William brought brunch and waited for Rosaline to open the door.After ten minutes, she opened the door in her half-asleep state.An hour later, all three of them were well fed, and William snuck Rosaline from the secret door to avoid the stalkers and brought her to his house. “This is not a house.”“Excuse me?”“This is a Villa or maybe a Mansion, not a house.” “OH”“...” “I still think this is a house. It is, in fact, a home. Just head inside, and you’ll know what I mean.”Rosaline squinted at him as he led her to the living room.The “house” was a three-story Mansion with an outhouse, huge lawn, a big garden, and a garage.It had a separate garden on the back with neatly arranged trees - primarily several kinds of fruits and medicinal plants.The gate and entire boundary looked like they had been refitted and reconstructed with better security.With just a glance, you could see it was nigh impossible to trespass inside.Moreover, Rosaline knew hidden cameras covered every inch o

William continued as Rosaline listened with rapt attention.“While registering, I said Albert and I should be co-founders and equal partners. But his parents made it a 70-30 split as it was primarily my idea, and I had done all the preliminary work.”“I still don’t think it’s fair, but they never budged. Aunty also added a rule that we can’t withdraw the funds from the company until we both reach legal age.”“In the next 6-7 years that followed, we developed three different games and five software. We had also incorporated ads for two products we genuinely liked into the game, which turned out to be quite profitable.”“Uncle Gray handled all the legal proceedings. He negotiated that we get a profit share rather than the 1-time sale of the copyright. That way, if our products become popular, we get more. Conversely, we don’t get much if they don’t work.”“Because we still have the copyright, we still keep on making some money when some related merchandise becomes popular. Keeping the c

“Let’s get you inside.”William handed her a bottle of fresh coconut water to Rosaline as they sat in the living room.He brought over the draft he had been working on and laid it over the table as they both pondered on it.William had already marked most of the things she had highlighted. They cross-checked everything as they made notes and adjusted based on their combined ideas.“I think I’m on a lucky streak in this house.”“Huh?” “What do you mean?”“First, I got this at an insanely affordable price. Secondly, I got an extremely talented designer for free.”“Thank you for the complaint. But I don’t seem to have helped you design anything yet.”“I think I have seen enough to make an accurate judgment.”“Well, continuing your lucky streak, how about I introduce you to someone quite talented in doing carpentry work?”She further added when he looked at her quizzically.“The quality of the wood used for all this furniture is not something you will be able to buy these days, even if yo

When they were leaving, Rosaline hid an envelope on the counter instead of paying.William could tell she had passed on something bulk, judging by the bulge of the big envelope.“Care to explain?” He asked when they were out of it.“When Uncle’s son was 8, he passed away due to leukemia as they could not find a match. We did not even know he was sick. Both of them had such a happy attitude.”“Uncle Kevin’s wife passed away a few months after giving birth. After his son passed away, he was inconsolable. We did not know what to do, so we kept coming here every day and talked to him and joked about being hungry and starving to keep him busy.”“He slowly pulled himself back, but part of him will always grieve for his child. We try to support him the best we can, but so far, we have not managed to help a lot.”“We just contact the hospital for his health details and pass on medication when we can.” Rosaline smiled sadly.William saw a new Rosaline today. A quick and professional Rosaline w

Rosaline thought for a while and added.“I think that’s probably the difference between men and women. Or maybe it’s just me.” William asked, genuinely interested. “What do you mean?”Taking Tessa’s advice, Rosaline tried to open her heart and articulate her feelings.“An understanding and trusting family gives you the confidence to test your limits because you know they will have your back.”“I can take a leap of faith, knowing I have somewhere I can always go back to if everything goes to shit.”“But lack of it makes you vulnerable and weak. Too cautious to live to the fullest.”“If my parents don't have faith in me. Since they can readily believe every bad thing about me, perhaps, I am a bad person. Maybe I am unworthy.”“Otherwise, why would they be like that? After all, they love me.”Rosaline muttered the last statement in an emotionless voice as if she was talking theoretically rather than about herself.But the suppressed grievances in her voice broke William's heart. “I’m s