Chapter 136: 136
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Baldwin Harbor – 8 pm
"Heh heh." Tayaw chuckles as he notices that the police are still camped outside the theater.
"What's so funny?" A Coniglio captain asks when he heard Tayaw's chuckle.
"Cops are still camped outside." Tayaw replies.
"Cops? COPS?!! What are they doing here?!" The mobster exclaims, becomes apprehensive and asks Tayaw.
Before Tayaw can say he does not know, "Because it's a rare occasion! It's expected. They don't have anything on us." Don Sylvio, who is walking ahead of Tayaw explains.
"My boy, except for the classics, that must be the best film I've ever seen in my life! If you can tell my story just as well this, then I am assured." Gonzalo, who is in front of Sylvio, backtracks to Tayaw using his electronic wheelchair, not caring at all about the police presence.
"Thank you, Don Gonzalo. I can assure you that my film, inspired by your story, will be much better than this." Tayaw says.
In addition to the 95 other members of Coniglio family, Gonzalo and his blood family in attendance, just finished watching the free screening of 'September Ninth'. As an unneeded apology for infiltrating Don Gonzalo's birthday dinner a few days ago and introducing himself with a false name, Tayaw hosted the screening and hired the best non-fancy Italian caterer in town for the short dinner.
Don Sylvio was apprehensive at first when Tayaw proposed treating them to a movie and a meal, but when Tayaw said he was going to reserve a theater in Coniglio territory, he agreed.
"By the way, I didn't know you are using a wheelchair?" Tayaw asks.
"Oh, I can still walk, but not for long distances. And.. a wheelchair makes everyone make way for an old man." Gonzalo chuckles.
A few moments later, the screening attendees arrived in the cinema's lobby again.
"Ah. Young fellas of your senses are rare even in my prime. You know what we like." Don Sylvio remarks when they sat themselves by the fancy catering set up in the lobby.
"It was not difficult to figure out that you all love home-cooked but savory Italian dishes. I would have cooked for you all but there's too many to cook for. Let me serve you the chef's recommendations." Tayaw offers.
Before Tayaw can step away from their table however,"It's the sentiment that counts, young man. Join us." A lavishly dressed lady in her early 50s says, and she waves to one of the soldiers to serve their table.
"Thank you, madame." Tayaw thought it best to not refuse the the lady's request.
The lady after all, is Delfina Coniglio – Sabattini; Sylvio's sister, and Gonzalo's daughter,
"By the way, Tayaw. Do you have a woman in your life?" Delfina suddenly asks.
"No ma'am. I'm too busy to accompany one." Tayaw says, to the amus.e.m.e.nt of the people on the table.
"Delfina, my dear. You're making my niece quite uncomfortable." Sylvio says when he sess Adriana, Delfina's daughter blush.
The people at the table, including Tayaw, know Delfina's intention with her question to Tayaw just now. Sylvio on the other hand, always wanted to have a daughter but with his wife no longer in a fertile age, did not get to have one. That led him to become very spoiling and protective of his niece.
"No, no. I think Delfina is right, my boy. We've had you Sylvio, when your mother and I were 26. Then I became busy, as you know, and we only had Delfina when we were 40, your mother almost didn't make it too." Gonzalo expresses his agreement with Delfina's actions.
"It's better to raise a family early. You're 24 now, right my dear Adriana? You and Tayaw here can get to know each other for a year or two, and maybe I'll have a great grandson before I go." Gonzalo offers his opinion.
"Dios mio, papa. You can't always get to use your twilight years to get what you want." Don Sylvio shakes his head.
"Then give me a grandson, Sylvio. What happened to your sons, huh? They didn't inherit my virility? Those punks aren't even here." Gonzalo busts Sylvio's balls.
Seeing Sylvio silent, Gonzalo continues.
"As I was sayin. Tayaw, our Adriana here is quite the pretty face, no? Adriana, Tayaw here is not only a director, he's also a musician and quite a handsome man. Why don't you two get to know each other, hm?" Gonzalo is insistent on setting Tayaw and Adriana up.
"Ah. Don Gonzalo. My skin might be quite fair, but I'm not Italian, I'm not even white." Tayaw says, trying to get out of it.
He has heard that Italian mobs seem to be very selective of the ethnicity of who they marry.
