The Bond

Ch 50

"Bold."/"Bold italic" : animatronic is talking/animatronic is talking in mind

"Normal."/"Normal italic." : human is talking/human is talking in mind

=o^o=

All night Michael tried to figure out what was wrong with his illusion disc. He didn't sleep at all even though sleepiness weighed on his focus to keep working. Michael went back and forth to disassemble the disc and keep trying. His head ached and his eyes stung from not resting even for a minute, but Michael didn't care.

Several times he also asked Ennard to try it again which Ennard did what he wanted—the result was still the same as Ennard used it the first time. Michael was so confused, he was sure he had made it in the right steps. He even ignored Ennard who often told him to stop for a moment. He had to know what was wrong with the illusion disc.

"Afton, it's seven in the morning."

"So?!" Michael snarled angrily at Ennard who was standing behind him, he gritted his teeth in annoyance and turned to the disc again. "I will fix this as soon as possible, just wait."

"You've been trying since eleven hours ago." Ennard let out a small sigh of resignation, he could no longer understand Michael's obsession with finishing the disc. Even so, Ennard appreciated Michael's persistence this time, though Michael ignored him again after he said that.

Michael groaned and banged his forehead against the table loudly, a sign that he was desperate. Ennard looked at him concernedly for a moment, before choosing to leave the room to leave Michael alone—it seemed the brown-haired man needed some time without anyone around. Michael can scold anyone when he's angry, that's the problem.

Then Michael took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, after that he wiped his face furiously before covering it with both hands. This really stresses him out.

A few moments later he also rested his chin with his palms while his elbows rested on the table, his gaze began to wander as if he was daydreaming. He racked his brains and reanalysed the illusion disc's sketch in his mind, it's possible that he missed an important stage even though it felt like he had made it right. Michael's eyes blinked slowly, before moving the other way.

He blinked again at the spare parts piled up on the table near the bed.

For three to five minutes Michael was silent, just staring intently at the spare part, and an idea suddenly popped up like a lightbulb burning. Michael gasped, he immediately stood in his seat until his chair fell and immediately walked over to the table to take a small part of the spare part that Ennard had given him.

Without waiting long, Michael returned to his desk and tried to replace one of the important parts of the illusion disc with the spare part. He wasn't too optimistic it would work, but it was worth trying.

Somehow it felt very thrilling now, maybe because he had a new way to fix it. Michael was fully concentrated, he quickly repaired the disc, also very careful considering it was quite small. Michael could hear footsteps coming into the room, but he ignored him, Ennard would probably just watch (and Michael was relieved the animatronic hadn't been trying to piss him off since last night).

Michael pursed his lips and focused his eyes on the final step, a simple step but one that required persistence. His attention was really on the illusion disc until the sound of a knock on the door took him by surprise.

He turned to the door, already knew who was knocking, and he knew she wouldn't stop until he answered.

Michael pinched the bridge of his nose tiredly, then stepped out of the room after passing Ennard who continued to stare at him wordlessly. Michael went into the foyer, turned the lock on the door and opened it halfway.