One Man Band System

The next morning, after dropping the six girls off at school, Eric turned his car around to swing by his grandfather’s building. Parking at the curb, Eric stepped out of the vehicle and stood mesmerized, the entire building was draped in blue tarps all the way to the top, surrounded by a solid corrugated metal fence without a single visible entrance around the perimeter.

"Wow... so Caleb’s picture yesterday was the real deal... granddad’s building really is being renovated... but... nobody seems to be working?" Eric wondered in his head.

Eric shut his car door and walked up to the metal fence. He raised his hand to touch it, but "slurp" he was suddenly sucked right through to the other side, making his heart race in sheer shock. Once inside, goosebumps instantly broke out across his skin as he took in the front of his grandfather’s property, or what used to be his grandfather’s building, now completely transformed.

"Whoaaah... is this... for real?" Eric asked in his head, unable to believe what he was seeing right before his eyes.

Stretched out in front of him was a brand-new structure spanning the full width of the lot from left to right, making it look massive. It didn’t have a single window, consisting entirely of a sprawling concrete skeleton that utilized every square inch of his grandfather’s land. The building was shaped like a giant shoebox, featuring an entrance ramp leading straight down into a basement parking garage for vehicles.

Having already seen the 3D blueprint, Eric could picture exactly what the building would eventually look like, even if he was still only half-believing what stood before him. As he stood there dazed,

"Morning, boss,"

Eric turned around and saw a man wearing construction gear walk right past him, greeting him with a warm smile while holding his hard hat.

"Huh... morning," Eric replied, more confused than ever.

He remembered Caleb mentioning yesterday that he’d seen plenty of workers moving in and out. Turning around to look behind him, sure enough, crowds of construction workers were arriving and clearly gearing up for work, some were even climbing straight into heavy machinery parked inside the job site.

"Huh... where did all these people come from?" Eric asked in his head, utterly bewildered.

Driven by curiosity, Eric spotted a younger worker, maybe in his early twenties and reached out to grab the guy’s shoulder to ask him a question. But "swooosh," Eric’s hand passed right through his shoulder. "Gasp!" Eric was scared half to death, his heart pounding wildly against his chest as he clutched his breath.

But then he looked closely at the man whose shoulder he’d just tried to touch. A cluster of pixels dissolved right where his hand had passed through, making him realize instantly that every single worker on site was a hologram.

"Oh... so... that’s how it is," Eric muttered in his head, watching the workers before looking down at his own hand.

He glanced up at the top of the building and saw a progress bar on a massive hologram screen floating in midair, showing that the renovation work was already at 23% in just a single day and still steadily climbing. He looked once more at the holographic workers plugging away with high spirits and, naturally, complete silence, as if there was nothing in front of him at all. Looking around his surroundings, he felt like he was standing in another dimension.

"It’s weird... but... even if it’s real, it’s still weird," Eric muttered in his head.

After composing himself, Eric stepped back slowly, turned around, and walked toward the spot where the workers had entered. "Byuup!" Eric popped back out onto the side of the road. He turned to look behind him; from the outside, his grandfather’s place looked just like an abandoned construction site, its entire lot still shrouded in blue tarps behind a solid corrugated metal fence that no ordinary person could ever breach.

"Let me try coming back next week," Eric said in his head.

He walked over to his car to take off, but before he could even open the vehicle door, someone suddenly tapped his shoulder. He spun around and nearly jumped out of his skin, though in the end, he just backed right up against his car when he saw who had tapped him.

Mixed emotions hit him all at once. He knew the person standing in front of him inside out, the man he had once cherished and tried so hard to earn love from, the man who had cast him out and severed their family ties. Eric’s mouth trembled as it hung open, until he finally managed to force out a single word.

"Dad?" Eric asked, looking as though he’d just seen a ghost.

Standing before him was Martin, wearing a plaid shirt and black trousers. His hair had grown noticeably greyer since Eric last saw him, and his face looked significantly older, even though it hadn’t been that long since they last met.

