Valeria got home when her mother got back from the market.
"Welcome back Mother" Valeria greeted collecting the load she was carrying
"How are you dear?" Geraldine asked as she walk in with her daughter
"Fine and you? How was market?" Valeria asked
"Few pieces remaining. Didn't expect it to sell out in a day" Geraldine said sitting on the couch tirelessly
"I told you those are the clothes in vogue not those ones you picked earlier" Valeria said sitting next to her
"Thank you my dearest" Geraldine replied smiling
"I have something to discuss with you mother" Valeria said and Geraldine shift her attention to her giving her a go ahead look
"I want to start a business" Valeria said in one breath. Geraldine was surprised but stayed calm so she won't scare her
"What type of business?" Geraldine asked hiding her expression with a smile
"Food" Valeria replied not looking at her mother
"Whose idea was this?" Geraldine asked as calm as she could trying not to sound harsh
"Mine" Valeria lied
"Why do you want to have a business?" Geraldine asked reading her daughter's face
"I want to help with personal properties like pads, underwears, skincare products and all" Valeria replied
"That's a nice thought but do you think your father will accept?" Geraldine said and Valeria flinch
"I've thought of it but I still want to tell him about it" Valeria replied not letting her guard down
"Your father won't accept but you can table it to him" Geraldine finally said letting her know the decision is with Mark
"I will talk to him on phone" Valeria replied and leave after her mother asked her to. Geraldine watch her daughter leave, for a moment she was proud of her but the thought of Zarah being the cultivator of the idea made her feel bad. She go to her room to freshen up before going to prepare dinner with Valeria. After dinner, the family all retire to bed without the usual family time where they discuss their day, Geraldine complained of being too tired.
Valeria got to her room with worry and call Dennis to tell him about her day.
"Good evening Den" Valeria greeted
"How are you doing Ria?" Dennis asked
"Fine and you?" Valeria asked back
"I feel great. My Dad said we will be going on a week vacation to Greece" Dennis said with excitement
"That's a great news" Valeria rejoiced with him
"I really can't wait to have family time like we usually do before" Dennis said happily
"I'm really happy for you" Valeria said
"Anything you want to tell me about?" Dennis asked realising she might have called him for something important
"Checking up on you" Valeria replied not wanting to bore him with her business discussion.
"You know you can tell me about it right?" Dennis said as if seeing through her
"What's that Dennis?" Valeria asked pretending not to have anything to tell him
"You and Alexis fight of course" Dennis said giving Valeria the shock of her life
"How did you know about that?" Valeria asked still shocked someone in Chicago knows about the petty fight that happened this evening in Skokie
"Alexis told me about it" Dennis said
"Oh! Didn't know you two talk" Valeria replied with obvious jealousy
"We've been talking for a while" Dennis said sincerely
"That's nice. She took the matter beyond expectation, she should be happy I reconciled with Daisy not angry I did" Valeria said trying to control her anger
"She's your friend Ria" Dennis said
"I didn't even call you for that silly fight" Valeria said diverting the attention
"Then why did you call?" Dennis asked
"Nothing Dennis" Valeria said and hang up. She took deep breaths before sleeping on her bed to read her favourite novel from webnovel.
****
The next morning, a call woke Valeria up from bed
"Good morning" Valeria greeted rubbing her sleepy eyes
"Is this Miss Valeria?" Her father voice came up
"Good morning Father" Valeria greeted again now fully awake
"I heard you are planning to be a boss lady soon" Mark said trying to suppress his anger. Geraldine couldn't keep it to herself though she wanted Valeria to talk to her father herself so she told her husband.
"Not what you think father" Valeria replied feeling disappointed in her mother
"What is it Valeria? Am I not taking care of you or is it not enough?" Mark asked unable to hide his anger
"Don't see it that way Father. See it like I'm working towards a brighter future" Valeria said trying to convince him
"No brighter future in selling food" Mark said angrily
"As far as I know, someone brings food to your office every day and makes huge sum before leaving" Valeria said goung against his idea
"They are not students" Mark argued back
"They started from somewhere" Valeria stood her ground
"Give me five reasons I should let you have a food business, I might consider" Mark said and end the call angrily. Valeria for a minute felt betrayed by her mother but still felt happy she told him since she doesn't know how to talk to him herself.
She decided to treat her family to her signature toast bread and smoothie for breakfast, she made a video while cooking.
"You seem happy this morning" James who has been watching her since she started finally said
"I have a proposal to make to convince my sponsor" Valeria said still making the smoothie
"Father is going to tear you apart if you try anything business" Benedict said as he walk into the kitchen
"Breakfast is ready" Valeria announced ignoring Benedict. Everyone including her mother came to the dining table to have breakfast. After few minutes, they were done with eating and Valeria put a camera on her their face.
"How does this taste?" Valeria asked James
"You should own a restaurant" James said sincerely not knowing about her business plans, literally no one except her mother knows in the room.
"The smoothie is five star" Albert said sipping the smoothie
"I would kill for a breakfast like this" Benedict said
"This is really delicious and better than the one I buy in school" Francis said and everyone laughed
"The smoothie is nice" Geraldine said faking a smile.
"Thank you for the comments. Have a great day ahead" Valeria said and leave the dining making her brothers wonder what she was going to do with the video.
Valeria sent the video to her father after editing it into a better version with the caption 'my five reasons'. He viewed it while at work and replied with 'Fine, you win!' Valeria excitedly call Daisy to tell her and Zarah about it.