The first commercial product created by Alex was a type of floor and bathroom cleaner. His product cleaned faster and better than other cleaning products sold in stores. Praised by his mother and family, Alex became too excited and made many bottles of cleaning products, so his mother had to tell Jackson and Lily to bottle the liquids and distribute them for free to the neighbours. This was just to get rid of the strong-smelling liquids.
The product instantly became famous as the Bolton Family Floor Cleaner. Lily received candies and cakes every time she distributed the product, and Jackson, along with Michael, started quietly collecting money for every repeat request for their cleaning liquid.
Since then, Alex began creating various other products and never forgot to add other ingredients he believed would improve his products. He called it improvisation. Alex made cleaning liquids, shampoo, bath soap, and other products. Some products completely failed and had to be dumped into a special underground liquid waste container. However, some looked better than the ones sold in stores. Lily's favorite product was a floral-scented and fragrant bath soap. Alex made it by adding his mother's perfume.
The soap quickly became popular among the neighborhood girls and the town, all because Jackson and Michael distributed it for free. They were excited to distribute soap to have an excuse to meet pretty girls in town.
However, Alex had to face his mother's anger after discovering that his expensive perfume bought from Paris was used up by Alex. After that, Alex had to find another ingredient to replace the expensive perfume as the base for his soap fragrance. He once tried to extract the scent core himself following the instructions in a blending book but gave up due to the lengthy process. He preferred buying ready-made perfume cores and simply mixing them.
One day, a friend of Jackson's asked about the soap-making process in the backyard. Alex could hear their conversation from the upper floor of his room. "Wow, your younger sibling made this soap?" the friend asked in disbelief.
"You don't believe it?" Michael laughed, enjoying his friend's surprise. "He's a genius, buddy."
"As long as this product isn't defective like his legs," the friend retorted, not wanting to be outdone. "You know, defective products? Those who use this soap might end up with blistered skin."
At that moment, a flowerpot and a few books flew out of Alex's window towards the man. Angry shouts echoed until Jackson and Michael had to escort their friend out of the house forever.
Alex always got angry if people mocked his legs, and he was even more furious if anyone ridiculed the products he made wholeheartedly. Every product he made went through a long trial process. He knew more than a hundred products on the market contained harmful substances. However, the products he made for his family were far from dangerous. Alex always used safe chemicals for all his products. Some people would immediately judge his products as bad without trying them or knowing their basic ingredients. Alex despised people like that.
Jackson and Michael attended the same university, majoring in economics and business. Sometimes, to earn extra money, they would ask Alex for products to sell. Although their parents were not lacking in financial matters, they were strict in monitoring their children's spending.
"50:50!" Alex shouted, refusing to back down, which forced Jackson to agree to a highly unfair deal. 50% of the profit for Alex and the other 50% divided between himself and Michael who sold the products. However, because Alex's products were always excellent, they never had trouble selling. Every store was willing to stock their products—although they didn't have official permits at that time—and every customer was willing to repurchase their products.
"I think Alex is pushing too hard for quality in his products," Michael said to Jackson on their way home one day. "Especially after our friend mentioned it."
"He was like that even before being mentioned. His perfectionism is terrifying," Jackson replied. He still remembered how Alex tested each of his products by recording every effect when used by neighbors for free. "Do you know what he said to me?"
"I might be flawed, but my work will never be flawed."
After Jackson and Michael graduated from university, they decided to start their own business, making and selling Alex's products officially on a much larger and formal scale.
Knowing the quality of Alex's products, their grandfather and father supported the venture and decided to invest as well. The capital gathered was used to build a factory for manufacturing chemical products and purchase transportation equipment for distributing the products. His father easily handled all the necessary business permits. At that time, Alex was only around 16 years old and led several chemistry graduates to mass-produce products such as floor cleaners, floral-scented bath soaps, hair wash, and laundry detergent powders.
Their company grew very rapidly, and their factory kept expanding. If Alex had to be honest, it was all thanks to Jackson and Michael. Both men were born with high business instincts and exceptional sales abilities.
