Chương 27: New Visitors

"Madam President, Mr. Joseph Thompson has arrived."

Belen, so elegantly sitting on her chair like a throne, waiting with the smirk of a Queen that has everything in her grasp. At the same time, Everest is by her side, placing a warm cup of her favorite tea when he asks, "Is it wise to meet Mr. Thompson's son instead of Mr. Thompson himself?"

"You'll see…" she sinisterly grins.

After a while, Joseph Thompson, a tall, handsome pale-skin man with a slim muscular physique, blonde hair, and green piercing eyes confidently enters through the office, "For once would it kill you to greet me at the entrance?" he complains arrogantly.

Belen stands, "Welcome, Mr. Thompson, you've arrived on time for once. Please sit," she gestures, but he hauntingly responds, "There is no need for formalities, just call me Joseph, I'm not my father for you to be calling me Mr. Thompson."

"I see, well, unfortunately, we're not close enough to call each other by our names. I'd prefer it if you call me Miss Astares."

He scoffs, "wah…respect for sure, can I get something to drink? That is the first thing you do when a vital guest arrives, right?"

"Of course, what would you like?"

He turns, noticing Everest by her left side and Noah on her right.

"Who should I ask?" he sarcastically tries to annoy her.

She glares, "you can just tell me, I'll send one of them to get it."

"ah!" he pretends to be shock, "then I'll have black coffee, no sugar or milk."

Belen stiffens, "…sure," and side-eye's Noah as he left the office when Joseph asks, "so you have two men around you all day? Interesting? I recognize your secretary, but who is this person?" he rudely points to Everest.

She sighs, trying to hide her annoyed expression, "he is none of your concern. You came here for a reason. Is it to finish the agreements about the contract I faxed your father?"

He tries to humor her, "Oh! Right! Well, as you can see, I came empty-handed," he pulls his hands out of his pockets for show.

This makes Belen furious, "Then what do I owe the pleasure of wasting my time?"

"Aww, c'mon. Don't be like that. I came to see you specifically through an appointment like you've always required me to do. And this is how you treat me? The son of the multi-billionaire Mr. Thompson? Not fair, don't you think?"

Belen sips her cup of tea, "I don't believe in titles, or what you have to back your selfish confidence, but it won't work on me. If there is no reason for your visit, then I'll have to politely suggest you leave. Mr. Joseph Thompson," she stands up, glaring down at him.

At that moment, Noah enters placing the coffee beside Joseph, but the stench of coffee only irritates Belen even more, but what can she do? Complain?

Joseph scoffs, staring at his coffee with a frown, "hmm…your mall really needs to work on welcoming your guest more properly. But as you've said before, titles don't mean anything, our background or money, so I guess to you we're all equals?"

He breaks out laughing, making fun of Belen's idiotic standards she set for herself.

"Ah, forgive me…" His eyes sharpen, "or not, I don't really care how you perceive it, but you really are naïve, aren't you?!"

Everest makes a glare and fist as if his wrath, carefully leveling like a game character getting ready to use his final special. But Belen somehow sense's his anger when she deliberately turns to look at him, slightly shaking her head verbally, telling him to control himself.

As soon as Joseph saw this, his laughter disappeared as his eyebrows twist in anger, "ahem, you know it's a pity you didn't greet me at the private gathering that day. I clearly saw you. It's hard to believe you didn't notice me?"

She coldly replies, "I did, but I did not find the need to speak to you. If I'm honest, I was hoping for you to ignore me, thankfully you did."

"Don't you think knowing me would've given you an advantage? I mean, I couldn't stop them from criticizing a celebrity from joining the secret billionaire society. For others, it wasn't as easy, but for you, everything seemed to have worked out in less than four years, which seems nearly impossible, don't you agree?" he doubtfully asks.

She can't help but shrug, "I guess some people are born with talent while others simply soak in the sponge of their ancestor's success."

"Wouldn't that also include you?" he points out.

