<h4>Chapter 29: Chapter 29: Website Launch</h4>


    [Edward''s POV]


    "Nah ire. Do it like this. That''ll work better."


    "But...We used to do it... another way while I was working."


    "Yeah. And that was like, 15 years ago right? People have advanced now. A whole other generation has already been born."


    Finally, I showed ire how easy it would be if she followed my way. As the woman was technologically challenged, I had to create a step by step method in her training files and evenbeled all of the steps clearly so that she wouldn''t miss it.


    She had brought her ownptop to the training today which I had connected to the website and the office system. After this, she would work for thepany from thefort of her home without even needing to go to the Marina.


    [Alex''smentary]


    "As if. I predicted that mom will have learned everything about the marina path in just a few days."


    mentary ends]


    "No way. That''s brilliant Ed. I can''t believe this. A Middle-school student can have something this big? Mama Likey-"


    Before ire could go any further, I stopped her quickly. She was leaning next to me, her chest was directly in front of my face if I turned. She was looking at myptop screen so much that she didn''t realize that part of her body was pressing onto mine.


    "ire. You''re alone in a hormonal teenager''s house. Please refrain from using sentences with double meaning and only behave that way around your husband." I said using a teasing tone.


    Honestly, Mrs Robinson needs to back off a bit or I''ll start making Phil be in despair.


    bbergasted, the hot and scary milf - ire took one step back from me in wariness and stammered , "E-excuse me? How is that double meaning?"


    I used a sultry voice and said, "Ooh. You have something this...big? Mama Likey-"


    "Okay Stop!'' ire said, finally understanding what she had done wrong.


    "It''s okay ''Mrs Robinson'', it''s your first day on the job, and I have a high threshold for sexual connotations that I wouldn''t act based on impulse." I teased her again.


    ire widened her eyes in disbelief and horror. "M-M-Mrs Robinson! I''m not making moves on you- I''m a Married Woman!"


    Ignoring her reactions, I asked, "Do you understand how to use the excel documents yet? I had set up the program, you just need to input the numbers inside."


    ire''s brain short-circuited and she replied, "Yes."


    "Good. That''s for ounting. About customer service, I had created an auto reply system for a few of the messages and inserted the customer service working hour in the website so you don''t have to be on standby all the time. You just need to reply to the email at the specific time."


    "What I need to focus on today is Scheduling and Logistics." I continued.


    [ire''smentary]


    "Ed is a great teacher. But...Sometimes his jokes are..." ire said in exasperation. "Not that I can do anything about it. He''s the boss''s boss. He''s the Grand Boss of the whole operation."


    She knew that the reason Edward could''ve made the joke was because he was ufortable as it was easy to diffuse an awkward situation by the joke. She was also feeling a bit smug inside when she realized she could make a 14 years old kid a bit restless just by getting closer to him.


    "Still got it...I think." ire said with an awkward smile.


    She then started to think about the training experience she had received today.


    "Sometimes, his ideas were so brilliant that I forgot that I was talking to a 14 year old." ire confessed.


    [Commentary ends]


    "It''s almost 7 pm. You should go home and get some rest. Phil is the one handling dinner tonight right?" I asked.


    "No. Seriously, 3 to 4 hours waiting time to get the liquor?! How irresponsible are the workers there?" ire was inside her own world, reading documents after documents to further understand her new job.


    "Well. They''re sailors. They''re drunk most of the time. 3 to 4 hours is the most optimistic calction." I said casually. "Sometimes, they don''t even deliver the alcohol, causing my dad to run to the store just moments before a trip to stock up their bar. Anyway-"


    "But that''s serious. We can sue them for harming the business." ire said in astonishment.


    "Yeah. They''re sailors. Do you really think there are contracts to prove the transactions?" Shaking my head slightly, I said, "Anyway. Stop. Time''s up. You need to go back home."


    ire looked at her wristwatch and said, "Oh. It''s time for dinner already? Do you want toe and join us Ed? Phil is buying pizzas for tonight."


    "Nah. I need to finish up the program for the office. The website is going to beunched tonight, so I need to make sure everything is running smoothly."


    I turned to theputer and started to make the final adjustment. I had already synced both the website and the office system together. All I needed right now was to make some tweaks so that it''ll sync better.


    "TONIGHT!" ire suddenly shouted. "Why didn''t you tell me?!"


    "It was in your briefing packet. Besides, I will handle the job for the week, so you don''t have to be afraid that you were pushed into the job without training."


    Thinking that ire was feeling anxious because she was caught unprepared, I exined to her the situation immediately. "Go home. Your work today is done." I said again.


    Unfortunately, Abby couldn''te and hang out today because she was hanging out with her mother and wouldn''t tell me where. I had invited her over, but I didn''t tell her about the siteunching yet.


    "No. That''s not it! You''d worked very hard for this! And you''re going tounch it alone?!" ire said hurriedly, getting up and close to my face again.


    "It''s not a big deal. It''s just a website. I also don''t need the distractions while I am monitoring theunch-" Before I could finish my sentence, I saw ire had called someone using her mobile phone.


