Racist......2

Annabellei

I turned the volume down a bit as I approached the high way. It didn't take too long before I arrived at the gate. I quickly reached for my ID card and scanned it on the scanner beside the gate, with a loud click, the gate opened to reveal a tall tower covered with glass-Balmain. I drove to the parking space which was reserved for me and unlocked my car.

Derek was my past but he seemed to always be somehow involved in my future. Some months after my graduation, I began home schooling with the help of Oliver and the money I won from winning the Balmain competition. When I was finally old enough and independent of a legal guardian, I moved out of Orlando and into Tampa where the headquarters of Balmain was located. Being with Derek had taught me one thing...put work first, so I focused only and solely on work .After I designed Balmain's 2017 summer collection, I got a job offer to work as a textile designer in Balmain. I worked side by side with Oliver being my boss, he helped me in every way possible and soon enough I was granted an office not a big one but an appropriate one for someone who was just starting up.

I kept on designing clothes upon clothes, inventing new designs which I hoped would one day become clothes. On the second year of working in Balmain, my prayers were answered by Perry Williams, the co-owner of Gucci. Unfortunately for Perry he had picked up one of my sketches from Olivers table which he mistook to be one of his and that little mistake became the biggest transformation of my life and from owning a small office, I owned a large one, a really large one.

I plastered a wide smile on my face as I entered into the reception. A chorus of good mornings welcomed me, everyone knew who I was and if you didnt all you needed to do was look around, I was the face of Balmain, there were posters of me at every corner and if you concentrated on the TV for a while you would see many photo shoots of me pop up. It felt good to be recognized and appreciated, in a way I could understand why Derek felt as powerful as he did.

"Good morning Miss Adewale."Ada said with a smile. Ada was the happy receptionist on Wednesdays, she was also the only Nigerian apart from me that worked in Balmain apart from me, people often thought we were sisters but Ada and I were far from that. We were more of acquaintances, I liked to maintain a professional level with the staffs at work.

"Good morning Ada".I replied as I returned a smile. I walked away from her and into the elevator. I studied my appearance on the mirror, I was looking as simple as I could today. My collar bone and caramel skin were complimented with the off shoulder knee-length dress I had decided to wear today, I wore a set of pearl earrings and my once straight hair was now transformed to a huge afro which I had been constantly nurturing.

The elevator came to a stop on the tenth floor. Only the top designers were found on this floor and being the only black person on this floor was something I was very proud of. I had eventually learned to associate more with people from different races, it was hard but I finally got comfortable around them.

I sent out a flood of HI's and hello's and in return I was given back bundles of compliments on my dress, who was I kidding?... I could never not stand out in Ankara. I finally arrived in my office. There was a lot I could say about the place I worked in like how neat and arranged it was but what stood out the most for me was the view, it was breath-taking. I could see the sun rise and fall every single day

I finally settled on my chair and pulled my sketch pad from my drawer. Okay Sel, lets get to work. I told myself.

I smiled to myself. It had been so long since someone had called me by my actual name.

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I didn't realize when the day had turned to night. I loved my job so much but sometimes I over loved it to the extent I hardly ever slept.

"Once I'm done with this I will leave."I lied to myself. I was always the last person to leave my office sometimes I would stay here till midnight.

Just before I could start designing again, a loud knock came from my door.

"Come in."I sighed as I got back to my work.

"Babe?" Dylan called as he quickly walked into my office and grabbed my pencil from my hand, forcing me to look up.

"Dylan". I yelled. "I was almost done." I hissed.

He rolled his eyes." We both know you were not."

I gave him a murderous glare. "I thought I informed you that I wasn't coming home tonight". I fired.

"You did but you didn't assure me if you had dinner or not." He fired back. "I know my girlfriend and I know she has been working on an empty stomach."

Yes, you heard right. Girlfriend.

Dylan and I had been dating for two years and six months.

"So I guess you brought dinner?" I asked.

"And lunch." He answered with a grin.

I gave up and stood up to give him a tight hug. He was an amazing boyfriend. Extremely supportive, funny, smart and kind .We met in a small bar, not too far from my house where I had practiced the effect of having too many drinks which ended up in him carrying me back home and me repaying him back with a kiss and from then on we had been together.

"Shall we have dinner here or at home?" He asked as he planted a soft kiss on my lips.

"Home it is."I smiled.

"You are so beautiful when you smile. "He proclaimed and kissed me again. "I love you."

Rather than replying, I kissed him back with so much passion, I hoped he would not expect me to say I love you too. I wasn't sure if I loved Dylan but I was sure that I loved being around him, his care was so warm and kind. He always made me feel safe.

He gave me one last kiss and pulled away." Why don't I pack up and you tell me all about your day. "He suggested.

"Umm..It was just a regular work day, nothing exciting happened but I did get a lot of compliments on my dress." I lied.

Dylan knew nothing about my past. Nothing about my abusive father or my dead sister and I preferred it that way.

"Come on babe." He sighed." I want to know more about you my love."

I came closer to him and held him. "You are not missing out on much, how about I make dinner and we can talk more on this." I smiled again.

He replied by giving me a long kiss. I could tell that he was holding himself from doing what he really wanted to so I pulled away and helped him to pack up.

There was no way I would have sex in my office.

After some minutes, I locked up and made my way to my car but Dylan wanted us to ride together and I agreed, so tomorrow I would be coming with a taxi-great.

"So umm Sel." He started. I need to talk to you about something. He said as he got into the car and closed the door.

"Okay I'm listening." I replied before buckling my seat belt. I turned to face him and I noticed that he was sweating and shaking a little.

"Are you fine?" I asked as I checked his temperature with my palm. He looked and felt perfectly normal to me.

"Yes babe, I am good." He reassured me."I..Umm..we just need to talk." He spat out

I crossed my arms and focused on him ."Go on." I urged.

He looked down at my folded arms and let out a chuckle. "Calm down, Sel." He laughed as he reached for my arms and set them apart. "I just need to talk to my girlfriend over dinner, that's all."

I looked at Dylan again, he was acting very strange and he never called me Sel.The name coming from his lips sounded very weird and out of place.

"Oh okay." I forced a smile as I bit down the urge to find out what he wanted to talk about. "Let's go home."

I guess I would find out later today why he was acting weird.

I didn't update yesterday so it's a double today and another one chapter by 9 tomorrow.

Next update is in a few hours time