She argues, "If my father truly deserved to enter into that society, then he would've when he was the President of A Star Is. Though once I took over A Star Mall, sales far surpassed his. As a businessman that follows his father's footsteps, you wouldn't understand transforming anything without risk. Since your father provides you with anything failure or not. It's easy to cover your mistakes but not for me. I live based on those mistakes and perfect them than a robotic factory machine as your branch."

Joseph doesn't bother hiding his angry expression while drinking his coffee as Belen looks away at the smell of it, "ha! Not bad, pretty satisfactory. I guess I hit a nerve, my bad. The reason I came here was to deliver a message on behalf of my father."

Belen attentively listens, "a message?"

Joseph approaches her as she stood up, "Why don't you consider marrying my son Joseph Thompson."

Her eye's twitch when Everest gently grabs her wrist, moving her away from Joseph. He notices and steps back, glaring at Everest, "I guess what my father said is true. This man? Is your fiancé? Or so I've heard," he gruesomely stares, "I didn't think your expectation in men went as low as your principles," he shakes his head, clicking his tongue "…I see now why my father was disappointed in your actions that day. Why else would he offer you to marry me? I mean the option is pretty clear, would you marry someone as unstable as Fox Theaters?" He mocks Everest, " Or marry me, you'd have a secure financial future. Well, what do you say?" he reaches for her hand.

Belen quickly moves away gritting her teeth, "that will never happen, tell your father that I refuse to marry you."

Joseph cannot tolerate it any longer when he notices Everest behind Belen smirk as if secretly wanting to laugh when he violently walks up to her, "why not?! What does that poor fiancé of yours have that I don't?"

She smirks, "difference?" her eyebrows furrow, "If I remember correctly, you were meant to marry my eldest sister…Mabel."

His eyes widen in shock, making him cower, "how did you know?"

"Ooh, I know because I was there. But of course, you were too in love with her to even notice me. And I was there when she personally rejected you too. How sad…and now you want to marry her little sister? My question is, what is wrong with you?" she mocks him.

He comes close enough to feel her breath, "you know it's a shame I was in love with your sister. I should've paid enough attention to you. I never would've thought you'd grow up to become such a beauty," he hardly tries to whisper allowing Everest and Noah to hear.

She pulls herself away, but he violently grabs her shoulders, "scared?" His hostile eyes try to shake fear into her "What are you going to do? Get your boy toys to protect you? It's a shame, at least marrying me will rid you of those horrendous rumors going around."

She glares unafraid, "I don't care about rumors."

He sinisterly laughs, "oh, you don't? Probably because you haven't heard them yourself. They say you like to keep your boy toys next to you at all times so they can please you at will."

As he said this, Belen tries to loosen herself from his grip, Everest oversteps, pulling her away when Noah politely asks, "Please leave Mr. Thompson before we have to call security."

Joseph laughs in disbelief, "see, the rumors weren't wrong. If they're trying to protect you like this, you must be pretty damn good in bed," he creepily smiles, exiting her office. Noah escorts him out. Everest makes a fist unable to control his anger when he asks, "are you alright, Belen?"

But she turns to shush him, suddenly a loud beep surrounds the room. She asks, "did you get that, chief?"

Everest looks around at the sound of a speaker through her office, "Yes, Madam, do you wish for me to wire it to you?"

She shouts, "ASAP!"

Everest shockingly stares at her bewildered, making her chuckle, "don't worry, nothing he said offended me. Soon his father will recognize my power."

***

Later that evening Belen and Everest are on their way to meet the designer her former designer recommended to meet to get her measurements done. Belen is sitting in the back seat when Everest places the location on his phone's GPS, "Madam, we'll be arriving in two hours and fifteen minutes."

"Okay, I'm going to rest my eyes for the meantime."

"do you wish for me to put any music on or?"

"It's not necessary," she yawns, "wake me up once we're five minutes away."