    "Phil! Bring the pizzas and the kids here! The website is going to beunched tonight!"


    "ire!" I called out in exasperation. "I need to focus!"


    "No. You can focus. We''ll all focus...with you. When is your dading back home? Why isn''t he here?"


    "I tasked him to monitor the office program and to make sure to answer the phone when I call." I said.


    ire was confused, "Why don''t you let someone else go on standby there?"


    "After the whole fiasco about the crew handing out flyers in an old people home, I couldn''t trust them much."


    ire had fallen silent from my answer. Within minutes, the doorbell of my house rang multiple times. I rubbed my forehead as my stress level was rising up, but ire ignored me and opened the door.


    "We''re HERE!" Phil said excitedly. "Ed. Why didn''t you tell us about this?!" He approached me hurriedly and gave me a big hug, almost picking me up from the ground to swirl me. I stopped him before he managed to do that and only gave me a big hug.


    Alex and Luke followed from behind, but not Haley as she was having dinner with her friends tonight at the mall. Luke was wearing a blue robot shirt while Alex was wearing an E=mc2 shirt.


    "Hey. What''s going on?" Alex asked as she was confused by the sudden invite.


    "He''sunching the website, but he wants to do it alone." ire exined before I could open my mouth to answer.


    "What she said." I pointed at the grinning ire." Anyway, what pizza did you bring?" I asked after I understood there was nothing I could say to change ire''s mind.


    "We got peperoni, ssic cheese, and mushrooms." Luke said while holding three stacks of pizza boxes.


    Phil and ire sat together in private as they were talking about their day without each other. I gave the lovey-dovey couple some privacy while I sat down with Luke and Alex at the dinner table.


    "What time is theunch?" Alex asked while seated at the dinner table, eating a slice of mushroom pizza.


    "At 8. So an hour from now on." I replied while eating a slice of pepperoni pizza with my right hand and was coding with my left hand.


    "Did you already do all the preparation? You''re notunching it prematurely right?" Alex asked.


    "Nah. Everything is already done." Taking a bite of the pizza, I finished myst bit of coding and finalized the website creation.


    "Now. We wait." I said, turning my focus onto Alex and Luke.


    "You''re...like an adult. With your job." Lukemented. As he ate the pizza with his right hand, he used his left hand to prop his head on the table. I wonder if he was tired, or if he usually eats like that. "Will you go to the office next?" Luke asked.


    "Nah. I''m going to y next." I replied.


    "After this, you''re going to work on rapid hot air technology right? I was thinking if you can rent ab at school to do it. Mrs Henderson said you can if you let the school participate in the invention to increase their reputation." Alex said after patiently waiting for me to finish my work.


    "Hmm? Did you tell them about it? You didn''t, right?" I asked with concern.


    "Of course not. Do you think I will be that stupid?" Alex said with her eyes rolling.


    "It''s a good thing you didn''t. It''ll take a long time to do it. If I coborate with the school and I transferred to Wisconsin afterward-"


    Suddenly, Phil grabbed my shoulder from behind and asked, "Why are you transferring to Wisconsin?"


    I paused and turned to Phil. I then said, "We are just ying in a hypothetical situation."


    "Ahh. I see. Like if you''re bitten by a vampire and a werewolf at the same time, will you be a werebat or a vamp-wolf?" Phil said excitedly. Alex breathed in relief after I managed to trick Phil from knowing about the matter.


    Time passed by quickly as I was enjoying myself with thepany of the Dunphy''s. Phil constantly asked about the invention I was talking about with Alex, and wanted to show me a few things that he had invented, like the Real Head Scratcher, T.M.


    "Dad. What he''s doing is actually important." Alex said sarcastically.


    Phil retorted, "Solving itchy head problems is also important!"


    ire finally joined the conversation after taking onest look on the briefing packet. "Luke, sit up properly. Alex, he needs to rest first after doing such a big project. Can''t you see his eye bag? Stop trying to push him into another one. And Phil..."


    ire turned to Phil who had a scared look on his face. "When will Haley get back?"


    Phil breathed in relief and said, "Around 8.30. She promised me she will get home at that time."


    "As if." Alex snorted in derision. I turned toward her and said, "Aww, is someone missing her dear sister?"


    "What the- NO!" Alex said hurriedly as she became embarrassed.


    As theunching time was nearing, I was sitting on the chair at the dinner table while the Dunphy''s family were all standing behind me watching the countdown on myptop screen together.


    [Phil and ire''s Commentary]


    As Phil was sitting next to ire, he started thementary.


    "As I was waiting for the website countdown to reach zero, all I could think about was how...wonderful it would be for Edward if the website became sessful. That means...his dad can be around more, and they could spend more time together."


    ire held Phil''s hand and let him continue.


    "When I was growing up with my dad, we were inseparable. So when ire calls me and says he will celebrate...One of the major achievements of his life...all alone in that empty house...my mind...and my heart... couldn''t take it." Phil said and pointed to his mind and heart as he spoke.


    ire interjected, "Although he was so...smart, and looks mature, He''s still a 14 years old kid. He didn''t even n to eat anything whileunching the website. It makes me think about how many nights there were that he had spent not eating anything while he was alone over there."


