Chapter 92 - Mrs. Smith
Rose sat with her back against the backrest of the chair and her legs crossed with a pen in her hand as she wrote down a few things occasionally on the small notepad she did not forget to bring.
Anna kept glancing over and over at what she was writing but she had no idea and simply looked away. She always found it had to understand fashion designing although she tried hard to understand it.
She wanted to make her mother proud vabd worry less about her. She wanted to prove she was capable of being a fashion designer just like her mother but every design she made had nothing special.
Most of them were almost unwearable or look too similar to someone else\'s design. It was good Rose had such great talent in fashion designing, it removed the weight of the responsibility from her shoulder.
She could finally do what she wanted and it was a great relief to not bother about drawing one cloth on a piece of paper after thinking over and over, after tearing off many others.
The only design she made successful, did not do well in the market and her mother gave it a very high price considering that it was made by her. Her mother did it then because of her health she doubts her mother will repeat the same thing now that she was okay and Rose was available..
A model passed with in a dress that immediately earned the audience approval as a lot of people began clapping. She remembered the dress, it was made by Rose. She can remember seeing the design on the board in her workroom.
She turned to Rose who had a slight smile on her face. The theme of the fashion show had something to do with royalty and her mother very obviously, most have spent a lot to give the venue the beauty it had.
Each mother looked very much like a prince, a queen, a king or a princess. One of the dresses caught her attention and it was made by Rose too, it looked just like the type of dress she wanted to wear for her party in B city.
She wanted to looked like a villian queen with a lot of beauty and elegance. She rubbed her hand excitedly as she smiled, her eyes not leaving the model who wore the dress until she had gone far away and turned through a corner.
"I want something like that. I want to wear that dress," she whispered to Rose who simply nodded with her fixed on the approaching model.
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"That\'s the Queen\'s designer," Debby whispered to Anna but Rose heard and she immediately turned her gaze to the beautiful woman who seemed to be in her late forties.
The woman met her gaze as smiled as she walked towards Rose with a so much elegance anyone will mistake her for a full blooded Royal.
Rose returned her smile with so much elegance which made the woman\'s smile freeze for a few seconds before the smile broadened.
"You must be Miss Whitfred," she said when she got to Rose.
"Yes, good evening," Rose greeted her still maintaining her smile.
"My name is Mrs Smith but must people call me the Queen\'s designer. I saw you writing seriously on your notepad earlier. That is very professional," the woman commented as she looked at Rose intently.
"I was only making sure to benefit something from the fashion show," Rose told her more professional with enough humility she could muster despite how irritated she felt standing before the woman who seemed to be the closest an employee could be to the Queen.
"That\'s wise young lady. I used to do that a lot when I was younger and I enjoyed today\'s show, it was the best I have seen in a while," the woman complimented.
Rose nodded. She did not want accept the praise or praise the show since either way, it was for her to do. Her mother organized the show not her and she was her mother\'s daughter.
"I saw you on TV," the woman said smiling with a hint in her eyes that Rose found it hard to put her fingers on. "I also read you interview. I heard you want to go to the Royal University," she continued when Rose remained quiet.
"Yes, I want to," Rose replied hoping the woman leaves although she did not want to leave a bad impression on the woman\'s mind since the woman was her ticket to entering the palace.
"Oh, that\'s beautiful. I was thinking of having work with me but since I will get to teach you and see your improvement, I will wait for you to come then we can talk again," Mrs Smith said with a gentle touch on Rose\'s elbows.
Hurray! She won the ticket. Rose nodded and she found it hard to think of the right thing to say.
"You look like the late Queen. A lot of people are staring at you," the woman said making Rose freeze for a couple of seconds before smiling.
"I look like my mother," Rose said moving her gaze to her foster mother who was walking towards them with a smile.
Mrs. Smith followed her line of sight and her smile broadened. "Till we meet again," she said before walking towards Valerie whose smile disappeared as she got close. "That\'s a beautiful daughter you\'ve got there. Who is her father?" the left the rhetorical question hanging in the air as she passed Valerie and went to talk to some other women.
"Mum," Anna whispered excitedly when she saw her mother. She really did not like grand occasions like this because they seemed to be made to prevent her from being herself and force her to wear elegant appearances that wasn\'t hers.
"Anna," Valerie said hugging her daughter with a kiss on both cheeks.
"Mum I missed you. How about we have lunch at our apartment on Thursday. We will prepare the lunch ourselves," Anna said excitedly despite the fact that she was totally against that.
"I will love to. I also want to see how you girls settled down," Valerie said as she tucked a stray strand of hair behind Anna\'s ear in a very gentle manner.
Rose gulped and looked away, this scene was all too familiar. Valerie was hardly at home but she did not seize to call Anna almost everyday but she can\'t remember when Valerie called her last for something personal other than work stuff.
If Valerie did not look so much like her mother, she might have not been bothered. She smiled when Valerie walked up to her and hugged her.
"Did you see how the cloth you designed was appreciated? When are you going come work for me?" Valerie asked.
Rose smiled. Work. "I work for you now, don\'t I?" Rose asked as she tried her best to maintain her smile as she chanted repeatedly that Valerie was not her mother.
"Of course you do but I mean exclusively," Valerie continued.
"Oh, I will have to graduate from college to desire that," Rose replied still maintaining that fake smile that looked so real.
Some far but close enough to hear the discussion between the mother and daughter, smiled sadly and shook his head.