Francy's p.o.v
Ace, Rehan and Kai dropped on the ground as I opened the door to mom and dad's room.
"What are you doing?" I asked laughing.
Dad gave them a look and they instantly got up on their feet.
"We worried." Ace gave him a cheeky smile.
"You seem okay." Kai was observing me if I was faking it or not.
"I'm okay. I'll give you the details later." I told him and hugged him.
Rehan and Ace jumped into the hug as well.
Dad coughed and then started clapping his hands. "Come on! Let's go downstairs our guests are waiting."
Mom suddenly grabbed him and pulled him so they both joined in the hug as well.
What was I without this family?
After going back downstairs I had to give a brief explanation to everyone to let them know I'm okay.
Elric was relieved to see me smiling and he pulled me aside to get reassured I was really okay.
"I'm okay. I promise." I took his hands in mine. "I'll tell you everything later. Now I need some ice cream and laughter."
"Alright." He squeezed my hand and pulled me with determination walking into the living room.
"Get your things, people. We're going out for ice cream." He told everyone and he turned towards mom and dad. "We'll be back for lunch."
Dad gave him a nod and Elric just tugged me after him.
We walked to a small cafe in my neighborhood. We all picked an ice cream flavor, ordered some lemonade and we sat at the cafe's terrace squeezing onto a small table.
Kai and Remi switched ice creams cause Kai's was too sweet, Rehan was telling Sole about the places he visited in Turkey while Elric Ace and I listened.
When Sole excused herself to go to the bathroom I gave Ace a teasing look.
"What?" He smiled.
"Nothing." I smiled.
"Oh come on." He threw a scrunched straw wrap at me.
"I'm just happy for you." I tossed it back at him. "Do you think Sole's having fun? I haven't been able to pay proper attention to her with everything that happened."
"She's really happy. Can't you tell?" Ace leaned forward.
I shrugged. "I usually ask her. She's really subtle about it. I can't always tell." I glanced to see if she was back yet. "I'm just worried if this is too overwhelming. We're a loud bunch."
Ace took a bit out of his scoop of ice cream. "Don't worry. We went to a party in the town last night. She's fine with loud."
"You took her to a party?" I asked shocked.
"I asked her and she took me." Ace smiled and then went serious when he saw every one of us was looking at him with disdain.
"Stop looking at me like that. She loved it."
The notion of Sole at a party was just too big to comprehend.
"Did she dance?" Remi asked.
"No."
"Did she sing?" Kai asked.
"No."
"Did she made a conversation with anyone else?" I asked.
"Well no but.."
Sole came back from the bathroom and sat down next to him. She saw everyone was silent.
"What happened? She asked.
"Were you at a party yesterday?" I asked.
She nodded. "The Latino party Mrs. Mia likes throwing on Tuesday nights."
"And you went with Ace there willingly?" Remi asked.
She picked up her lemonade and nodded again.
Ace shook his head disappointed and sunk in his chair.
"And you had fun?" I asked in disbelief.
She bit her straw entertained and grinned. "Yes."
Ace pointed at her. "See."
I can't believe it. Our quiet Sole went to a party. And she did nothing yet had fun?
"What do you like about Ace?" I asked.
"He's handsome." She answered seriously and took a sip from her lemonade.
"Hey." He poked her shoulder with his finger. "If you say that she'll think I just seduced you with my looks."
Sole turned towards me. "What do you like about Elric?"
Elric glanced at me waiting for my answer.
"He's handsome," I answered seriously.
Both Sole and I chuckled and Elric just gave Ace a look, shaking his head disappointed.
Rehan who was playing a game on his phone in the meantime suddenly turned his screen towards us. "One of my online gaming buddies sent me this. You guys are famous."
We all glanced at the screen. There was a video of the last gaming competition when Ace and Elric had eradicated every hacker that tried to go past their defenses. It had over 2 million hits so far.
"It's going viral in the gaming community," Rehan told us.
"Nice." I nudged them. "You guys are getting more publicity like this. It might be a good marketing trick for you once they realize you guys are game developers."
"And if we win at the world game development championships it will broaden our market." Ace smiled. "This could work."
Elric just gave him a confirming nod. "I'll leave it to you then. You're better at this publicity thing."
After that, we stayed there a bit more laughing until Rehan got a text from mom that we should head back to lunch.
