THE MAFIA AND THE ARTIST

" Did I make myself clear Genevieve ?" Genevieve shot her head up to see the elderly woman who had just judged her book again .

" yes Mrs Trunk I will make effective adjustment ." Genevieve responded quickly even though she had not been listening throughout to Mrs . Trunk's complaint about her book .

Stuck writing her first novel , being an editor and amateur photographer. This was just another heartbreak from Mrs .Trunk for her , for today she expected an acceptance at least but it was still the same response Mrs. Trunk gave every time and she did not bother to listen as she knew already.

"So until you perfectly portray the feeling of unending and undying love in your two main characters Miss Newton , I am sorry I will have to keep rejecting your book. I am sure you are aware about our company high volume of book submission so I might have to tell you this , we will only give you just this last chance ."

Those words fell on her shoulders like she was about to crumble , she took a step in deep pain. She held herself firmly trying not to fall .

" Thank you Mrs. Trunk , I promise to do a better job ."

Genevieve bowed before she stepped out since the old woman did not have anything to say to her anymore . Getting outside the small room , she saw her ex best friend Belinda Grant standing just outside the door .

" you were eavesdropping ." Genevieve knew how Belinda will do everything to let her down . Belinda has always been good as a writer unlike her . Belinda was currently one of the top selling New York writers worldwide , one of the best and richest . This has always been Belinda's dream since school days and she was very happy for her. Until they drifted apart for no reason according to Genevieve .

" you think I am jobless to want to pry into your boring life , you flatter yourself Genny ." Belinda laughed sarcastically as she stood akimbo . And the fact that she called Genevieve Genny was one reason she laughed so loudly too . She knew how Genevieve hated been called Genny.

" will you atleast excuse me ,I have better things to do rather than wasting my time with you ." Genevieve said as she made her way to leave .

" wait I have something for you ." Belinda said as she brought out her new book from her bag " this is an invitation to my new book signing . I am sure you don't want to miss out honey ."

Genevieve hesitated for a while before she took the book , she knew Belinda was not doing this genuinely and definitely up to something she could not predict .

" Nice shoes Genny." Belinda grinned before she knocked on Mrs.Trunk's door .

Genevieve looked at her shoe , and it was then she realised her heels were pulling out and almost broken , she wasn't the dress up person like Belinda . Only that she had the nicer body .

" Thank you ." She responded before Belinda went into Mrs. Trunk's office .Frustrated with anger she threw her own book against the wall angrily . She definitely needed to focus on her photography now more than anything . She will give up on the dream of writing and do other things too . Writing made her have less time to date nor enjoy good food she craved as she was always busy .

Tears fell from her eyes as she tried to move , it was sad because she wanted this dream more than Belinda , she put a lot of effort rather than Belinda or maybe she didn't she thought .

As she took a step the heels finally went off , she picked the shoes up miserably as she began to work out of the company barefooted , she saw lot of eyes on her but she didn't mind , she was too sad to bother about a broken shoe or working without one right now .She took it off quickly without embarrassment .

Outside the company she saw a car packed outside and immediately she felt more embarrassed than she could imagine , for peter sake she wondered what her boyfriend was doing there at that moment . And then she remembered she had told him her book will definitely be accepted today and they needed to celebrate it .

She wanted to run away but she could not , she waited as Nash Westford came down from his car happily , she did not want to spoil his mood as he was so delighted to see her without the book thinking it has been accepted .

" congratulations honey ." he said as he hugged her tightly " let eat every good food you want to eat honey ." he said as he led her towards the car happily .This was one thing about him that wasn’t cool , he just never wait for her response before he talks.

" But first you need a new shoe ."

She didn't want to ruin the moment so she forced herself to smile like she was very happy . She will tell him later when she could for she didn't want to ruin his mood either .

" I will eat everything nice today honey ." she responded quickly as she entered the car confused about Nash's intentions as he was more than unusually dressed.

They reached the restaurant after they had both branched at a shoe store to buy her a pair of shoe . He led the way inside, requesting a quiet table

“You’re going to love this place.”

They were shown to a candlelit table near the back, in a more secluded location. He ordered Champagne. Again Genevieve became confused about Nash’s intentions. She told herself she was reading too much into it; although they have only been dating since two months, she thinks she loves him and if he was too then they were doing nothing wrong.