Everest nods when he drives out of the parking lot, thinking, "she's been yawning since the morning. That fucking jerk left, she's been busy with meetings, and I've had to train the new heads on their roles. Fortunately, it wasn't as difficult, but if they need anything, I'm sure Noah can help them. Eh! I'm confident they shouldn't need any help, that is why I hired them in the first place. Still, I don't know how Belen was able to tolerate that creep's harassment. If it weren't for her, I probably would've charged in, but afterward, I'm sure she knew it would've only backfired on me. Argh! That fucking shit head literally stands behind his father," he checks his mirror to get a glimpse of Belen quietly sleeping.

"But she handled that calmly. It really makes me wonder, does she deal with those kinds of people all the time? When I saw her fight back using only facts, it really made her look cool. Is that childish of me to think? I felt as if she were a superhero, but every superhero has a dark past. Does that mean she also has a past, so dark that made her get to where she is now? It's strange because when I first met her, I did not care, or rather I mistreated her. She's literally reasonable in her own way, but she cares. She's only 24 years old, and awfully mature for her age if anything woman her age are either party rich girls or dumb brainless bunch."

He sighs, feeling bad for her, "I bet she's not the party animal type. I never was either, I remember always stuck in an office. Everything changed, since that day, I discovered a hidden side to myself. Drinking, attending parties, clubbing, and sex. I was a virgin for too long. Finally, it became natural to ask a woman out and sleep with them. I haven't gone out, and many still kept looking for me nonstop that I had no choice but to change my phone number. Damn, I wonder what her plan is with the audio she recorded…it honestly makes me fear her even more than before. I never would've thought of using that method. Yep, she's a brave one, alright."

Meanwhile, Belen dreams of a memory set within a beautiful spacious room, her old room when she lived with her father and sister Iris. But within that room is Oreo, her tuxedo black and white cat along with someone whom she holds so dearly within her heart more precious than life. She stares at her old younger self happily dancing with Oreo, singing, "I know you~ I walked with you once upon a dream~ I know you~" she continues to dance and twirl around her room holding onto her cat Oreo as her dance partner. When she puts him down and pulls in an outlined black figure, "come on! It's your turn! You're going to dance this song with me one day!"

The blurred picture warmly responds, "I don't know how to dance, why don't you continue to dance with Oreo!"

She cheekily smiles, "but then who am I going to dance with at my wedding?"

"I'll dance with you then, but I really don't know how to dance with you now."

"What if this were our last dance?" She cutely whines, "Come on, I know you~ I walked with you once upon a dream~!" she extends her hand when the figure nods, accepting to dance.

"but only if you wear a blue dress like Aurora."

Belen argues, "Oh, hell, Nah! I want it pink!"

"Blue looks better, I don't know why they chose to leave her with pink."

Belen explains, "Well, Cinderella is already blue, so they probably did not want to repeat colors."

"Yeah, but Cinderella was going to wear a pink dress to the ball if it weren't for her stepsisters!"

Belen replies, "she's my favorite princess, especially when she dances with Prince Charming, ah~ it's so romantic!" she says fluttering her eyelashes like a butterfly.

"you should dance the song."

She changes the topic, "I like Aurora in pink."

"No! it has to be blue!"

She argues, "No! PINK!"

"BLUE!!"

"PINK!!" they suddenly hear Oreo meow, "see even Oreo agrees it should be pink!" they stare at each other, feeling ridiculous laughing hysterically "we're just like the fairies arguing over the color." In the background, the song continues trailing into her heart as a smile forms on her sleeping face.

"Madam…Madam…" a soothing warm voice envelops her ears, "Wake up, Madam. We're here, Madam…Belen," Everest softly shakes her awake.

She slowly opens her eyes, confused, "hmm? W-What is it?"

"We've arrived, but I think you need to ring the gate."

She clears the corners of her eyes, and walks up to the gate and presses a buzzer, "Can I help you?" a female voice asks, Belen answers, "Is this Miss Yonah Katz residence? I'm Belen Astares. I spoke to you over the phone," Immediately, Yonah excitedly shouts, "Oh my! Miss Astares, please come in!"

