Johanna was sitting at her desk the next morning and looking through a book of previous Who Runway magazine covers when someone entered.
"Excuse me, Johanna. Your ten o'clock is here." Franklin said.
"Thank you, Franklin. Send him in." Johanna said, closing the binder.
Franklin left and Johanna looked up to see a short round man with graying hair and a stern look on his face. She cocked an eyebrow in confusion.
"You must be Johanna Starling." He said sternly.
"Yes. And you are?" She asked.
"Augustus May-Who, but everyone calls me August." The man answered.
"Oh? Oh! You're August? I-I'm sorry. Have a seat."
"Thank you."
August pulled up a chair in front of Johanna's desk and sat down. Johanna twiddled her thumbs under her desk, trying to think of what to say; she didn't want to say anything that would offend him. He cleared his throat.
"What is all of this about, Mrs. Starling? And can we make this quick? I have an important council meeting at noon." He said.
"Yes, of course." Johanna said before sitting up straight and clearing her throat. "Mr. May-Who, you are aware that Martha May, your girlfriend and my second assistant, attended the company benefit last night, yes?"
"I am." He nodded.
"Were you aware that she was wearing an unflattering black dress that was two sizes too small?"
August winced. "I was."
"Good, I'm glad you understand what I'm saying. And I just want to know..." Johanna's face went stern. "...did you tell her to wear it?"
He paused. "...What does it matter to you?"
"The wellbeing of my employees matters to me, Mr. May-Who." She furrowed her brow. "Last night, Martha May nearly swooned from lack of oxygen due to the dress that you told her to wear. Not to mention those shoes she wore gave her unbelievable blisters. And I can honestly say that I couldn't bear to see a horrendous sight like that."
"Horrendous? What are you trying to say?"
"I'm saying that I am not going to stand idly by and watch any of my employees suffer in silence because of poor fashion choice and people like you." She sneered at him.
"People like me, eh?" He sneered back at her. "For your information, I have very good taste when it comes to fashion."
"Well, your actions speak otherwise."
"Martha May will do as I say exactly when I say it, understand?"
Johanna paused. "I've heard enough. Augustus May-Who, listen to me. If you continue to endanger Martha in any way possible, I'll have no choice but to call the police."
"What will the police do?"
"They can do anything. Everyone listens to Johanna."
She smirked and reached out to grab her phone, only for August to violently grab her wrist and pull her closer to his face. Johanna froze.
"You, listen to me, Starling. Martha May is mine. I'm smart, you're dumb, I'm big, you're small, I'm right, you're wrong and there's nothing you can do about it. And if you ever interfere with my relationship with Martha May again, I will get a hold of your superiors and have them fire you from this magazine. After that, you will never be able to work in this town again."
Johanna's eyes widened in shock and she almost gasped. "No. No, y-y-y-you can't."
"Oh yes, I can. And I will if you don't do as I say."
Johanna tried to pry herself free, but August's grip on her wrist grew tighter and it started to really hurt.
"I'm going to call the police right now if you don't let go of me." She said, trying not to panic.
He reluctantly let go; she rubbed her wrist which was starting to turn red. "What would the police possibly do for you? It's my word against yours."
Johanna breathed; she couldn't think of what to say next.
"Now I don't care where you go or what you do, but if you do something like this again, there will be consequences to your actions. So I suggest you do whatever I say, unless you want to end up on the streets."
"No! I mean, no... I'll do what you want."
"There's a good girl. And if you tell Martha any of this, you'll regret it until the end of your days." He gently patted her cheek with one hand before standing up and straightening his coat. He faked a smile. "Thank you for having me, Johanna, but I'm afraid I must be going. Have a nice day."
And with that, August walked out of the room, leaving Johanna completely flustered. The moment he was gone, Heather quietly snuck into her boss's office. Johanna ran a hand through her hair and heaved a heavy sigh.
"How much did you hear?" She asked, glancing up at Heather.
"I've heard enough." Heather replied. "You're not really going to give in to his demands, are you?"
"I don't know, Heather. I just don't know." Johanna buried her face in her hands as she set her head down on her desk. "I don't want anything bad to happen to Martha anymore, but I don't want Who Runway to suffer either."
"So what are you going to do?"
Johanna glanced over at the phone on her desk and grimaced.
