Booking Glory-Chapter 84: A New Beginning - Part 2

A/N: Hey Folks,

It has been a long time since I thanked everyone reading this novel for their love and support. Hence, I decided to add a little note here expressing my gratitude.

On a relative note, this novel has broken through the top 700 in regard to power stones earned last week. For a novel that is relatively niche and new, I consider this a good achievement. We have been hovering around rank 1000 before this week. So, a great milestone I guess.

We also achieved 250+ Collections, 1K Cumulative Power Stones, and record-high Golden Tickets for this novel last week. Overall, its been a good progress. I thank you all for loving and supporting this novel.

***** 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

There weren’t many features in the design that Brent drew. It was simplistic like Notepad. But, Rob felt that with little tweaks here and there, it could very well be a word window.

After all, MS Word was an iterated version of Notepad.

If Brent could pull this off, then it was possible that he could create MS Word as well. In that case, why settle for something small when they can go for a bigger prize?

Rob reached out and stopped Brent from what he was doing. Brent looked up at him in confusion. However, Rob didn’t reply. He grabbed the paper and pen from Brent and started sketching out the basic features of a word program in the form of diagrams.

He didn’t go for the really advanced version of the word program that came out later. What he drew was the basic version that had minimalistic functionalities. Rob sketched for more than an hour as he created sub-designs to make it clear what he was going for with each diagram.

He included the rulers, alignment, bullets, numberings, and a few other basic features that separated word from notepad. He even added a toolbar at the top much to the confusion of Brent. As for the fonts and other design attributes, Rob left them out for now.

He knew that the most important thing right now was to get the basic structure sorted out. As for the design and decoration elements, Rob felt Brent would add them on his own later. He was only giving Brent a basic idea of what he would want as a beginner in the program.

Initially, Brent was a little put off by Rob’s actions. But, as Rob drew on, Brent started becoming more and more invested in each diagram. He started scrutinizing each and every aspect of the design diagrams Rob made.

Occasionally, he would ask a question to clarify Rob’s intentions. Rob would respond by stating what he was going for and how it would work ideally. Brent would nod along and agree with Rob. He would sometimes make some corrections to the design as well.

In this way, within a few hours, Rob explained the basics of a word program to Brent and what he would want out of it in the form of sketches. By the time they were done, it was nearing dawn.

"I still don’t get this alignment thing," Brent said in confusion. "Isn’t one alignment enough? Where would you use the others?"

"Hmmm, give me a paper, I will show you what I need the alignment for," Rob took the offered paper and started penning a letter. He didn’t write a full letter, just a short paragraph.

"Look here," Rob pointed at the date that he had written on the top right corner. "That would be the right alignment. And here," he pointed to the title. "That would be the center alignment. The rest would be left alignment."

"Oh, it’s like that. But, do we need to add in an entire function to satisfy these measly things?" Brent asked in confusion.

"Hey, the entire aim of this program is to make things easier for people to work on computers. If so, why don’t we add in a few more interesting things and make it look more valuable," Rob shrugged his shoulders to indicate his stance.

"I see," Brent said looking down at the sketches Rob had done seriously.

"Anyway, I am going to take a nap. I have a date later," Rob said stretching slightly.

"Yeah, yeah, go ahead. I will wake you up after a few hours," Brent said not really paying attention to Rob’s yawn.

"All right," Rob said and found a corner to take a nap.

Meanwhile, Brent concentrated on the designs and completely forgot Rob’s presence.

Sometimes he would excitedly hop up and down, sometimes he would frown looking at a particular design and start muttering under his breath. Sometimes he would walk to and fro holding the design papers in his hands as he immersed himself in deep thought.

Brent felt that if he could pull off this program, then it would mean that he had the capability to fulfill his dream. After weeks of frustration and setbacks, this felt like a god-sent opportunity. He decided to take this as a new start to his life and give his all to this.

Like this, a few hours passed by.

As the sun came up and the day began, Byron and Peter came in as well. Initially, seeing Rob sleeping in a corner, they were unsure how to react. They knew of the argument between Rob and Brent as it was what triggered Brent’s change in attitude.

