Chapter 45: Finding Anya
James could not believe his friend could mess up to this points When he had heard Daniel talk about his divorce the night before, James had always wondered what emergency his wife had to have called Daniel about that day. Her mother died? James shut his eyes and sighed.
He admits that he had at first only invited Daniel to join this project because he had thought he would be interested. But when he had heard Daniel mutter his wife’s name last night, he wanted to bring his friend along so that Daniel had the chance to meet Anya. James had thought there was a chance for redemption, but at the moment, the chances were looking thin.
“You should go and make sure she is fine. Knowing you, your prenuptial agreement might have been something drawn by the devil from the bowels of hell itself. You go there and make sure she is well taken care of and apologize for what you have done. Obviously, I don’t see a future where Anya forgives you, but you should at least still behave like a human being,
Wendy said, then looked to James seated on her right.
“When are you leaving for this project?” Wendy asked James.
“When are you leaving
“Later today,” James answered.
“Good. Take him with you,” she decided, then turned to Daniel seated on her left, “You; go upstairs and pack so that you can leave with him. Get up!” She ordered, and he obeyed and left the table, sluggishly walking out and climbing the stairs. When Wendy saw his defeated back disappear up the stairs, she snorted.
“What kind of boy did I raise? His wife has already run away, but he doesn’t know how to pursue her and bring her home. What a disgrace,” she muttered. James seated next to her raised a brow at her words..
“I thought you had said that he had no chance.” He asked, genuinely curious,
Chapter 45 Andeng Anya
“If you leave Daniel at home, he will wallow away and say he is not worthy. He should go and suffer a bit. Only then will he get her back,” she said nonchalantly.
“You think it is even possible?” He asked, “Is suffering a bit enough?”
“I know my daughter–in–law. She is very beautiful. It is easy for her to attract flies. I dare to bet that it would not be long before someone starts pursuing her. He should go and see it with his eyes instead of being defeated here. Don’t you know your friend? He is just going to look, but will he be able to take it if someone wants to take her?” She asked, and he saw her point, but he gained a new fear for Daniel’s mother. She sure knew how to mess with her son.
“He is possessive and obsessive when he wants something. How can he sit still and watch another man take her? I know my son’s methods; he plays dirty,” she said, taking a bite of her
steak.
The trip to Lincoln City was quick. When they arrived, Daniel was not sure how he was supposed to find Anya, so he contacted a private detective and handed over as much information as he knew. It was not much. Only her name, height, and some information he had gotten from his lawyer. It was beyond shameful; after all, he had been married to her for three years, and he knew absolutely nothing about her.
The day soon came for the meeting of investors. He had thrown himself inside his work to
keep sane.
His Anya was close by, but he could not see her. The thought of it was hard to bear. The afternoon of the meeting, he and James arrived at the hotel the meeting would hold. He was not completely coming into this project as an investor, but the other side wanted him to see how enthusiastic investors were about it, so he joined James to attend.
He and James walked into the presentation room and sat. Those around had not noticed they were around, and since they were observing, they were arranged to sit a bit away. The meeting first started with the project visionary Stanley Forest, the CEO of a small gaming company.
“Autumn snow has captured the attention of the masses, producing the opportunity for us to
you
create art that captures the imagination and story that grips the soul. Yes, this, all of know. But that is not why you are here. You are here to join in witnessing the HERACLE technology our company just created. A technology embedded into the game of autumn snow we just launched. You want to know the possibilities of this technology, how far we can push it, and most of all, how you can make profit,” Stanley said, and many investors chuckled. He went on to introduce the technology.
The event went on for a while, with many technological experts weighing in. After a round of technical presentations, Stanley took the stage again.
“By now you should have noticed one of the biggest problems with testing, and that would be the volume of users. That is why we first launched it in our games. Still, this launch is not enough. We need to bring in numbers. We need more people paying attention and using this technology in real time. To do this, we have been able to recreate the most anticipated character’s representation in real life by partnering with famous artist Anya,” he said, and Daniel looked up from his phone sharply.
“Could it be her?” He muttered, and James, who heard him, patted his shoulder.
“Don’t get your hopes up too much. Anya is quite a common name,” James said.
Later on in the event, Stanley and Daniel finally met as James went ahead to introduce Stan/
to Daniel.
“Mr. Shaw, it is an honor to meet you,” Stanley greeted politely. Daniel Shaw was the chairman of RG investments and finances and the CEO of Shaw Group, a large technological. group that covered medium and heavy machinery, construction, and a range of naval technology manufacturing. He was a living legend many wanted to meet, including Stanley himself. He wanted more than anything to partner with Shaw Group in the manufacturing process of the project.
“Stanley Forest, right?” Daniel asked, “You have an interesting project here. I never thought someone would use art to gain test numbers this way.” Daniel complimented. He was genuinely impressed.
Chapter 45 Finding Arva
“Thank you,” Stanley answered. “We are, to begin with, a gaming company with very little. achievements. This technology we created is a bot cake in our hands, and we don’t have the ability to test it to our full capacity. But what we know how to do is draw a crowd.”
“The artist, Anya, are people going to pay attention if she joined the project?” Daniel asked, and James glanced at him for a second. He knew that Daniel could not hold himself back from asking about Anya. He knew it was going to come up one way or another.
“The beloved character Evelyn in the book Autumn Snow is an artist. The way her art is described bears a deep resemblance to Anya’s art. It comes up a lot within the fandom, and the author of the book admitted to me that the art described in her book was inspired by Anya’s, Stanley explained.
“That means the fandom will gather through the animation and funnel to the game; you will get numbers.” James said, nodding deeply.
“Yes. We have several collaborations planned with the artist; we are looking into trying to convince her to do an exhibit, but that is really hard,” Stanley said.
“Why? Don’t all artists exhibit?” James asked.
“Not this one. Her art is sold privately, and she has never done an exhibit. Most of the art seen in galleries or that shows in exhibitions is from Buy’s private collections. She herself has never. We have negotiated the making of some art for the animation and advertising, but we have plans to draw more attention. But artists are that way. They are all peculiar and unconventional.” Stanley said, and James nodded. He noted Daniel’s attention while he and Stanley spoke.
