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C H A P T E R – T W E N T Y – F I V E
↠ A L M O S T - T H E R E ↞
I sat in living room with my sketchbook and was sketching up tons of designs for Obsessionally Styles. As I did so, Kobe plopped his tall green giant lookin' self on the couch beside and began to annoy me, by talking while I was drawing pieces. "What do you want, Kobe?" I rolled my eyes because he seemed to be getting more annoying than usual.
"Can I just talk to my sister?" He questioned, holding his chest and I looked at him putting my pen down because he was up to something. But since he didn't say anything else, I looked back at my down at the page and looked at what I did so far. "Where's Johnathon at?"
"I don't know, probably somewhere with his girlfriend." I answered him, without picking my head up.
"Well I want your blessing." He said, and I picked up my head quickly with a shocking expression.
"On what?" I crossed my arms.
"On proposing to Katrina." He whispered, since she was in her room, and he didn't want her to hear him.
I smiled wide, and covered my mouth as he took out of his pocket a ring box. He opened it and it was empty, making me look at him confused.
"Chill, there's a ring but I want to ask everyone advice about it." He said and I nodded.
"Do you love her?" I asked.
"Yes, more than I love anything." He said, and I awed seeing the seriousness in his face. It was such a difference to see that because he was always so goofy.
"Well then.. I think you should do it. How long y'all been together?" I asked not remembering if I asked Katrina that or not.
"Over three years." He said and I hit his arm making him frown. "I know, I was acting crazy then. But I know I'm ready for this. I haven't talked to a girl at all, and where I work they try to throw themselves at me. All I think about is her, she's my heartbeat. She literally changed me, before I was this thot-boy but I'm growing to be a better version of my to be with her. She's so perfect, and the best hardworking female I've ever met aside from my moms', cousin and you, sorry lil' sis, but that's what I disliked at first but I love it so much now."
"Awe. This is making me like you Kobe! I always wanted you to be straightforward about your feelings about her to me, because she's the strongest person I've ever met. I don't want to see her hurt so that's why It's been hard to have a real relationship with you." I admitted to him, as he nodded in understanding. "I love that you went to me because of our relationship with our parents but I believe you should still get it from my parents. As much as I dislike them, that's their first child."
"You right." Kobe said getting up and I grabbed his arm to pull him into a hug.
"I love you bro. You're a good person, and I give you the blessing." I told him, and he smirked.
"Love you too sis', well I'll be out. Tell Katrina I'll call her." He ruffled my hair, and added in, "Don't tell King yet, I'll tell him myself."
I waved him off, as he walked to the front door, opening it and exited it, closing it.
As he left, I got so happy for Katrina. My sister has been through so much and I know that she'll be so surprised but happy about the proposal. Seems as if Kobe was growing up. I mean they're not getting younger. Twenty-four And twenty-one seems too young to marry but who can say that? Three years they've been together and I wish all the best for them.
My phone began to vibrate causing me to pick it up from the table, and checked out the new text messages from different people. I've been sketching all morning, so I could take a small break.
Kobe: texting you to remind you not to tell Johnathon..
Me: Now you know I won't.
He texted me again.
Kobe: Or Zakia.. Deion knows but still!
Me: I most definitely won't!
I exited out of his messages to Deion's.
MyChocolate: Good Morning my hardworking doll! I love you and hope you not thinking too hard, no stress. Only positive thoughts(:
Me: Iloveyoutoo babe. And yes #PositiveVibes
MyChocolate: That's What I like to see.
Me: okay baby!
Zakia: Business partner; I scheduled as another meeting with the the staff. A lot of them are now coming alone.
Instead, of texting her I called her.
"What time, and where?" I questioned, since I had to do a photo shoot with Daphne and talk more with Tiara about the job.
"Later around noon, our place!" She answered smoothly.
"Great. I have a photo shoot with Daphne, and it's before then." I told her.
"Okay. Well I'll see you then, text me." She gave me her last reply and hung up the phone.
I looked at the time on my phone, as I decided to call Jonathan. Just because he lived under the rules of Katrina, didn't mean much since he was still a minor. His birthday was coming up but I wanted to make sure he was safe. Dialing his number a few times, his phone rung on the forth ring and he answered with a tired tone.
"W'sup?" He answered.
