LOVING YOU BENEATH THE SURFACE

WAY FORWARD

Everyone exchanged glances as the Princess wowed at her finished dress. A sigh of relief dropping from our lips turn by turn. It was a huge relief that she liked the concept and I was glad that Anthony was off the pickle.

He kept grinning from ear to ear as he discussed with the Princess who kept singing the praises of the dress and how much she was in love with it.

“Because of this, I will make sure that you make all my dresses. I don’t need any other designer aside you, you are more than enough” she declared and we all covered our mouths in amazement

“I guess the saying that every disappointment is a blessing is really correct. We should thank whoever put us in that heart-dropping mess” Emerson whispered to me and I tried my best not to snort

He was saying something funny even though it was the truth. Thanks to the mess, we were able to create a last minute miracle.

“As much as we managed to scale through this time, we should not pray for such to happen again” I chipped in and he extended his knuckle for a jam which I gave immediately

The fitting session was over and the cleaning lady burst into the room to apologize for committing such atrocity. She claimed that she was so sleepy and tired but wanted to finish her work for the day so she just rushed through to pack the things on the floor like she had always done. She didn’t check if it was something valuable or not and just packed it to the bin. It was already transferred to the waste site where Emerson fortunately came across it as he went to check the batch before the incineration process.

Anthony had calmed down at that time and just let her off the hook with a warning and signed undertaken that she will take responsibilities if something of such happens again. We moved to his office to continue what brought me to his office.

“I don’t know much about directing an organization even though I once ran my own company. It was so small compared to this new company and I am honestly confused about what to do” I poured out my mind

Anthony just flashed a smile at my words before he drew his seat closer and took my hands in his.

“Of course, if you don’t panic, you are not Kate” he chuckled and we both laughed

“Kate, remember what I told you when you first came here?” he continued and I listened with rapt attention

“You are the best version of yourself, my respect for you has no limit and trust me, I am not just flattering you with words. You are a rare talent and this talent cannot just hide itself, it shines wherever you go. Believe me, you can do this because you have all it takes and you are capable. See all you have achieved on your own, what you are doing and take it as a proof that you are capable of doing much more” he preached with all seriousness while I fought back my tears

That was not the first time he would be encouraging me and he had always made sure to hit points every single time. His words were poking everywhere necessary and my body absorbed them endlessly.

“Don’t worry, you will always do well and whenever you feel confused or need my help, I am always right here. I will always turn up for you” he added and that sealed it for me.

I held unto the word that he was always right there and took my leave after taking about some other things. By the time I walked out of Anthony’s office, my confidence was brand new, and it felt like I had some invisible support from his preaching.

“Now, it’s time to face the battle itself. I have to do well and make myself proud” I told myself as I slid my shade on my face when I stepped into the sun and walked majestically to my car.

The next couple of days were crazily hectic. I had never done those kinds of meetings in my life, I was seated in a spot for several hours. I would finish the meeting and then move to my personal library to catch up on the latest trends. I watched many videos, read many books, collected several magazines and everything that was needed to boost my knowledge. I didn’t want to be left behind or let anything catch me unaware.

“Are you not working too hard? You should take a break in between and rest up. It will tell on you at some point”, Alice warned, as she brought the fourth coffee cup of the day to my table.

Alice was the secretary assigned to me by Jean, and she has been helpful ever since I met her. She’s the quiet and reserved type, but she’s a walking archive. She knew all the trends in both past and current magazines, the way they were written and designed, the pages, events they were launched on and several other things attached.

“She will be of great help to you. She served me well.” Jean introduced her to me

She extended her hand to return my hand with a broad but solid smile and I said “I look forward to working with you. Please help me more than you have helped Jean. I need to do a lot in order to catch up to her level” and she smiled.

“I will try my best to serve you well, ma’am. You can rest assured”, she promised, and I snapped my fingers in excitement.

“I love her already, she’s loyal” I commented, and we all laughed.

She was gracious enough to stay with me at my house for the first two weeks of my resumption. She did everything I wanted, provided me with necessary materials and even helped with house chores. I couldn’t be happier that we bonded quickly in such a short time and I wouldn’t lie, my knowledge level skyrocketed even though I felt stress to the core of my system.

Communication with Chris reduced so much, of course, but that didn’t bother us. It was nothing new. We still had the little time to text and catch up in between the busy schedules. I moved from one meeting to the other, made several adjustments and checked thousands of files in the span of two weeks, so I could get the hang of the company and finally, I was able to breathe in relief that I could do well at managing the company.

***

Chris proposed a date to blow off the work stress and I snagged the proposal without thinking twice. I needed some fun so badly. I was so hyper that I was the one who picked the date, location and time, events we would have and every other thing.

I picked all I needed for the date and arranged them on the bed for easier access when I came back to change, since I didn’t want to put on official attire for the date. I wanted a different atmosphere.

A batch of new requests came in unexpectedly that day, and we had to call for an emergency meeting that lasted longer than I had predicted. I kept checking the time in order not to be late for the date, but the odds of time were against me. I tried to shorten their briefings, but I know if I pushed them too hard, it will affect the process.

“I really need to get out of here now. Chris will be rounding up by now” I muttered to myself, my legs were tapping on the floor anxiously as I tried to think of ways I could dismiss the meeting.

Alice caught on at some point because I had informed her of my date in the morning, and she communicated with me through her eyes.

“Are you late? Do you want me to do something?” her text popped in, and I didn’t let a second pass before I sent a response.

“Yes please! I can’t afford to miss this”. I panicked, and she signaled an OK before she stood up and suddenly attacked the briefing of one of the teams.

Everyone including me wondered what caused the shift in the atmosphere, but by the time she was done, I knew that she was doing that for me.

“This was used in the summer collection in Thailand and ever since then no one has branched into that aspect because the profit is way lesser than the original price. Do you want us to go bankrupt? Before you all present anything, take your time to make proper researches! Now, the remaining teams should revise their reports and present it tomorrow. Meeting dismissed”, she declared, and I sneaked a smile.

“Thank you all for your time, let’s continue tomorrow”, I added, and they all dispersed.

I raced back home and changed as fast as I could before zooming to the location at top speed.

“I am so sorry I came late. I was trying to wrap up the meeting but…” I was still explaining when he placed a kiss on my lips

“Darling, I understand it all” he stated, and pulled my hand into his, so we could take a walk.

I never knew that was just the tip of the iceberg, something greater was coming to wreck our ship badly.