A New Beginning
I was about to say something, then closed my mouth.
I didn't know the full context, but Cassandra shut down my "Actually, it's not like that" with a firm look and a decisive little shake of her head.
Cassandra was quick on the uptake.
Whether she'd been born that way, or it came from living a decade longer than me, or from the hard-won experience of marriage and divorce, giving birth and raising a child alone—I couldn't say.
Whatever the reason, right now it seemed best to follow her lead.
I just hoped the way she was looking at Evan—like a mother sizing up the slightly dim friend her son had dragged home—was only my imagination.
Evan kept his gaze fixed on his coffee cup as if gathering himself, and after a moment's hesitation I added,
"Well… I said it because I thought it would be nice if we were friends."
We weren't the same age, but once you're out in the world, people a decade up or down can still count as friends, right?
Evan lifted his head and looked at me. I kept going.
"I mean, it's not like our connection is ordinary…"
What connection? At first it had been closer to a bad one. I let the sentence trail off as I looked down at Luca, who was watching me with an innocent face from the crook of my arm.
Evan seemed to share the thought; his voice lacked conviction when he answered.
"…I feel like I've only ever shown you my clumsy, pathetic side."
"I understand now that you were going through a hard time back then."
Though I still don't think I would have acted that way myself.
"And the fact that you keep working steadily even after something major happened recently—that's pretty impressive."
Even if it seems to be the reason things went wrong with his wife!
I couldn't hold a clean conversation; messy thoughts kept bubbling up inside me. Cassandra cut in.
"Something major? Is that something I should know about? Of course, if it's personal you don't have to say."
I truly had nothing to add, so I glanced at Evan without thinking. He seemed to weigh it for a moment, then spoke.
"If we're going to keep working together, you'll find out eventually. And if I keep hiding it, Jun would be stuck in the middle…"
Evan chose his words with careful restraint and explained everything from the beginning.
But speaking carefully didn't change the essence of it, and Cassandra was furious.
I'd forgotten for a moment—Cassandra had also divorced because her husband cheated.
Gritting her teeth, she muttered darkly,
"Every last one of those cheating bastards should have their limbs—!"
I quietly covered Luca's ears and checked on Charlie and Reni.
Thankfully the kids were still completely absorbed in the picture book.
"And so the fire fairy put out her own flame and became air. She could never burn again, but she could stay forever by the side of the friends she loved."
Why was every story in that series always like this?
Life and death, affairs and divorce—none of those were conversation topics I wanted to share with the kids.
Still, it was a children's book, so I left it alone.
I was considering putting on some music just in case any of this talk reached their ears when Luca, who had been quietly nestled against me, twisted in my arms.
"Unngh…"
"Yeah, our Luca. Want down?"
"Yeah."
Of course I couldn't take Luca's answer at face value, so I set him down near the kids' table and waited a moment.
Once I saw him crawl over and grab the keyboard toy, I returned to my seat.
Back at the dining table, I tuned back into the adults' conversation.
"Time will make it better. You'll meet good people again. I thought love was done for me too, but just recently I met someone wonderful."
Evan didn't exactly look convinced, but he seemed a little more himself now—his usual intelligent expression back in place—as he answered.
"Yes. You never know with people. For now I plan to throw myself into work and wait for time to pass. Which brings me to…"
Evan gave a small smile toward me as I sat down.
"I'd like to invest."
"Invest?"
"Yes. This morning you mentioned needing a studio, didn't you?"
"I did."
"You'll need a bigger place later, of course, but for now—what about the unit downstairs? My place."
"Excuse me?"
"If you're interested, I'm thinking of investing by leasing it to you rent-free for a year."
It took me a second to process what he'd said. I asked calmly,
"Then how were you thinking of taking a return on that?"
"Once a month—at least twelve free promotional videos."
"…"
I could practically see Cassandra slamming the mental calculator. Evan, unhurried, continued at his own pace.
"I've always wanted to run a small online bookstore, even if it's modest."
He said he wanted to curate books by theme and try selling them as sets.
"But independent bookstores have a hard time surviving. And I can't exactly do YouTube myself. If you promoted for me, Jun, I think it would help far more than hiring some other creator."
In truth it was less an investment and more a straight trade—space for promotion costs.
Cassandra put on a playful face.
"From Evan's perspective, it doesn't sound like a losing deal at all."
Evan lifted one corner of his mouth and replied lightly,
"Of course not. Friends are friends, and money is money."
Evan left, saying to think it over and let him know.
Cassandra paced the living room for a bit to settle her excitement, then organized her thoughts and spoke to me.
"Jun. I don't think it's bad. Honestly, that much promo is something you might even do out of goodwill for someone you know…"
Of course, if we'd charged a proper promotion fee we might have gotten more money.
But not having to spend the time and cost of hunting for and signing a lease on an office, and not having to worry about a monthly rent that would be a real burden right now—for a whole year—those were advantages I couldn't brush aside.
"And the location isn't bad either."
In this neighborhood plenty of sole proprietors rented houses to use as offices, and small companies often leased entire large homes as company buildings.