In that instant, the gates open when Belen walks back into the car, and Everest drives in. Once they entered, they see a woman dressed in a plain black ankle skirt, with a formal white dress shirt and a purple headscarf covering her hair. As they got closer, Belen is happily greeted by a spunky thin woman with fair pale skin and brown eyes. She holds Belen's hand with a warm smile, "Welcome, Miss Astares! Please come in, is he your employee?" she points.

Hearing her notice, somehow touches Belen because, for once, someone takes her employees into account, which rarely any person does. She smiles, "Yes, he's my secretary."

"Oh! Perfect! Sir, please come in!"

Though before Yonah passed through the threshold of the door, she pauses for a second, looks right, carefully presses two fingers against a golden rectangular object with engravings and pressed her fingers on her lips and continues inside. Belen and Everest turn to one another, feeling awkward if whether they should do the same out of respect but instead confusedly walk inside the house as Everest's eyes trail back to the object.

But that wasn't the only strange thing before entering Yonah's home. They were awestruck by the beautiful interior design like glass, marble, gold, blue, and finally revealing the answer to their confused expressions, a blue and white flag with the star of David in the middle center. Also known as the Magen David.

Belen whispers in awe to herself, "So she's…Jewish."

Everest cannot help but stare in amazement as if they've just entered a museum, "beautiful…"

Yonah Katz, a spunky enthusiastic 35-year-old woman, a mother of two and happily married. A traditional Jewish family, Yonah is actually a world-famous wedding dress designer and is known throughout the whole world for her gorgeous designs on wedding gowns, dresses, and more.

"Please take a seat, would you like anything to drink? Miss Astares? And, I'm sorry I don't know your name, sir."

Belen answers, "water will do enough for me, thank you."

"Me too, thank you."

Belen and Everest can't hide their amazement noticing certificates on the wall, and trophy cases all over the living room as well as ribbons and golden plagues from awards Yonah's won. When Belen heard about Yonah, she had no idea how famous or significant she really was because what matters is whether or not she can trust Yonah the way she believes her other designer.

She finally sits across both of them, placing their waters on the glass table, and excitedly smiles, "So, I'd like to officially introduce myself, hi, I am Yonah Katz. I'm not sure if you can tell by now but yes I am Jewish. Pardon me for what I did outside before entering my house. It's a mezuzah and I often do that each time I step in or out of my house so you'll be seeing a lot of that. I felt like clarifying that so as to not make you two uncomfortable." She proudly smiles, "But anyways I heard about Miss Astares from my close friend. The reason I wished to meet you like this was to familiarize myself with you, and only that way can I come up with a dress rightfully fit for you. This may take some time, but I hope you can cooperate, I'd like to get to know the both of you."

Belen feels as if she's back in high school talking to a counselor, she takes a moment to ready herself, "as you may know by now I am Belen Astares, I am the President of A Star Mall."

"May I ask where your parents are from?"

"Ooh?" she's taken aback, "Ah, yes, my father is from Puebla, and my mother is from Veracruz."

Yonah excitedly claps, surprising them, "my parents are from Puebla as well!"

Everest stares at her in disbelief while Belen somehow becomes stiff, refraining from looking surprised when Yonah says, "Ah! It's fine. Please don't feel like you've offended me in any way. I get this kind of reaction too often when I reveal where my parents are from. Apparently, I don't look a certain way a Hispanic would," she giggles.

Belen respectively responds, "Please forgive us."

Yonah's expression widens, "Oh no! I always like to trick my customers so that they can feel at ease learning a bit about who I am. Please, there is no need to apologize." She awkwardly chuckles, " I'm curious, have you visited Puebla?"

Belen forces a smile, "no, unfortunately, I'm not familiar with my relatives on my father's side, so I haven't really given much thought to visiting."

"Oh. It's quite beautiful, I'd recommend you visit when you can," she slightly turns to Everest, "and you sir?"

"Ah pardon me, my name is Everest Fox, and I work as a secretary for Miss Astares. It's a pleasure to meet you, and I'm sorry for the way I reacted."