"What are you saying, my boy? We're not those jokers from Sicily and we are not those lunatics from the KKK." Gonzalo says, proving Tayaw's assumption wrong.
"Don Gonzalo, I don't mean to be disrespectful by refusing, but I think Miss Adriana might find me too young." Tayaw says. That got raised eyebrows from the people at the table.
"Excuse me?" Delfina cannot help but ask.
"I'm 18, turning 19 this September." Tayaw drops casually as he drinks from his glass.
The people around him turned silent for a moment before Don Gonzalo burst out in a wheezy laughter.
"hhhhhhhhAhahaha! Tayaw, my boy. Ah! I envy your youth and talents, but there are still things you need to learn." Don Gonzalo says. Gonzalo did not say it but Tayaw felt Gonzalo's words are laced with annoyance.
"Alright. With your permission ma'am, may I ask your daughter for her contact number? We might get along." Tayaw finally gives in, his words, making Delfina and Gonzalo very happy.
===========
The next day.
Tayaw arrives at the Cognito Technologies headquarters in a small neighborhood in Queens. While Cognito Technologies will only become a big company on 2018 for their camera AI and filters, drones, and other sorts of videography software, he figures that he should see what the current status of the company is at this time.
He also invested $15 million so he wants to see if his money is not being wasted.
"Good morning Mr. Dagem." A man welcomes him at the front gate of a big house.
"Good morning Mr. Schulz." Tayaw greets.
Gabriel Schulz is the man that Tayaw hired to act as a CEO for Cognito and his eyes and ears at the company.
"Why'd you move from your office? They were doing fine there." Tayaw cannot help but ask as he looks around the neighborhood.
"It's actually cheaper for the company to just rent two houses and combine the living space and working space of our engineers." Gabriel replies. Tayaw almost winces at the seemingly bad treatment.
"And they were okay with it?" Tayaw askes.
"Yeah. They were actually happy with it. Their workspace is actually either in the bas.e.m.e.nt of the houses or in the garages." Gabriel explains.
"I see. None of these guys are married?" Tayaw again cannot help but wonder why the employees want to stay together in one house.
"Oh, the married ones didn't move. That's the reason why we put their work space in the bas.e.m.e.nt and garage so the guys who aren't staying here would still see it as an office." Gabriel explains.
"Parking?" Tayaw asks.
"There's a parking lot a block away." Gabriel replies.
"Well. As long as they're fine with it." Tayaw shakes his head.
As they enter the first house, Tayaw cannot help but scrunch his nose at the smell.
"Jesus Christ, Gabriel. Hire a house keeper." Tayaw says.
"Noted." Gabriel nods, not at all ashamed at the filth of the house.
The two then proceeds to the bas.e.m.e.nt.
"So here is the workspace. It's messy, but hey, the old place wasn't any better. At least that's what they tell me." Gabriel reports.
"It's okay. Whatever makes them comfortable working." Tayaw says as he looks around at the busy people in the bas.e.m.e.nt.
"MAN! That's not what we do here!" Tayaw and Gabriel's attention is taken by a man yelling at an employee.
"Hey Fred. What's going on here?" Gabriel says as he quickly walks towards the man who was yelling.
"Hey Gabriel. Hey, Mr. Dagem. It's been a while." Fred greets.
"Good to see you, Mr. Keaton." Tayaw greets back. "So, what's going on?" Tayaw asks.
"This kid right here isn't doing sh*t, but oh boy, is he so passionate with this side project." Fred says.
"Side project? Man, what's your side project?" Tayaw asks, his interest piqued by the employee.
"I-it's nothing, man. I won't do it again." The employee however, is nervous and apologizes.
He has only heard of Tayaw from his colleagues and he is afraid he just made a bad first impression.
"No. No. Just show me." Tayaw simply orders, gently.
The employee then hesitatingly opens a game in one monitor and some software in the other monitor.
"New York Sim City?" Tayaw is confused when the employee opened a recent best-selling game.
'New York Sim City' is a game that Tayaw played plenty of times during his college years in his past life.
Tayaw liked the game as it offered him freedom that he never experienced in any other games. It also gave him the virtual experience of New York City in the game because the game is practically a small-scale gamified version of the real city. The game, to have a purpose aside from just exploration, has set missions in it for players to complete.
