Whispers of Fate

xiii

PART 3

And suddenly

'He'

Was not you

Anymore

The gaping crack

You left

Behind

In my life

Had finally

Been filled

-

Across all my years of living, I had never thought I would one day need to hire an assistant. It was something I assumed only celebrities and stressed rich business people had, something that people like me would never require.

However, when I became one of the stressed rich business people, I also found the urge to hire one. That urge was why, at 8 pm on a Wednesday night, I was going over applications and emailing potential employees instead of joining my family on their yearly dinner out to the local carvery. There was also the issue that they lived in a different country to me but I reckoned I could have flown out if I wasn't so swamped with work.

A lot had changed in 12 months. A lot. I no longer actually worked in my boutiques but instead had employees who were handpicked to oversee that everything ran smoothly. I was more the CEO of a company that a retail worker. We'd also started our own bridal magazine that was rapidly growing in popularity and I was now a renowned designer in the bridal world. On top of all of that, I was occasionally picking up a few model jobs here and there, courtesy of Lotta who was quickly becoming one of my closest friends.

The breakup with Jake hadn't hit me as hard as expected. Of course, I mourned for a bit, but soon I felt an overwhelming urge to comeback from it and start something big, something unique. Hence, 'The soul' was born, our bridal magazine that not only showed the up and coming dresses but also detailed various venues that were available, potential wedding fragrances and the occasional photo shoot from a clients ceremony.

Its success was mostly due to the publicity it received after Lucy made a few calls to her parents but its continuing rise in fame was because of its own merits. After the magazine was all set, we began discussing the potential scenario of opening up an international boutique as our magazine scored high in charts across the world and we realised our brand's appeal to the wider population.

That was the short version of how I ended up in Paris in the middle of spring, sat on a balcony sipping tea and sorting through applications. I had kept my flat back in England, renting it out to a friend, not quite ready to fully part with my world back home. My apartment in Paris, although smaller, felt a lot more like the sort of place Grace Parker the coffee shop waitress would live rather than Grace Parker the bridal stylist. That was what I had been trying to return to in recent months; I had been attempting to remember the girl who used to be happy in herself and live how she would have wanted to live.

It was strange. I thought I would miss my old life more than I did. I guess Jake was right, I wasn't at all happy in myself. I just assumed flashy cars and photo shoots would distract me from who I was becoming. Now things were different, I was living more the life I wanted rather than what I thought I wanted.