What did she just hear? Was the CEO messing with her? Forget about the fact that it had been less than three hours since production. They were very expensive. It was already expensive enough to buy even a handkerchief from EFW. This new series was more costly than usual and since they were not sold separately and you could only buy a pair, it was even twice as expensive as it should be. Were these people willing to spend so much money in such a short amount of time?!
"Designer Wan, are you still there?"
"Yes. I'm sorry I blanked out. So what do we do now?"
"Let's discuss tomorrow morning."
"Okay."
Nina looked at Wan Jia like she was looking at her saviour. "Did you call the main store? What did they say? Will they reserve one for me? I don't care how high the price is."
"Eer...I was talking to our CEO."
"Oh..." Nina looked disappointed. She was not one to follow fashion news so she did not know that Wan Jia was the designer, much less that she was from Elite Fashion World.
Lin Lihua mocked her dejected appearance before she told her. "There's a way to get whichever custom-made outfit you want."
The girl once again looked radiant. "Really? How?"
Lin Lihua wore a very proud expression with 'what-can-you-do-without-me' written all over her face. "You have to suck up to big sister (me). I might consider helping you convince the designer. But then again, it all depends on my mood- no promises."
"Sis Lihua, you are evil!" Nina cried.
"Ha ha! Aiyo! Don't cry, okay? Who knows, perhaps you might get lucky next time. I'll update you if I buy anything new."
"I won't talk to you anymore. Sis Lihua, if I don't go home now, the twins will start crying. Those lads can't stay without me for too long."
"Are you rubbing in my face the fact that I'm single and have no child?" Lin Lihua joked.
"I wouldn't dare."
When Nina left, Wan Jia asked a question she had been wondering about. "Sis Lihua, are you really not planning to get married?"
"Forget about it. Men are troublesome."
Wan Jia peered at her shyly. "Sis Lihua you...do you...like women instead?"
Lin Lihua was happy that she was not drinking anything, because she would have chocked to death. Even so, she chocked on her saliva and coughed in a fit. "Yo, you have such a creative imagination. Do you think that if I liked women, you would be safe?"
"..."
Well, it was logical.
In actual fact, Wan Jia was not the first person to ask her that. She was already thirty. All the people she knew of her age had already been married for years. As for her, neither had she ever been seen dating nor had there been any rumour of her love life. It was no surprise that she was mistaken to like women.
"Little Wan, I just don't feel like getting married."
Wan Jia teased. "But you should at least give aunty and uncle a grandchild. Don't you think they wish for that?"
Lin Lihua thought internally: they already have one. A very adorable one at that.
__
The next day, Wan Jia was called to the CEO's office to discuss how to handle the orders. By that morning, there were at least five hundred pending orders. Were girls that much into best friend outfits?
"I think we should only accept orders from Elite Fashion World's most loyal customers. I'll make custom outfits for them." Wan Jia suggested.
"I was thinking along the same line. But why can't we just produce some from the series?" The director of the design department said.
The CEO did not think it was a good idea. "Although the company's limit is a hundred pieces per series, this series exploded in popularity as soon as it was released. It would become too common and boring if everyone bought similar-looking outfits at around the same time. If Designer Wan is willing, she can just custom-make a few of them for the most loyal customers."
"Then how many should we chose?" asked the director.
The CEO turned to Wan Jia. "How many can you make in a week?"
Wan Jia was not entirely sure. "five to ten."
"You don't have to hurry. We will only accept five of them. If you still have time, you can make it six. I'll buy the sixth one for my daughters. It was a shame that I wasn't able to buy any yesterday."
"Yes CEO."
"Will one month be enough?"
"One month?" She thought that one week was enough.
The CEO knew what she was thinking. "Although you are very fast, we are dealing with our most loyal customers here. You have to know the preferences of whoever they are buying it for and carefully make something specifically meant to suit them. We don't want to displease our customers, do we?"
He indeed had a point... "CEO, if it's that delicate, then can I ask for one and a half months? I'll make one every week." Afraid that she would be called out for laziness, she added. "I'll use my time to make them as perfect as can be."
The CEO agreed. "Then you should get back to work. I'll give you the customer details as soon as I'm done selecting."