More Than You Know [Mildred Pierce - Rosa Moline]

Between Fantasy and Reality

Bert had decided to stay a few more days as he wanted to get to know the city and I accompanied him as much as I could. While I had already accomplished making Chicago my new home, I still hadn't been as acquainted as I could be with the metropolitan area so, in a way, we both enjoyed it. Fortunately, he hadn't taken my declination in an adverse way. After all, he had understood where I was coming from. So, we were able to spend a good time with each other without feeling any animosity between us whatsoever.

After that week, Bert left and I wished him all the best for the future, hoping he found happiness and the right woman for him. Though he didn't take it as a real departure, since he made note that he most definitely wanted to come back and see our - mine and Rosa's - project becoming a reality. When the train left the station, I felt a sense of peace on the inside, like I had taken the right step in moving forward rather than entangling myself with my past once again.

After weeks of searching and a great deal of arrangements, Rosa was able to find a nice spot to rent for her up and coming boutique. Having said that, it wasn't located that close to downtown as Rosa had originally intended it to be because, as we had very quickly come to find out, being able to afford prices like that for spaces in the downtown area as a brand entrepreneur was nearly impossible. But, nonetheless, the street still had enough traffic every day. I prided myself in knowing how to pick spots if I had enough time to investigate the area, which I thankfully did. Picking it out had been a meticulous study, but, once we agreed, we were satisfied with what we got.

We still had to obviously paint, buy the furniture, get all the necessary paperwork together, and other details. But, already having her place was a huge step. We were halfway there until opening day.

In between all of this mayhem, what had my friend more busy than ever was sewing. It was very demanding and detailed work. She was a perfectionist when it came down to her garments, so she was urgent to do as much as she could and as perfect as she could. Night after night she would tirelessly work past the witching hours. I stayed with her each of those nights, keeping her company and trying to assist her in whatever way I could be useful to her.

One particular evening, Rosa was visually exhausted. She paused for five minutes, laying her forehead on her working table. "Want some tea... Or coffee?" I asked as I also paused with my task of cutting fabric.

Her silky raven curls moved, and under all that gorgeous hair, her porcelain face uncovered itself. She looked back at me. "No, that's alright. I just want... a pillow" She joked, with a hoarse voice and smile that exposed how tired she was.

I tilted my head, my neck making a resounding cracking noise from all the hours of tedious labor. "Me too."

I decided to copy Rosa's current posture, resting my head on my arm and looking back at her. She had closed her eyes for a moment and I had noticed slight dark circles forming under her darling eyes, that even then looked charming. Slowly she opened her eyes, like she had realized she shouldn't do that as it would probably have been a mere matter of seconds before she would have fallen asleep. Our gaze then met, and her lips barely formed a smile as she encountered my cobalt eyes on her.

"You know what? I know what we can do now" The brunette jolted up from the chair - in a way to give herself some energy - and gravitated to the measurement tape for tailoring.

"What?" I questioned, following her with my gaze.

"I forgot to take your measurements, remember?" My neighbor inquired, raising her brows and unrolling the tape as she attempted to refresh my memory.

"Oh Rosa, you don't have to make anything for me... Finishing these is more important" I pointed out the rest of the scraps we still had on the table.

"Oh stop it, now get up" She stood in front of me, her hands landing on her waist demandingly.