***
FRIDAY
The morning of the finale was here. Elric and Ace had been waiting for this moment. But with Sole visiting, Rehan being back, my adoption revelation and Elric and I having more fun than usual, we had forgotten the finale approaches.
And there was a problem. Halo was nowhere to be found.
"Try calling her one more time."
Elric told Ace.
Ace dialed but it was pointless, it went straight to voicemail.
"I think we should go to her place and talk to her. She wouldn't do this to us." Ace said.
"This is my fault." I covered my face. "I shouldn't have snapped like that."
Elric took my hand. "No. This is my fault. I should have talked to her sooner. I was stupid to think she'll cool off and talk to me herself. I thought she'll at least have to courtesy to answer my calls."
"Or mine." Ace said nervously. "She hates you two but what did I do to her?"
Elric looked at me. "Meet us there. We have to fix this. " He told me.
"Okay." I smiled at him.
He leaned forward kissing me and then went out the door.
I closed the door. Anxiety started getting the best of me.
I really hoped she was not going to betray them like this.
Lucy's p.o.v
I knocked on the door and Halo's brother opened the door luckily.
"Oh thank god." Ace sighed in relief.
"Is Halo home?" I asked.
He nodded and then looked down a bit regretful to let us down. "I'm sorry fellows she refuses to leave her room."
"But we have a competition today. She promised." Ace started getting alarmed. "We cannot lose our gamer."
"I tried talking to her. She refuses to tell me what happened."
"I.." I cleared my throat. "Tell her I want to talk to her. Alone."
Her brother nodded and closed the door. We waited a bit and when the door opened, for a second I had hope.
Halo's brother opened the door again and shook his head disappointed. "I'm sorry. She won't cooperate."
"Alright." I clenched my fists in my pockets.
I had guessed it was going to be like this as soon as that happened.
"Take my number," I told him. "If she changed her mind or something call me."
He wrote down the number and then we left.
"Fuck." Ace was losing it. He took out his phone trying to think of who to call to replace her.
I couched trying to think. I should have talked to her sooner. I should have fixed this somehow.
"How the hell are we going to find a gamer this fast?" Ace was going through his contacts.
I rose and walked over. There was only one solution. "I'll game in her place."
"What?" Ace was baffled. "Are you crazy? What about the hackers of the other team? Who's going to fend them off?"
I gave him a look.
"Me?" Ace looked at me seriously. "You're kidding me right?"
"You know my codes, you've been studying well and you did really well alone last time." I told him.
Ace laughed. "You're insane. Once they see you on the gaming chair they'll attack full power."
"And you'll fend them off."
"I'd rather game." He told me.
I gripped his shoulder. "Let's be real. I'm a better gamer than you."
"You trust me with the hacking part but not with the gaming." Ace laughed. "You're really crazy."
"I saw your skills. You can do this. Let's get this shit over with and at the ceremony, we'll finally find that hacker. Halo already got us first place. We just need to keep it."
Ace was following my face to see any sign of hesitation.
"Fine. Let's do this." He put the phone back into his pocket. "I hope you know what you're doing."
The gaming hall was crowded and noisy as ever. People were pushing and struggling to see better and the music in the background was doing a lousy job to calm me down.
"You got this." Francy told me holding my hand. She brought it up looking at the bracelet she gave me.
I smiled. Alright. It was all or nothing.
Ace leaned over the rail that separated the crowd from us and kissed Sole. The crowd went wild.
He got back to the chairs and sat on the main hacker chair. I sat down on the gamer's chair.
I didn't think the crowd could go louder. They went crazy when they saw us switching positions. People brought their phones out recording.
Shit. This could make or break us if we go viral again.
I took a deep breath. I had to calm down.
Whatever happens, I have to trust my skill and trust Ace.
BEEP
The gaming sound went off and I got ready. The screens turned on and I started playing.
The crowd's cheering became quieter as I focused further on the game. I played in the best way I could as I had all these years. I might not have been as fast as Halo, but I did play my fair share of games to know what to do.
Before Francy, before Ace I had gamed just to keep myself from going insane, by being alone.
There weren't good memories from that time, but I did get some gaming skills.
The screen glitched only once. I glance at Ace, but he was steadily focused on his screen. He had no time to worry about me.
They were coming at him at full speed but he was fast to deflect their attacks.
I continued gaming for what seemed like a really long time. The other team was ahead of me, but they suddenly seemed stuck.
