Forbidden But Bound

Climbing The Ladder

“Good Morning Sir,” a middle-aged lady with red funky glasses called out to Thomas as he walked out of the elevator into his office found on the 6th floor.

It was Thomas’ personal assistant Greta. Greta had been working with Thomas ever since he began as a Junior fashion designer at Rosa Panini fashion house.

A small newly established company in downtown manhattan. He loved his job at Rosa Panini. Thomas had learnt so much there. Working at a smaller fashion house allowed him to have a more hands-on job. After finishing at Parsons School of design her applied to many different fashion houses. To begin with he sent out his CV to the top fashion house in New York but as the months went by and he never got a call-back for an interview from any of the bigger companies. So he began applying to smaller less-known fashion companies and the first response he received was from Rosa Panini herself inviting him to be a Junior fashion designer. This was an opportunity he could not miss especially as his hopes of going to work in t a better place seem very low. 

Rosa, who was the owner and the creative director at the company, and during his time there and from the very beginning she always gave him the opportunity to broaden his talents and skills. She also exposed him to different aspects of fashion pattern engineering, fabric selection, sewing as well as the business aspects of budgeting. Rosa was a simple woman, she looked like she was a hipster back in the 1960s. She had the typical hippie dress code; long straight hair that was usually always down, with a straight cut fringe almost covering her eyes. She always dressed in bright baggy clothes that never seemed to be color coordinated. Smoking was part of her pass-time but since she decided to try and give it up again she walks around with her vape in-between her fingers. Sometimes you could see a trail of smoke as she passed by and you would get the smell of the sweet flavor of the day.

Growing up Thomas had always been into art. Coming from a Haitian Creole family, they always thought because of his artistic talent that he would be an architect or industrial designer. When Thomas came up with the idea of fashion they were furious. They threatened to send him back to Haiti if he did not stop his nonsense. But this did not stir him away from his plans. He knew that he would apply to fashion schools around New York City. Things changed when he was accepted at Parsons on a full scholarship including the extras for the duration of his degree in fashion. They could not dispute this and it would mean that they will be able to save the money for Thomas' siblings' education.

He walking into his office with Greta’s platforms trailing behind him.

“Do we have anything interesting today Greta?” Thomas asked her placing his laptop bag on the floor by his desk and his cup of coffee on a coaster that was a gift from Julia. It had both their faces on it. Thomas’ office was a typical fashion designer's office; an open space with numerous fabrics of all colors and textures scattered around the room in rolls as well as scraps. There were drawings and papers all over you could barely see the floor.

“Today you have one meeting with the supplier for next season's collection and his assistant. Then Mrs. Rosa wants to see you a little later, she needs to discuss the budget for the show next week.” Greta read his itinerary out loud to Thomas.

“Oh no, I am sure I am over budget again this year with the decor for the show. Rosa only wants to see me about the budget when I’m spending too much money. Especially when she sends you to get me,” Thomas chuckled as he stretched to turn on his computer screen.

“Thanks, Greta.”

“Pleasure Sir, give me a buzz if you need me I’m at my desk.” She walked out just as Thomas sat at his desk.

He looked at his screen as he took a sip of his coffee. And to his surprise, there it was the email he had been waiting for for months, sitting unopened in his inbox. He had been through the whole interview process and had Ben waiting to hear from them. But since it was a while since they did he had almost given up hope. He starred at the email so shocked that he didn’t realize that his cup was tilted and a drop of hot coffee fell on his lap.

“s**t! s**t!” He said jumping up.

He sat back down and clicked on the email:

Dear Thomas Harrison,

Congratulations on your offer from Viva Eva! We are delighted to offer you the position of Assistant to the head Fashion designer with an anticipated start date of 21/06/2009.

Please find attached your detailed offer letter. If you choose to accept this offer, please sign, scan, and email your letter to the sent email address by 02/05/2009.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you should have any questions or concerns.

We are looking forward to hearing from you and hope you’ll join our team!

Best regards,

Cynthia Clarence

Head of Human Resources

Cynthia.clarence@vivaeva.com

Thomas couldn’t believe it. He sat there for a few seconds. There was a smile on his face and he threw his fist into the air. He knew that this was the best thing that could have happened to him after waiting so long to move up the ladder he was finally happy that this was happening now. Viva Eva was an up-and-coming fashion company that Now that he will marry the love of his life, Julia. This will mean a better life for them. He can offer her the life that he had always wanted to offer her. Buy a house for their new family that they hope to have someday.

He was very happy however, he could not jump for joy as he would have to let Rosa know that he has another offer and will be taking it. She never mentioned anything to him about any calls for reference so he assumed that they never called her to ask her about him. He decided to speak to Julia about it and then come back and speak to Rosa.

The first thing he did was pick up the phone and texted Julia. Julia was aware that he had applied for this position so she will be over the moon.

“Hey, my love. Don’t cook dinner tonight we are going out. I have a surprise. Love you. Xoxo” his text read.

Thomas struggled to concentrate throughout the day as his excitement was uncontrollable.

“Thomas, what is going on with you today?” Rosa asked him as they were in the budget meeting.

“You seem happier than normal. Especially after your depression episode last week.” He knew she was referring to the period when he had that massive argument in the car.

“I asked Julia to marry me. And she said yes. So I guess I am engaged,” Thomas blurted out with a big grin on his face. He chose to camouflage his secret of the job offer with the excitement of the engagement to deflect and suspicions.

“Wow, man! I’m super happy for you Tom Tom,” Rosa said coming around her table to congratulate him.

“Thank you, Rosa,” he said.

“Well, the meeting is over. Why don’t you take the rest of the afternoon off? Just don’t forget that the moral of this meeting Tom is to: Stick to the damn budget!” They said in unison.

“Yes, I will have a look at it again. Thanks, Rosa i really appreciate it.”

“Not at all Thomas you deserve it. Congratulations on the engagement.” Rosa said to him as he walked out of her office. He felt a slight sense of guilt for keeping such a secret but it was for the best.

It was 15h00 and he decided to surprise Julia with a bouquet when he got back home early that day. There was a small little flower shop down the road from their apartment that sold Lilies. She loved Lilies, she said this every single time she passed that shop.

“Good afternoon. Please may I have a dozen white Lilies please,” he gave the money to the florist. The florist picked a bouquet of white Lilies, wrapped them in cellophane paper, and handed the flowers to him.

“Thank you very much have a nice day,” the florist said to Thomas.

“No thank you. They look amazing.”

Just then his cellphone rang in his pocket. He changed the bouquet to his other hand and removed the cellphone and glanced at the screen. His expression changed in an instant. It was her. Her nickname was flashing on his phone. Thomas closed his eyes and cut the call.

He still had deep feelings for her, but he was adamant that he wants to change his life around. He was going to marry Julia and he has to keep his promise to her.

He put his phone back into his pocket and headed for their apartment.