Dealing for a Kiss

What an Aggravating Neighbor

The nerve of that man to lodge a complaint about the noise! From what they'd told her, he was only renting for two weeks! Yes, she knew the type, the entitled ones who believed the world and everyone in it owed them something. Well, she won't put up with it! Maddy didn't care who he was. He had no right to lodge a complaint against her without first talking to her!

"He would soon learn that he just pushed the wrong horse, no... bear, err... eleph- what does it matter he just messed with the wrong woman!" Maddy said to herself.

What an arrogant man! How dare he berate her like she was a mere child! Factory-like noises indeed! The cheek of the man! To think she thought he had great taste in shoes. Well, that just goes to show that not every person with a good shoe-sense was charming!

Remembering the incident only made her angrier! Maddy had only had a few hours of sleep, having worked all night when he started banging on her door. She had ignored him when she realized who it was at the door. He continued banging and would not let up until she'd had no choice but to confront the odious man! Their shouting match had been very unpleasant even though he had looked great in his custom-tailored suit and had on great shoes again. He even smelled great! Upon opening the door, he had captivated her! But then he had started yelling at her and nothing could snap one out of a lustful daydream quick enough as the object of it shouting and making unfounded accusations to your face! At least, for now, she didn't need to make any more shoe samples. Madison had worked night and day to make the samples. They were ready to present to potential investors the following week. She would hand in her resignation the following day, giving them the required month's notice but intended to call in sick for the whole month.

Maddy could not imagine going back there. Her personal assistant Trudy had agreed to bring the rest of her things from the office so there was no reason to return. Trudy was the only person she would miss in that company. Who knows, maybe they'll work together again if she can get her business going. Maddy knew that if she ever returned to the fashion house of FreeFashionX, it would be on her terms as a designer under her own label.

Nobody knew who she was anyway, and she was glad now that her father had insisted she changed her identity when she moved to Britain for security reasons. It had worked really well because nobody expected an African girl to be heir to two kingdoms. She had worked and paid her way since graduating from one of the top fashion schools in the country without asking her father for help. She was now independent and could marry whoever she chose. Her father had no say in the matter...she hoped.

She'd succeeded in her mission to prove that she could make it in the world without money, titles, and connections. She remembered feeling lost and alone when she'd first moved to Europe. Choosing Britain to settle in had not been by chance. She missed her mother, who had always wished to visit Britain but never got the chance because of how isolated her people were. Madison was honest enough to admit that using her connections would have made life a lot easier for her. It would have made the difference at FreeFashionX. She never would have been passed over for this promotion or rejected for many others in the past because of their prejudice. As far as she was concerned, that was their problem, not hers. Maddy got up and put the kettle on for a cup of tea.

As the kettle boiled, she thought of how she had bought the apartment she lived in by selling some of her earlier shoe designs; She had not started making them at the time but that was such a long time ago. There was a time it seemed she would fail and end up asking her father for help but the creator smiled down on her and had provided when she needed it.

Maddy was happy she now designed under her own label. Though she didn't know how things will turn out, she knew her past designs had been successful including the last collection she had made for FreeFashionX. So she was confident she could pull it off. The design she had recently completed was to have been her way of thanking the company for giving her the creative director promotion. But as usual, she was passed over for a pretty young blonde, with a well-known uncle, no talent and worse of all no imagination or creativity. Rubbing salt on the wound was that they'd asked her to train Jessica as a replacement for the lead designer position. Instead, it turned out she was training the new creative director! Anyway, that was the past, she only had time now to focus on the future.