I snapped back to the present when I felt a gentle tap on my arm. "Julia we are here." John said to me. I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't realize that we had arrived at the State Courthouse. Mr James my driver drove the car to the porch of the courthouse and waited for us to alight from the car before securing a spot in the parking lot. I stood for a few seconds to properly arrange my hair and clothes while John stood by holding my purse.
"Miss Julia Peterside, we are so glad you honoured our invite on such short notice." I looked up to find two middle aged men dressed in black suits standing at the entrance to the courthouse. "I am Mr Greg, Planning Committee Chairman of the 2023 State Recognition Awards Ceremony and this my partner here is Mr Alfred, Secretary to the committee" The one on the left said as he stretched out his hand. I took his hand and we both exchanged handshakes. And I did same to Mr Alfred with a cheerful smile.
"The pleasure is all mine. And this is John my personal assistant or manager. Whatever you choose to call him." I said and we all laughed while John exchanged handshakes with them.
"Shall we?.." Mr Greg asked, stretching his hand towards the door.
"Of course" I responded nodding my head. He lead the way and I followed while John and Mr Alfred walked closely behind us.
"And by the way two of our colleagues Mrs Veronica, the Vice Chairman and Miss Sarah the Financial secretary who ought to join us in this meeting called in late. But I assure you that they will be joining us very soon." Mr Greg added looking back at me as we walked through the building into a room that seemed like a diner. Mr Greg walked to a chair at the head of the table and Mr Alfred pulled out the chair at the other end for me to sit down. Once we were both seated, he pulled out a chair close to the chairman, while John pulled the nearest chair to me and they both sat down.
"Once again Miss Peterside, I really must appreciate you for making out time for this meeting. As you well know the 2023 State Awards ceremony is about three months from now and we the committee have been looking out for some artists that would be featured in the ceremony. We saw you at the Orchestra Concert two nights ago and right there as we watched you perform, we unanimously agreed that we would like you to be our special act for the Award night. What do you have to say about that?" Mr Greg said smiling broadly. I was beyond excited to hear this, but I had to hide my emotions by putting up a straight face.
"Thank you Mr chairman, I appreciate the fact that you appreciate my talent and I thank you for the offer. But I think I will leave this matter to my manager, he will be the one to determine whether or not I will be able to accept your offer." I turned to John who was already eager to join the conversation. I knew I could count on him to get a good and favorable bargain. As a rising star in the music industry, I had the best Manager in the world; John and one thing he always reminded me about was never to show my excitement at a negotiation table.
"Julia, now that you are beginning to make a name for yourself, a lot of people and brands will come for you and will be willing to make huge and mouthwatering offers. But do not fall for their deceitful offers, never show any form of excitement no matter what and always allow me to do the talking so that you won't make any mistakes. You have to trust me on this, because I have been in this business for a long time." These were John's words to me after I released my first hit single and I believed and trusted him. Since then, he had been the one doing the talking.
I sat quietly and watched John discuss passionately with the two men about the necessary steps to be taken for me to accept their offer and I felt a wave of emotion sweep through my heart.
It felt like yesterday when I got discharged from the hospital with my baby in my arms and an uncertain future lying ahead of me. I knew I was never going back to Marvin or what used to be our home, so I wondered what would become of my life and my daughter's. I was hurt and angry; hurt that I lost the man I once loved with all my heart and sacrificed my dreams for, hurt that my daughter would grow up without her father and angry that I almost let him send I and my daughter to an early grave. I knew someday he will have to pay for what he had done to me and my child but at that time all I needed was help with my baby and help with regaining my sanity of mind because for one year and a few months, I lived my life daily with anxiety and the abusive words that came from Marvin who constantly reminded me of how worthless I was. And somehow, my mind began to accept the negative words he said about me and I began to think so low about myself. By the time I came out of the hospital I had one thing in mind and that was the fact that I had to get help and go back to being the beautiful, carefree and ambitious girl that I once was.