Fast forward

Fast forward
Seven years later

The cranking of heels could be heard as the brunette made her way through the quiet hallway leading to her office. She was dressed in a skinny corporate grey skirt and a white long-sleeve shirt that was tucked in, a briefcase in one hand and a stack of folders in the other hand.

Her hair was held in a ponytail and swayed from left to right as she walked. She could hear whispers and fidgeting the closer she got to the main office. She negotiated the bend that led her to the main office, everyone stood as she walked passed them, occasionally nodding at their greetings.

Her assistant was standing in front of her office, ready to open the door for me.

“Good morning Miss Shelton” she greeted in a high-pitched voice, opening the door and allowing the brunette to walk in before following behind.

“Good morning,” Maia greeted firmly, placing her briefcase and the stack of folders on a huge mahogany desk, before taking a seat. She took off her glasses and placed them on the desk before speaking up.

“Fill me in,”

“Uh, you have a noon lunch meeting with LHL Company, then a two p.m. meeting with EKTC”

“Mmmm, anything else?”

“Yes Miss, all shipments are ready. I just got off the phone with the assistant of Mr Lightwood and he assures me that the designated ship will arrive no later than tomorrow morning, however, the shipment won’t leave for another two days as the ship will need to undergo thorough checks for any damages or leakage” she explains.

“That’s wonderful. Anything else?”

“Yes Miss, this document needs your approval,” Louisa, her assistant says.

“What is it?”

“It’s a letter from human resource, for the recruitment of some interns” Louisa explained.

“Mmmm, and have you verified that everything is okay?”

“Yes, Miss” Louisa confirmed.

“Alright”

The letter had the name and logo of SGC clearly designed. It was one of the brunette's greatest achievements. She quickly signed, putting her stamp on it and sliding the folder back to Louisa, dismissing her.

Now that she was alone in the office, she was left alone with my thoughts.

Maia Shelton was now the boss and she owned her Transit Company. SGC was an acronym for Shelton Group Company.

Over the years, Maia Shelton had to work her butt off, day and night, under the rain and the sun, even on days when her body was drained. She kept pushing and striving for what she wanted.

During her second year at the university, she started familiarizing herself with the field of customs and Transit. On days when she didn’t have lectures, she would go to the Portal, one of the high-class places in Middenhall that hosted big Transit Companies and that was also famous as it was linked to the Middenhall seaport, where most loading and unloading took place.

She started by perching under some Transit firms and running any errands they had. Most times, she would serve as a little wing woman and would beg them to allow her to handle some of his files, just so she could get practical knowledge on the functioning of things at the One-stop shop for external Trade and the Harbor Mater’s office at the seaport.

Working among men wasn’t easy. Maia Shelton would constantly be underlooked as they had stigmatized her. They believed as a woman, she was not cut out for this kind of job and she needed to be thick-skinned if she wanted to survive. Others even said she could always use the easy way out should things get too tough for her to handle.

The easy way out will include sleeping with one of the many prominent owners of successful Freight forwarding companies to secure a space in their firm.

On days when things were tough, she would think of that turning to that. But she will go back home to her best friend who would encourage her not to give up.

Until one day, she started handling clients’ files on her own, and that was how she began climbing the ladder. Of course, the pay wasn’t great at first because some clients were wary of her. They didn’t believe a woman could do it.

But that didn’t stop her. Maia knew what she wanted. She knew what her dream was and she was willing to do everything to have that dream come to pass. And now, here she was, sitting in the office of her freight forwarding company.

Shelton Group Company. And she did all that six years after graduating college. She was proud of herself and the woman she had become.

Maia Shelton leaned back, burying her nose in a file that was causing her some trouble for the past three days. This client was originally dealing with another freight forwarding company that had wrongly classified his goods and now, his goods were at risk of seizure, border delays, non-compliance penalties and denial of import privileges.

Mr Machingtouch, who was one of the reasons why for Maia's success today, had recommended that this client get in touch with her and pose his problem to her. It was a complicated procedure, but Maia was certain she could make it work.

She had before her the details of every item in his container. Thankfully, based on their original agreement, they had chosen an INCOTERM that allowed the freight forwarding company bare all damages. So all Maia had to do now was ensure that the goods were well labelled to avoid any further complications, provide the necessary documents needed at the port of export, and take an insurance policy to avoid any damage at the high sea.

Now, this is where she was having difficulties. Due to the goods already facing complications at the port of origin, taking an insurance policy here was gruesome. But she wasn’t going to back down.

Maia had promised Mr Machingtouch that she would ensure that this client got his goods, and she planned on keeping that promise.

A light knock on the door distracts Maia.

“Yes?” she called out.

Masha walked in, her head down and playing with the hem of her dress.

Maia Shelton knew her employees were scared of her. Perhaps it was her aura or the fact that she learn to be thick-skinned.

