BLINDED

CHAPTER 1

I took in a huge and deep breath that made me feel like my lungs would expand to the point of bursting and slowly breathe out and I felt a little bit calm. I walked out of the train adjusting the purse I was carrying. It was my first time even carrying a purse I thought it would make me look older and mature.

There was a small puddle at the brick floor and I stared at myself and my bangs were misplaced, my bun was loose, my eyes were puffy and my grey eyes looked worried. My pale skin made me look sickly, this always happened to me when I was extremely nervous.

"Lady, do not stand in the way!"One man shouted behind me.

"Oh sorry," I said, adjusting my purse and following the crowd to the outside.

I opened google maps to find my way to Fig Design Shop where I landed myself a paid internship. It was not far from the train station and I walked there. The cities were crowded and even if I had spent a week in Ida city this place had way too many people for its streets to hold. Every second felt like I was crushing into another random person and I finally reached the design shop. It was located in an office complex on the fourth floor.

It was weird going through a system of security check and when I reached the reception they had to confirm with Madam Rae the head of the design shop. They gave me a name tag which I think was protocol or something. I fixed up my make-up and went to the fine elevators and as I was there still tensing one guy rushed inside.

Elevator rides were one of the most awkward social situations I have ever endured. The silence was terrible and felt like it lasted for an entire hour.

"You're new here?"He finally asked

"Yeah," I said.

"Where do you work?"

"Ummm Fig design."

"Oh, I work right above you guys at the modeling agency which usually collaborates with Fig."

I looked at the man beside me wearing a black suit and white shirt with his brown hair neatly combed to the side. He had warm green eyes, He had a slightly tanned skin as compared to my pale skin which made me a bit embarrassed about how I was looking. He had a gentle smile and I could hear his husky voice ring in my mind. He looked a bit older than me but in this world nowadays no one looks their age.

"Stella Forester."He said looking at my tag and smiling

"Keith Taptikils I hope I have not butchered that pronunciation."

"Yeah perfect."

"I think Taptikilis has a better ring to it," I said smiling

We looked at each other and at that moment I felt a different feeling from before. His presence was calming and at that very second, it was as if every worry I had disappeared. I smiled just the introduction felt like a fantasy. We reached the fourth floor and it was like I just woke up from a good dream.

"Oh, I gotta go," I said walking out.

"Nice meeting you.Stella."

"Same to you Taptiklis," I said smiling.

I turned and looked at what was in front of me and I could hardly breathe I felt like I could instantly faint just by the atmosphere. It had a minimalistic design but each separate space had splashes of color. Seeing clothes hanging on different sides and just people sewing others drawing others on the computers it was a dream.

There was a secretary at the entrance and I walked to her and showed her my card and she gave me another card I guess to enter the different rooms. She directed me to Madam Rae's office and I walked slowly and in hope. I knocked on the door and a beautiful voice directed me to enter.

I looked at the desk in the office and there was a dark-skinned lady on her laptop with her curly hair held on top. She has the clearest skin I had ever seen. I could tell she was around her mid-30s. She made the whole room look like a painting wearing a simple woolen sweater with a Picasso type of design on it.

"Oh, Ms.Forester."

"Yeah," I said to her.

It was my first time meeting her face to face. Madam Rae was famous for her designs. She had always been in love with fashion and she was one of the few people who could start and end fashion trends. Her designs always had a hint of art in them and total originality that people always admired. She also loved splashes of colors and could make anything work.

"Thank you for making it here."She said smiling at me and she made the whole atmosphere serene and I felt enveloped by her kindness.

"All thanks are mine," I said excitedly.

"I usually take you through the training personally but I have been slumped since spring is coming and you know people needed festival outfits and all. So I will have Linda help you out.she is also an intern who came in last week. She will help you out. Is that fine?"She asked

"Yeah.cool.awesome.Thank you."I said

"She's in the next office."She said pointing next to hers.

I was disappointed that I would not be able to be trained by the queen herself since that was what I was really hoping for but as long as I could show my potential and hopefully get a place in the office I was fine. I headed to the next office to find a tall beautiful girl with tanned skin who could easily be mistaken for, for aa model with beautiful blue eyes. She must have been Linda.

"Hello," I said holding out my hand

" I don't shake hands," Linda said harshly.

I could feel embarrassment going through my whole body and I tried to keep smiling and shaking hands was the only formal not awkward greeting there was. I decided to put my hands together and just nod to her. She looked utterly bothered by my presence.

"Sorry if it sounded a bit rude, I am just a huge germaphobia."She said pointing at the handwashes and sanitizers on the table.

"No, it's okay."

For a moment there I was convinced that she never liked me and I was about to start freaking out. Or maybe she was lying but I could not tell all in all she seemed okay and she did smile at me so those were good signs that she liked me. I was nervous since this was my first internship in this new city this was like a whole new ball game for me and I wanted them to employ me at the end.

"Oh I apologize my name is Linda Amell, I assume you are the new intern here. You can just call me Linda."She said with complete eloquence

"I'm Stella Forester. You can just call me Stella."

I could tell she was kind but wanted to establish that she was on another level from me. Just from her posture, she showed pride in herself and what she was doing, maybe she felt like I was another competitor in this.

"I hope you made the design sketches as instructed," she said

I looked in my purse for the tablet I had sketched on. I fidgeted a bit but finally found it and handed it to her. She looked at it sternly making an expressionless face, it's like she never wanted me to know what she was thinking at that very moment. It was nerve-wracking enough for it to be my first day but not even some encouragement made it worse.

"This looks pretty decent, now I think you are familiar with all the tools here and everything else that can be used. Madam Rae requires a full design of the sketch to go through tomorrow and from there you will be given other directions. Before that to our left is the lounge and there are some drinks and snacks there .there's sewing machine here, the materials are stored to the right and other tools. Any questions I am just next to you."She said while I tried to digest all that information.

I looked at the entire space and now I felt a rush of energy in me. As much as I was nervous I always loved making clothes and designs. It made me feel at peace just creating or turning your sketches into a real tangible product that was beautiful and made you feel good. Clothes to me were a form of free expression and making them was always a fun and beautiful process. I was lucky to get to work there.