Chapter 83: Educational Livestream
"Finally managed to smooth things over," Frank muttered with a long sigh after hanging up on Jimmy.
He hadn't expected Mrs. Candice's cleanup to be so sloppy. He had given her an entire night—an entire night!—to wrap things up properly.
Frank had kept Jimmy busy, drinking with him well into the night—not just to get a read on the guy, but also to buy time for Mrs. Candice. After all, the scene of their "battle" had been... intense, and clearly needed some time to deal with.
But Mrs. Candice, probably lacking experience in such situations, left behind a glaring trace. One big enough for Jimmy to notice.
"What do you mean, smooth things over?" Sheila asked curiously from the side.
"Nothing important. Just a small matter," Frank brushed her off casually.
After parting ways with Jimmy, Frank didn't head home. Instead, he went over to Sheila's place.
"Has Karen mentioned anything she wants recently?" Frank asked with interest.
"She seems to be into reading lately," Sheila recalled.
Karen's birthday was coming up. As her godfather, Frank naturally wanted to get her a present. That's why he came by Sheila's—to get some insight.
Funny enough, out of all Frank's kids, it was Karen—his goddaughter who came into his life midway—who was closest to him. Even closer than Debbie and Carl.
Probably because Karen hadn't suffered under the "old Frank." Plus, ever since that father-daughter purity ball, and thanks to Officer Eddie's impeccable "assist," things had changed between them.
As Frank chatted with Sheila, she suddenly placed a large box on the table.
"…What's this?" Frank stared at the familiar-looking box.
Sheila opened it, and Frank was nearly blinded by what was inside—dozens of oversized rubber toys.
"What the hell are you doing with these?!" Frank instinctively clenched and looked genuinely alarmed.
"For my livestream," Sheila said, casually taking each toy out and cleaning them.
"You're streaming these kinds of things?!" Frank looked shocked.
But after Sheila explained, Frank finally got the full picture.
Turns out, Sheila had started livestreaming. When she found out Veronica was also doing livestreams, her interest was piqued, and the two began exchanging tips and experiences.
Sheila had a lot of questions about livestreaming and sought Veronica's advice.
The catch? Veronica streamed… adult content. So after their "educational exchange," Sheila's eyes were opened to an entirely new world.
To be fair, this all traces back to Frank.
Since Frank had been staying at Sheila's place, his kids often visited there to see him. Over time, they got familiar with Sheila. On occasions when the kids were all tied up and no one could look after Liam, they'd ask Sheila to help.
Back then, Sheila and Veronica didn't even know each other—just names mentioned by Fiona or others in passing.
But when Veronica was planning her wedding and needed help with the dress, she turned to Sheila. Sheila, after all, was a highly skilled seamstress, having made many of her own clothes. From that point on, the two women became acquainted.
If it weren't for that, they probably never would've crossed paths—one was a homebody, and the other constantly hustling outside. Their circles never overlapped.
So yes, this all started with Frank.
In fact, it was Frank who first suggested Sheila try livestreaming. He had seen Veronica doing it and figured it could help Sheila cope with her social anxiety. One thing led to another, and—well, here they were. Life works in mysterious ways.
Now, Sheila livestreamed during the day—mostly cooking shows. But in the afternoons, she'd do a different kind of stream: an educational stream with adult content.
No, she wasn't showing her body. Instead, she was educating her audience about the various rubber toys: their features, how to use them safely, what to look out for, how to tell if one was high-quality, and so on.
And surprisingly, her following skyrocketed.
After starting her educational streams, her viewer count soared past 100,000. She had officially become a minor online celebrity.
Sheila was thrilled. She was just sharing her knowledge and experience accumulated over the years—never imagining there were so many like-minded people online.
Her educational streams had way more comments than her cooking ones.
Fans from all over the country even started sending her "gifts"—rare items from their personal collections, helping her create more content and provide more hands-on demonstrations. Sheila herself was amazed at some of the things she received.
If this kept up, she might end up pioneering livestream e-commerce a decade ahead of schedule.
Karen, bless her heart, was managing Sheila's livestream room. In essence, she had become Sheila's agent.
Karen said that some adult expos had even invited Sheila to be a guest—offering appearance fees and travel expenses—but Sheila, unfortunately, couldn't bring herself to leave the house.
Watching Sheila handle all those toys made Frank more than a little uncomfortable.
Before the stream even started, Frank made up an excuse and fled the house.
With no one home, he headed to Alibi Bar for a couple drinks and to chat with Kevin, who was going on and on about his adopted daughter, Ethel.
"Hey, you guys heard the latest?" asked Mikey, Frank's hangdog-faced drinking buddy, sliding over with a beer.
"Heard what?" Frank asked, confused.
"You don't know? Man, you're out of the loop," chuckled a stocky guy in a ragged baseball cap—Tommy, another one of Frank's old pals. He did demolition work and was basically a foreman.
Frank, Mikey, and Tommy were known as the "iron triangle" of Alibi Bar. There were other regulars, sure, but no trio had a tighter bond.
Old Frank used to even crash at Mikey' place—he listed Mikey' mailbox as his own on letters. That's how close they were.
"So, what are you guys talking about?" Frank asked again.
"Joseph," Mikey said, his sad sack face solemn.
"Joseph… That name sounds familiar…" Frank murmured, furrowing his brows as he tried to recall. There was definitely someone named Joseph buried deep in Frank's inherited memories.