"It's Kimberley. Just calling to see where you at, and if you ate." I told him.
"Oh hey sis!" He said. "I'm by Victoria's crib, just woke up and she about to feed me now." He laughed after he said that.
"Ewe. Okay, well I love you. Come home later, we need to do something!" I said, because I've been busy and haven't been talking a lot with Johnathon.
"Love you too, and I got you." He answered quickly and hung up the phone.
After the phone call with my brother, I was back to picking up my book and sketching. Different ideas popped up in my head on what to create for the clothes and that made me happy. Starting with dresses, then moving further into outfits. Adding in details to make it more realistic. Headpieces, bow ties, buttons, ribbons, flowers, and patterns. Blouses, skirts, high-waisted clothing. Jeans, slacks, and pants.
While I sketched, I thought of the things Zakia was telling me before about executives not taking us serious with our new name choice. I wanted to also take a change of our name Obsessionally, and bring back Laddie Edition. Obsessionally Styles could become one of our clothing lines while everything else will be in the name of Laddie Edition.
"Good morning, sissy." Katrina greeted, yawning shortly afterward. She walked downstairs and came through the living room, taking a seat on the couch. "You working this early?"
"Morning," I smiled, replying back to her. I really wanted to blurt out what was going to happen to her but I wanted her to be surprised. I just simply couldn't wait to see her reaction to the proposal. "And yes, finally getting some ideas to flow in."
She nodded her head, then stopped and scanned the room. "Where's Kobe and Johnathon?"
"Johnathon is with Victoria," I answered, as she laughed. "Kobe told me to tell you, he'll call you later."
"Okay," She replied, taking a seat to me then examined my sketches so far so I handed it to her. "I like this, what fabric you plan on using?"
"White Sequin Mesh, Copper Fringe, Pink and Gold Sequin, Cotton, Silk, Linen, Leather and Jute," I joyfully said. "There's more too."
"Since the grand opening is happening soon, how do you feel about the potential employees?" Katrina questioned.
"We still have to contact them to let them know who got the job," I stated. "We still have a lot to do."
"Have you been relaxing yourself whenever you feel stressed out?" She raised a brow.
"Yes, believe it or not it's helped me a lot but for have a question for you as business person." I started off, as she immediately turned into work mode, giving me her undivided attention. "I've been thinking of what Zakia was saying to me about the executives not wanting to take us serious and I've come to the decision to change our name back to Laddie Edition and keep Obsessionally Styles as one of our clothing lines."
"Don't y'all have the name Obsessionally Styles trademarked?" She asked, and I nodded while she started to think, putting her finger on her chin, while tapping it repeatedly. "I think you should, Obsessionally was a risky name choice. But, everyone will know you guys as the creators of Obsessionally Styles, from the radio interview you just did. You have to stick to something, that you find true to both you and Zakia. This business world is tough, people will judge you for just changing the names but I suggest you speak with Zakia on it, and I'll handle that for you."
"I will, at the meeting." I responded.
"Great. You have a photo shoot tomorrow with Daphne, and also we have to get your building together." She reminded me, of the photoshoot. "Have you got the merchandise yet? We need that to be sold out before the grand opening Kimberley."
"I ordered it online, it's definitely coming soon." I confirmed. "I think it's taking long since it was more than just a simple tee."
"Good, glad to hear that." She responded. "Do you have to get the equipment, materials still, create the website — what am I missing?"
"Nothing that's all."
I finished my sketches, getting ready to transfer my sketches to designs on the sewing machine. While I headed to my room I took the laptop and decided to do a new business Instagram page for us. I created us a new name being LaddieEditionBoutique then prepared the content and got started on building our new Instagram page underneath our old one.
1 | 9K | 1K
Posts Followers Following
LADDIE EDITION♡
Clothing (Brand)
The Official Instagram for Laddie Edition Boutique!
Coming Soon
♕
I gathered the sketches that I had in my sketchbook, before entering the building with Zakia.
"Go check the stock room for please, I think I misplaced my card in there." Zakia looked at the floor for her card.
"Okay." I headed towards the back rooms, opening the first door that I saw and my eyes widened at all of the fabric, and clothing materials against the wall. "You did say that you were getting me some but I didn't think you meant all of this plus more."