To see him sleeping in Brent’s office made them doubt their eyes a bit. They looked and found Brent feverishly typing away on his computer. They didn’t know how to react to this turn of events.

They wondered if the duo had made up. But, didn’t want to speculate too much on the state of their friendship at this point. They both decided to ignore Rob’s presence and carry on as if he wasn’t there.

Just as they reached their computers, Brent called them over eagerly. Confused, they both moved toward Brent’s computer and waited for him to tell them the reason to call them over.

Instead of answering them, Brent gave them a stack of papers and turned back towards his computers, and started coding again. The duo looked at each other in confusion, before turning their eyes towards the stack of papers that were unloaded upon them.

Initially, they didn’t know what to expect. But, as they started perusing the papers they realized that it was a design diagram for a completely new program. They were surprised to see how complete it was at first.

But, the more they went through it, the more excited they became. The duo pestered Brent until he gave up on coding and explained the intentions behind each diagram and their purpose in the program.

It soon evolved into a discussion among the three as they excitedly talked about the prospects of this program and its applications in a wide range. They even tried to think of how to improve the program further from its current state.

However, Brent quickly shut down that discussion stating that they would finish the basic program first and then would focus on improving it. While it did dampen some of their enthusiasm, Byron and Peter understood Brent’s intentions.

It is not that Brent didn’t want to improve the program. It is just the fear that they would once more turn to theorizing a lot and not do anything practically. And they understood that fear. It was the biggest problem they had with the group earlier. There wasn’t just any stuff done.

Now, with Brent’s new attitude, things have changed around here. And this new project looked like the boost in the arm that they desperately needed. After running into several problems with the projects they had theorized earlier, having a clear design diagram and all the purposes clearly explained was completely new to them.

It was heartening as well as they now knew what they were going for and its intended purpose clearly. And the program wasn’t anything complicated to code as well. It was simple and direct to its purpose. It had a clear goal and even design diagrams to show how to accomplish it.

Soon, each one of them picked a particular function and started to code away to make that function a reality.

*****

<Bring... Bring... Bring...>

Rob woke up in haste when he heard his phone go off. He fumbled around sleepily and took out his phone from his pocket. Without even seeing the caller id, he attended the call. His brain was still in sleep mode as he worked on autopilot.

"Hello... this is Rob Williams," Rob said a little sleepily and stifled a yawn that was coming up.

"Rob, did you just get up?" Dacey’s incredulous voice came from the other end causing Rob’s eyes to snap open abruptly.

"No... no..." Rob hurriedly looked at the caller id and found that the call was from Dacey’s number, making him wince. "I am not..."

"Save your excuses. Seriously, it’s already ten. You didn’t even tell me when you coming to pick me up yesterday. When are you even coming over? You do realize that it’s Sunday, right? Most garages close by four on Sundays," Dacey said irritatedly.

"No, actually I am just getting ready. I will come to pick you up by 11:30 at max," Rob said checking the time on his phone in a hurry. It was already 10:03 currently.

"You better be on time," Dacey grumbled before cutting the call off.

Rob blinked twice before his mind caught up with what just happened. He cursed under his breath and looked around anxiously. Brent and the two other men were looking at him in sympathy. Seeing Brent, just aggravated Rob further.

"You asshole, didn’t you tell me you would wake me up in a few hours?" Rob said standing up.

"I thought your date was in the evening. And you were sleeping soundly. I didn’t want to disturb you," Brent said shrugging his shoulders.

"Fuck, I need to go back to my apartment, freshen myself up, and go pick her up. All before 11:30. I am seriously fucked," Rob muttered under his breath and started to move towards the door hurriedly.

"Wait, I will drop you off," Brent said rising up. "You guys carry on. I will drop him off and come back."

"Sure," the other two men nodded as Brent fished out his keys from the junk atop a nearby table and walked towards the door.

"You don’t need to trouble yourself," Rob said, but he was inwardly grateful that Brent was dropping him off.

"Shut up," Brent said putting a hand around Rob’s shoulder and dragging him off. "I too need some break. I can’t keep staring at the monitor for long. I need some fresh air."

"All right," Rob agreed.

