from the fact that she had skipped school today, and her mother found out about it.
"I'm not getting near that. Vader, hey- Wait– where do you want to go–" Vader was squirming in my arm, trying to get away, which surprised me since it was the first time she did that.
She jumped from my arm and started running. I followed her quickly, and then I saw her pouncing a small white Raven perching on the bushes near the garage. She pushed the bird down on the ground with her soft paw, holding it in place to prevent it from flying away.
The bird cawed nervously as it looked into my direction, as if asking me to save her. "Hmm? Wait…" I held Vader back with my right hand and picked up the bird with my other hand.
The bird doesn't even fly away after he is released from Vader's grasp. It looked at me, and suddenly it talked. THE BIRD TALKED!
"Tonight." The white raven told me before flying away. I was too stunned to react, and when I snapped back, it was already gone.
"..."
"..."
"Meow?"
"What the fuck!!" I exclaimed out loud, my voice reverberated all around.
"What's tonight?" I muttered after I calmed down a bit. Then, I remembered my deal with Gong Shin. "Ah, the signal." I exclaimed in relief after figuring it out.
"The session will be held during a life or death related day. So what does October 27 have to do with that?" I muttered in confusion. "Is this another thing that has been erased from the world? I mean, even during Diwali last week there was no sign of the afterlife gacha session."
I searched with Robin, and I didn't see any celebrations for tomorrow that could be related to me. Then, I shrugged and threw the matter to the back of my mind and rejoined the party.
…
The party didn't go on for long as everyone started leaving around 8. Haley stood frustratedly in between her parents as Claire and Phil said their goodbyes to my dad. I walked towards them, making Haley's eyes lit up.
"Ed! Can you tell my parents that although I was skipping school today, it was for a good thing?" Haley requested.
"Yeah Claire. Don't be mad at her. She really was helping out." I said to the parents.
Phil smiled proudly as he turned to Haley and exclaimed, "Aww."
"I wasn't mad at her for staying. I'm mad because she lied to me about going to school." Claire defended herself. I looked at Haley and shrugged, "I tried."
"Ugh." Haley grunted while stomping her leg in frustration. She was grounded by her mother for three days as a punishment. I laughed and then she grabbed me and pulled me away from our parents for a while.
"Hey! I can't get grounded for 3 days. How am I going to plan the party if that happens?" She whispered to me.
"What party?" I asked, confused.
"The Halloween Party! Here!" She exclaimed in disbelief. I laughed and said, "I'm just messing with you. Well, there is a way for you to get out of it though."
"What is it?" She asked with expectations.
"I'm not going to tell you, for free." I replied teasingly.
"AH!" She gasped playfully, "After all I have done for you?"
"Alright I owe it to you anyway." I said before I walked towards Phil and Claire again. However, I turned to my dad and said, "Dad, do you remember our deal?"
My dad, Ted thought for a second before he widened his eyes in shock, "Yeah. I remember."
"What deal?" Phil asked with intrigue.
I turned towards him and explained, "Oh, nothing much. The deal is that I will tell my dad when I am going to go into a deep sleep again. You know, so that he won't panic and bring me to the hospital anymore. I really don't want to be on the news again."
Claire became flustered and hurriedly said, "Are you okay Ed? Are you hurting anywhere? Can we do anything for you?"
"Well, I don't really need anything, but my heart will be more at ease if…you know, you don't ground Haley."
Claire was taken aback, and Phil directly answered, "Don't worry Ed. She won't be grounded."
"Phil!" Claire exclaimed in disbelief.
And that's how Haley managed to get out of her punishment. Also how I got into mine.
Around midnight, I was lying down on my bed shirtless, with a few heart monitoring devices connected to my chest, and a brainwave machine scanning my head.
"Is this really necessary?" I asked my dad in disbelief. "Dr Grey?" I turned to Dr Meredith Grey who was smiling wryly next to my dad.
"It's necessary. You do this once, and I will never get worried about this thing, ever again." My dad said.
I sighed before getting comfortable on the bed. "Alright then. Goodnight Dad, Doctor."
"Goodnight Ed." Dr Grey said before turning off the lights for me. I activated my [Rest] skill, and I fell asleep in less than 30 seconds.