The Color of Love

Chapter 5

It was the first day of December and Christmas was in the air. Houses and buildings around New York City joined in welcoming the Yultide season with decorations and lights all over. Christmas trees, Santas, and figures of the Nativity were seen all throughout the city.

Aaah.. the joy of Christmas rush! The malls and the stores all around were packed with people shopping for presents for their loved ones. It was the perfect time to pick up on sales again for Alice's businesses. All her three branches were jampacked with customers especially during the evening when everyone was savoring and enjoying their glittering surroundings.

However, Alice could not help but worry despite the excellent sales in all her branches. She planned to release her Christmas collection that day but her manufacturer seemed to have run into a problem. She needed Liam to call the manufacturer's office immediately to see what they can do to address the matter. They had to release the clothes no later than that week.

Suddenly, a middle-aged man approached her with a hangered purple lambswool polo neck jumper.

"Hi. Do you have this in black?" The man was fifty-ish and had pepper hair. He looked very elegant in the his long sleeved shirt and dress pants.

"Yes, we do. Let me get it for you. What size are you looking for?" Alice asked. He looked familiar. I have seen him a couple of times before, she thought. Oh my. How could she be so stupid? He was one of their loyal customers who came in at least once a month to check out the new stuff they had.

"Large, please." He answered.

"Okay, sir. Feel free to look around. I'll be back in a minute."

A few moments later, Alice came back with the requested merchandise.

"The fitting room is this way." She gestured to a door behind an enormous mirror.

"No, I'm not fitting it. This isn't for me. It's a Christmas gift." He smiled warmly at Alice. "Do you offer gift wrapping?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, we wrap for free. We'll have it ready in no time. You can pay for it at the counter while waiting." She took out a pair of scissors from her pocket, cut the price tag, and handed it to him.

In five minutes, Alice came back with the gift. It was beautifully covered in royal red paper embellished with a glittering gold bow in a corner.

"Here it is."

"Great. Thank you so much."

"You're welcome, sir. By the way, our Christmas line is coming out this week. I hope you can come by again to check them out." She had been promoting the Christmas collection to almost all her clients so it really had to delivered this week. No excuses.

"You know I always do. By the way, I'm Vincent." He held out his hand.

She took his hand and shook it. "I'm Alice. We appreciate your loyalty, sir."

"Can we cut out on the formality? Just Vincent, okay?"

Alice blushed. She was not accustomed to calling her customers on a first name basis.

"Okay. Vincent..."

"Better." He smiled at her. His eyes were so beautiful. "Anyway, I gotta go. It was nice meeting you, Alice. See you again!" A suppressed smile was left plastered on her lips even as he had left the store.

She walked back to their office where she found Liam seated in front of the computer doing computations on the spreadsheet.

"Hey, listen. I need you to call the manufacturer's office. You know that we need those clothes urgently. It's December first and they should be hanging out there for our clients by now."

"Their office is only till five."

"Then do it first thing in the morning tomorrow." Alice demanded.

They were supposed to close at seven but they had to extend for another hour because of the flow of people coming in and out their shop. Even if Alice was exhausted, she could not let this chance pass. It was always for the betterment of her business. In the past, this was only a faraway dream she never thought she could achieve. But now she was living it and stopping will never be an option.

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