Being Old Town, the buildings were all generous in size, the surroundings were pleasant, and Downtown was close by.
In my case I only had to open the front door and go down one floor, so commute time was basically zero.
"Think about it, Jun. Since it used to be a home, there's a kitchen, so cooking videos would be no problem…"
"Right. And three rooms plus a living room—if we use the living room as the office, we'll have space covered."
Besides the kitchen for cooking videos, that meant three more spaces we could film in.
We probably wouldn't even need much renovating. The last time I'd been to his place the interior was already excellent.
With a little sense and some stylish office furniture, it could become a pretty solid workspace.
The more I turned it over, the better the terms looked. I was staring blankly at the kids, sorting my thoughts, when Luca catching the edge of the sofa and grunting caught my eye.
Did our Luca want to climb up and sit next to his big brothers?
I started toward him, meaning to lift him up. And right then—
Luca pushed against the sofa, almost leaning into it… and slowly, but unmistakably, stood up on his own.
"Congratulations. Aigoo, Jun, you're almost crying."
"Hey, the kid's just so amazing."
Cassandra laughed and poked the cheek of Luca, who was now in my arms.
"This little guy—looking at how he stands, I bet he could've done it ages ago."
"But he only just started crawling on his knees not long ago. And sitting up by himself is recent too."
"Every child's development is different. Some kids skip crawling and go straight to walking. Anyway…"
Before she and Charlie opened the front door, Cassandra gave my shoulder a couple of firm pats.
"Hang in there, Jun."
"Huh?"
I blinked at her, completely lost, and she looked off into the middle distance as if an old memory had surfaced.
"The standing-up hell starts now."
"Ah…"
Two days later.
Just as Cassandra had warned, from the moment Luca first stood, he started standing up whenever he got the chance.
It was exactly like when he'd first rolled over.
The high chair, the sofa, the playpen, my legs—anything that could take his weight, the second his hands found it, Luca worked hard to pull himself upright.
Once he made it up, he focused with fierce concentration on keeping his balance.
It was so admirable and so proud-making I could hardly stand it.
He'd hold still for a long while, try a tiny shift, then promptly plop down on his bottom—and instead of crying he'd look at me and grin.
Then I'd scoop him high into the air, cover him in kisses, and rain down praise.
"You did so well, our Luca, so so well."
"Eheh…"
When I told him Luca would be walking soon, Reni set himself to helping with his little brother's first steps.
"Look, Luca. Like this, like this!"
But Reni was still little himself, and when he tried to demonstrate walking on purpose, his right foot and right hand often swung forward together.
"Unngh…?"
He'd freeze mid-step, cocking his head because even he could tell something was off—and Luca, sitting on the floor, would cock his head right back at him.
You two are way too cute.
I filmed high-quality video separate from the home cam, then scooped both boys up and spun around the living room.
"Ahaha! Dadaaa!"
"Kyaaaah!"
While we were happily playing, I got a text from Rachel that Greg would be arriving soon.
"Reni, want to go see Daddy's new office with me?"
"Office?"
"Yeah. Daddy's going to work there from now on."
Reni blinked as if thinking something over, then suddenly threw his arms around my neck.
"Hm? Reni, what's wrong?"
He stayed quiet for a long time, then looked up at me with a face carefully swallowing disappointment.
"Daddy, do you go to work every day?"
Ah… A lot of thoughts flashed through me in a short span, but I decided to tell the child the most important fact first.
"Probably? But Reni's coming too."
Reni's eyes went round.
"Together?"
"Yeah. When Daddy goes to work, Reni and Luca will come every single day too."
It seemed to take Reni a moment to process what I'd said.
Then the child's face bloomed like a flower.
"Really? Reeeally? Every day every day?"
"Yeah, really. Every day every day. And Daddy's office is super close."
I settled both kids into the stroller.
"Okay, let's go see!"
I grabbed the key Evan had given me, took the elevator down one floor, and unlocked the door. An empty apartment opened before us.
"Waaah…"
I lifted Reni out of the stroller. For a while he toddled from room to room in his squeaky shoes, working hard.
Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak…
Squeaksqueaksqueaksqueak!
Then he ran up to me as if to ask whether this was really okay and announced,
"Daddy, there's nothing!"
"Yeah, nothing yet."
The moment I'd accepted the investment, Evan had cleared the place out that same day, called a cleaning service, and handed me the key spotless.
Of course an office that had appeared overnight would be completely empty.
Evan's place had a low overall saturation that felt calm. Even so, my heart was full of excitement looking at it.
Staring at the empty space, I could happily imagine how we would fill it from now on.
"Once the people who'll work with Daddy get here, we'll talk it over and buy all kinds of things."
"Unngh, okay."
The child hugged my leg and answered while gazing into the empty room.
I patted his back and said,
"The things for the room where Reni and Luca will stay—Reni and Luca can pick them out with Daddy."
At the words "pick them out together," Reni's eyes went wide, then he smiled soft as cotton candy melting away.