Baby Birds in Their Nest
I was startled to find two rocking horses, a box of toys, and yet another box of books that Evan had casually packed for us as if it were only natural.
We headed back to the office with even more luggage crammed into the trunk than when we had left.
"All right, we're here… Hmm?"
Normally Reni would have answered with a cheerful "We're here!" and Luca would have babbled along in imitation. Instead the car was strangely quiet.
I glanced into the back seat and sure enough, the two brothers were sound asleep, mouths slightly open, each clutching a body pillow.
How could they look so identical even while sleeping?
Click.
I snapped a photo of the irresistibly cute scene before lifting the boys out one by one and cradling them against me.
We rode the elevator up to the office. I jiggled the door open with a little grunt and stepped inside to the warm greetings of the staff.
"We're back."
"Hey."
"Welcome back!"
Cassandra had just returned from her honeymoon as well, so the office finally felt properly bustling. Of course it did—what used to be a place for one couple now held four adults and two children.
The important thing was that I was no longer alone anywhere.
I laid the boys down first on the rattan bed in the playroom of this second home of ours. Nestled under soft blankets and pillows, still hugging their squishy body pillows, they looked exactly like baby birds asleep in a nest.
I took another photo, then went back down to the car with Greg to fetch the rest of the bags.
At the entrance Cassandra took one of the rocking horses from me and asked, "You came back with twice as much stuff. How did the interview go?"
"Well, as you know, Cassandra, Evan is an incredibly smooth talker."
"It shouldn't have been about how well he talks—it should have been about how well you talked!"
"I did my best. I got through every question I'd prepared without freezing up."
Greg laughed. "An interviewer who freezes? Come on."
"I tried not to, but it wasn't easy. Oh, and there's a ton of footage. Take a look."
I dug the camera with the video out of the luggage that still needed sorting and handed it over.
"The clips I shot on my phone should already be backed up."
"Okay, checking right now."
After putting away the kids' things and even the new books Evan had pressed on us, I stepped out again—and couldn't help a dry little laugh.
All three of them were huddled around Cassandra's desk watching the footage together.
"You've each got your own monitor. Why are you all piled up like that?"
The office furniture Rachel had ordered when she joined had all arrived by now. Yet whenever there was something to watch, our staff inevitably clustered together.
"It's more fun when we watch together."
At this rate maybe I should just buy a portable monitor and treat it like a TV.
"Anyway, it's pretty good. The background works, the interview content is solid, and the chemistry between the two of you is nice."
"Yeah. For a first-time interview video, you captured it well."
"Still, I should have gone with you."
Cassandra smacked her lips with genuine regret, but I shook my head while setting water on for coffee.
"Evan would have felt pressured. We filmed after talking a lot about personal things—maybe that's why it came out so natural."
"You might be right about that."
I ground the beans Jane had sent through Cassandra in the hand grinder and took orders.
"Anyone want coffee?"
"Me."
"Me too."
"I'll have some in a month. Definitely."
Rachel hadn't been able to drink coffee the entire pregnancy. Back when she was a typical office worker she had lived with a cup permanently attached to her hand; watching her hold out for the baby's sake never looked easy.
"Then I'll make you rooibos tea, Rachel. Come take a break."
"A company where the boss resting means the employees rest too? I like it."
We gathered around the island table for a short coffee break.
"You know, it must be nice to have money. You can start a business for self-fulfillment instead of profit."
Rachel opened the conversation, clearly thinking of Evan's new space that looked more like a private library than a bookstore.
"True. It'll take a long time to turn a profit—if it ever does. At that point it just becomes an expensive hobby that eats money and time."
"Even so, after today's interview I thought it was impressive."
When I spoke favorably, Greg raised one eyebrow.
"Isn't that just cope?"
"Cope? Come on, honey, it's not that bad. Though even a warehouse space is probably not cheap on rent."
"To him that amount is nothing, right? Not charging us studio rent for a whole year is technically an investment, but it's still not an easy thing to do."
"Rich people just think differently from us. They say their bank balances grow just by breathing…"
"I'm jealous of people who were born rich…"
The break-time chatter was sliding into the classic office-worker topic of "envying rich people," so I gently tapped the brakes.
"But I'm not jealous of Evan. He lives for work so completely that I'm pretty sure I'm his only friend."
"Ah…"
Rachel looked flustered. I hadn't been aiming at her at all.
I was flustered too, but Greg wrapped an arm around her shoulders and cut in.
"You know, your personality isn't pure sunshine after all."
Greg was jabbing a finger at his boss like he owned the place, and Cassandra chimed right in.
"Jun's got a quietly cynical streak. Zero interest in anyone who isn't 'his people,' for one thing."
