THE ILLITERATE TURNED FASHION MOGUL :Part 2

   Indeed I never knew Sandra, up until now. She had a plan and she decides it’s better to keep me in the dark till the plan matured. Don’t do anything drastic I warned her.

The award celebration was extended. The house was always noisy and messed up. People kept trooping in endlessly , we served, cleaned and dressed the place all for it to be messed up again!
We were stressed out by the chores that we even forgot what Mrs. Yvonne did. We over heard some of the people that came for the endless party saying that Mrs. Yvonne has a major gig to design cloths for a new mall opening up , obviously the gig was worth several millions of naira.

Sandra said to me, this is the time to set the plan into action, I asked how because sincerely I didn’t understand her point of view. She smiled sheepishly and walked away. Few nights later she came to my room.

 I was up late,  sketching; she told me part of the plan.
Listen carefully she said. I have worked for this woman for over 5 years, all I can say is indeed she is a good person, she has never treated me unjustly and I have always done my work in awe of her.

Although when you came to the house I never liked you (remember the name I used to call you karashika). But when I found out what she did it you, it annoyed me. 

So! Sandra what’s with all these preaching?

Ok, my point is let’s give her a second chance before we implement my grand plan, hmmm

How?

We are going to go to the design room, check out what she is working on, then place another design on her table and watch what she does with it. Sounds like a plan; the next day while Mrs. Yvonne was out we executed this Sandras plan A.

A sketched couture, red carpet ready to wear gown and placed it on her drawing table. Sandra was playing dress up in the design room. Trying out different clothes she saw there. Then Mrs. Yvonne opened the door while I was helping Sandra unzip the cloth she had on.

What are you girls doing here, I am sorry ma! Ma we came to clean up the room,
Then you started testing my clothes with your dirty body

Madam I don already bath

Shut your mouth! stupid girl!

Immediately Sandra’s face changed, I felt it she was going to tell madam everything, I began to pull her out of the room, Sandra lets go I insisted.

Immediately we went outside, madam called again, you two come back here.  Who drew this rubbish on my board?  I hesitated , and then Sandra said, Dorathy  drew it. She was the person that drew the design you won award for, or are you saying you were the person that drew it.

Sandra has guts that was all I stood there thinking, by the way she was speaking up for me.
Madam rebuked her, what rubbish are you saying, that was my design, I drew it and there is nothing you can say about it. She folded the paper of the new design we laid out for and trashed it.

Now that the end of our big plan was what we thought, one day Sandra now began to argue that maybe I copied madam's drawing. 

She went to Mrs. Yvonne and apologize and blamed me for selling the lies that I was the original owner of the design,

Sandra made me apologize to madam, then Mrs. Yvonne said she forgive us and gave us money to shop at the mall. Sandra the big schemer has given up on me.

 I was all alone, with big dreams , my sketch pad and nothing else.

Dorathy dora dora ooo if they call you dora you won’t answer, karashika…..

What is it with name calling this evening, come here she said.
What I saw was surprising, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The mall Mrs. Yvonne was designing for are advertising their latest designs, and my design was among them. Wait a second I thought she trashed the design in front of us. lekwa ajuju oo
There is only one way to find out. William

William is Mrs. Yvonne P. A. he was always in the house, he knew everything about the woman, Sandra claimed 

(have I told you the story about Mrs. Yvonnes husband, she asked hian I don’t want to hear,neither do the people reading this story, how are you sure they are not interested in how she became famous, hey babe this is my story and not hers)

She is always arguing,

William was a handsome guy in his late twenties, he always dressed like he was going to impress the queen, all looking refined and polished. He had a good dress sense and I really liked William.

William, William i am calling you, come here quickly (wow! How come Sandra is shouting at William like this) to my utmost surprise, William came quickly and started whispering what is it again, wow he sounded scared if Sandra had an ugly dirt against him , he looked threatened I could feel it.

Relax madam is not around? That sounded reassuring but not for William, he was in a haste to walk away. OK William tell us about the madams latest design for the mall

Why are you interested in that?

Sandra eyed him and said was going to expose him.

 William started talking.
Mrs. Yvonne had several design during the show case for the mall but they didn’t like it they were threatening to end the deal if she couldn’t deliver. Then two days to the deadline, she sent me to the house to pick up a design she said she had trashed earlier. I thought that was weird, was all William said.

I picked it up and gave her at the office, when the design was ready that was the only one the owners of the mall really appreciated, then they picked some design from the one she submitted earlier , and sealed the deal with her.
I have told you everything William insisted. 

You can go now Sandra said and spanked William in the buttocks. He didn’t even look back as he hurried away.

Sandra looked sternly at me and said “this woman took me for a fool; it’s high time I teach her a lesson. I will tell her I went to pater noster community secondary school the only school that teacher spoke English in the whole umuokirika village” I laughed because I thought she was making a joke

But she frowned

Now I understood when the bible said GOD will fight for you, doesn’t mean he is coming down to do it. He will send your Sandra to fight your battles for you?

