14 A Single Word 2

There were two types of Expos. Company exclusive expos and convention expos.

Company exclusive expos could be done by anyone. It was simply an event where a single company would rent out an area and advertise the display of their products. This, however, was usually only done by well established companies. After all, only they would be confident enough in utilizing their own name to garner enough attention.

However, convention expos like the Gaming Expo was different. The Gaming Expo was a culmination of all the gaming advances in the last year and as such, took place annually.

This expo was on an entirely other level for a few reasons.

For one, any gamer would scramble to earn tickets to the week-long event. It wasn't a matter of whether or not your company was popular enough, as long as you earned a place at the Gaming Expo, eyes would find their way to your product.

Then there was the annual gaming awards. These presented awards for video games, such as best RPG or best fighting game, so on and so forth. But, it also awarded best hardware as well. Whether that be conventional consoles, PCs or VR technology. The best part of these hardware awards was that they were always split into two categories. One being best product and the other being the hardware with the best value. Meaning, there was a chance for Petrov Technologies cheap quality hardware to win this second award!

That said, no one here was even thinking of the possibility of winning that award. Why? Because it was already a slim chance of earning a spot in the expo to begin with! Only well established and promising companies were allowed to attend because there was limited space. How the hell was Petrov Technologies going to earn a place? Ci-ci's goal was too unrealistic especially when he wanted to attend the Expo in just a year!

Looking around as seeing their surprise, Ci-ci shook his head. "Not only will we earn a spot at the expo and win the hardware value award. We'll also win the newcomer award."

"This… Isn't this a bit unrealistic…" Milana spoke out before Nicholas could lose his cool again.

To expect them to earn a place in the event in only a year was bad enough. To then expect them to with the valued price award was yet another leap in difficulty that they could hardly understand. But, to then expect them to win an award that wasn't even handed out annually? An award that wasn't given to newcomer companies, but rather to all new and ground-breaking gaming technology? That was just too much.

Ci-ci smiled. "It will be easy. All we have to do is make dream VR a reality before anyone else does."

**

Later that day, Dyon walked out chuckling. After he had said those last words, Nicholas had all but jumped over the table to strangle him. 'This Nicholas character is too wound up, almost to a fault. I'm going to have to see if I can get him to relax a bit..'

The truth was that Nicholas had the right to be angry. After all of Ci-ci's talk about how he was their only path to success, he had then laid out three goals that each seemed more unrealistic than the previous. And then, he had ended all of that with his solution being something even the largest companies had been struggling with for decades.

Dream VR? That had been in beta testing for too long. There were too many ethical loop holes to jump through, too much testing needed, and the technology necessary wasn't even confirmed to be a reality yet. And yet, Ci-ci wanted to do all of this in a year? And that was on top of also manufacturing a conventional VR hardware that would be capable of winning the valued price award. It was impossible task after impossible task!

After waving goodbye to Nellie, Dyon stepped out of the Petrov Technologies building and directly into the parking – something he could do now that he had his access card.

Clicking opening the door to his Vintage Camaro SS, Ci-ci slid into the comfortable leather seats and took a deep breath.

It was already the evening and the other Petrov Employees had left long ago. Ci-ci had been finalizing an action plan they could start on, so he had stayed behind for a bit along with Milana.

Suddenly, Ci-ci's phone vibrated causing him to remember that just this morning, he had received a text he hadn't had the chance to look at. But, the fact he was receiving another right now likely meant it was from another person he had white-listed.

Seeing that the message was from Milana asking to come over, Ci-ci smiled. He had just spent the entire day with Milana but now she was asking to come over so late at night? But, all of Ci-ci's dirty thoughts were stifled when he saw who the text from this morning was from.

'I didn't expect you to reach out to me so soon…' Ci-ci felt torn.

No one knew more about his situation than Frae did. In fact, it was because of this that Ci-ci had given her so much space. He wanted her to have the option of enjoying the time they spent together, and still being able to cut it all off and forget it all.

It wasn't as though she had no idea who Ci-ci was. She was too smart for that and their history reached back too far. However, Ci-ci had never explicitly stated it. It was his non-verbal guarantee to her that he didn't expect her to risk what he was risking. And yet, here was her text. It was only a single word. But, it conveyed everything that Ci-ci wanted to know.

He couldn't help but sigh as he replied to Milana, letting her know that he had remotely left the door open for her.

Then, he set his phone down and took a deep breath before revving the engine of his car and leaving the parking lot.

By him, the slowing dimming light of his phone read one thing.

Little Frae

"Idiot."

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Sorry guys, was in the middle of assignment/midterm swamp season. Uploads should be at least a bit more consistent for a few weeks until final exam season >.<

Now we can finally start getting into the meat of the story! Frae and Ci-ci's history coming soon. There's also Ci-ci's ex-students that may or may not be making an appearance soon. And finally, Saito Visuals, Lily's family company, just might be some of the highest end rivals Petrov Technologies will have in their video game hardware race

Stay tuned! :)