The duo got in Brent’s car and left the area within the next few minutes. After fifteen minutes, Brent dropped Rob off at his house. Rob got down from the car and rushed into the apartment to freshen up not caring about what Brent did.

Rob took a quick shower and freshened himself up in just ten minutes. He came out of the bathroom in a hurry and was surprised to find Brent sitting on his sofa.

"What are you doing here? I thought you would have gone back," Rob said as he rummaged through his dresses to find some appropriate attire.

"Well, I figured that you would probably call a taxi to your date’s place. I decided to give you a lift and check out who your girl is," Brent said casually causing Rob to come up short.

"What?"

"You heard me. I will give you a ride to your girl’s place. I bet it would be better to step out of my car than to step out of a taxi," Brent said simply as if it made sense.

"No," Rob shook his head, "No, no, no. We are not doing that. I will gladly take a taxi. As for the car, I am getting a car today with her. That is our plan. So, you don’t need to worry about me."

Rob hurriedly put on his pants and tossed a T-shirt on in a hurry after saying that. Just as he checked himself in the mirror, Brent commented.

"You are going on a date dressed in that?" Brent asked in surprise.

"What’s wrong with this? This is comfy and looks good," Rob said defensively.

"Yeah, but it is a date. I mean, shouldn’t you wear a suit or something?" Brent asked in confusion.

"What am I? A teen in high school? I am not going to turn up at my girl’s doorstep dressed like that. That would be stupid. Moreover, did you see the weather out there? It is hot. I am not wearing a suit in that weather," Rob snorted and finished combing his hair.

"But, shouldn’t you wear suits for dates?" Brent asked in confusion.

"Not if you are not a banker or a lawyer. Only those guys wear a suit. I am going to buy a second-hand car in a garage with her. I would look ridiculous in a suit at that place," Rob said nonchalantly as he checked himself one last time, before opening the drawer and pocketing the cash he had in it.

"Oh," Brent replied in surprise.

"Yeah, yeah, let’s talk later. I need to catch a taxi. Come on," Rob said shepherding Brent out of his house.

"Hey, I am fine with driving you to your girl’s place. As I said, I want to see who your girl is," Brent said opening his car door and motioning for Rob to get in.

Rob stood outside reluctantly. He didn’t want Brent to meet Dacey at all. He felt that would end disastrously. He knew of Brent’s fan worship of Dacey and he was sure Brent would do something that would make it awkward for him and Dacey.

"Look," Rob leaned on the car door and spoke to Brent. "I appreciate your offer. But, I am taking a taxi. You better go back."

"Why are you so against me meeting your girl?" Brent asked catching on.

"Why do you want to meet my girl?" Rob retorted back.

"So that I can know who she is and identify her when she comes on TV," Brent said sweetly which made it hard for Rob to believe.

"Nah, try again. What’s the real reason?" Rob asked again.

"Well, I wanted to see who she was. So that if she ever wins over my Goddess, I know it was you fucking around backstage," Brent admitted embarrassedly.

"Seriously, man, not cool. Just leave," Rob said shaking his head.

He knew exactly who Brent’s Goddess was and it made him even more determined to not let Brent meet Dacey.

"Come on, man. It’s already late. You have only forty or so minutes left. Don’t blame me if you end up showing up late. Just hop in," Brent said smiling from ear to ear.

"Just leave Brent," Rob shook his head and walked away. "I am not getting in that car."

"Oh yeah, then fine. I will tail you and see who it is that you are hiding from me," Brent hollered back causing Rob to stop.

Rob turned to look at Brent with a raised eyebrow.

"Seriously, you are being an asshole here. I am already regretting checking up on you last night," Rob said angrily.

"You are wasting time Rob, go get your taxi. You do your stuff, I will do mine. It is a free country," Brent said cheekily.

At that moment, Rob realized that getting rid of Brent wasn’t going to be easy. He cursed under his breath and started walking to where he usually got a taxi when he went out normally.

*****

A/N: Hey folks!

Make sure to add this book to your collection and vote with your power stones to show your appreciation for this work.

You can also check out my other book [Demon Immortal] and see if it is to your liking.

Reviews and comments are truly appreciated.