They led a team of salespeople and continued to open distribution branches in many regions. Through interactions with chemistry experts, Alex realized that many of them were much better than him, more talented, and had a deeper understanding of chemistry. Their various creations were even better than his. However, because no one marketed, sold, and financed their products on a large scale, they could only work for the company for their livelihood. He was lucky to have everything.
At the age of 20, Alex received a professorship from a university thanks to several valuable discoveries in chemistry and also his innovative products. To celebrate, Alex published two large books containing descriptions of the chemical ingredients of every common product that most families had at home. The books were printed in very limited numbers and not sold to the public.
At the age of 28, a university sent him an invitation to become a chemistry lecturer there. Alex had no interest in responding to the letter, just like offers from dozens of universities before. Meanwhile, Jackson felt that his younger brother's life had become too busy with creating new products for years and isolating himself in the factory research area. Meeting almost no one.
Michael, who shared the same thoughts as Jackson, visited Alex at his research place. "It's not healthy to keep busy with all these new products continuously. Besides, there are already over fifty new products waiting to be made. The factory can't keep up with your discoveries," Michael said, concerned about Alex, who was like his own brother.
Alex lived in seclusion, his body thin, his face pale, and he avoided socializing with anyone. Deep down, Michael knew that Alex always felt insecure about his condition.
"Alex, for your own well-being, seek a peaceful life. You are one of the owners of this company; why bother with making new discoveries when you already have dozens of chemists and several professors working for you? Go out and enjoy your life."
After being urged by Jackson, Michael, and his parents, Alex finally left his position as head of research at the factory and moved to a house near the university to start his new job as a chemistry lecturer. However, he still received regular updates from his factory research team.
All because he felt that his life had no meaning without his work. More precisely, he had nothing else besides his work.
The first commercial product created by Alex was a type of floor and bathroom cleaner. His product cleaned faster and better than other cleaning products sold in stores.Praised by his mother and family, Alex became too excited and made many bottles of cleaning products, so his mother had to tell Jackson and Lily to bottle the liquids and distribute them for free to the neighbours. This was just to get rid of the strong-smelling liquids.The product instantly became famous as the Bolton Family Floor Cleaner. Lily received candies and cakes every time she distributed the product, and Jackson, along with Michael, started quietly collecting money for every repeat request for their cleaning liquid.Since then, Alex began creating various other products and never forgot to add other ingredients he believed would improve his products. He called it improvisation.Alex made cleaning liquids, shampoo, bath soap, and other products. Some products completely failed and had to be dumped into a sp
Claire tried to concentrate her vision on a reading book under the dim light of the garden lamp.She stared at the hanging lamps above the dimly lit corridor of the west wing, some of which were broken or never turned on for cost-saving purposes. It would have been better for her not to be in this place.The main building in the middle or the east wing should have been her best options. However, the main building always had a lot of people passing through.She never liked crowds. As for the east wing, it required a small fee to enter the cafeteria there. Thinking back and forth, she decided that the quiet west wing was the most suitable place for her, despite being a bit dark.At nine o'clock in the evening, she began to pack all her books into a cloth bag and started walking out of the university into the deserted streets.Some public transport vehicles passed by, and she could only watch them go. It had been a long time since she could enjoy that luxury.Every coin she saved for tra
The university became the only place for her to be alone.There, she could also study and work on her assignments, which was much more comforting than at home. Tonight, Claire found something that caught her attention in the west wing corridor.Among the dark hallway and the rarely opened room doors, her eyes spotted a new announcement paper stuck on the big wooden door of a room in the west wing."Old LibraryOpen 17:00 – 22:00"Claire stared at the announcement paper for a long time and tried to read the writing inside it once again.She knew the university library was located in the main building and always closed at 17:00. How could there be two libraries in one university?Curiously, Claire pushed the heavy door in front of her.Bright light immediately flooded in, and she entered a large room with neatly lined wooden tables. At the back of the room, there were tightly packed bookshelves leaving very little space.A fat old woman sat at the reception desk near the entrance.The w
