Chapter 173 Stressed

Chapter 173 Stressed
Lana's POV

I printed my shoe designs as I stood at the copy machine. I was starting to feel chilly, I didn't have a jacket and as I looked out of the window, the weather changed completely, the sky was a dark grey, a storm looming. I hugged myself with my phone in hand as I waited. My phone chimed and I looked at the screen.

Arden: I hope that you are taking it easy and a warning has been issued of a storm that is on its way. Do you think that you can get off from work earlier? I am leaving university as soon as I am done with class.

Me: I have a meeting in the next ten minutes, but I will let you know when I am done. Hopefully, I will be done earlier.

Arden: I will wait for you at Sternpoint. I will see you soon. I love you and our little angel.

I smiled at his text, it ended with heart emojies.

Me: We love you, daddy.

I hit send with a heart and smiling emojies. Finally, my prints were done. I took them from the copy machine and I stopped in my tracks as I got to Maddie's desk. She was busy with work and she was oblivious to me standing there.

"Maddie, how are you doing? Are you coping?" I asked. She looked up at me.

"Oh Miss Stern, I am so happy that you are back. The work is a lot but I am coping just fine. You are glowing," she smiled.

"The vacation was good," I smiled. "I have a meeting to get to, don't work too hard today. There is a storm on its way, so you can leave early."

"Thank you, Miss Stern," she let out a breath, her shoulders relaxing. I smiled and I walked into my office.

I got everything that I needed for my meeting and then I went to the boardroom. I opened the door and uncle Mariko was sitting with the two people that could bring my designs to life. "This is Miss Stern," uncle Mariko said, as he gestured towards me as I walked to the boardroom table. He got up from his seat as I shook hands with a male that wore black framed reading glasses, he was bald, he was in a navy blue suit and a woman with short black hair that touched her shoulders shook my hand before I took a seat across from them. "I will leave you to it," uncle Mariko excused himself and left.

"I hope that these sketches will work because I forgot my originals at home. I had to be at a doctor's appointment this morning. So these are the Stern shoe line that I would like to bring to life. I believe that it will do well. Besides the shoes, I know that everyone is aware of the Stern name. Your business brings these kinds of things to life. I believe that we can work together and be a partnership. Your work is outstanding and the reviews are excellent. That is why I am choosing your business. We have a modeling agency, so the models can model in these on the runway and also in TV commercials." I handed the designs over to them. They looked through them.

"I love your collection," the woman, Miss Angus, replied.

"I am not feeling this," the man, Mr Oswald, chimed in. He had distaste on his face. "This is more youthful in my eyes," My heart sank with disappointment as I had worked hard on that. Maybe I am not so good at sketching anymore, maybe I am only good at being a f^cking CEO, thanks for that dad, I said internally to him with sarcasm.

"This is something different and new, Oswald. If I had the final say, then I would go with this collection." Miss Angus replied.

"No. I am not taking these on," he said. Making up his mind as he gave all my sketches back to me, as my mouth gaped open at this man. I took in a deep breath. "We will be on our way," he said as he got up from his seat and Miss Angus did the same as she looked at me sympathetically. I swallowed as I gathered the sketches neatly and I stood up as Miss Angus had already left the boardroom and Mr Oswald typed on his phone. I rounded the boardroom table and came to a stop beside him.

"I do believe that this shoe line will do well. If you want to lose business with a very well-known company across the globe, then you are at a loss. If I have to put these designs out there in a 3D version, making it more real, then I am sure that the majority will want these in stores...everywhere-" I tried to contain my anger.

"Miss Stern, I do not know who you think you are. But we know what we are doing," he said. I wanted to slap him across the face.

"Sure, you do. I do not need you. So thank you for your time," I said as I walked out of the boardroom. I was furious. This man just made me doubt myself. I got to my office and tossed the sketches down on the desk, burying my face in my hands.

"Are you okay?" I removed my hands from my face and saw Arden sitting on the sofa in my office. He leaned forward, placing a mug on the coffee table with steam coming out of it. He must've just gotten here. He got up with concern as he walked towards me. I shook my head. I just wanted to stop everything that I was doing. But my vision blurred and nearly lost my balance as I held onto the desk, but Arden's arms were around me now too. "Lana?"

I blinked a couple of times as the blurry vision went away. "I'm just light-headed," I said softly.

"Here...take a seat," he pulled the chair out of my desk and he let me sit down, "Did you eat today? Is it the baby?" he asked as he crouched down in front of me and held my hand on my lap. I looked at him and there was pure worry in those blue eyes.

"I didn't eat at all today and I feel stressed out. My sketches weren't good enough," I said.

"Okay. First, calm down and take it easy." he said as he moved his hand to my belly and kept his hand there, never breaking eye contact with me. "You need to eat, think about angel." he said as a plea with his eyes. I nodded. "I'm going to the cafeteria and I will make sure that you eat and then we can talk when we get home. I do not want to drive in the storm. It can become dangerous and I don't want to risk anything happening on the road, okay?"

I nodded again. He removed his hand from my belly, standing up, he kissed my forehead before leaving. The cafeteria was done with renovations before I got back. It did look very pretty and modern. But I needed to get my mind straight, this isn't who I am to just get emotional about these kinds of things. I can handle it. But it really hit me. I hope that my hormones aren't the cause of me allowing it to affect me. I feel like giving up on the shoe collection. All I do is work and not really take a break and this is what I get. I am grateful that Arden is here. He takes really good care of the ones that he loves and I couldn't ask for a better man than Arden.