A minute later, my character entered a room and I collected the points but there was no exit suddenly. Shit. What the hell is this ?
I tried playing my way out, but there was nothing like a secret exit or extra points to win. There weren't any instructions. What was I missing to get out?
The other player was getting frustrated.
The more we clicked on the wrong thing the more of our lives we lost.
I tried to calm down and think outside the box.
If this was my game, why would I put the character in this situation... how would I make the game so the player has a tricky time getting out.
If it was a game like this where I'd had to use my brain, then I'll probably be very philosophical about it. Maybe even put a hidden mechanism.
But I did click a lot of things already. I couldn't waste my life.
The other player suddenly lost all their life strengths. Did that mean he lost?
The host showed up. "The other team seemed to have lost all their life strength. If the other team loses their life as well this level resets and both teams get to play again. If the team passes this level. They automatically win."
Does that mean If I don't lose all the strength now I can win?
Think Elric think...I looked at the screen. The room in which I was playing was an abandoned room in a royal castle. Many things in the room could potentially lead to the exit, but the more I clicked the more life strength I lost.
I saw the clock on the wall of the room. When I first got into this level it was 5 o'clock. While exploring the room the time has changed to 10.
SON OF A BITCH.
I laughed and started moving the character around.
I could hear whispers in the crowd. Does he not know what to do? Is he pointlessly playing?
There was a stupid trick I almost thought it was genius.
The more I moved my character around the faster the time went by on the clock. The moment the clock was back at five o'clock I went back to the place where I entered and left the room. The door opened and there was a light...
did I...
did I pass the level?
BEEEEEEEEEEEP
The winner board had our name on it and signified we won.
WE FUCKING WON.
Ace got up yelling and hugged me. "We wooooon. We won!"
There was a winner's horn and the host approached up carrying a trophy.
The crowd cheered us on.
"We fucking won!!" I jumped and hit Ace's back. Holly shit. I can't believe this is happening.
The host handed us the trophy and I searched for Francy in the crowd. She and her brothers were losing their shit in the crowd waving and whistling.
She waved at me taking pictures with her phone. She was so proud.
"Congratulations." The host shook our hands.
"Thank you."
"Please follow me to the winner's hall."
We both followed him outside the room where we gamed and going further down the neon hall.
The crowd noise was getting smothered.
The winner's hall was a bit different. There were other players there that were in the pro league and they congratulated us. There were also a lot of guys in suits who were probably here to recruit hackers and other players.
"Thank..thank you." We kept shaking hands and greeting people with fake smiles.
There was even celebratory champagne.
"How do we know who xxXenon is?" Ace whispered.
"I have no fucking idea."
The truth was this was as far as the plan got us. We were now in the winner's hall but there was no way we can tell who out of all these people would be the hacker.
I tried to think.
"Do you think we can ask someone of the other hackers?" Ace asked.
"They hate our guts," I told him. After wiping the floor with them these past few competitions they probably hated us.
"But.." Suddenly it hit me as I saw the signup computer in this room. "When we were signing up for this competition we had to put our information into the computer right? They needed all our information. So that means.."
"The computer has the data." Ace smiled and then went serious. "You're going to hack in there.."
"And I need you to distract the others," I told him.
"Shit." Ace rubbed his eyes. "Okay.....Okay. You make your way over there and I'll do my best."
I nodded and started taking steps towards the signup computers. Security was everywhere.
Ace got up on a chair, grabbing the champagne on his way.
"WE WON THE COMPETITION TODAY!!" He yelled shaking the champagne. "ONLY THE VERY BEST ARE IN THIS ROOM SO GIVE IT UP FOR YOURSELF."
The other players started cheering.
"Yeaaaah.!" Ace beckoned them closer. "This one is for you. Champagne from today's winner to you." He popped the champagne and sprayed it everywhere.
The players cheered and laughed and security went towards him to calm him down.
I was already in their main system cross-checking anything to do with xxXenon.
The screen showed only one result. I took a picture of it with my phone and then turned everything off.
The security started scanning around again, but I had already done what I was here to do.
I walked over to Ace.
"tell me you got something." He said trying to dry his shirt from the champagne.
"I got something." I wrapped an arm around him pushing him towards the door. "now let's get out of here."
***
Outside everyone was waiting by the car. They cheered as soon as we got out.
