"Good morning to you Mr Dante." Felix greeted cheerfully, flashing an even more happy smile as he turned around to face Dante."Morning Mr. Felix please have a seat." Dante gestured as he tried to maintain his composure and keep a straight face, choosing to momentarily ignore the weight of the discovery he just made about the face standing before him."Thank you," Felix responded in the same jovial manner before stooping to take his seat.“So nice to meet up with you this early, at your office...I heard it's always so tight." Felix remarked, still sounding quite light-hearted. His energy was intrusively and unapologetically jocular so Dante knew he would have to employ double effort in keeping his calm and staying professional. In the preceding minutes, their conversation took on a more formal tone as they delved into the contract negotiations immediately. A large chunk of the first few minutes was spent by Dante questioning Felix's trustworthiness and experience.From questions l
Four years laterLyra was sitting in the driver's seat of one of her Ford F-series supercars with Sarah, her business associate, in the passenger's seat. Behind them, a blue Sienna carrying all five major members of her administrative team had just reversed in the opposite direction, heading back to their respective homes.They had actually just closed from Lyra's office headquarters, where she had just delivered a farewell message to her workers as she prepared to embark on a relatively long journey out of this beautiful city of Crestview, the same city that had changed her life and business drastically.Talking about change, a lot has really changed about Lyra after all these years. So much has happened in her life and career after all the setbacks, betrayal, and disappointment that had almost crushed her over the past four years, but she has survived against all odds.Now Lyra was at the helm of her thriving fashion empire, "Elysium Couture," as it was called.An exquisite fashion
Dante stood inside the closing elevator, watching the lady with the luggage who was just about to get in earlier. He wore a slightly offended expression after she waved at him without looking, indicating that he could go on without her. Her back was now turned against him, with a phone placed against her ears."What is she feeling like?"He thought with a pained, pissed-off face.He had just returned from work and had decided to spend the night at this secretly rented apartment as usual. An apartment none of his family members knew he owned. He had decided to secure it after the disturbances from his grandmother regarding the good old marriage topic. And her disturbances were beginning to get out of hand. Grandmother had even, at one point in the past, sent one of her friend's granddaughters to his house. That was the deal-breaker for him; he had decided to secure some private haven unknown to all of them in the meantime to keep his sanity.Now here he was, after a really long day.
Lyra proceeded into the elevator after the call. It ascended, and after a few minutes, it stopped again and opened into the entrance of floor 6A, where her new apartment was located.She stepped out and cautiously located the door to her room by reading the tags above each door. She finally found it at the end of the hallway. She stood in front of the door and punched in the four-digit code to gain access. Immediately after that, the door creaked open.Lyra smiled the moment she entered. Her eyes took a slow, satisfied scan of the living room. It was exactly like her old room back in Crestview.It was an expansive square room with two large parallel windows covered with thick brown curtains. The color of the carpet and the ceiling were the same cream color, like the one she had back home. The cabinet was filled with drinks, and a moderate-sized flat-screen TV was lodged on the central wall."Welcome home Lyra." She smiled again.The familiar look of the room was why she had picked i
Lyra tossed and turned from one side to the next in the bedroom before she finally opened her eyes slowly to come awake. She yawned and stretched out, sitting up lazily on the bed, only to notice Aria's figure standing with her back turned.The air was charged with an enticing, spicy aroma coming from the kitchen. Lyra sniffed the air from her relaxed posture; even the pillows and bed sheets had been laced with the scent.Aria was actually serving breakfast on the side table."Morning dear." Lyra was greeted with a tired face.Aria turned swiftly to glance at Lyra. She let out a smile and then went, making her previous busy hand movements and glancing at the wall repeatedly."Hey babes, how was your night?" She asked, but before Lyra could respond, she went ahead to mutter to herself."I need to start heading to the office now; I think I'm running late already." "So what are your thoughts about my offer last night?" Lyra blurted from the bed. Aria mentioning her job had instantly r
Lyra took another good look at the lady again, battling with mixed emotions. She was indeed one of those colleagues who were fond of badmouthing her years back when she was still working part-time with Douglas."Good day, madam." The lady greeted her respectfully, looking blank. She obviously couldn't even recognize Lyra.Lyra kept her silence, approaching her slowly and wondering if it was too early to start making personnel changes. "Good morning, madam." She greeted again this time, a little more loudly; she must have assumed Lyra didn't hear the first one.Lyra stood to stare directly at her, contemplating her next move. From this position, her mind began to drift, recalling the harsh times of her previous life. The pain and humiliation this particular lady had caused her then. The memories left a sour taste in her tongue and bitterness in her belly."Do… I know you?" The lady, who was now looking extremely confused, stammered helplessly when she wasn't getting any response from
Dante sat on his office chair in a half-bowed posture, running his hand through a bunch of documents on his desk. Marcus was sitting with a straight face at the opposite end of the desk, and standing next to his chair was Mandy, Dante's secretary, who handed him the documents he was perusing. After a few minutes of looking through the file in silence, Dante paused to look up quickly at his secretary. "You can leave for now, Mandy; I will call you when I'm done." He said, swinging his head towards the door. She curtsied and turned around swiftly to exit the office, shutting the door gently after her. Dante was about to return his gaze to the files on his desk when Marcus suddenly shifted forward like someone who had just remembered something significant. "Sir, I almost forgot to tell you. HUB also reached out to us not too long ago. They want us to handle their project even without submitting a contract. Can you believe that?" Dante nodded his head with a knowing look on his
Lyra was standing over Drey's office table with Drey himself scrunched up on his chair as he showed her the draft of the pattern she revealed to him on her notepad a day ago."I really love this." She said happily."I think it's perfect; let them know they have my permission to proceed with the production immediately, looking forward to a perfect result." She added it with a satisfied grin.Drey nodded pliantly, got up from his seat, and left the office to do just that while Lyra remained crouched over the table, looking through the rest of the designs. Some few seconds later, she came across yet another best-selling design belonging to a different company this time, and when she tried searching for the name of the parent company, to her surprise, it was none other than the Cooper Fashion Firm, headed by the very same Mirabel Cooper, Dante's sister.Lyra absentmindedly stooped to sit on Drey’s chair, a sly grin playing on her face as she leaned back against the chair with several thou