The Playroom Surprise
My heart was thumping with excitement.
No—our little one. Anyone who saw him now would think Daddy usually starved the poor kid.
I scooped up the baby who had so unfairly made me look like a neglectful father—the same father who carefully prepared three square meals plus snacks in between—and lifted him high.
“Alright, now that you’re up, let’s head to work!”
“Work!”
“……Mamma.”
Reni cheerfully echoed me, while Luca, only half-awake and thoroughly bewildered, blinked in my arms. I hurried out of the house with both boys. Cassandra followed, barely holding back her laughter.
“Luca looks completely lost.”
“It’s fine. Once we’re outside he’ll forget all about it.”
I didn’t even bother putting shoes on the kids before we stepped out and boarded the elevator. Truthfully, there hadn’t been room to put shoes on them anyway.
Except for the playroom, the house was so packed with boxes we’d brought down, newly delivered lumber, tools, and cleaning supplies that you could barely find a place to set your foot.
Second floor.
A clear elevator announcement rang out as the doors slid open. I turned to Reni and asked him to close his eyes.
“Reni, Daddy prepared a surprise present just for you boys. So squeeze those eyes shut tight, okay?”
“Okay!”
Reni answered happily and covered his eyes with both hands. Adorable.
Luca, wearing the expression of a baby who suspected his mamma had been stolen while he slept, kept looking around every which way. That was adorable too, of course.
I entered the office and stopped in front of the playroom. Only after Cassandra, standing ready with the new window open and camera in hand, gave me the cue did I kneel and set Reni down.
“Okay, Reni. Open your eyes. Ta-da!”
Instead of yanking his hands away all at once, Reni carefully parted his fingers and peeked through the gaps.
His mouth formed a perfect round O. Then he lowered his hands and breathed out a soft sound of wonder.
“……Wooow!”
“…….”
Reni stood perfectly still for a long time right where I had set him down.
He looked completely overwhelmed by the sudden paradise that had appeared before him.
Well, it made sense. At first this had been nothing but an empty room where he had toddled around making little beeping sounds.
I swallowed a laugh and gently stroked his back.
“Reni, want to try the slide over there first?”
The boy’s wandering gaze locked onto the slide.
“Yeah!”
Reni walked over to the little house connected to the slide, carefully climbed the steps, opened the door, and stepped inside.
There was plenty inside the tiny house to catch a child’s eye as well.
A ship’s wheel that spun round and round, puzzle-like decorations that could be moved around—everything held Reni’s attention.
The little house even had a light in the ceiling.
When I flipped the switch for him, the child silently mouthed “wow” over and over, eyes wide as he looked all around.
After exploring for quite a while, Reni seemed to suddenly remember my suggestion about the slide. He gave his head a little shake and whooshed down.
Whoosh—crash!
The ball pit overflowing with colorful balls spilled over a little.
“……!”
Reni sat there with his mouth working soundlessly—“Wow”—and threw both arms up in a silent cheer.
Our Reni. When something is too wonderful, he forgets how to talk.
But his body expressed pure joy just fine. He popped right back up, ran over, and rode the slide again.
Settling into the ball pit once more, Reni this time smacked the balls around like he was splashing in a pool.
“Daaaddy!”
“Yes, my Reni. Is it fun?”
“Yes!”
After ruffling Reni’s hair, I set Luca—who had been watching his big brother with bright curiosity the whole time—onto the top of the slide.
I held the toddler’s waist firmly, helped him pretend to slide a couple of times, then settled him into the ball pit.
Luca seemed far more interested in the ball pit than the slide, after all.
Sure enough, Luca soon grabbed a single red ball and began examining it with great concentration.
The ball was a little smaller than my palm—probably the tiniest ball he had ever held. No wonder he found it amazing that he could grip it with one hand.
“Reni. When you go down the slide, if Luca is in front of you, you have to come down carefully and slowly. Got it?”
“Okay!”
With that, Reni pitter-pattered back, rode the slide once more, then scooped up an armful of balls and flung them up onto the slide.
Countless balls came rolling and bouncing down. Luca’s gaze was completely stolen by them. The whole thing had happened so fast he didn’t quite seem to grasp the situation yet.
“Want to try too, Luca? Here.”
I picked up a ball, caught the boy’s attention, then set it on the slide so it could roll down.
His little mouth parted slightly and the corners of his lips lifted.
“You try, Luca!”
This time Reni slowly demonstrated by rolling a yellow ball and a green ball down from the top.
“Kyaa!”
The moment Luca fully understood this brand-new ball-rolling game, the familiar dolphin squeal burst from his mouth.
Now whenever Reni grabbed handfuls of balls and tossed them, Luca stamped his feet and clapped.
After that the boys began exploring the playroom like little adventurers.
Reni rode the swing next to the slide and sat at the table, pulling out the brand-new coloring books one by one to examine them.
Luca, after the ball pit, took interest in the soft 3D puzzle pieces. He crawled over to the table where Reni was coloring, then soon crawled toward the box of new toys and started pulling them out one after another.
Greg, who had been watching the scene with a smile, asked,
“Is ‘make a mess first, ask questions later’ just hardwired into kids’ DNA?”
“Probably just curiosity because there’s so much new stuff.”
Reni, on the other hand, already had a decent grasp of the concept of tidying up. After putting the coloring books back on the shelf, he turned his attention to the lights he hadn’t noticed before.