"You won." Francy rushed towards me and wrapped her hands around my neck, jumping out of happiness.
"And we got info about the hacker," I said. "Come on. Let's get to the devil's den. I have to find this bastard."
Once we got to the devil's den I pulled up the picture I had on my phone.
I did a basic search and got the name and address of a man in his late thirties.
In the picture, he barely seemed like someone who would have any hacker skills.
"Anderson?" Remi said disappointed. "I thought he'd be cooler."
"He finished law school." I read his file.
"He works for a law firm. Does he have time to hack?" Francy asked confused.
"Maybe it's a past hobby," Kai suggested.
I focused on his picture. He seemed familiar.
"Are you sure it's him?" Ace asked.
"This was the only result that popped up once I cross-checked xxXenon. He did a trademark agreement for the name." I answered. "He trademarked his hacker name.Who does that? It's so childish."
"Let's go and talk to him." Ace suggested.
"What about celebratory cake?" Francy and Rehan looked like they were ready for maracas and samba.
"You get everything ready for when I get back. Go all out." I told her and ruffled her hair.
"I'll be back." Ace kissed Sole again and got a bit into it that I had to drag him out of there.
"You got his address?" Ace asked as we got into the car.
"Address?" I laughed and shoved my phone in his hands."I got his motherfucking current location."
Ace stared at my phone in awe. "You're one scary dude."
I stepped on it, getting the car out of reversed in a hurry. Scary? He hasn't seen anything yet? I was hungry for revenge and I was just getting started.
***
I parked in front of a fucking mansion. This seemed a bit out of a league even for a lawyer. My parents were rich, but this was filthy rich.
There were tall gates and security at the very front.
"How do we get in there?" Ace was sizing up the tall gates.
"Give me my phone," I told him.
He passed me back my phone and I pulled up this guy's number and called him.
After the second beep, he answered.
"Hello?"
"You got thirty seconds to get to the front gates and explain why the fuck did xxXenon had the need to slander my name and my game in the world championships. I don't even fucking know you, but I do have proof about who you are and I will file a lawsuit for everything that I find on you If I have to. You seem like a smart guy and I'd really hate to do what you did to me though seeing the size of this mansion you seem like you have way more to lose than your name."
There was a long silence on the phone.
"I'll tell the security guard to let you in."
I hung up and Ace looked at me. "Feel better now?"
I straightened up. "A bit."
The tall gates suddenly opened. Would you look at that?
A security guard approached us. "Follow me."
We followed him inside the mansion. He took us straight through the large courtyard in front of the main entrance.
The inside of the mansion was even bigger and fancier than I imagined. It had shiny Italian flooring and high ceilings with expensive paintings and artwork on the walls as we passed through the hall.
I'd love a place like this one day. I shook my head getting rid out of awe and focused on my anger.
Finally, we arrived at what seemed like an office.
"Wait here." The guard told us and left us there leaving the door open.
"How much do you think this lifestyle costs?" Ace asked
"Way more work than what we're doing now," I told him.
Steps were echoing in the hallway all of the sudden, and two men in suits entered the room. One I recognized instantly as Anderson. The guy from the picture I was here for.
The other man had a bit more of a flair style and he seemed like the real owner of the house.
Anderson was standing in silence with his hands behind his back.
The man leaned on his desk and waved his hands.
"Please have a seat." He instructed Ace and me.
I did not like the feeling of being told what to do, but in this situation, I felt like we were maneuvered into doing their bidding.
"I was just briefed about the situation. It seemed like my son has done something unneeded again.
I glanced at Anderson. He didn't seem to be that much of an age difference with the real owner of the house.
"Who are you again?" I asked him leaning back into the chair in a relaxing manner.
"Kento Miura. " He leaned over this desk and took his business cards and handed Ace and me each.
I glanced at the card.
BlackWhale Industry
Offices: Singapore, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Strasbourg, Hong Kong, Bangkok.
...
Before I go the chance to ask him any questions he started rubbing his temples like he had a headache.
"Go and bring the troublemaker." He told Anderson.
"You have to understand at this age, they're a little tricky to raise." He said and circled his desk falling dramatically over the chair.
"I'm confused." Ace had the guts to say what we were both thinking.
"So was I." Kento sighed.
We didn't even wait a full minute and Anderson walked back into the office. Suddenly a kid walked out from behind him.
The moment I saw him I had a flashback.
