"That was our daily meeting, thank you all for coming. I'll see you tomorrow." with a firm swing I closed my binder. "Rose, are you coming or what?" "Yes, ma'am." The room quickly emptyed itself. As I was walking through the halls of the building, I could feel her struggling to keep up with me. I wasn't going to slow down, though. Time is money, and I was having my next client soon. "Miss Lightwood, you have an appointment scheduled with mrs. Walker at 1 PM." Fuck. I forgot about that. Reese Walker was my high school best friend. I don't see her a lot anymore, but she always tries to push her way through my agenda and have coffee with me. I don't mind, she's nice company. It's just that I really wasn't in the mood to see her today. I don't know, she's always so cheerful. It bothers me. Well, I had to deal with it for today. "Yes, I'm aware." I kept walking. With a soft beep in my earpiece I heard Gabriel, the secretary from downstairs trying to speak to me. "Miss, Mr. Rodriguez is here to see you." "Send him upstairs."
"Valerie Lightwood, it's been a while." He sat down on the chair across from mine. "Hello, mister Rodriguez." I spoke in a cold tone. "Not so formal, child. Just call me John." Child. How dare he. I know I'm only twenty-eight years old, but I built my own fashion empire. And he's calling me a child? Now I remember why I quit doing business with him. "Well, John, what are you here for?" "I want to start doing business with you again, Valerie." "It's miss Lightwood for you." He laughed comtemptuously. "Miss Lightwood, that's fine too. I see it still hasn't changed to Mrs?" "My personal matters are not relevant for this meeting." The nerve of him. Like women are only good for being wives. "John, I don't want to do business with you anymore. If you and your misogynistic attitude could leave the room now, please? I need to get ready for an appointment." He pushed his chair back and walked to the door. Staring me right in the eyes, he said: "You haven't changed a bit, Valerie." And with that, he closed the door. I didn't even hear him out. I have no idea what kind of deal he wanted to make, I just know that I don't want to work with him anymore. I grabbed my pocket mirror and applied my red lipstick. Time to meet a childhood friend.
"Valerie! I've missed you so much!" "Missed you too, Reese." "So tell me, you got anything exciting going on?" Nah, not really. I was just looking forward to finish up early and read a good book when I get home. "Not me, what about you?" "Yes, Daisy is turning six soon! Are you coming to her birthday?" Daisy is Reese's daughter. She won't shut up about her. Reese married her husband when she was 21. They were high school sweethearts. They had their first child together at 22, Daisy. Two years after that they had another girl, Laura. I really don't get how she has that desire for a perfect family. I don't even want one. People judge me for it, but I don't care. It's my life, I can do whatever the hell I want. "Of course I'm coming, I haven't seen her in ages!" After an hour of talking about all kinds of things, Reese couldn't leave the topic alone. "So, what about your love life? Ready to settle down yet?" Ready to shut the fuck up yet? "Reese, you know how I think about this." "Yeah, but, all the cute guys your age are going to settle down soon! You don't want to be alone forever, right?" "I'm fine making decisions on my own, thanks." I took my purse and stood up. "Val, what if it's too late? What if the love of your life is already married?" "Well, Reese, then that means I don't need that kind of love in my life." "Everyone does!" "You're not everyone. Stop only thinking about yourself." "Excuse me? I'm looking out for you! Don't come crying to me when you're 50 and lonely." "Trust me, I won't." I swung the bag on my shoulder. "With this behaviour, I know why your potential husband has married someone else." "Reese, not everybody needs a husband to be happy. And if my one love has married someone else, he'll leave her for me. I don't even want to get married. Leave me alone." I walked out of the cafe. I was furious. My love life is none of her business, we're not even that close anymore. This whole fucking world is sick. My family is ashamed of me because I'm not willing to settle down. Even my business partners give me weird looks because I'm not in a relationship. "But Val, you're gorgeous! How come you haven't picked up a guy yet?" "Sweetie, girls like you can get any guy they want! Why don't you go for it?" Multiple comments from friends and family came swinging into my head. Why I don't want a relationship? Because they don't work. My dad cheated on my mom when I was eight years old. I actually walked into their room that night, because of a nightmare I was having. Only to catch my dad with another woman, while my mom was visiting her side of the family in France. I felt disgusted, and from that moment on, I haven't been able to look my father in the eye properly. The worst thing is that they are still together, because he didn't have the guts to tell her and I didn't want to break my family. It should've been her walking into that room at that moment, not me. Everything would have been better that way. Now, every time I see my parents together, I know that my dad hugging my mom isn't out of love, it's out of guilt. And I'm too afraid to tell her that. That's just one example of the deceiving beauty called love. I took my phone and called an Uber. I couldn't wait to go home.
Once I was home, I could feel that I hadn't calmed down the tiniest bit. I knew that my friendship with Reese was over, and that I wanted, no, needed to hurt her. The anger inside of me was unstoppable. All the feelings that I had bottled up inside of me found their way out, as I invented an evil master plan. And let's just say, I wish I could go back and stop myself that night.
Sorry that this chapter was so short, it was kind of an introduction to my story. I hope you enjoyed it! I will continue this story.
Love, Julia
