03

“Alright, thank you so much.” Emily appreciated it, she knocked on the door three times and waited till she heard Mark’s voice for her to come in. On getting in she saw he was discussing with someone.

“Emily, I thought I gave you today as your…”

“I am actually here to see you,” out of shame she could have waited outside till he was done, but every second her mother seemed to be calling her phone, she just had to get the money and go and give it to her on time.

Mark stared at her and got the memo, he didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable.

“Oh right, I remember, let me have my secretary work on it. Wait for me outside okay?”

“Thank you,” Emily bowed. She looked at the man Mark was talking to and realized that the person was the same person that come here to see Bella earlier. Did he work here? She nodded at him and walked out.

“Does she work here?” Leonard finally spoke when Emily had left.

"Yes Sir,” Mark replied.

“What does she do?”

“She sketches, you know most designers here can’t draw much, they usually have the idea but can’t put it down on paper, so she sketches down their ideas and she takes shift being my secretary.”

“How well is this her sketches?”

“She is very good at it, I even question why she isn’t a designer herself… I should have one of her works here.” Mark said opening his drawers and looking for something he brought out a sketchbook, he handed it to Leonard.

Leonard collected it and went through it with a blank expression, Mark couldn’t tell if he loved it or not, his boss was a really hard man to understand.

“So you give out my money for this?”

Of course, Leonard had figured out their little conversation was about a loan.

“She pays back with interest,” Mark explained, he didn’t want Emily to get fired. She was really good at her job.

“And how does she payback and also with interest?”

“She works at two other places… she is a really hard-working girl Sir.”

“As regards our discussion, if I do not see fresh new designs soon, I will be forced to close this branch.”

“Don’t worry Sir, I will do my best.”

Leonard stood up as Mark followed behind, they walked out of his office and talked in a low voice, they shook hands and Leonard walked away.

“Hello,” Leonard heard as he was stepping out of the office.

“My name is Emily, we met earlier in the day.”

“Oh right, the bimbo.”

Emily couldn’t believe he actually just called her that, yes she admitted she was not looking her best earlier in the day but she wasn’t a bimbo. She had waited outside of the office so she could talk to him about Bella, she figured he was one of those rich people who were rude.

“I am not a bimbo, are you friends with Bella? Since you left she has been down, is everything okay?”

“What sort of stupid question is that? You mean you stopped me to waste my time.”

“I stopped you because I was worried about my friend,” Emily explained.

“And what if I told you everything wasn’t alright, what will you do then?”

“I will…”

“Emily,” Mark called out coming outside, he had asked his secretary where she had gone to. Did Leonard call her aside? “You are still here Sir.” He got a look from Leonard secretly, “I mean Leonard.”

“Yes I am, this lady was just having a conversation with me. Does she work here?”

“Yes, Leonard.”

“Well I guess as a designer under you, I will be reporting to her.”

“Yes,” Mark said as Leonard nodded. He entered the back of the car as the car zoomed off.

“He works here?” Emily was perplexed, how could he work here? He looked well dressed to work here or was that just his dress sense?

“Yes, he works at the headquarters and reports to me any news from the boss,” Mark explained, he didn’t know why Leonard didn’t want him to tell her that he was the owner of the company, well no one really knew that fact, Mark had lied a lot of times to different people about Leonard identity.

When the lie started getting mixed up, he concluded on a story and had to stick to that story.

“Do you know him?”

“Not really,” Emily said.

“Alright, well let’s go inside so I can give you the money.”

“Thank you so much, Mark.” Emily smiled following him as they went inside.

* * * * * * *

"Where have you been?" Rose asked opening the door to her daughter, she had been waiting all day for Emily to come home and even called her ten times but no response.

"I got your money," Emily said opening her sling purse, as she handed Rose the money she had loaned from Mark, she had removed a little bit out of it for herself on her way here.

She didn't have much money on her and she still had to work extra shifts to pay back the loan she took.

"Oh, thank you so much, my love," Rose said jerking the money from her hand she was so glad, she had plans to buy one expensive bag to show off to her friends.