We need William on our side for our plan to work, she was talking to herself.
What kind of dirt do you have on William that makes him obey you, this girl?
Hmmmm she smiled, let’s say we had a one night stand and I have the pictures, ohhhh !!! I shouted.

Now we need Franca her design manger on our side, how do we do that? First you go and tell her that does design Mrs. Yvonne is selling are yours and show her proof , if she doesn’t agree then ,  I will try my style.
Which is what, threatening she replied.

Franca was usually at the house every two days. This was my chance to prove myself, I  pulled her away to my room and asked to show her something. On this particular day she was lively. I hope it will be in my favor
I showed her my sketch pad, as she slowly flipped through the pages , she gaped and looked at me. Then when she got to that award winning deisgn she yelled yes!. I always knew that wasn’t her handwork.

I knew, I knew, I knew was what she said I knew it wasn’t hers but  couldn’t place it. When she got to the newest design and she leaped, what are you going to do? Sandra entered the room, hold on. Wait a second are you for us or against us.

There is nothing more despicable than a designer stealing another person’s design. For me this is the end of her fashion career. She needs to be reported to the institute of fashion designers. No no we both shouted.
 Two persons on our side, two more to go. Who are the remaining two? It is the key investors in her design label. Then how do you 

propose to get them. Don’t worry.

We will meet them when they come to the house for the next party. Two weeks later it happened just as Sandra said. Amongst the men standing in the party hall, she pointed out two men .she choose one and gave me one. We were to lure them to the room. David was his name. as I approached him staring deeply into his eyes, he looked around wondering if It was him I was staring at. I motioned him to come. He hesitated; my face wasn’t a regular at such parties so I understood his resistance. He needs a little budge. 

So I moved closer and did the Angelina jolie style (when she bring out her long sleek leg through the front slit in her gown). He moved through the crowd towards me discharging people who came to greet him.
Few seconds later he was standing right in front of me. He was quite tall, so he was hovering over me, with his head bent towards my lips ,I closed my eyes to inhale his fragrance .his lips was locked on mine . I didn’t even know what happened next

I was lost in the passion, his hands have already found their way under gown, I felt my bra hanging loose. Then I thought was best for business, is not David but what David has.

Let’s get a room as i dragged him the randevo point. Sandra was already on top of the other investor giving him ride of his life. 

Sandra! I shouted is this supposed to be a groupie or an important meeting. Sandra grabbed the sheet covers and folded them over her hanging naked breast.

Yes gentlemen it is an important business meeting. I locked the door and sat by the edge of the bed. David looked at me confused as to what was happening .Sandra reassured I will explain in just a few minutes. She showed them my sketch pad and explained I was the owner of the famous sketch. True they said.

We knew it wasn’t obviously her, but she paid you off right. She didn’t I insisted.
She stole it and threatened me.

David chipped in even if that is the case; there is nothing we can do to help. Actually there is Sandra chipped in, when we come for the stakeholder meeting that appoints us as the owners of Vonne. You will back us up! 

What? You girls are just a bunch of ambitious illiterates, what do you know about designing
How do you even think you can make it to the front door of Vonne as owners?

Jokers!  they both echoed! 

David was now angry and shouting that we should open the door unless she will call security. Sandra just sat there looking at him. She pulled open the drawers by the bed and handed each of the men an envelope.  David who was standing all along, sat by the bed.
I have no idea of what was in the envelope so I wanted to know.
Oops picture of David with different women, not one or two.

Sandra stood in the middle of the room and told David; let me correct an impression you have about me. I am not an illiterate, I school in university of Nigeria Nsukka . I was a criminal law student. I quit school in my 3rd year when my parents died in auto crash and the banks took everything I had; don’t take me for a fool.

Now that was a card we had I never knew about. So we were not entirely two illiterate but a half baked law student and a complete illiterate. What a pair.

David said count me in! He left the room. Sandra approached her prey on the bed with a seductive eye, but he seems to have lost interest in the light of the recent events.

As i dressed properly I asked Sandra you never told me you went to school. Well that topic never came up, she said. She looked upset and didn’t look as if she wanted to talk about it. I guessed it was because of her late parents.

We dressed up and left the room all to bump into Mrs. Yvonne who asked us to go and serve her VIP guests upstairs. We resumed duty and Sandra remained awfully quite for the rest of the day. Towards the end of the party I saw David again. He looked at me with disgust, I didn’t blame him but I think I was beginning to like David.