That evening, the rain was pouring heavily outside the library.The air felt very cold outside, Claire felt so hungry and found it difficult to leave the warm library room just to enter the cold hallway to eat a small piece of her leftover lunch burger.Her eyes were fixed on Alex, who was busy working on sheets of paper on the table.Summoning her courage, she quietly took out a worn plastic package containing a cold, slightly crushed burger from her bag. Claire always took her lunch burger and cut it in half. One half for lunch and one half for dinner. She brought the food under the table.With her eyes still on Alex, her other hand slowly unwrapped the paper and plastic wrapping very slowly to avoid making any loud noise.She was sure the professor wouldn't notice her. Her heart was pounding, her stomach growling, and her mouth watering.She quickly raised her hand and slightly lowered her head to take a bite of the burger. Her eyes glanced at Alex, who still didn't notice her, an
Claire glanced at the table where Alex had been sitting earlier, noticing a neatly wrapped burger package and then looking at Alex, who had just walked out of the library door."Isn't the trash bin right next to the entrance and exit? Why ask for my help?"***That night, Alex couldn't sleep peacefully and half-cursed his own foolishness. Unfortunately, his realization came too late, very, very late.The next day, Alex arrived early to meet the library guard, Captain's wife named Dyah. He wanted to know if Claire had taken it or thrown it away.Dyah looked at Alex's arrival and before the professor could ask, "She threw it away."Alex was surprised. "What?""She took it and immediately threw it away as you instructed."Alex felt disappointed and started to move to leave the library. However, he paused for a moment and turned back to look at Dyah, "How did you know?""That you wanted to feed her?" Dyah looked at Alex understandingly. "She's been getting thinner lately. I've been worrie
In the evening, Alex headed to the old library faster than usual. He seemed in a hurry and went straight to Dyah."Where's my and Claire's dinner?" he asked quickly.Dyah pointed to two lunch boxes on the table, and Alex immediately took both of them to put in his bag. In return, he placed a large package containing six plastic boxes inside."Let's make this our dinner.""What about the lunch I made with effort?" Dyah protested with a disappointed look."I'll finish it myself," Alex replied quickly and went to his table.Somewhat annoyed, Dyah took a plastic box containing food. She opened it and tried a bite. Just one bite, and she immediately looked at Alex. She understood why Alex wanted Claire to try it.Right at that moment, Claire entered, and Dyah called her. She gave Claire four plastic boxes of food and said, "My friend who's in love gave me this food. Since there's too much, you have to help me finish it. Take two boxes and give two boxes to that quiet lecturer.""Thank you,
Alex glanced at each student in his classroom for the umpteenth time. With a heavy heart, he had to admit Claire was not among them. Alex resumed his explanation about chemistry to the students in front of him, no longer with the same enthusiasm.He couldn't understand why his feelings were so easily swayed. Hadn't he met Claire almost every day in the library? Why did the days when Claire attended his class once a week always hold a special meaning for him?That evening, Alex entered the library and didn't find Claire. He looked at Dyah, who nodded and gestured towards a corner between the bookshelves. A little confused, Alex wheeled his chair as quietly as possible past row after row of books. In a narrow corner between the bookshelves, he heard stifled sobs.Alex's heart pounded hard, and as his wheelchair arrived in front of the aisle, he saw Claire sitting on the floor, leaning against the bookshelf. She covered her face with both hands, crying quietly.Among her fingers and the
If he returned home that quickly, Lucas would take advantage of the opportunity to try to defile her.When night fell and it was time for the library to close, he walked home and found his mother asleep in front of the television.He hated his mother.The next morning, Claire cried in her room. She was filled with doubt and fear. She couldn't decide whether to continue on to her job or not.She needed the job and she needed the money. The salary from that place was crucial for providing food at home. She had no other choice but to go back to work.Claire stood up and began changing clothes. She cursed herself for being foolish enough to return to that cursed place. But what could she do?She thickly applied powder to the bluish parts of her face and couldn't hide her blackened, slightly swollen eye bags.From the mirror's reflection, she stared at her face for a long time. A drop of tear suddenly fell down her cheek, ruining her powdered makeup.The storm will surely pass... a strong