The game soon finishes loading and the screen displays the employee's character, "Here it is boss." The employee says as he grabs the camera by the side. The employee then pointed his camera at the game screen and a green rectangle started hovering within the game, the green rectangle following where the camera is pointed at.
"That's it?" Gabriel says.
"That's what I'm sayin'." Fred also said.
"There's more." The employee says as he presses something on the camera and the rectangle on the game screen changes to red. The employee again controls the camera and points it around the screen. The difference this time, is that the game character's head and vision is following the rectangle.
"And that's it." The employee says.
"Well, it's nothing. I can make that too if I want. The point is, it's not useful to the company." Fred says as he rubs the bridge of his nose.
"Fred, I have a different approach. Let me show you." The employee says as he opens something.
Fred also took a look and a minute later, "Yeah. It's kind of complicated by I can make that too. Have you been spending time more on this than on your actual work? Jesus Christ." Fred says.
Tayaw on the other hand, is silent and appears to be thinking deeply about something. The employee notices and he looks at Fred and Gabriel.
A few seconds later, "What's your name?" Tayaw asks the employee.
"Steven, Mr. Dagem." Steven replies.
Tayaw chuckles at the coincidence.
"Yeah?" Steven is confused at Tayaw's reaction.
"Anyway, Steven. I have to talk to you about this." Tayaw says.
Tayaw's words has given Fred, Gabriel and Steven differing assumptions.
"Let's talk in your office, Gabriel. Fred and Steven? Please join us." Tayaw says as he walks out of the bas.e.m.e.nt, barely tolerating the smell.
"But… I, don't have an office." Gabriel shakes his head and Fred chuckles.
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!
Baldwin Harbor – 8 pm
"Heh heh." Tayaw chuckles as he notices that the police are still camped outside the theater.
"What's so funny?" A Coniglio captain asks when he heard Tayaw's chuckle.
"Cops are still camped outside." Tayaw replies.
"Cops? COPS?!! What are they doing here?!" The mobster exclaims, becomes apprehensive and asks Tayaw.
Before Tayaw can say he does not know, "Because it's a rare occasion! It's expected. They don't have anything on us." Don Sylvio, who is walking ahead of Tayaw explains.
"My boy, except for the classics, that must be the best film I've ever seen in my life! If you can tell my story just as well this, then I am assured." Gonzalo, who is in front of Sylvio, backtracks to Tayaw using his electronic wheelchair, not caring at all about the police presence.
"Thank you, Don Gonzalo. I can assure you that my film, inspired by your story, will be much better than this." Tayaw says.
In addition to the 95 other members of Coniglio family, Gonzalo and his blood family in attendance, just finished watching the free screening of 'September Ninth'. As an unneeded apology for infiltrating Don Gonzalo's birthday dinner a few days ago and introducing himself with a false name, Tayaw hosted the screening and hired the best non-fancy Italian caterer in town for the short dinner.
Don Sylvio was apprehensive at first when Tayaw proposed treating them to a movie and a meal, but when Tayaw said he was going to reserve a theater in Coniglio territory, he agreed.
"By the way, I didn't know you are using a wheelchair?" Tayaw asks.
"Oh, I can still walk, but not for long distances. And.. a wheelchair makes everyone make way for an old man." Gonzalo chuckles.
A few moments later, the screening attendees arrived in the cinema's lobby again.
"Ah. Young fellas of your senses are rare even in my prime. You know what we like." Don Sylvio remarks when they sat themselves by the fancy catering set up in the lobby.
"It was not difficult to figure out that you all love home-cooked but savory Italian dishes. I would have cooked for you all but there's too many to cook for. Let me serve you the chef's recommendations." Tayaw offers.
Before Tayaw can step away from their table however,"It's the sentiment that counts, young man. Join us." A lavishly dressed lady in her early 50s says, and she waves to one of the soldiers to serve their table.
"Thank you, madame." Tayaw thought it best to not refuse the the lady's request.
The lady after all, is Delfina Coniglio – Sabattini; Sylvio's sister, and Gonzalo's daughter,
"By the way, Tayaw. Do you have a woman in your life?" Delfina suddenly asks.
"No ma'am. I'm too busy to accompany one." Tayaw says, to the amus.e.m.e.nt of the people on the table.
"Delfina, my dear. You're making my niece quite uncomfortable." Sylvio says when he sess Adriana, Delfina's daughter blush.
