Heir Of The Heart

I arrived at Veritas Atelier just in time to not be late. This was my umpteenth interview at Veritas, I lost count of how many times I've been rejected at this place. Most people might have given up already at this point or start pitching to another brand, but I'm not like most people. Veritas is the biggest fashion brand in all of LA, in fact, all of the United States and I want to be the biggest fashion designer so I must work for the biggest fashion brand. Despite seeing so many sad faces crying out of the interview room, I wasn't bothered. I was confident that I would surely get the job this time with the design I had. The others just weren't up to my level. It was my turn and I got called into the office to pitch my design. I was met with three individuals but one of them stood out to me. The creative director, Naomi Fletcher. Judging by the way she looked at me, it seemed like she was intrigued by me. I was finally about to get my big break in the fashion world and there was nothing in the world that was going to stop that. She had blonde hair and bright blue eyes that immediately turned towards her desk after scanning me briefly. My palms were starting to sweat even though I had perfectly rehearsed everything that I was going to say over and over. “Good…” She cut me off before I could say anything. “Just introduce yourself and let us see what you have for us, we don't have time for all that fake formalities.” Naomi said immediately, staring at her phone and chewing a gum as she spoke. “Um… okay.” I stuttered, immediately thrown off my feet by the way she spoke but managed to get a hold of myself. I was getting a bit nervous but still confident that Naomi would be really impressed once she saw my design, so there was no cause for panic. I pulled out the dress from my bag. “This was inspired by the late great Coco Chanel…” “Hold on, don't say another word.” Naomi interrupted, laughing. “Is this what you brought here? Really?” She turned to look at the other two interviewers, laughing. They both let out a fake forced nervous laugh, like they weren't allowed to freely express themselves. I could sense that Naomi had some kind of grip around them, or maybe they were just scared of losing their jobs. “You do realize that this is Veritas Atelier, the number one fashion company in all of America and you come in here with something this… raggedy looking?” Naomi continued. “I'm sorry ma'am.” I tried to say anything I could at that moment. “Don’t apologize to me.” Naomi interrupted. “Apologize to yourself for being so mediocre. Apologize to Coco Chanel for trying to use her name on such a cheap and silly looking design. Where did you get that fabric? The 99 cent fabric store? And you brought that here? Really? You're unbelievable.” “Ma’am.” I said, already short of words. “Please just leave now with your cheap mediocre dress before I get any angrier. You make me wanna puke.” She said. I walked out of the office and ran straight to the restroom, tears rolling down my cheeks as I looked at my reflection in the mirror, disappointed, my makeup was a mess already. I had everything all put together, so what exactly went wrong. My mind was a labyrinth of thoughts, what could I possibly do now to get into Veritas Atelier? I have never been more embarrassed in my 23 years of being alive as a woman on this earth. In all the interviews that I've ever had at Veritas and all the rejections, this one was the one that stung the most. It made me start rethinking my entire fashion dream. Maybe I was just being delusional, maybe I was reaching too high after all. I bumped into someone interesting on my way out of the building. Every staff in the building seemed to have stopped work to welcome someone. As I looked up, I saw a man walking in with a horde of bodyguards. That was Joshua Willis, the CEO of Veritas Atelier, he had grey hair and was dressed in tailored suit and a crisp white shirt, he looked really great for his age. He wasn't difficult to recognize, you must be living under a rock if you haven't heard of the founder of the biggest fashion brand in the world. The one who looked odd was the young man walking next to him with a quite odd expression on his face, he didn't seem thrilled to be there, which gave me the feeling that he must have been related to the CEO. How else would you explain the fact that he was walking right next to Joshua Willis with a frown on his face. He was dressed casually. For a brief moment I caught a glimpse of his bright blue eyes, I couldn't help but notice how good looking he was as we made eye contact. My heart skipped a couple beats as I left the building and made my way back home. On getting home, the first thing I encountered was the letter pasted on my door: EVICTION NOTICE This is to inform you that you have 2 days to exit this house due to your excessive outstanding rent payments. Like this day couldn't get any worse. Now I have to find a new place to live. I looked at the clock on the wall, 7:00pm. My shift at the bar starts in an hour. I popped the Buldak instant ramen I got on my way home into a pot to cook, that was the first and only meal I was having today. I had a quick shower and left for the bar to begin my shift, serving drinks and listening to people talk about their lives which were sometimes even more miserable than mine. I met Sarah in the staff locker room, getting changed. “Heading home already?” I asked. “Yeah, obviously.” She giggled. “See you tomorrow?” “Yeah, sure thing.” I replied with a forced smile. Sarah stared at me for a moment. “What’s with that depressing look? You good?” She asked. I exhaled. “It's obvious?” “Oh it definitely is.” Sarah laughed softly. “Long day?... Oh, the interview was today, right? How did it go?” “I don't wanna talk about it.” I sighed. Sarah walked towards me, gently placing a hand on my shoulder as she smiled. “Don't worry about it, you'll get your big break soon. You're the most talented fashion designer I know and Veritas is pretty dumb to not want you on their team.” “Thank you, Sarah. I needed that.” “Anytime. Your shift is about to start, don't keep the customers waiting. I'll see you tomorrow.” Sarah picked up her bag and left the bar as I prepared for my shift. When it was almost closing hour, a young man walked in. The same guy I saw at Veritas this afternoon. He was alone, no bodyguards like when he was with the CEO. For someone who works closely with Joshua Willis, he must be wealthy and important so I wondered why he chose to come to this tiny bar of all the luxurious places he could go to in LA. He looked quite sad, so maybe he was just trying to run away from attention. I knew better than to pry into people's personal lives. If there's one thing I've learned as a bartender, it's that alcohol makes people talk eventually. “Please give me something strong, I have had quite the day.” He said. “We're about to close… but why not?” I said, staring at him, he seemed desperate. “Don't let me drink alone. Please join me.” he said, giving a pitiful look. For some reason, I had a feeling that this was going to be a long night but I somehow couldn't deny his request. Little did I know, my life was about to change in ways I never would have imagined. … I woke up to find myself naked on my bed, unaware of what had happened last night after my shift. I was seriously hungover, must have had too much to drink last night. I went to take a shower and as I came out of the shower, I saw a golden necklace on the floor by the bedside. It had the initials “M.W” engraved in it. “Who does this belong to and how did it end up in my bedroom?” I wondered.