Chapter 11: Opening A Shop VI (Athena)

I can't believe this man. Just when I thought that this guy was changing for the better when he warned me about stepmother, he dropped all the work on me without prior notice and even on the same day of the opening. It's a good thing that I'm able to adapt quickly.

How could he be so irresponsible? I have been busy the whole day, entertaining guests and checking if my younger children are still playing nicely. I was worried about Lisa and Kelly since they are still a month old and the noise might irritate them but they just sleep soundly after drinking milk from me.

It was already late at night when we closed the shop and the last customer left. I honestly felt like collapsing on my soft bed but my soft bed is not here or any other bed for that matter. I sat on the chair inside the stockroom while Ashley, Brittany, David, and Eric were checking the stocks. Me and Christine were exempted from it because we have been dealing with customers since this morning.

I'm pretty surprised with Christine's eye for fashion. Her color coordination is great, and she can tell immediately which clothes would look better to which people.

"Christine, you did a good job today. You should join your dad when he goes to buy the supply next time." I told Christine who was almost closing her eyes beside me.

"That is not a bad idea." I heard Seth say as he entered the stockroom.

He seemed to be really happy. I guess our sales today were really good.

"Guess how much we earned today." He said with his shiny eyes shining more brightly right now.

"I don't know, husband." I replied quietly.

"It's 100 owo. Wife, 100 owo. I still can't believe it." He said as he sat down beside me.

100 owo. That is really big, if this goes on, we would get back the capital in just this whole week. I wonder how much inventory we still have.

"Father, we're finished with the inventory. I think you would need to buy some more stock. I've compiled here those that we don't have anymore and these are the ones that are missing some sizes." Ashley said as she gave Seth the list she created.

I took a peek and saw that it was made properly. I mean sure some points can still be improved but a report made by a 10 year old, this was pretty good.

"I think I need to go buy some stocks tomorrow morning." He agreed with Ashley.

"Christine, you want to join me?" He asked and Christine nodded sleepily.

"Alright, Christine and David will join me tomorrow morning to buy stock. I will wake you up early." Seth told them.

David doesn't look too happy about that but he didn't refuse. I helped the children to clean up and we all went home.

The following morning, I woke up with the older children running laps. I was surprised to see them running while Seth was not with them.

"ATHENA!" I heard my stepmother shout when she saw me.

"Yes mother." I replied submissively.

"Stop them! Stop them right this instance!" She ordered.

"Grandmother, father told us not to stop until we finish our laps, not even if mother tells us to." Eric said.

Stepmother was so red it looked like she's gonna burst. She looked at me as if she's gonna tear me apart. I won't deny, I feel scared. It's not everyday someone glared at you as if they were trying to kill you. Not even my former boss' ex-girlfriends have ever glared at me like this.

"Grandmother, we're done. We're gonna clean up now. Father must be waiting for us in the store." Ashley said as they all went inside the house.

My daughters pulled me in together with them. I have to say, I'm surprised that the kids woke up early and did their morning exercise. I did expect them to slack off. I guess I'm not giving them enough credit.

We left as quickly as we could to evade stepmother's nagging. She even tried to lure away my sons but Ashley reminded them of what their father said. It seemed like their father had talked to them last night and had given them some warnings.

When we arrived at the shop, Seth, Christine, and David were still not there. Brittany prepared breakfast while I and the other children helped me clean up the store and arrange the clothes that were left behind.

It was already midmorning when Seth and the others arrived. I let Seth switch with me in the register and I took a look at the stock they bought and arranged those that are needed in the store while I let the two kids get some more sleep in the stockroom first as I'm pretty sure Seth left as early as 3 am.

The whole day passed by like a blur today again and I realized that we might need help starting tomorrow as the children would be going to school tomorrow. I don't think we would be this busy starting next week but we need additional hands. I think we need to hire at least another person.

"Seth, I think we need to hire another person." I told him as we were closing the shop.

"Yeah, me too. I didn't expect us to be this busy." Seth replied.

"I don't think we can keep this kind of foot traffic after this week." I told him quietly and he looked at me shocked.

I then explained to him that we have a lot of customers because of the sale promotion so I don't think there would be a lot of people who would still buy without the sale promotion. We should probably think of something else to attract customers, after all, we can't always have a sale.

It would probably be nice if we could sell our own style but we don't have a designer. Maybe, for the long term goal, it would be great but as for now, it would be better to focus on making the store stable first.

"Let's see how we will do next week then. I believe that we can already get back our capital after this week and since we don't really have problems with the store rent the only thing we need to solve are the electricity, water, and gas bills. Ah, also if we're gonna hire a worker. Maybe, we should push that back till next week and just hire a temporary worker for tomorrow." Seth said and I agreed with him.

"It's too late to hire one today." I said sadly.

I guess we would just make do with the two of us tomorrow.

"I know someone who can help. I'll go and make a call." Seth said and he left.

A month has passed by quickly with us being so busy. We didn't even have breaks. The temporary worker Seth found was actually recommended by grandfather. She seemed to be a daughter of a former comrade. She's a 37 year old divorcee and taking care of her 2 daughters, a 12 year old and a 10 year old.

The reason of divorce? She couldn't give birth to a son and she couldn't give birth anymore so her husband's family decided to give her divorce. I really couldn't believe how they could easily divorce someone just because they couldn't give birth to a son. Is a son really that important? I mean I have 5 of them and I don't really see any difference between them and my daughters, I mean other than they eat a lot.

Anyway, the temporary worker was very hard working, I guess if you have children to feed, you have to be hardworking. We paid her 10 owo per day and told her that if we found her work good we would hire her as a permanent worker and pay her 300 owo a month plus commission and 15 day leave a year. If she didn't use her leave it would be convertible to cash.

We ended up hiring her as a permanent worker as she's really good even with handling difficult customers. She said it's a skill acquired from having difficult in-laws.

Our earnings on the first week of opening reached 1,000 owo, and after a month, it reached 2,500 owo. Seth and I were very happy to see that the shop was earning. Even after removing all the expenses including the capital that grandfather gave us, we still have 1,500 owo left.

Seth gave me 500 owo and he kept another 500 owo while the rest was left for our house fund. I was particularly happy to receive money as I would need 2,000 owo for my 3rd task.

Speaking of tasks, I finished my 1st task last week. I've always wondered how the system would check if I'm already at elementary level. I didn't expect the system would give a test which I'm very glad I've passed.

Now I can choose a skill to have but I still haven't decided which one. I also gained another task which was to reach reading and writing of highschool level which needed to be done in 3 months and I would receive another skill once the task is completed or else be punished with body pain.