Again Yonah excited claps, "have you ever been to Mount Everest?! Sorry, I just really love your names."

He awkwardly answers, "uh, no, I haven't. My father named me, he's mixed Chinese and from Spain. My mother was born and raised in Russia."

Yonah nods, "Woah! Do you speak all of those languages within your family?"

"No, because I know nothing about Russia or its culture. All I know is my father's tradition from Spain."

"Aah, I see, cultures are fascinating to me. That is the reason why I ask. People often assume because my skin is pale that I'm Caucasian. Instead of getting offended, I simply play it as a trick to my customers so that they know me as a person than just a woman who'll be making their dress. I care about mutual trust and love getting to know them too because, for me, a dress isn't as simple as those already made. Just the process of making the dress makes me happy to know who I am making it for and why. I'm sure you've learned that I only make wedding dresses. To be honest, I was a little surprised when my friend contacted me, asking if I can make a ball gown dress for you. But I owe him a lot, so I accepted. I do want to warn you though, the occasion is a famous wedding that people will be paying attention to the designer of the dresses woman wear that night. You should know that if you accept a dress from me, please prepare yourself for any questions, manipulators, and maybe even sabotage from women around you because this is the first time I'll ever be making a dress that's not for a bride."

Belen replies with a stern expression, "Of course, I am confident there will be no problems. Please, Miss Yonah Katz, make me a dress worth your trust."

Yonah smiles, "great! Then please give me a moment I will get ready to take your measurements in the next room. For now, if you'd like to feel free to look around."

As Yonah left, Everest gets up from his seat, looking at the trophy cases and reading the certificates on the wall murmuring to himself, "she has certificates from elementary school? Is that even possible? And here are some from middle school awards, she kept all of these? Woah!"

Belen stays in a daze, thinking, "it been a long time since I've spoken about my parents. I can't trust her so easily, but I don't sense any hostility towards her at all. Rather she's very cheerful and different from others I've met. She didn't even bother to flaunt her social status as a famous designer. Instead, she warned me. Concerned, as if saying, can you handle the burden of my dresses?"

"Miss Astares, please follow me, I will take your measurements now."

Belen walks into another room filled with stocks of fabric rolls, multiple sewing machines, jewels, and more. Yonah points, "can you stand on that circular platform that's in the center of the room for me please, and can you take off your jacket, so I can make accurate measurements."

Belen does as she says, revealing her gorgeous figure and smooth caramel skin when Yonah begins taking down measurements. It's quiet when Belen asks, "this room is huge. You make the dresses here?"

"Yes, this side of the house is usually my workspace. My husband's workspace is in the backyard. He's an architect designer, so he and I need all the space we can get."

"that's actually amazing, your husband is an architecture, and you're a designer."

"Yes, my husband and I are often busy fulfilling our jobs, but we both love it. Can you turn around for me please, thank you."

Yonah asks, "before I forget, is there a specific color you'd like the dress to be?"

"hmm…" She thinks aloud, "I'm not quite sure yet, are there any colors I can't choose?"

"Yes! Since it's a wedding, I'd suggest staying away from pastel colors, ivory, beige, and, most importantly, white. You don't want to steal the brides' spotlight," she chuckles, "other than those colors, you can choose any."

"Blue."

Yonah asks, "did you just say blue?"

Belen nods, "yes, blue…if possible," Her cheeks flush red "like Aurora, from Sleeping Beauty…" she lowers her voice timidly.

Yonah sincerely smiles, "sure, no problem, would blue and gold work?"

"…Yes, but I'm not a big fan of gold. Can you make it minimally seen?"

"Don't worry, I'll make you a dress fit for you, far better than Aurora's" she smiles, finishing up her measurements.

But as she was finishing, she asks, "I have a question, is that man, Everest Fox, will he be your partner for the wedding? If so, I'll need to take his measurements too."

Belen hesitates, staring off into the door, "hmm…"

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