"I told you that I would, besides you've helped me out so much with this business we're creating together." Zakia smiled. "I'm seriously glad that we're business partners. I also got most of the equipment that we needed but it's being delivered really soon.. the scanner for the bar code, computer, cash drawer, credit card processing machine, machine for printing, telephone, dress forms and mannequins."
"So much stuff.. we need clothing labels, bags, cameras, shopping bags, office furniture."
"Yes, let's work on our website because now I know the exact reason why we've been holding off on it." Zakia stated. "We weren't sure about the name choice and now that we're back using Laddie Edition Boutique then we could make our website now."
"Exactly!"
Zakia grabbed her laptop, as we took a seat in the chairs while she turned on the computer and typed in her password before typing in Shopify to start our online clothing boutique. We first had to start off with picking the template for our website.
"Pop and Boundless both look good to me."
"It states here that with boundless there's two styles," Zakia pointed at the different styles. "Black and White or vibrant."
"Try pop now." I suggested.
"There's two styles with pop as well, bone and toy." Zakia told me. "Let's try another style template."
"Minimal has three styles click that one."
"In minimal there's vintage, modern and fashion!" Zakia beamed. "You want to choose Fashion?"
"Yes, customize it to gold and pink though." I instructed. "Also put coming soon before launching it."
Zakia was doing a great job customizing the website, making the name Laddie Edition Boutique pop out in the middle, in white takhie print.
"Whenever the merch comes I'll add it here along with a picture of our face." Zakia reminded me. "You ready to launch it though?"
"Yes!"
She pressed launch as we got ready to start hiring the girls that stood out in their interviews. We had ten girls total to help us in the boutique, five in the front and five in the back. The first five in the front included Tiara, Simone, Jordyn, Cierra and Lora as the second five in the back included Nola, Elaine, Keira, Alana, and Brooklyn.
"We're starting off with your first five right?" I raised a brow.
"Yes." Zakia nodded her head. "I'm on the phone with Simone now...Hi Simone, I'm calling to let you know that the interview went really well, congratulations, we're truly excited to have you work in Laddie Edition Boutique."
I called the second person, Jordyn. "Jordyn, you were great on the interview, I'm glad to have you working with Laddie Edition Boutique, I'll send you a email on what to bring."
"Thank you so much Ms. Kimberley, I'm so happy to working with y'all." Jordyn exclaimed.
"See you soon." I hung up the phone calling Tiara. "Hey Tiara, I'm calling to let you know that you've got the job, and we're excited to have you working with us at Laddie Edition Boutique, I'll send you a email on what to bring."
"Awe, I'm honored to be working with y'all as well." Tiara replied. "Thank you girl!"
Zakia called the next person being Cierra, while I called the last person on the first five, Lora. The girls seemed enthusiastic to be working with us and I was ready to get everyone together.
I couldn't wait to get to know our workers, so we could all make a great team.
♕
After the hiring my batch of girls for the back room, it was almost time for the meeting. Priors before the meeting, I got of the phone with Katrina who was crying so much because of her suspicion that Kobe was cheating on her. I knew that it couldn't be the case since Kobe asked me for a blessing in proposing to Katrina.
Since I had a few minutes left before the meeting with people that wanted to work with us started, I decided to call Kobe to ask him about his whereabouts and why he wasn't answering any of Katrina's calls.
It took a while for Kobe to answer the phone and when he did, he sounded so stressed.
"Man, I'm trying so hard to find the perfect ring for her.." Kobe croaked. "This is harder than I thought it'll be then I'm nervous as hell Kimberley."
"I'll help you, after the meeting is over with," I offered. "I'll come with Zakia to help you and I promise that I won't tell her anything until we get there Okay? By the way stop ignoring Katrina's calls, at least answer her."
"But then I'd be lying about where I'm at," He explained. "I don't want to lie to her, which is why I've been ignoring her calls, don't purposely."
"I know that, still find a way to do something."
"A'ight." He sounded annoyed now.
I hung up the phone, as Zakia walked inside of the building and that let me know the meeting was officially starting.
"Are you ready for this meeting?" She asked.
"Most definitely."
Quickly, the meeting started a few minutes after Zakia arrived. I was ready for every topic for them to speak on, since I heard to many no's, I just know that a yes will be on the table. This was the starting point of everything and we were almost there to make it happen.