Star of Success

Chapter six

Stella’s POV
I walk to the building ten minutes early, and pass the secretary who was typing on her computer.
Once I greet her, I take the pencil next to the attendance pad and sign my name. As she sees me write my name down, she jumps from her chair and fixes her glasses as they clumsily fall off from her face.

“Mr. Varon wants to see you in his office,” she says in her soft voice.
I nod and thank her and ride the elevator to my uncle’s office. I knock on the door and hear his enthusiastic voice calling me to come in.

“Morning,” he sings when I enter.
“Hello,” I chuckle and sit on the chair.
He opens the drawer next to his desk and hums to himself. He passes me the pads he brought out and grins at me, I smile at his excitement and hide my shock.
How can someone be so cheerful in the morning?

“I set out the dresses to stage but I need three to present at my windows,” he says, “in fact I chose one, so you have to choose the other two,”

I take a look at the sketches and choose what’s suitable to present on the windows. After a few peaks here and there, I end up picking a red gown and a white shirt with a long grey skirt that is sewn with white diamond jewels in a stylistic shape.

“I think I’m starting to know what your sense of style is…you don’t like to exaggerate things do you?” he asks as he takes the sketches from my hand.

“No, I like my fabric to be simple. I will head downstairs and stitch something up,” I say excusing myself.

I take a mannequin from another room and place it to where my table is. I snatch a pair of scissors and a pen and I start drawing my skirt.

I was too focused on my work that I didn’t notice two identical men standing in front of my table, staring at me. If I didn’t have my morning coffee, I would’ve assumed that I was hallucinating.

One of them was holding a tray with three mugs on it and placed it on the table. Both men had bleached blond curly hair, green eyes, thin nose and lips. I could tell them apart by their shirts, one was wearing a purple shirt and the other was wearing blue.

Ah yes, the black dress…he gave me the pad to which I added colors to, but I don’t know which one, simply because I don’t remember most of yesterday’s dresses.

“Hello,” they say cheerfully.
“Morning,” I reply smiling.
“Morning? It’s twelve-thirty right now,” chuckled one of them.

I take out my phone and stare perplexed at it. It’s true, it’s already twelve-thirty, I shrug and laugh shortly in embarrassement, oblivious on what to say.

“I’m Ethan Johnson and this is my brother Victor,” says Ethan holding out his hand for me.

“Stella Adhara,” I reply shaking their hands.

“You sure you want to continue? It’s break time,” says Victor giving me a mug from the tray.

I take a sip and swallow the latte deliciously. I follow them to a room where all the workers were drinking their coffee and eating their lunches peacefully.

I sit at a table with them and open my lunch box, Blaise packed for me, sometimes she packs me lunch before she goes to work and that became our thing when we used to go to college. I'd pack her lunch when she has afternoon courses and she packs mine the night before school.

I take my turkey sandwich and munch hungrily at it.

“Mr. Varon told us to help you after lunchbreak. I saw your sketch on the table and it was amazing, I’ve never seen anything so unique like that in years in this place,” said Victor in awe.

“Thank you. How long have you been working here?” I ask suddenly interested to know, maybe this place really needs some help.

“Almost five years. Ethan was hired two years ago,”

“Where did you use to work?” I ask Ethan as I take another bite from my sandwich.

“Diva Dolivo,” he replies with a hint of disgust.

“AMANDA?!” I shout outrageously.
Ethan looks perplexed while Victor looked shocked at my sudden reaction.

“You know her?” Ethan asks a little too loud.

“I worked for her, assistant manager. I was promoted on my last day as sales manager,” I reply angrily, remembering our fight.

“What happened?”

“I quit. She was so full of herself and I hated working for her, every time she enters the building someone needed to remind her to watch her nose before it hits the ceiling.”

The boys snorted and Victor almost choked on his drink.

“I designed dresses for her, and sometimes she used to keep me working hours at night. I asked her for a raise but she refused multiple times, she said that I was unworthy,” Ethan says making a gesture with his hands, copying Dolivo’s dramatic stances.

The sound of the bell ringing finally signals us all to get back to work. I return back to my table with the boys by my side. Victor takes my sketch and nods once; he stands next to his brother and both look at the working table seriously.

“What’s the plan?” a rough voice suddenly comes out of Victor’s voice.
“I usually work alone…so…” I say awkwardly.

“Tell you what, it’s our first day working with her. We watch the boss do her job and take notes for next time,” Ethan says seriously and nods at his brother firmly.

I grin stupidly at the nickname and continue stitching my dress together.
After a few bruised fingers and a successful dress later, my uncle comes down to check on our work. He passes the others and nod at a few approvingly. When he reaches me, he whispers under his breath.

“Wow,”

The rest of the designers also look at my dress in awe. I nod at my work in triumph and smile at the crowd that erupt with applause.

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. There will be more chapters of Ethan's pov. I'll be posting next week on Tuesday as usual.