But though he was gorgeous and seemed to be a genuinely nice guy, she didn’t feel drawn to him when all she could feel was Daniel’s absence in her life. She and Nash had barely dated three month and if it was what she was thinking . It better not happen as she was still in love with her ex Daniel .

Nash kept the conversation light, talking more about the different characters in his office, entertaining her with humorous anecdotes about them, funny stories about things that had happened in the office over the last couple of days, things that she needed to know about his work according to him . Talk inevitably turned to work as they waited for their food. Perhaps he had picked up on her reticence to talk on a more personal level.

"Are you enjoying it here?” he asked her.

“Yes, it’s a great team.”

“work ’s pretty demanding though, I bet?”

“it certainly is.” She was thankful it was dark; sure her face would have given away some truth as to exactly how much she feels irritated right now. And having understood the situation right now , she just couldn’t deal. Too much happening today and now Nash wants to bring his everytime work talk into this date or whatever it was. She wish he understood what dates were about. And soon he is going to bring up her ex , Daniel who is her boss and his friend, a very complicated relationship she had.

she drank from the glass of wine before she looked up at Nash's obvious next topic

“You know, apparently Daniel had an assistant before you for so long. I don’t know how she managed. She stayed there until she retired.”

“Wow.”she manage to respond , how he did not notice how unnecessary the conversation was almost made her puke

“Yeah, I think she worked for his Father before him.”

“Ok. Did you know Daniel’s Father?”

“Oh, no, I think he died many years ago.”

“Oh, that’s a shame.”

“He built up an amazing Empire.”

“Oh.”

“He made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. He’s very generous.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. He’s got a ruthless reputation in Business. That’s how he stays at the top. Suits me just fine.”

“I’m sure it does.”

Nash was clearly a big fan of Daniel.

" you seem to know too much about Daniel? ."

" yes we use to be very good friends, maybe still ."

“ oh I just keep forgetting.”

Not long after their food came and they ate in silence for a while ,Genevieve prayed silently that he doesn't do what she was expecting as she was not ready for any sort of proposal right now .They ate in silence for a while until Nash spoke again.

" so I ..."

" I should leave now , let's talk tomorrow Nash, I just got a text from Ash she really needs my help ASAP ." Genevieve cuts him off sharply as she stood up with her bag

" But you hardly touched your food, at least let me drop you off." Nash said as he stood up too

" I am fine , I need to go home now . I will see you tomorrow Nash. " She raced outside the restaurant before he could say anything else .

Genevieve hopped into the first cab she saw quickly without hesitation for she was not ready to give Nash an explanation.

******

" you have a shoot tomorrow morning ." Ash Beverly said quickly when she saw her friend walk in .

" cancel it . I need a break right now, I am trying to sort my messy life Ash ." Genevieve responded quickly as she sat down on the sofa beside Ash trying to hold back her tears .

" Did that old witch reject your book again ." Ash asked as she sat upright .

" she said my book still needed to perfectly portray the feeling of unending and undying love in the two main characters." Tears flowed from her eyes as she told her story to Ash .

" Do you think she is lying ?."

" you know I don't read but I am sure you did well."

" I will take a break and focus on my photography for now . I don't think I want to write anymore ." Genevieve stretched her length on the sofa as she grieved silently.

" You can do this Genevieve I believe in you, you can figure it out honey."

" I am sorry but I don't want to try anymore .''

" I have an idea though but that’s if you do not mind."

" what’s that ?"

" go on a vacation to an island or somewhere nice ."

" what has that gotten to do with me and my bad writing Ash ?."

" I am sure you will find new ideas there and meet new people talk to them about their love life and I am sure you might even find love too ."

" I have someone in my life Ashhhhh !."

" really , we both know you are not in love with Nash . You are with him because ..."

" it is fine Ash , I will think about it sometime ." upset that she just remembered how she treated Nash that night made her feel so bad again , again Ash just said she didn't love him , all she had for him was using him pass time which was very obvious q. Who she really wanted was her boss Daniel Hastings who was now dating her ex best friend after they broke up .

" I am sorry Genevieve but I really want you to be happy ." Ash said quietly

" Nash almost proposed to me today ." she said quickly " I am not sure , I only guessed though , I left before we could finish the dinner because I was not going to say yes and breaking his heart was the last thing I wanted to do right now ."

" ewww that must have shocked you ."

" I was shocked ." she admitted quickly