"I saw you at the game competition," I said and the kid just scratched his head awkwardly.
That's where Anderson looked familiar. I saw them both at the competition walking around.
"Competition?" Kento raised his head.
"About that." Anderson loosened his tie. "I had no time to tell you the full story."
Kento got up and walked over to his son.
"Go on then." He told him. "Apologize first."
The kid looks at me and scowls me before lowering his head. "I apologize."
I scoffed. Unbelievable.
Ace brought his hand up. "Are you telling me this kid sent a fake mail to the world game development championships that got us thrown out for two months? Not Anderson, but a kid?"
Anderson was quiet. Well, I guess he did play some part in it too.
"How old are you?" Ace asked calmer than I was.
"13." The kid answered.
"What the hell did we do to you?" I asked confused. "I don't even know anyone that young."
"This is going to be a long conversation." Kento pushed Anderson out the door. "We'll get some coffee for you. Apologize properly or I'm taking all your electronic for a month this time." Kento told his son and walked out closing the door behind him.
The fuck just happened?
"I refuse to believe this." I crossed my arms.
"Why? Cause I'm 13?" The kid scowled again.
I shook my head."That's not the confusing part."
"To you, child prodigy," Ace looked at me, completely baffled.. "I'm still wrapping my head around it."
"I don't see the reason why you did that to my precious game?" I was focused on the kid.
"An eye for an eye." The kid took out his phone and turned something on before handing it to me. "You're my biggest enemy."
I took his phone confused.
He had turned on a game. The moment I saw the screen it dawned on me. The merch I saw him wearing at the competition. The fucking image on the shirt was from this game.
The game I was hired to check for mistakes a few months ago.
Oh god. I rubbed my eyes and looked at the kid.
"This is your game?" I asked
"You said it was trash." He said pissed off.
"I said it needs more work." I explained, but he was going into a full rage moment.
"You said that it lacked precision, world setting originality, the dialogue was bad, there were too many glitches in the game and the character designs were bad."
I straightened up in the chair pointing at his phone. "I'm a beta tester. I evaluate games. That's my job. I give roundabout advice about what I think needs fixing. Sometimes I do it for the developers, but this was not something minor to fix. It's the developer's job to go back and redo his work."
"My game..my game is." Suddenly he started stuttering, visibly upset. "You..to my game..." He was coming up with nothing.
I sighed. "Come here." I turned on his game. "Look at the character choices." I pointed at the screen. " You have way too many that just lack originality and seem like they were ripped off from other games, that's why you need good illustrators to come up with fresh new ideas. If you're good at it, try doing the research yourself and see what works best with other gamers. See what they like."
He was still upset but paid close attention.
I picked one character and started playing.
"I see you fixed the lag. Every time there were too many things on screen your game would lag."
"That part you were right. I fixed it." He muttered.
I moved the character around. And then stopped at a point where two separate scenes clashed and created a mess.
"Look at this. You can't have this in your game. You have to go back and fix this. You take away from the gaming experience if you leave something like this.
He sighed impatiently.
I turned off his game and handed him the phone back.
"What's your name?" I asked him.
He stared at me without an answer.
"You know mine so.."
"Yuto." He let go of the word with difficulty.
"You decided to go with a complex game, so you have to deliver on it now. You can't be impatient when it comes to games. You have to be meticulous. The original idea is there, but you have to put in even more work if you want the players to take your game seriously."
He stared down at his feet.
"I never said your game is trash. I'd never do that to someone who spends their time creating something that could potentially be great."
"I'm sorry." He said in a childlike tone and then and spoke a bit louder. "I'm sorry for sending a fake mail saying your game was plagiarized."
I sunk down in my chair deflated. All this trouble...all this anger.. for a kid?
What can I possibly say to him now?
"It's fine." I covered my eyes.
"I saw your game getting a lot of attention on the game development championship." Yuto suddenly said. "I hated it because I knew it was good and you were getting praised for it. So I thought it's only fair that I'd pay you back for it."
"But we traced your email at the gaming competition," Ace added. "Why did you do that?"
"I wanted to see you in person," Yuto explained. "Anderson hangs out with me a lot. He always goes to these events to see if there are any potential programmers and I knew he'd take me with him. So I made a fake lead."
Of course, he did.
"Oh god." Ace brushed his hair back. "I need a pill for my head."
"And a strong coffee," Yuto told him.