The people at the table, including Tayaw, know Delfina's intention with her question to Tayaw just now. Sylvio on the other hand, always wanted to have a daughter but with his wife no longer in a fertile age, did not get to have one. That led him to become very spoiling and protective of his niece.
"No, no. I think Delfina is right, my boy. We've had you Sylvio, when your mother and I were 26. Then I became busy, as you know, and we only had Delfina when we were 40, your mother almost didn't make it too." Gonzalo expresses his agreement with Delfina's actions.
"It's better to raise a family early. You're 24 now, right my dear Adriana? You and Tayaw here can get to know each other for a year or two, and maybe I'll have a great grandson before I go." Gonzalo offers his opinion.
"Dios mio, papa. You can't always get to use your twilight years to get what you want." Don Sylvio shakes his head.
"Then give me a grandson, Sylvio. What happened to your sons, huh? They didn't inherit my virility? Those punks aren't even here." Gonzalo busts Sylvio's balls.
Seeing Sylvio silent, Gonzalo continues.
"As I was sayin. Tayaw, our Adriana here is quite the pretty face, no? Adriana, Tayaw here is not only a director, he's also a musician and quite a handsome man. Why don't you two get to know each other, hm?" Gonzalo is insistent on setting Tayaw and Adriana up.
"Ah. Don Gonzalo. My skin might be quite fair, but I'm not Italian, I'm not even white." Tayaw says, trying to get out of it.
He has heard that Italian mobs seem to be very selective of the ethnicity of who they marry.
"What are you saying, my boy? We're not those jokers from Sicily and we are not those lunatics from the KKK." Gonzalo says, proving Tayaw's assumption wrong.
"Don Gonzalo, I don't mean to be disrespectful by refusing, but I think Miss Adriana might find me too young." Tayaw says. That got raised eyebrows from the people at the table.
"Excuse me?" Delfina cannot help but ask.
"I'm 18, turning 19 this September." Tayaw drops casually as he drinks from his glass.
The people around him turned silent for a moment before Don Gonzalo burst out in a wheezy laughter.
"hhhhhhhhAhahaha! Tayaw, my boy. Ah! I envy your youth and talents, but there are still things you need to learn." Don Gonzalo says. Gonzalo did not say it but Tayaw felt Gonzalo's words are laced with annoyance.
"Alright. With your permission ma'am, may I ask your daughter for her contact number? We might get along." Tayaw finally gives in, his words, making Delfina and Gonzalo very happy.
===========
The next day.
Tayaw arrives at the Cognito Technologies headquarters in a small neighborhood in Queens. While Cognito Technologies will only become a big company on 2018 for their camera AI and filters, drones, and other sorts of videography software, he figures that he should see what the current status of the company is at this time.
He also invested $15 million so he wants to see if his money is not being wasted.
"Good morning Mr. Dagem." A man welcomes him at the front gate of a big house.
"Good morning Mr. Schulz." Tayaw greets.
Gabriel Schulz is the man that Tayaw hired to act as a CEO for Cognito and his eyes and ears at the company.
"Why'd you move from your office? They were doing fine there." Tayaw cannot help but ask as he looks around the neighborhood.
"It's actually cheaper for the company to just rent two houses and combine the living space and working space of our engineers." Gabriel replies. Tayaw almost winces at the seemingly bad treatment.
"And they were okay with it?" Tayaw askes.
"Yeah. They were actually happy with it. Their workspace is actually either in the bas.e.m.e.nt of the houses or in the garages." Gabriel explains.
"I see. None of these guys are married?" Tayaw again cannot help but wonder why the employees want to stay together in one house.
"Oh, the married ones didn't move. That's the reason why we put their work space in the bas.e.m.e.nt and garage so the guys who aren't staying here would still see it as an office." Gabriel explains.
"Parking?" Tayaw asks.
"There's a parking lot a block away." Gabriel replies.
"Well. As long as they're fine with it." Tayaw shakes his head.
As they enter the first house, Tayaw cannot help but scrunch his nose at the smell.
"Jesus Christ, Gabriel. Hire a house keeper." Tayaw says.
"Noted." Gabriel nods, not at all ashamed at the filth of the house.
The two then proceeds to the bas.e.m.e.nt.
"So here is the workspace. It's messy, but hey, the old place wasn't any better. At least that's what they tell me." Gabriel reports.