0-0-0-0-0-0
"Oh, yeah..." Martha sighed, tying her bathrobe. She had just gotten out of the shower and she now felt refreshed. "Yes. I really needed this day off."
It was already five in the evening. She picked up the hair dryer and started drying her wet hair when her cell phone rang. Being curious, she picked it up and said,
"Hello?"
"Martha?" Johanna's voice answered back.
"Oh, Johanna. Hi." Martha said, sitting down on her bed. "So... how'd it go?"
"It... went good." Johanna lied, trying not to sound nervous.
"Really? That's good. Did August listen to you?"
"...He did."
"That's great. And you know what? I followed Heather's advice and decided to get him a gift. Not just one tie, but a whole case of ties. And they're custom made. Isn't that great?"
"That's... fantastic. So, I'll see you at work tomorrow morning?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Okay. But just one more thing."
"Yes?"
"Be careful."
Martha paused, but smiled. "I will. Thanks, Johanna."
"No problem. Bye."
"Bye."
She calmly hung up and set her phone down before continuing to dry her hair. After drying off, Martha got dressed, took the case of neckties, and went to the dining area. But as her back was turned, she heard the door open and close; she froze.
"Oh! You're home early!" She turned around to see August May-Who standing before her. "I-I didn't think you would be home so soon. I still had a lot to finish up. Like cooking and—"
"Cooking? No, this does not look like my dinner, Martha May..." August said, hanging his coat up on the nearby coat rack. He saw the box behind Martha's back. "What is that you're hiding behind your back?"
"Oh, this?" She picked up the case and showed it to him. "It's an early Christmas present. I-I wanted to get you something... nice." She offered the case to him; he slowly took it and opened it up to see over a dozen neckties inside in lots of different colors and styles. "I had some extra money saved up, and I wanted to surprise you with—"
"You're hiding money?"
"What?! N-no! I wasn't hiding it from you. I just had it stored for—"
"For what, Martha May? How did you even get the funds for these?" He ranted. "You're working some side common job under my nose, aren't you? Did you forget that I provide everything you need? It's not enough that I work my fingers to the bone for us. No, you have to spit on that, working like a common woman."
She shrank under his words. "I just wanted to get you some new neckties. You've used those other few for so long. They just looked old, and I just thought—"
"That's always the problem with you, Martha May. You tend to think when it isn't your strongest feature. You're still the same, pathetic naïve girl I found. Just look at this garbage! Did you really think I would enjoy having this trash, cluttering up our home? That money could have been used for something else, something of worth! Do you even know how much this beautiful house costs? To live in this city?! Of course you don't! Just like you can't fathom what it would mean if you were seen purchasing this! Did you tell anybody who you were getting this for? The last thing we need is for anyone in my circle finding out that you and I are..." August sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You weren't thinking, per usual. You never do."
Martha hung her head; her eyes glued to the floor. "No... I wasn't thinking. I should've told you about the money. I'm sorry, August. I didn't mean to upset you, I just... I wanted to do something special for you."
"Something 'special'? Do you even know how stupid that sounds? I already told you what I expect of you, and trash like this is nowhere on the list! You're supposed to stay at home and enjoy all of this! You literally have everything you could ever want! Why do you continuously disregard my wishes!?"
She took a step back. "August, please, I didn't mean to make you mad. It was just a gift!"
"Just a gift?! These useless shreds of fabric could have cost us our future! I've worked too hard to let some old, bigoted elected officials take away everything I have labored over because of your incompetence!"
August closed the case and gripped it tight in both hands, offended by the touch of such rough hewn filth against his flesh. He slowly raised the box over his head; Martha took a weary step back.
"Wait, August? What are you doing? No! Put that down!" She exclaimed before he hurled the tie case at her chest. But luckily, she moved out of the way just before it could hit her.
The box shattered on contact with the floor and every single tie scattered as August paused and his vision shifted to red. She gasped.
"I'm sorry! I-I didn't mean to move out of the way, I swear. I know what you said, I just— Oof!"
Martha was suddenly cut off by the strike of a hand across her face. Her legs buckled and she struck the floor with a meaty thump; she held the cheek that stung with the hit. She defensively curled into a fetal position as she whimpered in pain.
"I'm sorry, please August... I just wanted to make today special, I promise I'll never do it again!" She cried, trying to back away from him.
"Oh, but I know you're going to do this again." August said darkly. "You never learn, you never see the whole picture... and I think it's about time I finally made you realize it!"