After staying up late, he made fourteen different types of models to be used as assets for Happy Match Mania.
But one thing felt a bit strange to William. Unlike the usual nights he stayed up working, tonight he didn't get a money transfer notification. For a moment, it almost felt like staying up had lost its meaning.
Morning.
While having breakfast, he told Aunt Oliver about the decision they made last night. Aunt Oliver was still hesitant—not because of the money. With her wealth, she couldn't care less about that small amount. The real issue was habit. Moving out of a house she had lived in for over a decade into someone else's home wasn't something she could accept overnight.
"Let's have lunch together today. My old coworker really wants to meet you," Cynthia said on the way to the studio.
The contract she brought back last night wasn't official yet—it needed the company's stamp today to take effect. Naturally, that meant arranging to meet at noon. No wonder she hadn't asked Aunt Oliver to make a lunchbox in the morning.
"Do I even have a choice?" William said helplessly. "Why not invite Marcus too? It's kind of work-related."
"I'll let him know."
When they arrived at the studio, Marcus wasn't waiting outside this time since William had given him a spare key.
"You're up early, huh?"
In the office area, they found Marcus already working on his phone.
Marcus looked up and, seeing William and Cynthia, gave a sheepish smile.
William reminded him, "You do know we don't do clock-ins here, right? Even if you came at noon, I wouldn't dock your pay."
"At home I'm just playing games, at the office I'm also playing games—doesn't matter where I am."
He wasn't wrong. If employees loved coming to work, as the boss, William should be happy.
William gave Cynthia two tasks: prepare contracts for Claire and Tina. One was still hesitating, the other was waiting to quit her job, but that didn't stop Cynthia from getting the paperwork ready.
It was really just printing two sheets of paper. Since there wasn't much else for her to do, and she wasn't much help with game development, Cynthia's work was basically down to killing time or acting as a tester and playing games.
Once in his office, William's schedule was packed.
First, he needed to work on Happy Match Mania. It wasn't a small project—developing it alone was tough—but he already had a plan.
Next, he needed to finish the Honor of Kings map modeling. Right now, it was just the basic model. He still had to add details, textures, and do the rendering.
Finally, he planned to develop a new mode for *Piano Tiles*. Since Marcus didn't have anything meaningful to do at the moment, William figured he could let him test the new mode once it was done. The release date could be decided later.
In theory, juggling three projects at once would be exhausting, but with his "cheat" to help and a crystal-clear idea of what he needed to do, it wasn't as hard as it sounded.
It was like copying homework for three different classes—when you got tired of Chinese, you'd switch to English; tired of English, you'd switch to math. Rotate through them, change things up a bit.
The morning passed without incident.
By noon, Cynthia came knocking on his door. With the way he was working, if she didn't call him, he probably wouldn't even notice the time.
The three of them squeezed into a taxi. The destination was a private kitchen restaurant—not as famous as Magnolia Restaurant, but with great reviews and taste, at least according to one popular review site.
Looking at Marcus's reflection in the rearview mirror, William asked with concern, "A little nervous?"
Marcus didn't realize William was talking to him until Cynthia poked his shoulder.
"Huh? You mean me?" Marcus turned around from the front seat.
Cynthia said, "What do you think?"
"Oh, sorry."
William reassured him, "It's just a normal meal, don't worry about it."
"I'm just afraid I might embarrass the company later," Marcus said awkwardly.
"Relax, you won't embarrass the company."
It was hard to tell if Cynthia was trying to comfort him or making fun of him.
"That's good then." Marcus let out a sigh of relief, completely ignoring Cynthia's attitude toward him.
Only William felt that Cynthia seemed a bit hostile toward Marcus. At least, she wasn't as friendly to him as she was to William, and there was this slight condescending tone in her manner.
Maybe it had something to do with her having been a manager before. After all, a subordinate's performance affected her results, so she naturally wouldn't want to have people under her who couldn't deliver.
Then again, she was still a manager now—it was just that William didn't treat himself as a boss, so he wanted to be friends with his staff.
Blossom Park.
Cynthia's former colleague was a stylish woman in her thirties, still wearing light office clothes even in winter.
"This is my boss, William," Cynthia introduced. "And this is my dear big sister, Merry"
After they exchanged greetings, Marcus, who was following behind, was brushed over with just a quick mention.
Merry said, "I really didn't think I'd get the chance to work with my idol, let alone be trusted with managing his social media accounts."
"You're exaggerating. We're just an ordinary company."
"No, no, no," Merry shook her head. "You might not know this, but our industry has been watching your company for a while now. Everyone's been wondering who the lucky one would be in the end. I guess I'm just lucky to have my little sister here helping me out."
"Merry's company is also one of the top in the industry, and her team is the best in their company. So this is definitely not some backdoor deal," Cynthia explained to William on purpose.
Honestly, even if she hadn't said that, William wouldn't have suspected her of favoritism. After all, she owned shares in the company, and once you've gotten a taste of the benefits, you wouldn't do anything to harm your own interests.
Marcus couldn't understand it. William looked younger than him, yet he could chat and laugh with people several years or even more than a decade older, while Marcus could only stand on the side, smiling along, not able to say a word, and without anyone giving him much attention.
It stung a little, but the delicious food quickly healed him.
"Slow down."
Cynthia gave him a little kick under the table, telling him to mind his table manners.
Most of William's talk with Merry was about games, because she needed to understand things well enough to avoid mistakes when running the account. She even took the initiative to add William on WeChat, saying that if she had any questions, she would ask him right away to prevent work issues.
"She's into you."
On the way back, Cynthia suddenly dropped a bomb.
"Huh?" Marcus reacted even faster than William.
William was slightly stunned too. From his point of view, they had only talked about work at the table—nothing like what Cynthia was suggesting.
"How can you tell?"
Cynthia said, "Just a feeling."
"No way. I don't think she meant it like that."
Marcus chimed in, "Yeah, boss, didn't you two just talk about work?"
"Believe it or not."
"I don't believe it," Marcus said bluntly.
William didn't say anything, but inside, he didn't believe it either. And even if it were true that Merry liked him, what did that have to do with him? He couldn't just go up and ask, right?
He wasn't as simple-minded as Marcus.
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