บท 6: Chapter 6: Opening A Shop I (Seth)
"I want to open a women's clothing store." I said honestly.
"You want to do what? Is that a new way you could think of to attract women? Your wife just gave birth!" Grandfather shouted angrily at me.
I swear if he wasn't already that old, he would probably lunge at me by now.
"Grandfather, ah, how could you think so lowly of me? I'm very serious about this. I don't have a job now and like you said my wife just gave birth to twins. Now, I have 12 children. I can't always rely on my grandfather to feed them, right?" I told him pitifully.
My grandfather glared at me but he seemed to be gauging how serious I am about these endeavors.
"Grandfather, just trust me one more time. I am really serious about this." I told him but he still doesn't look convinced.
"If I still fool around with this shop this time then you can lock me up in the compound. I'll just fatten myself inside there." I said and grandfather glared at me angrily before sighing.
"Fine. I will let you open a shop but if you ever caused trouble again. I'm really going to kick you out of this family. You're on your own." Grandfather said solemnly as he also handed me 500 owo for capital.
"Thank you, grandfather. Then is there a store that's a little bit farther from the factory?" I asked.
"Why does it need to be farther from the factory?" He asked suspiciously.
"I don't have a good image near the factory so no one might be interested in buying in my shop." I answered.
Grandfather opened up his safe and looked at some documents before handing me one." I looked at it and saw it was a 60 sqm shop in the other direction of the factory. It was near the hospital. I smiled looking at the deed of the shop.
"Grandfather, don't tell my father and stepmother about this, okay? I'll tell them you are the one who told me to open a shop and work." I told him and he asked me why, doubting the reason behind my request.
"Because like you, they won't believe me so I want to prove to everyone that I can be successful in this endeavor." I told him arrogantly.
Grandfather just sighed and agreed tiredly with me. He gave me some advice first before shooing me out of his office. I next went to the shop and looked at the conditions of the shop and the surrounding area.
The place got good foot traffic, the shop is still fairly good, only the interior needs to be changed. I looked at the place my grandfather suggested for renovations and informed them of the changes I want to make for the shop including the additional furniture that I want. I spent almost 300 owo just for the renovation. The foreman told me the renovation would be done in a week and should be aired out at least for another week.
That's a good time, Athena would be done with her postpartum confinement, so she would be able to move more freely. I could also bring her here to help me. Ah, but the children.
I left the shop and decided to look around a known shopping street to get some feels and idea on what is the current clothing trend. I've even asked around where they buy the clothes they wear. Some were kind enough to answer my questions while others outright ignored me.
Based on what I noticed also, there weren't many men who sell women's clothes and those that do, don't really have many customers. I wonder if I need to hire a female assistant.
I decided to put that thought on hold and go home when I noticed that the sun was already setting and when I arrived home, it was already dark.
"Seth, my dear, did you just come home? Where have you been?" Stepmother asked when she saw me enter the house.
"Mother, I went outside to look around. I have been stuck at home for two weeks already. I felt like stretching my limbs a little." I answered.
"Is that so? It must have been hard on you in the army and now, you're stuck with taking care of your lazy wife. You really shouldn't spoil her that much. You should go out more and enjoy yourself. How could you coop inside the house and serve your wife? Don't worry about her, Nanny Wu will take care of her so you just go out and have fun, okay?" Stepmother suggested.
I smiled and thanked her like a good boy she brought me up to be. I want to puke. I followed her to the main house and decided to eat dinner there to also sound out if there's anything new in the factory.
A week has easily passed, and I have been going around every fashion street I know. Today, I decided to rest as tomorrow I am going to start buying clothes for my store so I need to plan on where I should buy clothes and what kind of clothes to buy.
I saw my wife studying and also teaching Irene and Justin to count their fingers. She looks so much better now than the first time I saw her. She has a healthy glow on her. I guess my cooking has helped improve her health. That's great.
I have finally realized that I would need additional help in the shop, after all someone has to man the register and someone has to talk to customers. I stared at Athena again who was teaching the children how to count.
"Husband… is something wrong?" She asked shyly.
"I was just suddenly mesmerized by your beauty." I told her and saw her blushing.
"Wife, are you good at counting?" I asked curiously.
There's nothing in Seth's memories that shows whether his wife was good at calculation. Actually, there was nothing much in Seth's memory about his wife's personality. The only thing I can remember was that she's quiet and just does whatever was assigned to her without complaints.
"Umm… I can count big numbers too." She replied, confused.
"Hmm… how about 10 +15?" I asked but she just looked at me confused and lowered her head in embarrassment.
"It's okay. I can teach you how to do it. Are you interested?" I asked her and she nodded shyly.
We spent the whole afternoon learning addition and subtraction. I told her that I learned a new way of computing from the army that doesn't need an abacus and that is what I'm teaching her. She seemed pretty happy to learn that I'm teaching her a new way. I'm amazed that she could learn it quite fast once she understood how to do it.
After 3 days of learning, Athena became proficient in doing computations. I feel so proud of her as her teacher. Now, since Athena can do the computations, she can man the register.
"Wife, are you busy? Can I discuss something with you?" I asked before we went to sleep.
Athena sleeps in the bedroom with the twins, while I sleep downstairs in the living room as there really wasn't enough space and I'm honestly not that comfortable sleeping in the same room with a woman I barely know.
"Ummm.. what is it?" She asked.
"Grandfather gave me a task to open up a shop and I need someone to help me man the register. Can you help me? Don't worry the shop won't be opening now but maybe next week so you will be done with your confinement by then." I asked.
"Man the register?" She asked, looking shocked.
She must be thinking that she can't do it.
"Wife, don't worry. I've been teaching you how to do calculations for the past three days and you're already good at it. If you don't trust yourself then trust this husband of yours." I told her confidently.
I saw her lower head and she nodded shyly.
"Alright. I.. I will trust my husband. Ummm… but what about the children?" She asked worriedly.
"Bring them with us.You can take care of them there." I coaxed her.
She finally agreed and I told her that I will bring her to the shop next week to help arrange the clothes I would start buying tomorrow.
Now that I've finished convincing Athena, I can open the shop without worry. I only need to buy the clothes tomorrow and our road to financial independence will finally be starting.
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