“Good morning Miss Shelton,” she says, the nerves in her voice not going unnoticed.

“Good morning Masha, have a seat,” Maia Shelton waited until the young girl was seated before she spoke up again.

“How can I help you?”

“Um, I uh… I” she stuttered.

“Breath Masha. Take your time”

“Uh, I know it's not the normal process, but I wanted to request a leave. Of course, if you approve, I'll write to HR” she says after several struggles.

“Okay. How many days are we talking about?”

“For the rest of the week. I mean if that is okay” she says unsure.

“Is everything okay with you?” Maia's voice was laced with concern. She had a gut feeling, but she wasn't sure what about.

“Uhm yes. My big brother’s wedding is this weekend and I need to travel back home”

“Okay then,” Maia pulled off a post-it card and scribbled on it before handing it back to Masha

“Go over to human resource and present this piece of paper. They'll take it from there”

Masha's face lit up. “Thank you so much, Miss Shelton,” she says.

“It’s alright Masha, have fun,” Maia waited until the door to her office closed before she turned back to the file before her.

It wasn’t long until there was another knock on her door, once again distracting her. She looked up, and this time, Louisa walked in.

“Miss, just a reminder about your noon meeting with LHL Company,” Louisa says standing hallway through the door.

“Thank you, Louisa. Get ready we’ll be going together” Maia announced and picked up her briefcase. “Oh and Louisa, cancel my two p.m. meeting with EKTC”

“Okay Miss,” she says.



The meeting with the promoter of LHL Company took longer than expected. The meeting was all about getting into a partnership to segment a greater portion of the Transit market. It was going to make both companies stronger and their owners more domineering.

Imagine a partnership of two companies owned by women. That was something Maia Shelton struggled to achieve.

After the meeting, she dropped Louisa off at her house, since she still lived with her mom before driving off to her apartment complex.

It was three-thirty in the afternoon when she turned off the ignition of her car in the underground parking lot of Santa Barbara Apartment Complex 'SBAC'. She carried her briefcase, before stepping out of the car.

Once in the lobby, she waited for the elevator doors to open before entering and pressing the button for the fifteenth floor. The elevator stops on the fourth floor to pick up some more people. Maia Shelton smiled faintly at the new persons who entered the elevator before putting on a straight face.

Once on the fifteenth floor, Maia stepped out and walked through the empty hallway leading to her apartment. She fished out the card needed to open the door. Loud music greeted her the moment she walked in, making shivers run down her spine as she slowly recalled the memories of the past she tried so hard to bury.

"Oh, Maia you're home" Janata Snutch yelled over the loud noise, making her way over to Maia with a glass of whiskey in one hand, and a slice of limes in the other. She was dressed in nothing but shorts and a bikini top.

"I've missed you," a very drunk Janata exclaimed. She reeked of alcohol like she has been drinking for quite a while.

"I've been out for barely seven hours Janata," Maia murmured as she walked past her, throwing her briefcase on the couch before walking behind the kitchen counter and taking out a bottle of water from the fridge.

"I know. It felt like seven years" she whined, meeting Maia behind the kitchen counter.

The brunette let out a sigh. She was upset, this has been the routine for the past few days. She come home tired, whilst Janata was either tipsy or completely wasted and Maia was getting sick and tired of this.

Janata looked at her friend with a pout, as she placed her now empty glass of whiskey on the table leaving Maia wondering when she finished it, and the squashed lime on the counter

Her eyes start to get watery. She looked like she was about to cry.

Again, Maia let out another sigh and opened her arms. "Come here," she spoke in a tone that held a lot of authority but a soothingness that made Janata immediately fall into her best friend's arms, burying her head in the crook of her neck as she sobs.

"Shhh, it's okay. I got you"

"I'm sorry Maia. I'm trying" she says in between sobs.

"I know you are baby, it's okay" Maia placed a kiss on her forehead. Janata has never known how to deal with rejection. It took her a while to get over Jared, and now, years after, she's trying to get over Eleanor.

Yes, Janata and Eleanor started seeing each other. It was never official because Janata didn't want to, plus she wasn't sure of her sexuality, and oddly enough, Eleanor seemed to be okay with that.

That was until she ghosted Janata for months and in the fourth month, she ended things through a text and changed her number and Janata hasn't been the same since then. On days when she goes to work or she's busy, she seems fine. But on days when she had to stay at home or doesn't have anything to do, she gets in her head.

And that's a terrible place to be in. Maia would know. She'd been there several times in the past when she caught Morgan cheating with Trevor's replacement.

What an irony, Maia thought. Morgan ended up betraying her the same way she was betrayed. She even swore She'd never be cruel to put another person through that kind of pain. Yet she gave into temptation.

Maia placed another kiss on Janata's forehead.

"We'll be okay baby. Just me and you"

Like always.

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