"Is this suddenly boss-roasting hour? If so, can we please go back to the original topic?"
I set down a plate of cookies I'd warmed in the air fryer, and just like that they dropped the subject of me as if it had never happened.
"But will that bookstore actually sell any books? Watching a promo video on our channel doesn't automatically mean people will go buy them."
Greg announced that he, for one, would only watch the video and never buy a book. His reaction was exactly what I'd expected.
Cassandra, though, who had been just as uninterested in reading, seemed to have shifted a little.
"I think I'd actually buy a book if the theme was interesting—like Love and War. The styling is pretty, for starters…"
"Ah, so you're buying them as decoration."
"I can't exactly deny that, but it's not only that."
She kept going, half-defending herself. Every once in a while she would wander into a bookstore thinking she might read something, only to feel completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of books. Not knowing what to pick or where to go, she would inevitably drift toward the bestseller section.
"And bestsellers… sure, sometimes a book is good and sells well, but a lot of the time it feels like a product of publisher marketing. Everyone just follows the trend, so even bestsellers can be pretty empty."
So she would walk in, browse half-heartedly, and walk right back out. Looking at it that way, there was every chance people would grow to love the curated sets Evan chose over time.
After all, an editor who knew the market and the authors inside and out would be recommending books with his own thoughts attached.
"Reading new writers instead of the same famous names every time feels kind of hip, doesn't it? And borrowing someone else's knowledge gives you a chance to think more broadly yourself. Plus if Jun's calligraphy is displayed alongside, it has this unique edge."
"Oh. It'd also make a great gift?"
"Exactly. Wait—what? Suddenly this sounds like it could do really well."
Evan had said Brown House Publishing gave him permission to run a side business because they expected him to leave soon anyway. After hearing all this, though, I wasn't so sure that was the whole story.
Rachel thought it over carefully before speaking again.
"Success or failure will probably hinge on that editor's ability, won't it? In an age of information overload, adding real value to meaningful information and presenting it well… if his insight and discernment are outstanding, there's genuine potential."
"And the guy writes in an entertaining way. Even in Love and War he opened with the vibe of 'to hell with love' and hooked me right away."
Hmm. I listened carefully to my staff and made a quiet resolution.
I would put real heart into the next promo video too.
If Evan's bookstore thrived, just filming the promotional video for each curation series would guarantee solid views.
In the end, the advertiser's success was our salaries!
"Jun, why the serious face?"
"I was thinking about money."
"Ah…"
"Oh, right! Good news! While you were off doing the interview, we finished coordinating the schedule with Oliver. Filming is set for the first Sunday of next month."
"That's great."
Oliver Fletcher was an influencer with a YouTube channel of over 800,000 subscribers. He had reached out after seeing me appear in Vanessa's video. Like me, he was a young single dad raising two kids and posting that life online.
He was a good ten years older than me, but we had enough in common that viewers often mentioned us in each other's comment sections.
"If the two of you click well, it might actually help our channel even more than the Vanessa collab did."
I nodded quietly.
It felt a little crass to say out loud, but this was a chance to pull a lot of subscribers over from Oliver's channel.
With Vanessa, the core audience wanted different content, so there had been a fair amount of drop-off.
Honestly, I was a bit uneasy about a stranger's camera capturing the kids, and I would have preferred content that centered on me the way the Evan interview had…
But when someone more famous reaches out first, turning them down isn't exactly smart either.
Right now every single video was precious.
Sitting around like this felt reassuring and good, but the fact remained that I was the boss who had to pay four salaries every month, including my own. Thinking about revenue was unavoidable.
Besides, on a Sunday Reni wouldn't be there, and Luca would just need a cute animal mask and onesie; I could hold him the whole time. Even the back of my baby's head and his little bottom were adorable enough.
"We've agreed to film an unboxing video at his studio recommending baby products and family gifts aimed at Christmas."
"Sounds like they landed a ton of sponsorships."
"Yes! Exactly!"
Cassandra's eyes suddenly lit up.
"So on the day, Jun has to give perfect reactions and turn on the charm so those sponsors notice him! Then the sponsorships start coming our way too!"
I nodded with complete seriousness.
In the old days I would have reflexively tried to back out. Not anymore.
I was fully prepared to smile brightly at the camera and seduce those sponsors…
Okay, maybe not fully prepared, but I wanted to do it! Backing away now would basically be dereliction of duty.
We wrapped up the coffee-break mini-meeting and returned to our individual work.
As if sensing their boss's steely resolve, every employee started clicking mice and hammering keyboards faster.
That afternoon the office was filled with nothing but the soft clatter of keys and the click of mice.
Which was probably why everyone jumped even harder when Rachel suddenly let out a pained moan.