One Night With Mr Braxton

Soul Shoes finally opened for business!Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

Emma felt emotional as she beheld the building and in its refined glory. Starting from the sign board, down to the greens and even the exterior decorations. Chara never failed to blow her away with her work, every single time, she improved on the art of doing things perfectly.

The building was two-storey. Chara, in her wisdom, made the ground floor a walk in showing of the debut collections, the first floor was designed for the employees, while the second and last floor held both their offices.

” I thought of making this a walk-in store for Soul-Shoes but seeing we just started out, I decided to make it a kind of showroom, sampling our products for our market wholesalers.” Chara explained, hoping she hadn’t made a mistake on that.

” Awesome. I love that you have such faith in Soul-Shoes becoming a top brand in the industry.” Emma stated, copping a feel of her designs made flesh.

The truth? Emma didn’t feel very confident in her creation. Time and time again, she wondered if this dream would have been possible if not for the large chunk of money she got from the upfront of her marriage. That thought left a sour taste in her mouth.

” Of course I do! Don’t you?” Chara asked, her eyes narrowing at the continued silence.

” I don’t know, okay?! I love this brand, I know I want it to work but I can’t help but wonder what’s going on!” She lashed, ” We haven’t sold a pair since we went live and this whole thing was funded by me! What if no one wants them? The stores we paid to get them on the shelf aren’t bringing in positive information too! How do we manage the place if everything is failing? Despite all the thought and work put into this, everything seems so slow paced. There’s hardly anything more to do.”

Chara was deathly still. Emma couldn’t believe she said that.

” Come sit.” She followed her and they sat by a couch at the extreme right end. ” As a child, my father worked shoes for the Steele family when the business was at its infancy. According to him, things took off at a not too encouraging pace and for years they struggled to keep the business afloat, pay workers and attend to their family at the time.”

Emma’s breath stilled at her words, surely she didn’t know.

” I guess what I’m trying to say is that great things take time. Nothing comes easy, we just have to keep pushing and believing that with time, everything will be alright. Soul Shoes is a beautiful establishment with a gorgeous owner, I don’t believe the world wouldn’t in due time get to enjoy the soulful pieces we create. My father used to say something; doing what you love might sometimes feel unrewarding, but it is a labour of love. One that would be rewarded at the appointed time.”

” I’m happy to be part of this journey. If it makes you feel any better, we’ve sold some pieces. I’m a proud owner of the velvet stilettos. It’s only a matter of time before word gets out and every girl in the world owns a pair. Just believe.”

Chara caught the traitor tear that escaped her eyes; only then did Emma realize she was crying. After listening to Chara, she felt ungrateful: forgetting what has happened for what is to come. After the little talk, her mind took her to the original reason why she started.

She wanted to create shoes, affordable and quality for humanity. Having watched her step-mother and sister destroy the legacy built on her parents’ hard-work, she wanted to correct the mistakes of Steele and return to the focal point of things. It wasn’t a matter of becoming rich overnight, it never was.

It was a service to the souls of the people. A brand without any form of discrimination of social class, one that was made to service the grass-roots. Something affordable, and readily available. A light bulb went off her head and her hold on Chara tightened.

” That’s it! I have an idea.”

Chara had a strange look on, ” Okay?”

” First, what kind of stores are selling our shoes?” She resumed the poise of an avid business person, the gears in her head churning by the second.

” As many malls that would have us. We also made provision for online marketing and sales.” She explained, unsure where this is going.

” That’s fine, how many percent of the goods are out there, in those malls.”

” Roughly Eighty percent.”

Emma was quiet for a minute, her next words almost sent Chara off her seat.

” Recover them, Every single one of them. Do whatever it takes to have them back and safely in the storehouse. We’ll be taking a much different approach to it.” She stated, leaving no room for objections.

Chara couldn’t understand her motive, nor the reason behind the glint in her eyes. All she could do was trust her instinct and carry out the instructions she’d been given.

*****

Emma Instructed that the team reach out to the grass-roots. Which consisted of area’s which were mainly populated with the lower class citizens. The period was a trying time for Soul-Shoes as the already low prices were cut in half, thereby constituting a massive loss to the business.

At the rates they were selling, It might as well have been free!

Chara was having a difficult time managing the situation and despite the continued flow of how terrible the business was doing in its finances, Emma kept her focus on creating even more designs and even pushing in more money that ended up being used to balance things due to the lack of profit being experienced.

The upside of the mess was; they were getting their products out. Shoes began to sell and they were selling fast. The local markets ended up being the customer base of the company, spreading their brand name across town by recommendation or word of mouth.

Slowly but surely, Soul Shoes began gaining momentum and within the shortest possible time, became one of the popular demands in the market, closely sitting beside the Steele Shoes Designs. But of course, the sudden rise of the Soul Shoes didn’t go unnoticed by the Steele’s. Having dominated the local market by default, It was a slap across the face when some unknown shoe brand started making rave and opposing their Iron grip on the market base.

At the Steele Corporation, an emergency meeting was held, discussing the rising matters with the company.

” Those stupid Soles! They haven’t even been in the game for six months! We need to show them their place, grind them to powder for coming against us so rudely.” One of the top officials spoke, fanning the flames.

” Yes! Unless they didn’t do their research, Steele shoes has always been the leading brand for the locals. That is our Forte. I did some research on the nonentities and realized their strategy is basically to make us look bad by selling their shoes for peanuts. Now, people think we are out of the price range, forgetting we have quality, more than they’ll ever be able to build.” Another supported.

Talia sat with a bored look, listening to the men air out their grievances. If not for her mother, this was a meeting she’d be glad to miss. She had given her two cents on the topic, pushing for the release of a new collection in her name. In her mind, she believed a new collection was the answer to everything and when she made the request, her mother seized the opportunity to remind her of the epic failures of her last two collections.

Forgetting that the third one might be the charmer.

Mrs Steele cleared her throat and the hall went silent. Talia rolls her eyes, muttering a sarcastic ‘thank you lord’ that her mother finally had something to say. In the usual protocol, she spoke last in every meeting. Almost like she had a kink with ending conversations.

Talia knew better, It was less of a kink and more of a need. A need to ascertain dominance and the finality of her words regarding any and every situation. She’s seen this scene play out a billion times and just hoped she gave her ruling quickly so she could get back to people who truly cared about her.

At the moment, her career as a designer was navigating murky waters, credit- her mother’s refusal to do something about it. As a result, she channelled her energy into something more rewarding and fulfilling. Her growing social media presence and public relationship with Colton. Unlike her, Colton was doing great at his job and maintained his throne at the helm of affairs, taking his construction company to greater heights, he was doing it for the team.

” Talia!”

Her head jerked from her phone, only then realizing she’d been on her phone while the meeting was on. Mrs. Steele’s face told all of her fury. ” What did I just say?” She asked, fully aware that she wasn’t paying attention all the while.

” I’m sorr-”

” You’re such a disappointment!” She lashed, forgetting the presence of the men around her, ” Meeting dismissed! I’ll get back to you all on my decision.”