How to "save" an output from a smart contract on next.js

I’m calling a function that creates an instance of a smart contract. I have another function that uses the address of that smart contract as an argument. The problem: I’m not sure how I can go about “capturing” this address so I can use it as an argument. Do I use an event listener? Or how should I just create a function on my smart contract to return this contract address instead and do it this way?

This is my example code:

async function createContractInstance(arg1, arg2, arg3) {
  if (typeof window.ethereum !== 'undefined') {
      const provider = new ethers.providers.Web3Provider(window.ethereum)
      const signer = provider.getSigner()
      const contract = new ethers.Contract(contractAddress, contract.abi, signer)
      try {
          const val = await contract.createContractInstance(arg1, arg2, arg3);
          console.log('val: ', val)
        } catch (err) {
          console.log('Error: ', err)
        }
}
}

async function useContractInstance(contractInstanceAddress) {
if (typeof window.ethereum !== 'undefined') {
  const provider = new ethers.providers.Web3Provider(window.ethereum)
  const signer = provider.getSigner()
  const differentContract = new ethers.Contract(differentContractAddress, differentContract.abi, signer)
  try {
      const val = await differentContract.useContractInstance(contractInstanceAddress);
      console.log('val: ', val)
    } catch (err) {
      console.log('Error: ', err)
    }
}
}
 <div className={buttonContainer}>
                <button className={buttonStyle}
                type='button'
                onClick={() => createContractInstance(1,2,3)}>Create Contract Instance
                </button>
        </div>
        <div className={buttonContainer}>
                <button className={buttonStyle}
                type='button'
                onClick={() => useContractInstance("contract Address")}> Use Contract Instance
                </button>
        </div>