"What?"
"Dad says because of me he needs a pill for his head. And a strong coffee."
"I believe him." Ace stretched his legs out, leaning back on the chair. "And I thought my parents had a hard time with me."
"So you saw me at the competition?" I asked him.
"I did." He crossed his arms. "What happened to your gamer today?"
"How do you know?" I asked. "You weren't there today, were you?"
"I saw a video. It goes around in the gaming community."
"At least something good came out of it." Ace shook his head.
"Congratulations on your win." He said.
"Yeah, we only did it to find you so now I'm rethinking my life choices," I said getting up. "Have a nice life kid."
Ace got up as well.
"You're leaving?" Yuto stood in front of the door.
"I have to go and get my life in order now." I nudged him out of the way, but he grabbed my hand.
"Wait ..are you not going to ask for compensation?"
"If I take your dad's money, you'll have to pay him back," I told him. "I take it you already know there are consequences every time you cost your dad money."
He let go of my hand as he understood.
I grabbed the door handle and pushed the door open and Anderson and Kento fell down on the ground.
"Were they listening in?" Ace laughed.
They both got up straightening their clothes.
I passed them by, getting ready to leave.
"Wait!!" Kento yelled and ran after me.
"It's fine. I get it." I explained but he shook his head. "Let's have a brief conversation."
We were sitting back in his office only this time without Yuto.
"Anderson explained what happened. About what my son did to you two. I can't imagine what that cost you. I apologize as well."
Ace and I were quiet.
"I didn't even know he developed a game and gave it for beta testing. Kids these days can do anything." He chuckled awkwardly.
"No. Not all kids can develop games." I clarified.
Kento nodded his head. "What can I do for you? I heard you two went through a lot of trouble to get reinstated into the game development championships. I have to compensate you for your troubles."
I looked at Ace.
"With all due respect sir." Ace cleared his throat and looked at Kento. "We lost precious time. Our fans were disappointed and we were disappointed. This can cost us our breakthrough in the gaming industry. We personally don't need your pity money." He pointed at me. "He earns a nice living with game testing. I do too. We're covered. But what we could have accomplished without this stain in our reputation it's regretful. Other gaming companies took notice of our two months absence. This cost us our future. Unless you want to invest in "game enterprise" we are done here."
I pointed back at Ace. "What he said."
Kento crossed his hands having a moment od silence. "And if I say I'll invest?"
We both looked at each other.
Kento pointed at Anderson who quietly stood in the corner. "He did a quick research on you two." He searched for his glasses on the table and when he found them, he placed them at the tip of his nose and Kento handed him a tablet.
"It's not the first time I invest in the gaming industry. It took quite an upswing these past few years." He said as he scrolled up and down searching for something. "I know a good talent when I see one." He turned the tablet around. It was the video of us that went viral.
"I also saw some videos of your fans in the game development championships playing your game. Maybe it's because you worked as game testers, that you have an eye for details and made a game that hooked players right away. Your experience made you great game developers."
He turned the table back around and continued scrolling. "I have quite good friends who would be interested in investing as well. Your game would make a lot of money if it's on the market. Here's something I had in mind.."
He passed me the table and I leaned it towards Ace so he can see it. "It's roughly the numbers I had in mind. Anderson can make a rough draft of the paperwork if you're interested."
"We're interested." Ace replied immediately. I still stared at the screen in shock. That was a lot of money. Way more than I had ever asked other investors and gaming companies.
"But this is a bit of a shock. " Ace explained. "We came here with the intention of clearing up a misunderstanding with your son. We're unprepared."
"No worries. " Kento removed his glasses and placed them back on the table. "Would it be awkward if I say my people will talk to your people?"
Ace grinned. "Not at all. Our people will give your people a call."
Kento laughed. "I like you. You have a head for good business."
He then turned towards me. "I appreciate how you handled this matter with my son. I didn't know he had a passion for games. Despite what he did, you still took him seriously and explained properly why he got the result he got and how he can become better. He'll get grounded nevertheless, but can go back and work on it again in the future." He placed his hand out. "As a father, I can only thank you and apologize."
I shook his hand.
"As an investor on the other hand.." He smiled. "I can do a lot more. So, talk to your partner here, schedule a date and we'll have a conversation about launching your game regardless of if you win the game development championships or not."
I smiled. "Deal."
With it the conversation was wrapped up there.