Chương 147: B3 Chapter 3 - Grandchildren

"What do you think, Dad, is it better to rent an apartment or buy one?" Dad sat on the couch with a beer, watching football. The type where people ran at each other with the pointed "ball". He reached forward for the remote, and my question was apparently more interesting, as he lowered the volume.

"Are you moving out?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said.

"Veyra is coming to visit."

"When's that?"

"Next week if she can get the flights arranged." He took a sip of beer.

"Oh. You'll need to warn your mother." From his tone and tired expression, I knew what he referred to. When I returned from Thailand, Mom had been excited about the fact that I had a girlfriend, and she had the idea of turning the apartment accessible for a wheelchair. She'd told us, " We should at least add a ramp for the porch to be more welcoming of her," and she began researching how to make that happen.

Dad was listening in and was okay with the idea at first, until Mom revealed her plan of building a proper, nice-looking ramp for the side of the porch. Seeing the price tag and scale of it all, Dad quickly shut it down, saying that a full-on re-shaping of the porch was way too excessive just to accommodate my girlfriend—not even my wife yet. He said we should just grab portable steel ramps that could be easily moved in and out.

That somehow resulted in a small fight, and apparently Mom was still stressing about it. I personally agreed with Dad. It wasn't their responsibility to modify a house for someone who didn't live here.

"Yeah, I think modifying the house is unreasonable," I said.

"The stairs to the attic are too steep anyway. He shrugged in the most dad way possible, clearly agreeing.

"She's stressed thinking you'll forget about your family when you move out, with you spending so much time in VR."

"So she's hoping I'd stay for longer?"

"No," Dad said.

"She's hoping you'd visit more if the house has some ramps for your girlfriend." I smiled.

"I'll visit, of course. I can carry her up a few stairs no problem. There's no need for any huge projects." He took another sip.

"Just reassure her that you'll stay in touch, and she'll be happy."

"Of course. I'll visit to see Anna as well. Although, we have been playing in VR more." His expression fell a little at the mention of VR.

"You know, I moved out as well when I got my first girlfriend. It was necessary for privacy. But these days, I was wondering if you'd ever move out at all with VR offering the same thing."

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I'm talking about," Dad said.

"I had to make sure Anna didn't have access to those games yet." I gave him a look.

"Movie Night Simulator? That's strictly eighteen plus. The game requires an ID to play, and it scans the user so it can't be jailbroken." He just shrugged, looking back at football. I waited for a moment. He said nothing, seemingly having forgotten the first question I came here for in the first place. I swear, the one time I ask him for advice, he turns the conversation to something completely different.

"So, do you have any advice?" I asked again.

"Is buying an apartment worth it?"

"That depends on a lot of factors," he said.

"If you're just buying an apartment because you have money for it, it's a bad investment. Studio apartments are already expensive here."

"And what are the loads of factors?" His answer took annoyingly long.

"Well, first of all you need to know how long you plan on staying in the apartment." I thought of an answer, but quickly realized I wasn't certain about that. I wouldn't mind living in an apartment for longer, but buying an apartment would probably lock my options.

"Investing in apartments is not financially great right now," Dad said.

"I'd only buy one if you plan on living there for the rest of your life. Save that money for a house instead and rent while you figure out where you actually want to live."

"Alright," I said, agreeing despite our usual arguments.

"I'll probably look for a place outside the city."

"Don't forget you'll need parking for your car."

"Yeah," I said.

"Maybe I should just buy a house." He blinked at me.

"Are you talking about paying a mortgage with a downpayment, or…?"

"No, I should have enough to buy a house," I said, and let a smile slip in.

"I'm just not sure whether I'll be living here or moving to Thailand."

"I see." Dad took another sip.

"Well, make sure you know what you want before buying anything."

"Mhm," I said. If the decision was up to me, I could have bought a house right now and moved in with Veyra. She tended to come to decisions slower than me, though. My future plans were always months, or years, ahead. Renting an apartment was probably the right choice for now.

"Thanks." I was about to move to the kitchen, when Dad added, "A few bad financial decisions won't be the end of the world. Just make sure you don't accidentally get her pregnant too early. That's one thing you can't take back." This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"Oh, we're not having kids," I said. His head bobbed up a little.

"We agreed on that already. Pregnancy will be dangerous for her anyway."

"So she can't have kids?" Dad asked.

"Or she doesn't want to?"

"Both," I said. He turned fully to me, studying my expression. He said nothing. With a troubled look, he slowly turned back to the TV and took a sip.

"Is there a problem with that?"

"You're sure about that?" he asked.

"Not having children?"

"Yeah, I don't want kids."

"And you're not just agreeing for her sake? What if you change your mind later in life?"

"It was a mutual decision, Dad," I said, a frown appearing on my face.

"I'm sorry if you wanted grandkids from me, but it's not happening, and we already agreed on that, thank you very much."

"Hold on," a voice came from upstairs. Hurried footsteps rushed down. My mom, having clearly overheard.

"Aiden, what did you just say?" Her mouth hung open. I couldn't tell whether it was out of shock or disbelief.

"You're not having kids?" Mom asked. I suddenly found it way harder to respond. Quietly, I said, "Um... No. We already agreed on that with Veyra." She kept staring at me without blinking.

"So you plan on spending your life in VR?" Mom, what are you talking about? I thought, but found it hard to speak. Why was my mom looking at me like that? Out of my parents, Mom had always been more supportive of anything I did in life. She was never as harsh as Dad even when I dropped out of school. I always knew her as soft, someone who always loved me no matter what. I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen an expression like this on her—like she couldn't believe the words coming out of my mouth.

