CHAPTER 3
Ember ,a twenty four year old golden brown hair girl. She had thin eyebrows, a chubby round face , pink small sexy lips and emerald green eyes that you couldn't mistake for another. She had a slender ,curvy figure with fair flawless skin. She looked very much like a celebrity, many times her mum had asked to try a modelling job to display her beauty but she wasn't the camera type ; she didn't like the fact most celebs didn't have their private lives to their selves . She liked keeping her personal life personal. She wasn't the social type, she had very few friends. But she was a fun person to be with.
Ember looked at the mirror one more time and smiled at her reflection, she was satisfied by what she saw. The red gloss she applied on her small lips matched with the red purse and shoes she wore . She liked her natural beauty and never failed to show it as she only applied light makeup. She tied her hair into a ponytail just leaving two strands at the front. She wore a necklace with green pendant that matched the colour of her eyes. She was wearing a silver satin, sleeveless spaghetti hand , short flared gown, just reaching the knees.It showed her beautiful legs and exposed her flawless skin . It showed a little bit of her cleavage. She paid attention to every bit of her dressing, she was a lover of fashion. She carried her long coat for it's been quite windy and cold for some days now , even if the weather was bright and sunny for now she didn't want to take any risk . She then proceeded to leave her room but halted as she remembered something important.
She rushed to her dressing table and saw the bracelet, it didn't have any part to play in her overall look as it was a pink beaded bracelet with a red (lined with gold) heart shaped pendant at the middle engraved " forEvEr" with the e's in capital letters. She looked at the bracelet, it didn't match with anything she was wearing but she couldn't go out without wearing it.
"Why?" She asked herself but there was no answer. The bracelet obviously meant something to her but she couldn't remember what.
"How did I get this?" She asked herself. She looked at it for a while before her eye lazily wandered to the umbrella at the side of her bed.
"Oh shit! Ember ,you promised him you would return it" she reprimanded herself and smacked herself on the head. She sighed as her mind went back to the man at the bookstore , his voice ... there was something oddly familiar about his voice. She took the umbrella and smiled , "He's definitely a familiar stranger,"she giggled at that phrase. "Familiar stranger indeed". She wore the bracelet,took the umbrella hoping to return it today and looked around for anything she left or forgotten. She left her room and was greeted by her ever smiling mother .
" Good morning mum" Ember greeted.
" Good morning my sunshine" Sarah replied.
Sarah , a middle aged woman in her late forties, had brown hair just like her daughter. In fact Ember was a younger version of her except from Ember's eyes , Sarah's eyes were ocean blue like her husband. No one knew where Ember got her emerald green eyes from ,for both parents and grandparents had blue eyes.
" Where's dad" Ember asked.
" He rushed out to deal with some pressing issues" Sarah replied, placing a plate of food on the table.
" Here's your breakfast" Sarah said.
" Hmmm, smells delicious mum" Ember said smiling.
" But could you pack it up please? I'll be late if i sit and eat" Ember pleaded knowing her mum wouldn't like the idea.
" Ember.. " her mum said with warning eyes .
"You know I hate it if you eat late, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Ever since you started working in that clothing brand ,you have been skipping your meals and I don't like it." Her mom said with a frown.
" I know mum , I promise I would eat on time " Ember said giving her mum a slight hug.
" Ember .. this is one of the reasons I wanted you to work in ur father's company, you would need not worry about being fired or have to skip breakfast for work" Sarah said with a frown while packing up her breakfast.
Ember wanted to reply to her mum but stopped herself as she wasn't ready to bring up this issue again. They have been back and forth on this issue for over six months now ,when Ember decided to quit working at her father's company. Her father was the CEO of JS industries, where they produced bags , clothes and jewelleries. It was founded by both Ember's parents but Ember's mother does not involve herself much with the running of the company anymore so she expected her daughter to fill that void but Ember had a totally different dream in mind. Like her mother she loved fashion but hated to be under the shadow of someone else , she enjoyed doing things on her own not under the cloak of someone else. She was a fashion designer but she wanted gain her own popularity and fame through her hard work . After graduating, she worked in her father's company for a few months but she couldn't survive there, not that her colleagues were cold or mistreating her but she felt too privileged. She was never scolded at no matter what she did , she felt invincible .Where no one was ready to correct her, how was she going to learn? Most of her colleagues gave her distance to avoid problems while the ones who got closer did so to be in the company's good books. Ember wanted to be a great fashion designer and in order to achieve that she needed experience, expertise and training , that ,her father's workers were too scared to give her. Ember concluded that if she needed to achieve her dream she had to get the training and experience somewhere she could not play the " my father's CEO" card , somewhere no one would care if she was the daughter of the president or a princess of some fairytale. The only place that could give her that was LEO GROUP OF COMPANIES, just like her dad's company, they produced clothes ,bags and jewelleries but also trained models. They also produced creams , soaps and perfumes. They had different companies under them. The Leo's was a big family name in town that had established that company, decades ago. It was the biggest fashion company in town . It was loved for its originality and uniqueness in each of its products. The company hosted most of the biggest designers and top models. Her dad's although was a very successful fashion brand but was nothing compared to the Leo's. She wanted to be great so she had to learn from the best. She was presently working as an intern . She worked very hard for this opportunity, and have to put in more effort if she plans on becoming a full employee. She smiled as her mum finally gave her her breakfast after so much grumblings. She rushed out her house and headed straight to the Leo's company.
