Becoming a YouTuber?!

Epilogue: A family at breakfast

10 years later...

I walked down the stairs with our daughter balancing on my hip. She was tired-eyed and clinging to me tightly. However, when we walked into the kitchen and the smell of breakfast engulfed us, she perched up immediately.

Nate was at the stove, scrambling eggs in a non-hurried manner despite the early hour and time constraint and responsibilities that meant he had to leave soon. I had always admired how calm he just managed to be in all situations.

"Morning, love," I told him and walked over to ruffle his hair slightly. He grinned at me with that brilliant smile that had been the same since I met him thirteen years ago.

"Breakfast is almost ready. Are you hungry, Ella?" Nate asked her.

"Starving," she responded and dimples deepened in both of her round cheeks. My heart soared at the sight. This coming autumn, she would begin school and she was growing up way too fast for my liking.

Instinctively, my hand went to the swell of my stomach. In not too long, Ella would have a baby brother and we was beyond excited, even if the little bugger had made a habit of kicking me a lot lately.

Steaming food was placed on the table and Nate shuffled around with practiced ease. He had an early meeting in town and would have to be out the door in around ten minutes.

He had eventually launched his own range of cameras and equipment, which were doing as well as ever. Furthermore, he also consulted on film making after my brother's contacts had been so impressed with the help he'd provided when Luke filmed his last Blockbuster in London.

Nate never quite left YouTube behind, even if his content had changed and he posted less often. The platform had changed over the years, growing and evolving and it had been amazing to see. I had eventually retired my channel, after a good five years of creating though my content became more like big projects that took months to bring to life towards the end. Our friends, who had been YouTubers as well, had either done like Nate or myself. It was a mix of both but all of them had these incredible businesses too and they were advancing in the world like they'd always done. When it came down to it, they had become business people and they didn't allow anyone to limit their dreams.

"Wait, turn up for the radio. Isn't Megan on this morning?" I asked.

"Perhaps," Nate said and found the radio and we were as expected greeted with Megan's enthusiastic voice.

She had started working for BBC Radio 1 a few years back and just gotten her own show this year. She was the perfect radio host in my opinion, even if she unabashedly had gushed about her wife's new fashion line at her very first show. Emma had been thoroughly embarrassed but I found it quite endearing. My sister had worked so, so hard on her fashion range and all of it looked stunning.

They got married with a big fairy-tale wedding like Emma had always wanted after they'd been together for four years and two years ago, they had adopted a little boy from Thailand. Nate had only proposed to me when we brought up the conversation of having children five years ago and our wedding had been a much smaller affair but still just as magical.

"Auntie Megan!" Ella called out and clapped her little hands as she recognised Megan's voice. The first time she'd heard it on the radio, she'd kept calling out for her and she couldn't understand how she could hear her voice but not find her.

Nate and I had been the first to move back to Brighton when we bought a family home to settle down in. Emma and Megan had followed a year later. It was nice to be closer to our families while London with a lot of our friends and business endeavours never felt too far away.

I was wolfing down the delicious breakfast. The little kicker had tripled my appetite in the last few weeks. Probably so he could get more energy to kicking around in there.

I was zoning out, like I often found myself prone to, even before pregnancy brain kicked in. Ella was babbling on and Nate listened actively, nodding and reacting with exaggerated facial expressions to her stories. He was the best dad in the world and I hadn't doubted that for a moment. I was so lucky to be raising children with him.

And running a business with him. Our Night in Garb brand had changed and gone through rebranding, merging with Purely Clover Simplicity but we still owned the business and we had expanded it and now I had moved my prints to the same place. I still took on photography jobs every so often because I couldn't leave my first love behind. I also kept my blog active with photos and stories from my daily life and hopefully, I succeeded in sharing some of the wisdom I learnt along the way.

"Did you see that you're still on the Best Seller list?" Nate asked with a gentle hand on my back to bring me back to reality. He pushed his iPad over to me, so I could see.

Sure enough, the third book of the trilogy that I had been writing for years was still on the Best Seller list, even if it had been out for a few months now.

In the end, maybe it would have been considered cliché for a "YouTuber" to write a book so many years later. However, after I finished the Master Degree I went back to university for after a two-year gap, I missed writing and I had a story idea mulling in my brain for a while. It was different to write a thesis on how social media shaped and changed marketing to writing a fictional story but both were exciting in different ways.

The first book had the protagonist wondering if it would be wise to go to university for animation like she wanted or if she should chose a "safer" option. It also included realising she was bisexual, moving out from her parents' house and losing touch with old friends and making new ones as she began her first year at university. The second book took place after she'd earned her degree and now she had to go out and get a "real" job. It focused on the struggles of getting a first job, dating and the catastrophes that came along with it, including in her case biphobia, and learning how not to be at school and the total lack of structure that job hunting ensured. The final book took place years later, as she was dealing with becoming a mother and being married to a man, which ensured bierasure, and how to keep working and wanting to advance in your career, even with a little one at home.

I was quite proud of the trilogy and it had taken years to write but it had been so well-received and acclaimed by several lists and prominent authors. The support had been so overwhelming and nice. I was in the very beginning stages of writing a new book already because I'd fallen in love with writing fiction.

"Alright, lovely ladies, I have to be off," Nate said and downed the last sip of his coffee.

"No, daddy. Don't go!" Ella complained and tried her best to frown at him angrily but that just made him smile wider because our daughter looked absolutely adorable like that. She had his eyes and whenever I looked into them, I'd melt just like I did when I looked at my husband.

"I have to, love, but I'll be home before you know it and you get to hang out with mum. So clearly you have the better deal," Nate said and stood up to kiss the top of her head.

I got out of my seat and pulled him into a close embrace. We pulled back and shared a brief kiss, tender and soft, like we did most mornings as our little goodbye tradition.

"I'll be home soon," he said and swiped his thumb over my cheek.

"I know. Besides, Ella and I have an exciting day ahead of us. Have a nice day," I said and leaned in to peck his cheek one final time.

"I bit you farewell, miladies," Nate said and bowed deeply, which made Ella giggle at her father's antics.

I was so lucky to have an incredible husband, a lovely daughter and a son on the way, a wonderful family and amazing friends as well as being able to balance several jobs, all of which I was passionate about.

I knew my life had been steered down this wonderful path because of meeting Nate. Maybe my life without him in it would have been great as well but I couldn't picture one without him and our little family. I loved this life I had created with them.

And all because I had started dating a YouTuber.

*****

And that's it. The story is finished. Continue to the next part if you want to hear me rant about how thankful I am for everyone who've read this story and how much these characters mean to me. Otherwise, let me just say thank you so much for reading.