It Won't Be That Bad

Ch 1

The sound of equipment being tidied up rang out, William glanced at his son-in-law for a moment. Noah was busy cleaning their workspace at CBPW, putting the tools into the toolbox without speaking a word; it had become his habit to rarely speak. He took a few breaths while tidying up old documents, before a photo slipped and he took it—an old photo of the two of them in the past when they were still alive. William raised his eyebrows and smiled interestedly.

"Hey, look, our old picture." William held out his hand to Noah so that Noah could see it clearly. Photo of a young blonde who was talking to a brown-haired man. "I don't know when Henry took it."

Noah frowned deeply looking at the photo, he didn't mind being photographed secretly, but past memories flooded. "Disgusting."

"Why can't you be nice to yourself for once?"

William stared at Noah in distraught, but Noah just glanced away indifferently. He sighed again, of course the insult wasn't for him but for Noah's past self. Both the eldest son and son-in-law had despised themselves in the past, they were indeed the perfect match. William opened a drawer and placed the photo carefully, then closed the drawer and locked it. Before long William patted Noah's shoulder who was still working on other files. "Let's go home now," he said.

Noah turned his head to him. "But I'm not done with it yet," he replied, sounding somewhat protesting.

He just shook his head and, in the end, pulled Noah to leave immediately. "We can continue it in another day," he said after that, now he looked like he was dragging Noah because Noah was still stubborn to clean up the remaining files. "Besides, I promised Vincent we'd be home at," William paused to check his watch which said it was four past thirty, "five o'clock."

"But—fine." Noah rolled his lazy eyes and exhaled slowly, before he suddenly sneezed.

William glared. "See, you're already tired."

"No."

"Yes."

He sneezed again.

"See?"

Noah stared at William with annoyance, almost grinding his teeth. "There's a lot of dust in here," he slurred again, before holding back a third sneeze. "Ugh, gross. How come they never clean up this area?"

The brown-haired man just chuckled as he took out his car keys from his trouser pocket. "Who would want to clean up an abandoned office separated from the main building? Even more so with the rumors that the previous owner was a murderer." William's tone was somewhat scornful and playful, it was obvious he was taking this matter lightly. "I got the file I wanted anyway." Then he waved an old dossier on the restaurant's 1983 income and expenses.

"Why do you need it for, really?"

"Oh, I need it to record all income since CBPW was first established," William answered casually as he opened the car door and sat in the driver's seat, while Noah sat beside him. "I've got files from 1997 to now via e-mail."

Noah raised his eyebrows in interest. "Really?" William nodded in response to her question, then he spoke again. "I'll help you record it."

"Whoa? In that case, okay." William threw a faint smile at Noah as he started the engine. "But it's a lot, you know," he adds, sounding unsure this time whether Noah really wants to help him or not.

He started the car when Noah replied again. "It's better than doing nothing," Noah said, he leaned back against the car seat and folded his arms before closing his eyes.

For a moment William glanced again. "You can do anything but help me, you know? Don't work too seriously, just play around once in a while." William exhaled slowly. "Take Michael out on a date, play with Elizabeth and Chris, or do whatever with the three of them. For the past week you seem fixated on helping me with everything—didn't Vincent ask you to accompany Chris to the park?"