"I’m sorry... I shouldn’t have startled you... Eric," Martin said.

"Why... is Mr. Watts here?" Eric asked, having regained his composure.

Hearing Eric address him as Mr. Watts, the deep pain in Martin’s heart flashed clearly across his face. Still, he tried his best not to show it, forcing a smile as he looked at Eric.

"I came here after hearing what happened to Ruby last week from Jade, and I was worried... also, while this might actually be out of line... I wanted to check on you too, and I’m proud of you," Martin said, his voice firm yet carrying a slight tremor.

Eric fell silent for a moment. He stared at the older man in front of him. If it had been a year ago or even three months ago, hearing Martin say he was proud of him and wanted to check on his well-being would have sent his spirits soaring, making him feel as though he’d achieved his life’s purpose. But right now, he felt absolutely nothing, as if those words no longer meant a single thing to him.

Then he glanced behind Martin and noticed that Martin had parked his car across the street—looks like he really drove all the way to this city by himself.

"Oh... I see. Thank you, Mr. Watts. As for Ruby, she’s completely fine," Eric said politely with a smile.

"That’s good to hear then," Martin replied, smiling back.

Silence fell between them again, awkward and stiff. Since neither of them spoke, the air around them felt heavy. Martin kept staring at Eric, the look in his eyes making it painfully obvious how proud he actually was of Eric. Yet he tried his best not to show it, whether out of sheer stubbornness or because he felt he had no right after remembering everything he’d done. After a moment, Martin finally broke the silence.

"Excuse me, Eric, I’m heading to Ruby’s school now. Jade already told me where her school is, so I’ll take my leave," Martin said awkwardly.

"Oh... alright," Eric replied, equally awkward.

Martin didn’t say another word. He turned around, walked over to his car, got in, and started the engine before driving off and leaving Eric behind. Without delay, Eric pulled out his smartphone and dialed Jade.

"Hello?"

"Jade, did you tell Ruby’s dad about what happened last week?" Eric asked straight to the point.

A long pause followed. Eric could hear Jade breathing on the other end, along with the sound of footsteps, it sounded like she was walking out of a room. After that, he heard Jade bring the phone back up to her ear.

"He called me last night to ask how Ruby was doing. Turns out Ruby hadn’t called him all week, which made him worried... then when he asked her previous landlord, he was told there’d been an incident, so last night he forced the story out of me," Jade answered.

"Oh... so that’s why. No wonder he showed up here first thing in the morning, that means he drove all night from home by himself," Eric replied.

"Huh... what do you mean?" Jade asked, confused.

"He was just at my granddad’s building, and I happened to be here," Eric answered.

"Wait... so you ran into Uncle Martin?" Jade asked in surprise.

"Yep... just now. That’s why I’m asking you, since he said he got the news about Ruby from you. He’s on his way to Ruby’s school now," Eric answered.

"Gosh... I had no idea he’d drive all the way here... I thought he was just asking because he couldn’t reach Ruby all week," Jade replied.

"I’ll talk to Ruby later then," Eric replied.

"But... are you okay?" Jade asked hesitantly, worried.

Eric paused to genuinely consider Jade’s question. Looking deep inside himself, he truly felt nothing toward the man he used to call Dad, the man he’d just run into. A smile formed on his face.

"I’m fine, don’t worry about it. Oh right... there’s something else I want to talk to you about," Eric answered, immediately shifting the topic.

"About your offer? Ruby talked to me about it last night. She’s all good with it, and she’s even splitting rent with Tania now. She’s gonna be living near your granddad’s building," Jade said.

"Hmm... I see. What about you then?" Eric asked.

Another long pause stretched for a few seconds. Eric could tell Jade was weighing his offer. Then he heard Jade pull the phone closer to her ear.

"Alright... count me in too. Mike gave his approval," Jade answered briefly.

"Awesome. It’s time for all of us to gather and figure out our next move," Eric said cheerfully.