Chapter 10 - Proper Space #3
One extension cord was badly placed.
Normal.
I changed them.
No emotional attachment to layout.
Systems existed to serve work.
Not ego.
By afternoon—
flow improved.
Assistant Two could cut and pack.
Assistant One could spend more time on simple layouts and print preparation.
I could handle customer communication, costing, quality control, purchasing, and the more complex design work.
For the first time in this life—
I wasn't the bottleneck in every single step.
Dangerously satisfying.
Around four-thirty, the door opened.
Jane.
Behind her—
Chloe.
I stared.
"What are you doing here?"
Chloe held up a plastic bag.
"Food."
Jane held another.
"Also food."
I looked at both.
"You know this is a business."
"Yes," Jane said.
Chloe looked around.
"Ooh."
She walked inside.
Assistant One smiled because they had seen Chloe before.
Jane looked around more slowly.
Shelves.
Tables.
Printers.
Bins.
My desk.
Then at me.
"Wow."
I frowned.
"What?"
"May workplace ka na."
"That's usually what happens when you rent a workplace."
She rolled her eyes.
"Alam ko."
"Then?"
She looked around again.
"Ang bilis."
I shrugged.
"Needed space."
Chloe had already found the only spare chair.
Of course.
She sat.
Jane stared.
"Seriously?"
Chloe looked up.
"What?"
"Everywhere?"
"Skill."
I laughed.
Some laws of nature were stronger than reset mechanics.
They brought fries and drinks.
Not useful equipment.
Good.
Jane looked at the shelves.
"Ang organized."
"Day one."
"Meaning?"
"Give humanity time."
She laughed.
Then looked toward my employees.
"Dalawa na tao mo?"
"Two part-time."
"Wow."
"Again with wow."
"Bawal?"
"No."
She looked at me.
Then smiled.
"Proud lang."
I stopped for maybe half a second.
Simple.
Friend.
Proud.
Normal.
"Thanks."
Chloe opened the fries.
"Can we eat now?"
Beautiful timing.
We ate at the little back table.
Exactly where Mama had insisted employees needed somewhere separate to eat.
Jane looked at it.
"Cute."
"It is a table."
"Ang boring mo."
"Functional."
Chloe:
"Very Lia."
"Thank you."
"Not compliment."
"Still taking it."
At five-forty-five, Assistant Two started cleaning their station.
Jane noticed.
"Closing?"
"Six," I said.
She looked at me.
"Six?"
"Yes."
"You?"
"Yes."
Jane narrowed her eyes.
"Talaga?"
I stared.
"Why does nobody trust me?"
Chloe ate another fry.
"Historical data."
Fuck.
Reasonable.
"Six."
Jane looked at the clock.
Then at me.
"Okay."
There was something almost satisfied about it.
I ignored that.
Because—
friend.
Concern.
Normal.
At five-fifty, we checked pending work.
Nothing urgent.
One order could continue tomorrow.
Old Lia would have said:
Thirty minutes lang.
Maybe an hour.
Then another task.
Then another.
Current Lia looked at the order.
Tomorrow.
At five-fifty-five, printers off.
Tools returned.
Bins checked.
Tables cleared.
Files backed up.
At six—
Assistant One looked at me.
"Ma'am, una na po kami."
"Yes. Ingat."
"Bye po."
Assistant Two:
"Bye po."
"See you tomorrow."
They left.
I looked around.
Quiet.
There was still work.
Of course there was.
There would always be work.
One customer had messaged.
A file needed revision.
I could reorder material.
I could check tomorrow's production plan.
I could—
Jane was standing near the door.
Watching me.
Chloe beside her.
I looked at the clock.
6:03.
Jane raised an eyebrow.
I closed the laptop.
"Don't."
"I didn't say anything."
"You were about to."
"No."
Chloe smiled.
"She was."
"Traitor," Jane said.
I grabbed my bag.
I switched off the lights.
Locked the back.
Checked the windows.
Pulled down the rolling door.
Locked it.
Then stood outside.
Work stayed behind the door.
That felt—
strange.
In Original Life, work followed me everywhere.
Laptop.
Phone.
Messages.
Ideas.
Problems.
Even when I left an office, I never really left it.
This was just a small rented room in Bulacan.
Nothing compared to what I would eventually build.
But maybe that was exactly why I could practice now.
Teach myself before scale made bad habits expensive.
Six PM.
Business closed.
Not dead.
Not abandoned.
Not collapsing.
Just—
closed for the day.
Chloe looked at me.
"Dinner?"
I laughed.
"You just ate."
"That was merienda."
Jane nodded.
"Correct."
I looked between them.
"Of course."
We started walking.
My phone buzzed in my bag.
Customer.
I knew because of the notification sound.
I didn't take it out.
Jane noticed.
Said nothing.
Good.
At home, Mama would probably ask how the first day went.
Papa would come home.
Sofia might complain about something.
There would be dinner.
Tomorrow, I'd come back.
The business would still be here.
That was the thing I had somehow needed forty-five years and one death to learn.
Work could wait inside its own room.
It did not need every room I entered.
I looked back once at the locked workspace.
Then kept walking.
Six PM.
Home.