Emily walked into the kitchen, their apartment was really small in the dept of the slum, and only had two bedrooms, Emily and her sister Chloe slept in the same room while her parents shared the other but when they had guests who wanted to sleep over.

Emily and Chloe slept in the living room and used the store room as their wardrobe, but as time went on Emily moved some of her things into Bella's apartment. She hardly slept here likewise Chloe who also rented her apartment.

Chloe came out from the kitchen, with a glass of orange juice.

"Talk of the devil, you didn't invite me to your silly birthday," Chloe said taking her seat and sipping her juice.

Rose didn't have time, she went inside to get dressed for her outing.

"It's because it's silly, that's why I didn't invite you."

"Be mindful of how you talk to me," Chloe warned. "Boyfriend snatcher."

"I have told you times without number, I didn't take Roger from you. He didn't even like you." Emily thought Chloe had passed this, Chloe had a crush on some guy in her school but the guy had told Chloe that he didn't fancy her but Emily. How was that her business? It was the guy's choice, not hers.

"I told you to stay the fuck away from him, but you kept clinging to him like a stupid chicken."

"I am not a chicken," Emily yelled back.

"You both will stop that nonsense right now," Rose barked entering inside all dressed up and holding the expensive bag, she had taken on a loan. "And Emily stop disrespecting your sister by yelling at her, you both should stop fighting over some boy."

"Where did you get that bag?" Emily hadn't seen this bag before, it was a very expensive bag. It seemed Bella had it but in a different color. Was this the original or fake?

"Wow mum, you stepped up the game." Chloe smiled, dropping her glass on the table, she walked up to her mum and checked the bag out. "Wow... This is legit."

"It is?... How... How were you able to afford it?" Emily stuttered trying to not shout.

"What do mean by that? I am going to use the money you gave me now to pay for the bag."

"You will what? I took that money as a loan for three months worth of food supply. I have to work extra shifts to pay back that loan and you buy a bag."

"Doesn't mum deserve a bag like this, why are you being bitchy." Chloe hissed.

"Bitchy? What are we going to eat for three months? Are we going to eat this bag?"

"So what I don't deserve to be spoilt?" Rose asked her, her mates were carrying this bag now, she had gone for the nude color which was a rare shade.

It wasn't easy getting the nude colour but she did and now Emily was saying this, she had no plans to return the bag even thou she hadn't removed the tag yet.

"You can take your useless bag," Chloe said removing the bag from her mum's hand and throwing it at Emily.

"I would prefer my money back," Emily didn't have any use of the bag, was she to pawn it or what? If they weren't going to buy food supplies then it was better they starved than she having to be in debt.

She also had to pay interest on the money she had borrowed.

"I can't just give you the bag, maybe when I come back home." Rose protested about to collect the bag, as Chloe held her hands.

"You don't need to do that, I have this bag and in this shade."

"You do?" Emily and Rose said in sync.

"Yeah, my boyfriend got it as a gift for me."

Gift? Shit? Emily had forgotten she had collected a lot of gifts from her birthday party. She was in such a hurry this morning they didn't open the wrappings.

Anyways, Bella wouldn't open them without her being there, she could see her mother was already feeling bad and Chloe was ready to show off that she had more money than her.

She wondered what work Chloe was doing that she seemed to be earning more, she even told them last week that she did rent a better apartment for them soon.

It didn't make sense to her, and because she and Chloe were not close, she couldn't ask what she was doing and their mother and father didn't seem to care, as long as money was coming into their pockets.

"You can keep the bag," Emily said handing back the bag to her mum, who seemed pleased. "You can keep the bag and the money."

"What about your loan?" Rose asked worried.

"It's fine, I will sort it out as usual, am sure Chloe will be sure to handle any of your other needs," Emily explained.

"Of course, I will be happy to help, unlike you who is always stingy."

"I am stingy, I don't have any money. Maybe if you tell us where you are working I will also earn more money."

"That's none of your business."

"That's enough," Rose pleaded she was already late and not in the mood for their unnecessary arguments. "I will be on my way now, your father should be on his way back. Tell him I won't be home till evening."

"Well Emily will do that, I have a date."

"Alright," Rose smiled leaving, she was so happy