"It's okay. Whatever makes them comfortable working." Tayaw says as he looks around at the busy people in the bas.e.m.e.nt.
"MAN! That's not what we do here!" Tayaw and Gabriel's attention is taken by a man yelling at an employee.
"Hey Fred. What's going on here?" Gabriel says as he quickly walks towards the man who was yelling.
"Hey Gabriel. Hey, Mr. Dagem. It's been a while." Fred greets.
"Good to see you, Mr. Keaton." Tayaw greets back. "So, what's going on?" Tayaw asks.
"This kid right here isn't doing sh*t, but oh boy, is he so passionate with this side project." Fred says.
"Side project? Man, what's your side project?" Tayaw asks, his interest piqued by the employee.
"I-it's nothing, man. I won't do it again." The employee however, is nervous and apologizes.
He has only heard of Tayaw from his colleagues and he is afraid he just made a bad first impression.
"No. No. Just show me." Tayaw simply orders, gently.
The employee then hesitatingly opens a game in one monitor and some software in the other monitor.
"New York Sim City?" Tayaw is confused when the employee opened a recent best-selling game.
'New York Sim City' is a game that Tayaw played plenty of times during his college years in his past life.
Tayaw liked the game as it offered him freedom that he never experienced in any other games. It also gave him the virtual experience of New York City in the game because the game is practically a small-scale gamified version of the real city. The game, to have a purpose aside from just exploration, has set missions in it for players to complete.
The game soon finishes loading and the screen displays the employee's character, "Here it is boss." The employee says as he grabs the camera by the side. The employee then pointed his camera at the game screen and a green rectangle started hovering within the game, the green rectangle following where the camera is pointed at.
"That's it?" Gabriel says.
"That's what I'm sayin'." Fred also said.
"There's more." The employee says as he presses something on the camera and the rectangle on the game screen changes to red. The employee again controls the camera and points it around the screen. The difference this time, is that the game character's head and vision is following the rectangle.
"And that's it." The employee says.
"Well, it's nothing. I can make that too if I want. The point is, it's not useful to the company." Fred says as he rubs the bridge of his nose.
"Fred, I have a different approach. Let me show you." The employee says as he opens something.
Fred also took a look and a minute later, "Yeah. It's kind of complicated by I can make that too. Have you been spending time more on this than on your actual work? Jesus Christ." Fred says.
Tayaw on the other hand, is silent and appears to be thinking deeply about something. The employee notices and he looks at Fred and Gabriel.
A few seconds later, "What's your name?" Tayaw asks the employee.
"Steven, Mr. Dagem." Steven replies.
Tayaw chuckles at the coincidence.
"Yeah?" Steven is confused at Tayaw's reaction.
"Anyway, Steven. I have to talk to you about this." Tayaw says.
Tayaw's words has given Fred, Gabriel and Steven differing assumptions.
"Let's talk in your office, Gabriel. Fred and Steven? Please join us." Tayaw says as he walks out of the bas.e.m.e.nt, barely tolerating the smell.
"But… I, don't have an office." Gabriel shakes his head and Fred chuckles.
