***CONTENT WARNING*** mentions of diets
Leaving Marks office, Rosslyn went straight to her car in the underground parking garage. She didn't know why, but underground parking garages always gave her a dubious feeling, making her skin crawl.
Opening her car, she went and sat down in the driver's seat, rummaging through her purse to look for her phone. The inside of her purse was a mess. Not finding her phone in its usual pocket, she felt slightly annoyed.
Finally fishing out her phone, she looked over the recent messages. Elliott had been trying to contact her leaving several messages.
Elliott had been a good friend of hers ever since right after she came out of her coma. They had met at an upscale bar in the city centre and been good friends ever since. Finding that they had similar taste in men, and that their hobbies aligned, they quickly got along.
Elliott, an established broker in the marked of high-end goods, was well-connected with most of the wealthy families in country N. As a trait with many brokers, Elliott was great at making good acquaintances, always furthering his network and connections.
They had started their business together as a joke one night they were out drinking, but as it took off, they both decided to invest some time in the start-up.
The business they started was one of different diet plans.
They had been talking over a few too many drinks when they came upon the topic of different diets. Talking about how silly many of them were, Elliott had suggested that there was probably even one for only eating the crust of gluten free bread slices. Rosalyn had jokingly looked it up, and seeing that it wasn't a thing, they had 'made' it.
Setting up a quick Instagram account called 'The Only Diets You'll Ever Need', they had made a post about the advantages of only eating the crusts of gluten free bread. They had then ordered a sandwich from bartender, asking them to put the crust on its own platter. When the platter arrived, they took a picture of the crusts, and the joke was done.
Little did they expect that the post would blow up, gluten free crusts becoming the new 'it' diet-plan. Some bakeries even sold bags with only crusts in them for a period of time.
Laughing at the absurdity of it, they decided to see if they could make an even more absurd diet. And so, they did. The next thing they tried was baby food. And once again it went viral with people comparing which baby foods worked the best.
After the second time, they decided to actually capitalize on the momentum of their account. The soon registered their company 'TODYEN', short for 'The Only Diets You'll Ever Need'.
So far, they had had three other diets trending and been able to capitalize on all of them thanks to the help from Elliotts' connections. He had been able to connect them to a distributor who was willing to collaborate.
Now, TODYEN had an office space and a few workers that oversaw the day-to-day business. It seemed like the crazier they made their diets, the more they were selling. As of now, their business was booming.
Opening the messages from Elliott, she couldn't help but let out a small chuckle.
"So, are you breaking up with what's his name today?"
"These types of rumours usually have some weight behind them. There is a reason it's a cliché!"
"Hey, have you confronted him yet, don't go awol on me now…"
"Remember to contact me later. I want all the tea *tea cup emoji*"
"Okay… I'll just quietly wait here in my corner… being ignored… *broken heart emoji*"
Looking at the clock and seeing it was almost six, she sent him a text to meet up at their regular spot.
Having sent the text, she once again put her phone in her purse, before starting the car and leaving.
***
At an upscale bar on the outskirt of the city centre, Rosalyn walked in after greeting the host at the door. She and Elliott had a reserved room that was almost always available. Once again thanks to Elliotts connection to the owner.
Elliott had managed to get a hold of a watch the old man had desired for over a decade. This led up to Elliott having a hard time trying to convince the old man not to take him in as an adopted son. After much convincing, the old man relented but still insisted that Elliott should, at the very least, have full access to his private room.
Sitting down in the room, Rosalyn ordered a blueberry mojito for herself and a Manhattan to be served when Elliott arrived. Being regular customers at the bar, the host was well used to them ordering for each other while waiting.
Hearing her phone buzzing, she looked only to see a new text from Elliott.
"On my way. I'll be there in ten."
Since there was still a little while before Elliott was set to arrive, she looked at the other messages on her phone.
Seeing that there were texts from both Amanda and Mark, Rosalyn took a deep breath before opening the first one.