The boy ran over to me, pointed excitedly at the wall, and shouted with pure delight. He was thoroughly worked up.
“Daaaddy! There’s stars and the moon and the sun and clo—clouds! They’re all here!”
“Mm-hmm. Looks like they all came to see Reni and Luca, doesn’t it?”
Reni’s eyes sparkled as if they really held glittering stars inside them.
Sitting on the floor at the same eye level as the children, I decided I should attach a long foldable latex topper like stairs in front of the window.
That way the kids could crawl up and look out into the office. If I tossed a few soft cushions on top, they could sit like on a sofa or lean back and look at books.
If I gradually got them one or two more useful things like that, maybe the boys wouldn’t feel so lonely while the adults were working.
Of course, I planned to stay nearby so they almost never had to be alone.
While the children were thoroughly distracted, I quietly stood up and slipped out, closing the door behind me.
Then I opened the window from the outside and called to them.
“Luca, Reni.”
“Daddy!”
Reni beamed and waved; Luca, back in the ball pit, simply turned his head to look at me.
“Daddy’s going to work right out here, so if you need anything just call me. Okay?”
“Okay!”
“Yeah.”
After both boys answered, they returned to whatever they had been doing.
Reni’s gaze drifted toward the new toy train village, while Luca rolled balls down the slide or struggled to stuff one into his mouth.
Luca, your mouth is way too small for that, buddy.
Even with the window cut into the wall I had been a little worried about Luca, but having Daddy standing right outside looking in like from a terrace seemed to put him completely at ease.
Hearing my voice the whole time probably helped too.
“Looks like the playroom is a success. You both worked hard.”
Cassandra switched off the camera she had been using to film the kids and smiled.
“It was the most important place in this office, after all.”
Now that the most urgent project was finished, the next job was building benches and a table where the staff could sit.
“Shall we start with the table? That’s the quickest one to make.”
The table really was simple. Just flip a wide wooden top over and screw in the metal legs I had ordered.
Since the entire furniture-making process would make great content, Greg assisted while Cassandra handled the filming, and we all moved together.
As Greg tore the protective packaging off the safely wrapped wooden top, he said,
“Huh? This top looks like it’s already been varnished.”
“Yeah. I’ve ordered so many different things from the same shop that I got a little friendly with the owner.”
That was why I could pay a little extra and trust them to handle the careful sanding and first coat of varnish for me.
Whirr-whirr.
We screwed the sturdy metal legs in at the proper intervals, then Greg and I flipped the table over. Just like that, the main office table that four people could comfortably share was complete.
Greg looked thoroughly satisfied.
“Real wood really is beautiful. I’ve only ever worked at desks made of plywood with cheap film stuck on top. This feels like pure luxury.”
“Right? I figured if we were making it ourselves, we might as well spend a little. Once we add one more coat of varnish on the top and sides, the color will deepen even more and look gorgeous.”
After checking that the kids were still playing happily, we jumped straight into building the benches. I planned to do all the varnish work at the very end in one go.
The benches were the same as the table—just screw in metal legs sized to fit and they were done.
After that we immediately built the bookcase that would sit under the window looking into the kids’ room. It was sized exactly to the length and height of the window.
Since it was the same design as the one I had made at home, the work went quickly.
“I’ve only ever seen it in videos until now, but Jun, you really do put things together like magic in real life too. Where did you learn woodworking?”
“None of the furniture we’re making has a difficult design. As long as the cutting and sanding are done well, anyone could do it. It’s basically just assembly.”
I brushed the conversation off with a casual joke.
We arranged the newly built furniture, and while I installed extra lights here and there, Greg and Cassandra swept and wiped down the whole office.
The rooms for storing tools could be finished slowly, but the living room and kitchen needed to be ready soon so the staff could come to work.
“All done. Shall we turn on the lights?”
Click.
The moment the words left my mouth, Greg flipped the living-room switch and let out a sound of pure admiration.
“This is really great. It looks just like a professional studio.”
“What are you talking about, Greg? It is a professional studio.”
Cassandra lightly scolded him, but even her voice carried a hint of emotion.
Originally a small but ornate chandelier had hung in the living room. It was perfect for soft ambient light in a lounge, but completely inadequate for actual work.
So I had spent ages hunting for well-designed lights to install around the chandelier and on the walls. The process had been pretty exhausting.
But the results were so good that all that long suffering scattered away like sand in the wind.
Watching my company gradually transform into something wonderful felt this rewarding, huh. As a brand-new boss, I couldn’t help feeling deeply satisfied.
Still a little overwhelmed with pride, I glanced around the office once more and said,
“I talked it over with Rachel and ordered some decent desk chairs. They should arrive tomorrow.”
Cassandra’s face lit up.
“Does that mean starting tomorrow we can come here to do the editing?”
“Yes. The internet is already fully set up. We’ll get new computers and monitors soon, but for now please work on your personal laptops.”
“Yes! Honestly, just having a place to go to work makes me happy already. Working from home has its good points, but I think home and workplace really should be separate.”
Greg nodded in firm agreement.
“Yep. One hundred percent agree.”
“That’s just because your mom is at home.”
“Whatever the reason, I can’t get any work done at home. Man… so this is the place I’m going to come to work now.”