"I don't want a part in this either, Dad can have it as his retirement."
Three of them were seated together in the TV room, Melissa sat lazily in her pajamas, while Dan slouched on the couch with a beer bottle in hand, eyes glued to the TV.
As Chris spoke, he glanced outside the window, the roads looked empty. A couple ran together till the railway lamp post, which is always buzzing and flickering, they looked happy and warm even in the thick snow and cold night.
"So, it's garbage now?"
"Dad!! It's not like that, Chris meant as …"
"I know what he meant it as: I am not enough for anyone."
Dan tossed his empty beer bottle into the trash, pushed himself up, and trudged toward his room. His jeans looked too tight, his eyes too tired. The door closed with a heavy click.
"Sigh! You just have to make him angry."
"I was trying to be nice. He should take care of himself first, distributing his property while he is still alive doesn't make sense to me."
Melissa stood up and, standing beside Chris, patted his back. Both siblings refusing the diner business was making it hard on their dad, both of them knew it, but they could hardly do anything about it.
"Go sleep, it's late."
Since their mother's death, their father had been in a quiet, self-destructive loop. Watching Chris leave the room, Melissa's chest grew heavy. If he really handed over the diner, he wouldn't last long—the sheer amount of beer he consumes is alarming.
"I don't know what to do now, Mom! I…Sigh! "
Muttering to herself and turning the lights off, she went to her bedroom. The things she has experienced can't be shared with her friends, they only know how to date men. The only person she can ask advice from is maybe Mrs. Howard.
Chris returned to his room and slumped in his bed face first. He didn't want to offend his father, but that old man was a stubborn fool, a hopeless lover who wanted to accompany his wife to the grave.
"Can't give Mel all the burden."
Chris muttered with his face buried inside his pillow, he suddenly sat back up, his confused, sad face was nowhere to be seen, and tilting his head, he thought for a moment before a smile crept up on his face.
"I have a system, I can't think as usual. Let's make that man better with bait."
Taking his sweater back, he ran outside, his room was more like an attic in the house. He needed to go through the outside steel stairs into the main house.
*Knock-Knock*
Melissa, hearing frantic noise outside, locked her phone and walked back into the family room. She saw Chris was knocking on their dad's room, her lips parted to intercept him, but his reassuring nod made her stop, and the voice didn't come out.
The door slowly opened, and seeing it was Chris standing out of his room, Dan looked confused, he thought it was Melissa, but his son was here.
"Come out."
Dan, hearing the positive confidence in Chris's tone, walked out of his room in shorts and a baggy t-shirt.
"I am going to the college next year, I can't hold the Diner even if I wanted to, so you have to take care of it as my dad. As for you giving it? Forget about it, when you die, we will get it anyway."
"After I graduate, if I am not a multimillionaire with my own apartment, then sure, I will handle the diner. It is our diner after all, but you have to trust me, Dad."
Dan was blown away by the lecture he just heard from his little boy, he can't imagine him talking this much. The last time he talked this much was maybe in preschool about some candy.
"The offer is not bad, Dad."
Melissa smilingly walked beside her dad with a smile, her worries were gone in an instant because two men decided to talk about the difficulties.
"This home and the diner are worth 4 million, you need an apartment and ten million in the bank, and then I agree."
"Done."
"Don't come to work from tomorrow."
*Slam*
Dan's lazy eye became quite energetic, as this time the sound of him shutting the door was more dramatic, but a small smile was there in his mouth. Melissa's joy knew no bounds as her eyes sparkled.
"Go sleep, no more hugs."
Chris, with a smug smile, tapped on her forehead before walking out. Melissa, pouting a little, went back to her room, she felt free of her burden, and Chris had matured a lot in these three months.
———————————————————————————————————
The sky was a little blurry, the sunless morning felt gloomy to Chris, but Melissa, who was walking with confidence, was as radiant as ever. The black sedan smoothly entered the Silverpine Ridge Community, and Old Darryl awkwardly smiled at Chris when opening the Iron Gate.
"This perfume will be enough, right? I brought it from Philadelphia."
"It will be enough, she loves you, but what about Faith?"
"Oh! I got her a book "
Melissa, with a broad smile, shook a yellow book. Chris could read the name clearly: 'The Remains of the Day' by Kazuo Ishiguro. He didn't even know if this type of book was something Faith would like or not.
"She's a nerd, she will like any book."
"That's true."
Both siblings nodded their heads about this opinion, Chris, with a rare one-try, parked the car, and Grace, who was standing near the door of the mansion, was impressed with how suave a driver Chris was.
"Mel, would you believe me if I said this glove box has ten thousand dollars?"
"What? No."
Looking at the side mirror and seeing Grace was approaching, Chris suddenly asked. Melissa, hearing the absurd question, was confused but still replied.
Rolling down the window, he smiled, the system trigger didn't come, which means she really didn't believe him, but he was not depending on her in the first place.
"Babe, would you believe if I said this glove box has my ten thousand dollars?"
"B…babe!!!??"
[You have just been believed. Reward: Melissa Harper's glove box has $10,000 in cash (with tax-paid documents).]
[Make People Believe 9 More Times to Level Up the System]