Baldwin Harbor 8 pm "Heh heh." Tayaw chuckles as he notices that the police are still camped outside the theater. "What's so funny?" A Coniglio captain asks when he heard Tayaw's chuckle. "Cops are still camped outside." Tayaw replies. "Cops? COPS?!! What are they doing here?!" The mobster exclaims, becomes apprehensive and asks Tayaw. Before Tayaw can say he does not know, "Because it's a rare occasion! It's expected. They don't have anything on us." Don Sylvio, who is walking ahead of Tayaw explains. "My boy, except for the classics, that must be the best film I've ever seen in my life! If you can tell my story just as well this, then I am assured." Gonzalo, who is in front of Sylvio, backtracks to Tayaw using his electronic wheelchair, not caring at all about the police presence. "Thank you, Don Gonzalo. I can assure you that my film, inspired by your story, will be much better than this." Tayaw says. In addition to the 95 other members of Coniglio family, Gonzalo and his blood family in attendance, just finished watching the free screening of 'September Ninth'. As an unneeded apology for infiltrating Don Gonzalo's birthday dinner a few days ago and introducing himself with a false name, Tayaw hosted the screening and hired the best non-fancy Italian caterer in town for the short dinner. Don Sylvio was apprehensive at first when Tayaw proposed treating them to a movie and a meal, but when Tayaw said he was going to reserve a theater in Coniglio territory, he agreed. "By the way, I didn't know you are using a wheelchair?" Tayaw asks. "Oh, I can still walk, but not for long distances. And.. a wheelchair makes everyone make way for an old man." Gonzalo chuckles. A few moments later, the screening attendees arrived in the cinema's lobby again. "Ah. Young fellas of your senses are rare even in my prime. You know what we like." Don Sylvio remarks when they sat themselves by the fancy catering set up in the lobby. "It was not difficult to figure out that you all love home-cooked but savory Italian dishes. I would have cooked for you all but there's too many to cook for. Let me serve you the chef's recommendations." Tayaw offers. Before Tayaw can step away from their table however,"It's the sentiment that counts, young man. Join us." A lavishly dressed lady in her early 50s says, and she waves to one of the soldiers to serve their table. "Thank you, madame." Tayaw thought it best to not refuse the the lady's request. The lady after all, is Delfina Coniglio Sabattini; Sylvio's sister, and Gonzalo's daughter, "By the way, Tayaw. Do you have a woman in your life?" Delfina suddenly asks. "No ma'am. I'm too busy to accompany one." Tayaw says, to the amus.e.m.e.nt of the people on the table. "Delfina, my dear. You're making my niece quite uncomfortable." Sylvio says when he sess Adriana, Delfina's daughter blush. The people at the table, including Tayaw, know Delfina's intention with her question to Tayaw just now. Sylvio on the other hand, always wanted to have a daughter but with his wife no longer in a fertile age, did not get to have one. That led him to become very spoiling and protective of his niece. "No, no. I think Delfina is right, my boy. We've had you Sylvio, when your mother and I were 26. Then I became busy, as you know, and we only had Delfina when we were 40, your mother almost didn't make it too." Gonzalo expresses his agreement with Delfina's actions. "It's better to raise a family early. You're 24 now, right my dear Adriana? You and Tayaw here can get to know each other for a year or two, and maybe I'll have a great grandson before I go." Gonzalo offers his opinion. "Dios mio, papa. You can't always get to use your twilight years to get what you want." Don Sylvio shakes his head. "Then give me a grandson, Sylvio. What happened to your sons, huh? They didn't inherit my virility? Those punks aren't even here." Gonzalo busts Sylvio's balls. Seeing Sylvio silent, Gonzalo continues. "As I was sayin. Tayaw, our Adriana here is quite the pretty face, no? Adriana, Tayaw here is not only a director, he's also a musician and quite a handsome man. Why don't you two get to know each other, hm?" Gonzalo is insistent on setting Tayaw and Adriana up. "Ah. Don Gonzalo. My skin might be quite fair, but I'm not Italian, I'm not even white." Tayaw says, trying to get out of it. He has heard that Italian mobs seem to be very selective of the ethnicity of who they marry. "What are you saying, my boy? We're not those jokers from Sicily and we are not those lunatics from the KKK." Gonzalo says, proving Tayaw's assumption wrong. "Don Gonzalo, I don't mean to be disrespectful by refusing, but I think Miss Adriana might find me too young." Tayaw says. That got raised eyebrows from the people at the table. "Excuse me?" Delfina cannot help but ask. "I'm 18, turning 19 this September." Tayaw drops casually as he drinks from his glass. The people around him turned silent for a moment before Don Gonzalo burst out in a wheezy laughter. "hhhhhhhhAhahaha! Tayaw, my boy. Ah! I envy your youth and talents, but there are still things you need to learn." Don Gonzalo says. Gonzalo did not say it but Tayaw felt Gonzalo's words are laced with annoyance. "Alright. With your permission ma'am, may I ask your daughter for her contact number? We might get along." Tayaw finally gives in, his words, making Delfina and Gonzalo very happy. =========== The next day. Tayaw