Looking at Charles, I did not feel the same after becoming his business partner. Once I signed the agreement, I automatically was feeling a little attitude in me, and I wasn’t liking it because I had no reason to be proud of owning a part of the museum without even doing anything to achieve it.
“Why did we do this?” I asked after a few minutes of silence and maintaining the eye contact with him to know the plan he has in mind because every little thing that he was doing hinted at the assumption I had built in my mind about him wanting me just as much as I wanted him. It was high time that I needed to hear how he felt for me, and I was getting impatient for it.
“Because I wanted to do it,” he replied, which didn’t quite answer my question.
But then because it was obvious that he wouldn’t give a direct answer to that, I chose to park this thing until he was in a mood to talk about it. I continued sitting at the dining table as he was still eating the last bite of his mushroom and cheese omelet.
The memories of that time are so clear in my head even now. Remembering those moments continue to make me relive all the feelings they gave me. And how can I forget the very first time when Charles talked to me about the way that he felt for me!? It was soon after I signed that agreement which gave me 50 per cent stake in the museum.
That happened when we were preparing for his friend, Erica’s wedding. The preparations started exactly two weeks before when all the well-known fashion designers were called at home, and I walked in after my college to find all of them were sitting in the hall.
As I entered, one of the servants took my bag and the other directed me towards where they were all sitting. I was left confused as to who they were. It was when I saw Charles sitting with them, I felt slightly relaxed. I wouldn’t have been able to deal with anyone as it was all new to me, and I used to be extremely uncomfortable around big shots.
“Meet Olivia,” Charles said as he made everyone of them greet me after each one of them looked at me with so much respect. Living with Charles had its very own perks; one of which was the image which you carry with you about yourself everywhere and because of which all the people are bound to respect you differently.
After the formal greetings, I learned that the designers whom I either heard about or read about were called to get the dress ready that I wore at Erica’s wedding. It was confusing for me not knowing their ways as one dress was all I needed, but there were five, six designers who were called. I wasn’t able to understand what for, but I still played along and did everything that I was asked to do.
All of them noted down my measurements as one of their assistants measured my bust, waist, hips, shoulder, length, neckline, etc. He measured literally every single inch of my body, and it was weird for my measurement to be told out loud in front of a room with so many men. Two, three females were also there, but that also didn’t make me feel comfortable.
What I could tell was that my life was changing; from being a very normal girl to being that special girl who was looked after very well because she mattered. That transition made me feel helpless because I could not stop it from happening as I didn’t want to do that. Unlike everyone else who would love to be living a life like that, I was also loving it more than it could have been described with any number of words and in any language.
One by one I was shown the different fabrics and asked to choose the one that I liked from them. It was difficult for me to pick out the one which I wanted the dress to be made of and not just that, but my preferences for the fall, the width, the material of the flowers on my dress, and all of such other things made this task extremely tough for me because I didn’t know anything about the dresses myself as I had always bought a cheap ready-made dress.
It was so hard for me to understand the difference between Crepe and Crepe de Chine, also Georgette and Chiffon. All I could feel was their softness and definitely what yarn they were sewn on and with how many knots in the fabric. Living a rich life is hard; I realized it at that time when it was so confusing for me to choose without having enough clarity.
Having a limited exposure to such fine things in life makes it easy for us to manage our lives as per our needs and also include some of our wants. But the more luxuries we get in life, it becomes difficult for us to lead a simple lifestyle. The things that other people term as luxuries become our needs. And our needs keep crossing the barriers of all kinds until we own the most expensive thing in the world in whatever we want to buy.
Immediately after all that was over, I looked at Charles to get a clarification on the need for calling all these people. I wouldn’t have been able to afford an expensive dress anyway. I asked, “What was all this?”
The answer from Charles blew my mind. Even though it was obvious, but it surprised me that he was taking me to his friend, Erica's wedding as his date. That was more than enough to elevate my happiness quotient. He replied, “You are going to be my date at Erica’s wedding, so get used to such treatment.”