Her volume increased.

"That's a huge decision, Aiden! You're too young to decide you're not having kids!" I glanced at my dad for help. On the TV, someone made a goal, the announcer shouting in low volume. Dad kept watching TV uncomfortably.

"Paralyzed people can still give birth, can they not?" Mom said.

"Have you talked to her about that?"

"She has told me she can't have kids…"

"Can't or won't?" Mom asked. What is going on!?

"I don't see how that matters," I said quietly.

"Of course it does," Mom said.

"She's also young. You two will know when the time is right."

"Mom—""How long have you been together now?" Mom asked.

"It hasn't been even a year yet. You can't make decisions like that so soon." Huh? Wasn't that like the one of the first decisions couples were supposed to agree on?

"If you don't have kids, what are you going to do when you're fifty?" Mom asked.

"You need to think this over, Aiden, it's—""Mom, I don't want kids." She paused, staring at me.

"I don't want them, and I'm not having them. I'm sorry to disappoint, but it's not happening!" She watched me like I'd punched a dog. With a frown on my face, I headed past her, upstairs. Anna stood at the top with a concerned look. She stepped out of the way, letting me to the attic. I shrugged at her before closing the door. God fucking dammit, I thought, plumping down on my bed with my hand on my head. What even was the problem here? Did my parents really want grandchildren that badly?

Shouldn't it have been my decision whether I wanted to have kids or not? Was I wrong for thinking they'd support the decision? Was it not enough that I'd won Worlds and gotten famous? My parents could still figure out ways to get disappointed in me. For fuck's sake. I sat in silence for a while, trying not to get upset. What kind of distorted view of my life did my parents have? Was Grandchildren all I was good for, or what? If Mom wanted me to visit more, what was she acting like that for?

Whatever man, I thought as I pulled my phone out. The notifications said I'd received a message from Veyra. I almost wasn't in the mood to talk right now. I was upset, and I needed a minute to calm down. But I couldn't resist. It was message from Veyra. I opened it. Veyra:" I could get flight tickets for next Sunday >:), Aree happened to be free. That's fine, right?" That was six days from now. Assassin:" That's perfect.

We might need to stay at a hotel for a few days depending on how long it takes to start renting an apartment though." She responded right away. Veyra:" Yeah I guess that's fine. It would probably be awkward to stay at your parents' place for a longer time >. >" I sighed. Any other day, I would have told her that my parents would gladly have her here. Patrick had already visited and they had no problems with that. Now, though… Veyra:" Also, the pod doesn't like me today either D; not sure when I can log in."

Veyra:" Want to call for a bit instead?" I blinked. Veyra wanted to call me? Of course I wanted to. I always wanted to call her. Even better was when she wanted to speak to me. It's really a bad time, though… I thought. I would have just taken a nap to clear my head. But I couldn't say no to that. I pressed the call button. An excited tone, way more excited than usual and at loud volume, made me flinch." Hey, you wanna sign up for the US International?" I quickly turned the volume down.

"Hello. Uh, you mean the USA Masters Cup thing?"" Yeah, USA International Masters. It's in two weeks,"Veyra said." And it's close to New York. Like a quick road trip away. It could be fun. VeilShot is competing."

"Isn't it a guild PvP competition?"" Eh,"she said." It's a five V five. Maybe we can invite a few friends."

"I mean, alright," I said.

"I'm down. Should I rent a van for that?"" No, no,"she said with a laugh." I fit in normal cars just fine. The wheelchair folds. You can just toss it in the back and I'll take the passenger's seat."

"It's in Maryland, right? That's a four-hour drive. Are you ok with that?"" Eh, I'll take the gamble that I feel good then. Worst case, I'll hug the puke bucket while you drive. Also, anyone from the top one hundred leaderboard can just register without qualifying, so I think we can just apply." A road trip with Veyra to another competition, huh? A grin suddenly appeared.

"Alright, fuck yeah, let's go. Do we think we'll win two V five?"" We can invite someone else I guess,"Veyra said." Or we can go for it and see where we stand. It should be fun either way. I'll apply when my pod lets me in. We can do it together in VR."

"Where are you right now?"" Oh, I'm in the pod,"Veyra said." My assistant just left. He gave me my phone first. I'll need to toss it out when I try again." Game pods didn't like electronics being kept inside while someone was in VR. Not that a phone in a pocket would be likely to cause any harm, but it was a safety measure nonetheless. If Veyra wanted to try logging in again, she'd need to toss her phone out. When she did, knowing her, getting her phone back would be a challenge."

Actually, what if I put it on speaker and throw it out then? Maybe you can still hear me? Hold on…" I heard a thump on her end as the phone fell somewhere, followed by a quiet, " Can you hear me?" It sounded like she was talking on the other side of the room.

"Yeah, somewhat." She laughed." Okay, good, I don't have to be alone if this fails. Give me a minute, I'll try to log in." Her phone picked up some sort of stretching noise she made as she reached out to pull the pod's door shut. Her phone stayed on the call. I opened up Wonderwind's app to see if she got in. Veyra:" Let's goo, I'm in: P" I chuckled quietly, shaking my head. Veyra hadn't been in this good of a mood in real life in a while. She must have actually been looking forward to coming here.

I couldn't have been happier to hear that.

I logged in, and we used the old computer in the corner of her guild hall to apply for USA Masters International 2027—the prize pool being a million dollars and Worlds tickets. Our toughest opponent: Eon Covenant with VeilShot.