The company's headquarters was far from her house so she had to take the bus or subway.
She hastened her footsteps to the bus stop. She hurriedly entered the bus ,afraid if she was even a second later she would miss the bus . She settled down at her seat , giving her self one last check ensuring she didn't forget anything,she checked her watch for like the upteenth time and sighed inwardly. She paid less attention to the people around her so she missed the pair of brown eyes that looked at her eyes with so much surprise and fear from outside the bus. Stella's heart palpated as she saw Ember again after months even if it was just for a split second. She felt happy that Ember was hale and hearty but was sad as she could never show her face to Ember ever again. She was glad Ember didn't see her, for she would not have died mentally of shame and guilt. She kneaded her nose bridge trying not to think about the web she has put herself in . She let out a breath, she didn't realise she was holding and continued her way .
Ember arrived at her workplace( Leo's) just in time. She smiled as she greeted the receptionist at the down floor. She headed to the elevator and saw the door was about closing and waved frantically to the man inside to stop it. The man frowned at her and pretended he didn't see her . Fortunately, she was able to get there before the door closed. She entered and looked up at the man who was frowning down at her . She got confused by the look on his face and decided to greet.
" Good morning " Ember said with a warm smile. The man just grunted. Ember looked at him from his head to his toe , he was well dressed, a navy blue suit with matching pants, a black tie and white t-shirt. He had excellent body build ; broad shoulder
shoulders, strong muscles, very long legs for he was tall.
He's probably a model ,a top model perhaps that's why he's behaving like he owns the place. Some people should never get access to money. Ember thought and giggled at the thought.
Richard,the man in the elevator with Ember, looked at Ember in disgust as he heard her giggle. He wasn't the type to share space with strangers . He was easily irritated by others, he liked his privacy. He was used to everyone cowering around and giving him distance. He was shocked at her actions,first she waved for him to not close the elevator like he's some door guy and had the guts to enter the same elevator with him and laugh , is she mad? He asked himself. Many wouldn't even dare to cough in his presence.
Ember unaware of what anger broil in the man next to her , saw the floor number he pressed wasn't the one she was going to; she was going to floor 15 and he pressed floor 20. She simply pressed 15.
Richard widened his black coloured eyes and stared at her in shock. What insolence! He said in his mind. This girl sure has some nerves. So he had to wait for the elevator to take a brief stop at her floor.
" The boldness of some people" He said and shook his head.
Ember hearing him, looked up at him wondering what he was talking about. She was already getting uncomfortable as she didn't like the unfriendly aura from this man. She was silently praying for the elevator to be fast so she would leave him. Immediately the elevator stopped at her floor, she hurriedly left and didn't bother looking back.
Ember looked at her watch and saw she made it just in time. She relaxed a bit . As she settled down in her office, she saw Rick , her colleague and friend walking towards her.
Rick was the one person who didn't give her a hard time on her first days here. He was always ready to help and very friendly too. At first, Ember thought he wanted to ask her out that's why he was all nice ,she later discovered he had a girlfriend . He was just a nice person.
" Hey , you look beautiful" Rick said as he approached her table.
" You look nice too" Ember said with a smile
" Nah, not as nice as you look" Rick replied.
" Oh Ricky," she laughed out heartily "thank you anyways" she appreciated .
"Good morning " She greeted
" Good morning dear, hope you slept well?" Rick asked.
" Yeah, and you? "
" It was good"
" How did you enjoy the weekend?"Rick asked
" It was nice " Ember said smiling
" Cool, gotta head back to my office,see you later then" Rick said turning to leave.
" Yeah , see you " Ember smiled .
"Now I gotta get to work " Ember said to herself and started arranging her designs. She was asked to come up with three designs before the staff meeting which was this afternoon. She have already made a few designs but was struggling on which she should pick.
"Oh damn it!" She exclaimed, I should just have asked Rick " she hissed and left for Rick's office.
" Hey ,Please Rick , I need your help with something, " Ember pleaded as she got there
" Ok, what's the problem? " Rick asked dropping the pen and file he was with.
"I'm a bit confused,I don't know what three designs I should pick between them " she said handing the designs to Rick .
" Hmmm" Rick said as he glanced through the designs.
" These are really nice designs," Rick added .
" So first, before picking designs you have to ensure it matches the theme ,then you have to consider the fabric you would be given and time frame to put the make this design tangible ,who know what I mean? " Rick asked with a raised eyebrow.
" Yeah, so what do you think " Ember asked.
" Well, that is left for you to decide ,I'm afraid I can't help you more than this. You have to do it yourself.ok?" Rick said .
Well,this was Rick , he's there to guide you not do your job . He believed that everyone deserves growth so in order to do that you had to do it yourself .
Ember smiled and took her designs back to her office, he at least had helped her a little not the way she wanted but she needed this, the brain storming and decision making . She sighed she had better get this done before the staff meeting.