The next day, Sandra told me her story (a, not so sure you want to hear about it, but obviously you want to know how a law student ended up as a house help)

Long story short,  she was the only child of her parents .her parents were well to do anyway. She had everything she wanted but when her parents died , she was still in school and few months later the banks came with papers to claim the house and everything else left. She was left with nothing

She was roaming the streets; with no money she didn’t even have enough to transport herself back to school. Then she met one girl carrying large bags of food suddenly the nylon busted open and all the things she bought scattered on the street she rushed to help her and ended up carrying the things to her house  because she was not going anywhere on that day. That was the first day she came to Madam Yvonne house. The girs she helped were Mrs. Yvonne’s maid. She told the girl everything and the girl told her, she was going to help her. Few days later she returned to the house and Mrs. Yvonne agreed to allow her work as a house maid with Jessica. Jessica introduced her to this scheming game.

Where is Jessica now I asked?

She is studying abroad. She blackmailed so many chiefs and women that came for Mrs. Yvonne parties and she was able to raise money to travel.

Black mail them, how?

when they have sexual relations with people who are not their partners, she takes photos and blackmails them later.
I have my own dreams she said, but when this idea of taking over Vonne came I thought it was rather a good plan.

Now I understood why Sandra did all that she did! Do you?

So now for Vonne whats next?

We get her to sign off her company to us! What? how? I asked

The following weeks Mrs. Yvonne fell ill; doctors came in and out of the house.
She had been in the bed for so many days, strapped on drips  after, drip set,
We had no idea of what was wrong with her, Sandra cornered one of the doctors that came to the house and he said it was stroke . 

Mrs. Yvonne was 54 just as Sandra claimed but she was still too young for such illness. Her nemesis was catching up with her.
On the next monthly shopping day, Sandra said I should dress properly that we were
going somewhere.

What are you up to this time again?

We didn’t follow the normal way to the mall. We stopped at the bus stop and took a bus going to upper iweka , were are we going to? . She reassured me that it was a surprise. We alighted from the bus, and we walked down the opposite street, when we got to Olaide chambers and associates she stopped.

What are we doing here?

Mr. Olaide is a lawyer that owes me some favor and he will help us in our plans.
For a moment since Mrs. Yvonne got ill, I have stopped to think of my plans, but she didn’t. She insisted that this was the time to implement the plan before she recovers.

Barrister Olaide drafted out the contract, if Mrs. Yvonne signs it, then she will Vonne company to both of us. Sandra also made me sign a contract there that we claimed ownership of Vonne that we were to share it equally.

How do we get her to sign the contract, I wondered. How will she sign off her label to her house helps. Worried but Sandra had a plan. Indeed she was a schemer.

The next week, Franca came to the house for Mrs. Yvonne to sign some paper work, as she left . Sandra enters Mrs. Yvonne room.
I was in the kitchen boiling water, Sandra came inside jumping and super excited. What happened.

Mrs. Yvonne has signed the papers,

 what did you do? I asked

Nothing bad,  she said. I lied that Franca told her to sign these too and she did.
Wow! So now we are the owners of Vonne ,yes and yes she screamed
I have never seen her excited.

The doctors came to see Yvonne in the evening they said she was getting better.
I didn’t know whether to be happy or not. Now that she has signed the contract.

A month later, Mrs.  Yvonne seemed to be getting better, she was no longer strapped on the bed, she moved around the house in her wheel chair. She called Sandra and I  she said "I saw the contract you two made me sign".
What? Sandra asked

My lawyer brought some documents last two weeks that I signed handing over ownership of the company to both of you .but I didn’t remember signing such contract.

Then I remember when Sandra came into my room with some papers she claimed Franca gave me to sign.
There was an unearthing silence as Mrs. Yvonne stared at both of us.

I held a stakeholders meeting yesterday after I saw your sketch pad. I was determined to throw both of you out of my house, when I saw Dorathy sketch pad. I reminded me of how I started. Dorathy you are the only chance of me making things right . The few time I have I will make good use of it to train you, but when I am gone you must continue my legacy.

What is happening here, Mrs Yvonne is forgiving us for what we have done? Sandra broke into tears. Mrs. Yvonne made us promise not to ever change the design name . and warned us how we both need each other.

The following days we spent it in Mrs. Yvonne designing room, she was teaching everything she knew about designing for the past fifteen years in the industry, and Sandra was sent to Mark's office to work as an assistant with him. Do you remember Mark?
The one that Sandra blackmailed with photo on that party night I met David yes that one

On 1st of January 2007, Mrs. Yvonne passed away in her sleep.

We were supposed to take over Vonne, but now it was a gift of a woman with the most amazing heart ever known.

Mrs  Yvonne Ajimodu was survived by Sandra onymaechi and Dorathy kingsley. We became her children in her last days.
It’s been 8 years since Mrs. Yvonnes death I and Sandra have grown this label day and night with the most amazing team in the world. Next week we are going for the New York fashion week. Did I tell you I and Sandra were on the cover of Elle magazine last week. I bet Mrs. Yvonne will be proud.

I am going on a date with David later this afternoon.

 And Sandra and Mark are celebrating their two years wedding anniversary later this weekend.

The road to the top, is never straight! But you must always remain ambitious and true to yourself no matter the situation.