Soft & Still

Chapter 3

(Y/N) doesn't remember finishing the cat or when she fell asleep, but there it was being used as a pillow, ends tied off and only slightly dented from its use the previous night.

(Y/N) sat up slowly, blinking in the sunlight, wiping the sleep from her eyes. Her mouth felt dry so she stood up and made her way to the kitchen to get some water. Standing in the empty silence of the house, the window was the most interesting thing for her to focus her attention on. Finishing the water, (Y/N) grabbed a handful of nuts and walked back to her room calling that breakfast and getting settled into her space and routine.

The rest of her days went by in a similar fashion, early mornings, late nights. Pulling as many strings together as she could, tying off threads, and matching patterns. Without much fuss aside from the stress of rushing her work, (Y/N) finished the afternoon of the third day. She had previously gone back and checked the note and knew that she had to be finished by 3 pm this afternoon as that was when the client had designated for the transaction to occur.

Finding her nearest mirror, (Y/N) observed her appearance and with a sigh and click on her tongue she began to throw herself together enough to be deemed presentable on that side of town. A puff of powder here, some color on her cheeks there, and a dab contour in all the right places and suddenly she was only one night without proper rest, not three. Finding her appearance presentable, she found a decent dress and quickly slid it on with a spritz of the perfume she only used when meeting with clients as it was slightly more expensive than she was willing to pay for herself.

All of this dressing up may seem unimportant to some, but this was (Y/N)'s brand. If she wanted to have the high-end clients that paid more and gave better benefits, she had to make it where her clients wouldn't be embarrassed and be actually proud of making a purchase from her. Her appearance while going out to deliver these items was her advertisement.

(Y/N) smiled slightly to herself thinking as she packaged this latest order about the time an older lady had given her this advice, "Now dear," The gentle but stern voice spoke from the depths of (Y/N)'s memory, "You can't just be tromping around in whatever you desire when bringing clients like me their orders. No one is going to want to purchase from you if you can't look like the quality of the item you're making. It will make people question the genuine quality of your work."

That lady was right too, the moment that (Y/N) had started dressing up for each delivery the number of orders she received began to grow exponentially. It made the costs of doing this a little more expensive, but it was also nice to dress up a little bit from time to time.

Soon enough it was time to go and with plenty of time to walk to the café the client had designated their meeting point to be.

With a quick click of the toe of her shoes on the floor to make sure they were on well enough, (Y/N) opened the door and was out the house without much thought. The café was familiar as she had met there with clients before as well so no directions were necessary.

Through the streets, across the river's crossing point into the affluent area of the city, around the corner and straight until the café appears on your right. It was a bit of a walk, but at the river's crossing it was always scenic making the walk far less arduous.

"Madame Rochelle, good afternoon!" (Y/N) spoke up walking to the outside table she saw her client seated at as designated in the letter. Seemingly she reserved the table at the time of writing her order request to (Y/N) to ensure the content's accuracy.

"Ah, you must be Miss (Y/N). It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Please take a seat," Madame Rochelle spoke gesturing to the seat across from her. (Y/N) smiled gratefully and put the box on the table between them before thanking her and taking the seat. Her eyes took a quick unseen glance at the lady's rounded belly hinting at the nature of who this order was intended.