arrives at the Cognito Technologies headquarters in a small neighborhood in Queens. While Cognito Technologies will only become a big company on 2018 for their camera AI and filters, drones, and other sorts of videography software, he figures that he should see what the current status of the company is at this time. He also invested $15 million so he wants to see if his money is not being wasted. "Good morning Mr. Dagem." A man welcomes him at the front gate of a big house. "Good morning Mr. Schulz." Tayaw greets. Gabriel Schulz is the man that Tayaw hired to act as a CEO for Cognito and his eyes and ears at the company. "Why'd you move from your office? They were doing fine there." Tayaw cannot help but ask as he looks around the neighborhood. "It's actually cheaper for the company to just rent two houses and combine the living space and working space of our engineers." Gabriel replies. Tayaw almost winces at the seemingly bad treatment. "And they were okay with it?" Tayaw askes. "Yeah. They were actually happy with it. Their workspace is actually either in the bas.e.m.e.nt of the houses or in the garages." Gabriel explains. "I see. None of these guys are married?" Tayaw again cannot help but wonder why the employees want to stay together in one house. "Oh, the married ones didn't move. That's the reason why we put their work space in the bas.e.m.e.nt and garage so the guys who aren't staying here would still see it as an office." Gabriel explains. "Parking?" Tayaw asks. "There's a parking lot a block away." Gabriel replies. "Well. As long as they're fine with it." Tayaw shakes his head. As they enter the first house, Tayaw cannot help but scrunch his nose at the smell. "Jesus Christ, Gabriel. Hire a house keeper." Tayaw says. "Noted." Gabriel nods, not at all ashamed at the filth of the house. The two then proceeds to the bas.e.m.e.nt. "So here is the workspace. It's messy, but hey, the old place wasn't any better. At least that's what they tell me." Gabriel reports. "It's okay. Whatever makes them comfortable working." Tayaw says as he looks around at the busy people in the bas.e.m.e.nt. "MAN! That's not what we do here!" Tayaw and Gabriel's attention is taken by a man yelling at an employee. "Hey Fred. What's going on here?" Gabriel says as he quickly walks towards the man who was yelling. "Hey Gabriel. Hey, Mr. Dagem. It's been a while." Fred greets. "Good to see you, Mr. Keaton." Tayaw greets back. "So, what's going on?" Tayaw asks. "This kid right here isn't doing sh*t, but oh boy, is he so passionate with this side project." Fred says. "Side project? Man, what's your side project?" Tayaw asks, his interest piqued by the employee. "I-it's nothing, man. I won't do it again." The employee however, is nervous and apologizes. He has only heard of Tayaw from his colleagues and he is afraid he just made a bad first impression. "No. No. Just show me." Tayaw simply orders, gently. The employee then hesitatingly opens a game in one monitor and some software in the other monitor. "New York Sim City?" Tayaw is confused when the employee opened a recent best-selling game. 'New York Sim City' is a game that Tayaw played plenty of times during his college years in his past life. Tayaw liked the game as it offered him freedom that he never experienced in any other games. It also gave him the virtual experience of New York City in the game because the game is practically a small-scale gamified version of the real city. The game, to have a purpose aside from just exploration, has set missions in it for players to complete. The game soon finishes loading and the screen displays the employee's character, "Here it is boss." The employee says as he grabs the camera by the side. The employee then pointed his camera at the game screen and a green rectangle started hovering within the game, the green rectangle following where the camera is pointed at. "That's it?" Gabriel says. "That's what I'm sayin'." Fred also said. "There's more." The employee says as he presses something on the camera and the rectangle on the game screen changes to red. The employee again controls the camera and points it around the screen. The difference this time, is that the game character's head and vision is following the rectangle. "And that's it." The employee says. "Well, it's nothing. I can make that too if I want. The point is, it's not useful to the company." Fred says as he rubs the bridge of his nose. "Fred, I have a different approach. Let me show you." The employee says as he opens something. Fred also took a look and a minute later, "Yeah. It's kind of complicated by I can make that too. Have you been spending time more on this than on your actual work? Jesus Christ." Fred says. Tayaw on the other hand, is silent and appears to be thinking deeply about something. The employee notices and he looks at Fred and Gabriel. A few seconds later, "What's your name?" Tayaw asks the employee. "Steven, Mr. Dagem." Steven replies. Tayaw chuckles at the coincidence. "Yeah?" Steven is confused at Tayaw's reaction. "Anyway, Steven. I have to talk to you about this." Tayaw says. Tayaw's words has given Fred, Gabriel and Steven differing assumptions. "Let's talk in your office, Gabriel. Fred and Steven? Please join us." Tayaw says as he walks out of the bas.e.m.e.nt, barely tolerating the smell. "But I, don't have an office." Gabriel shakes his head and Fred chuckles.