    Phil nodded and said, "I know life has been rough on him, and he''s been working hard to change that life. I can respect his efforts...But I just can''t... understand why he''s pushing everyone away."


    ire turned to Phil with a weird expression on her face. She whispered, "When did he push everyone away?"


    "Just before this, I offered to help him with his project, but he shot me down." Phil exined to ire.


    "I think...that was more of a safety issue than him pushing everyone away." ire said. "But he does repress a lot of his emotions. I could see that he was happy when the websiteunch countdown had started, but he wouldn''t let anyone see it."


    [Commentary ends]


    ire started the countdown! "3...2...1...0!!!! The Website is now LIVE!"


    Phil blew a party horn while Alex popped a confetti, making it fly everywhere near the dining room.


    "Congrattions Edward!" ire said and kissed my cheeks. Phil did the same thing while patting my shoulder with a lot of force as he was too happy. I turned to Alex who''s standing nearby and said, "You guys are not going to kiss my cheeks too?"


    "What- I don''t-" Alex stammered.


    "I will!" Luke said and rushed into where I was sitting and kissed my cheeks the same way as his parents did.


    "Now, it''s toote for you Alex." Luke said teasingly to his sister.


    "I-I don''t want to kiss him in the first ce!" Alex shouted.


    "Oh my god, people areing into the website!" ire said hurriedly with a bright smile on her face. I had set up a visitor''s count view in the website – personally for me so that I could see the website traffic on the first day.


    "A thousand people are opening the website! Why!?!" Phil asked in shock.


    "Well. I kinda had a promotion set up. The first 20 people who book a trip on the first day of the websiteunch will get 20% off. So right now, people arepeting to make a booking and settle the payment so as to not let the good deal go." I exined calmly.


    "Yeah. That''s a good one." ire said in acknowledgement. She then continued with a tone full of amazement, "5 minutes in, and we''re already fully booked for the next 10 days."


    "That''s amazing! Ha haa haa!" Philughed and took theptop away from ire.


    "Well done Ed! Seriously. Good job!" ire praised me endlessly, which I got to admit felt a bit nice. I was sure that my grinch''s heart had grown 1.005% in size after hearing all of the praises and acknowledgement.


    "How many now?" I asked ire after it had been 10 minutes in.


    "Wait. Let me check." ire said and walked to Phil who was sitting down on the dinner table adjacent to my seat and typing something on theptop. ire widened her eyes when she saw what Phil was doing.


    "Why are you booking it?!" ire asked hurriedly and snatched herptop from Phil.


    "Give me that ire! It''ll be a good trip for all of us!" Phil said. He was chasing after the 20% off discount and he might make it too before all the spots had been filled up.


    "EMPLOYEES GET 40% DISCOUNT PHIL! WHY ARE YOU CHASING THE 20%!!" ire shouted as Phil was being relentless.


    "Wait what? Mom. 40% discount? Is that true?" Alex asked in astonishment.


    "Go ask the Grand boss." ire said, pursing her lips towards me.


    Alex and Phil turned to me for an answer, so I replied casually, "Yeah. That''s true. There will be an annual party too and that will be for free."


    "You''re the best Grand boss!" Lukeplimented innocently.


    As the websiteunch was sessful, I received calls from Mitch and Cam, from Gloria, Manny and Jay, from Pepper, and from Abby. She was furious that I didn''t tell her about theunch today, and I had to talk to her for 20 minutes just to calm her down.


    By the time I had finishedforting Abby, Ted had driven home and the first thing he did was hug me to congratte me about the website.


    "Uff Dad." I let out a burst of air from the sudden hug.


    "You did... Really...Really well! I''m...proud of you!" Ted said while hugging me. Those simple words made my entire body tingly in ways I had never experienced before in my past life.


    Phil and ire smiled softly as they witnessed the touching moment between the father and son.


    "What''s going on here?" Haley asked as she entered the house. Her dad had already texted her to go to the Newgate''s house when she returned home, only to witness the scene of my dad hugging me.


    "Okay. Dad...enough." I said with a t tone after he wasn''t letting me go. "No." Ted replied decisively and tightened his embrace. I sighed in defeat and reluctantly hugged him back while feeling so embarrassed inside.


    As the website traffic slowed down, finally the celebration was over.


    "We''re now fully booked for 2 months!" I announced excitedly while putting my ss up, causing the adult crowd to raise their wine ss and cheer before I added, "...if there isn''t any cancetion."


    "Boo!" The kids booed me for being so pessimistic and raised their sparkling cider together with everyone.


    "Here to a new journey!" I made a toast for the new start of my dad''s business. The Whitebeard ship''s rental and tourism had rebranded itself and now ready to take on new ventures that I would lead them into.


    "Let the party begin!" Phil shouted and the kids popped the confetti together to signal the start of the celebration.


    With an awkward smile stered on her face, Haley whispered to Alex, "...Party for what?"


    "..."