|| 02. PAIZE 1 ♥ ||
Walking inside Mohana’s office, Jojo guided a silver cart. With a display of snacks and beverages on the different levels, kept atop the shelves was a beautiful vase with an overelaborate bouquet of pink camellia flowers. Glancing around at Mohana wrapping her conference call, Jojo exchanged a wave with her. Clearing her desk, Jojo got busy with emptying the cart. She settled the overflowing flowers on the large desk, then started to place the treats strategically all around the large table.
Disconnecting the call, Mohana walked over to her desk where Jojo was busy laying the table.
Looking at her assistants unending ways to ensure a perfect presentation of the treats, she asked “Do you have time to drink tea with me? We can review the upcoming plan for the polo match coverage”
“No Miss Mohana, what’s most important is that you have the next hour and a half available and you have to take a break” Jojo confirmed, ensuring the heart shaped jam cookies were kept in alignment
“Break yes, but I only have thirty minutes. We’ll have tea together and we will get this sorted” Mohana confirmed
Picking a small round heart shaped brownie Jojo offered it to her “Try this”, “Looks yummy” Mohana smiled picking the treat
“Food made with love is always delicious” Jojo claimed dreamily
“Of course..” taking a bite Mohana complimented her “..I like the dark chocolate oomph to it”
“Am so glad you like it..” handing her the plate of brownies Jojo smiled widely “..this is a new recipe am trying!”
“Very neat” appreciatively nodding Mohana took another bite
“And you have an hour and a half now because I moved things around. And we can’t talk about work during this time! The cocoa in these brownies will invoke a sense of all the good emotions that focus on the important feelings, so my suggestion is for us to take a break from work. We need to review this list that I have gotten from Leya after much hard work”
“Sure we can do this quickly then we can finalize the polo match details” Mohana said glancing at the screen Jojo offered her
“It will take a lot of our energy..” motioning Mohana to sit Jojo served her a cup of tea “..here”
Reviewing through the paragraph gist that Jojo presented, Mohana gave her a thoughtful nod “This makes sense, bold women are those who have conviction of their direction and path”
Sitting besides Mohana with her own cup of tea Jojo offered “Exactly you are strong and persistent to accomplish whatever you take on, but see Leya has made a list and noted here for us that bold women know what they are passionate about too”
“Of course, you’re only persistent to accomplish what you’re passionate about” Mohana determinedly declared taking a sip of the beverage
Nudging the plate of cookies towards her boss, Jojo said “Yes Miss Mohana, but passion is the key word here! Her next point says, that a bold woman can’t get anything in the way of her want. At work yes, you are succeeding at a pace far beyond but the ambition is to also focus all of that on passion!”
“Passion to follow your goals and ambitions” Mohana said, picking a treat from ahead her to nibble onto. She already felt happy at the determination, that she was not shy and belonged in the same bin as that of bold women
“Of course but what does Leya’s husband want her goal and ambition to be?” Jojo quizzed Mohana
Puckering her lips in thought Mohana reviewed the question “What does Salm want? Uhm he wants Leya to own this world with her amazing photography skills?”
Jojo heaved a sigh “You’re so innocent Miss Mohana! When he wants Leya to be bold, he wants her to be bold!”
“Right yeah, so Leya should boldly amaze the world with her amazing photography skills?” Mohana suggested editing her previous answer to include: bold
Taking a patient sip from her tea, Jojo shook her head overruling Mohana’s attempt at the answer “He wants her to be courageous and stand up to what she believes!”
“Exactly I am in agreement with him and only then she can amaze the world with her amazing photography skills” Mohana emphasized her point in appreciation of Leya, their famous photographer head at Sophista
“Agreement is great, yes, but who’s side are you on? You have to take side of our bold woman Leya! And it’s not easy for her to be courageous and to stand up for what she believes in all important areas of her life!” Jojo stated emphatically
“Why?” Mohana frowned in doubt, unsure how the successful Leya could be anything but less courageous
“Because it’s not easy for her as a photographer to fight her own battle with Salm! He manages the designs on everything for Sophista and he tells her which lingerie is in trend! But as a bold woman she has to be courageous and stand up for what she believes, even if she doesn’t like what’s in trend. So she has to put her foot down and declare that she is an independent woman and she will choose her style” Jojo inhaled a confident breath having delivered the narrative
Picking another heart shaped cookie to bite on to, Mohana considered “That’s good yeah but I hardly think Salm would have a problem with someone choosing, something like that, it’s so personal, who cares about a trend”
“Oh! As the editor-in-chief of Sophista you’re saying that? Wait till you have to fight your own battle, do you think your husband will let you wear whatever lingerie you want? Men can be very possessive in certain issues like that” Jojo knowledgeably declared
Mohana frowned in disbelief “For lingerie?”
“Miss Mohana you approve Crawfies Advice column! Women talk about this all the time! Sometimes their husbands don’t even want them to wear any at all! Imagine!” Jojo stated siding with unknown readers of their journal
“Um ya but that’s an advice column for couples not just married folks and Crawfies manages it well, she knows, and people are people so um ya” Mohana turned the cookie within her fingers. She did not want to think about the face her heart urged to place in the husband slot.
“But it’s there! It’s happening all around us, they may not be married but you have to think! Especially when you have a husband that follows all these designers and trends out there he will select your lingerie..” Mohana almost swallowed the cookie, listening to Jojo a different image erupted in her mind altogether “..and you will have to put your foot down just like Leya has highlighted”
“Ya. Sure” Mohana gave her a nod of agreement, she ran a hand through her hair wanting to push away any and all designer or husband thoughts from her brain
“Have this also, they have cocoa nibs..” Jojo said moving a plate forward with chocolate balls which had heart patterned icing on them. Returning to her point Jojo stated “So as a bold woman you need to know what you want, not just these celebrities we want covered in Sophista, but do you want pineapples or cucumbers”
Mohana blinked “For dinner?”
Shaking her head Jojo expanded “Leya told me that a pineapple is strong and sweet and has ample vitamin c but it comes with a tough exterior, sometimes women won’t choose a pineapple and they’ll choose cucumbers but then they regret it, because cucumbers come and go, but only a pineapple will withstand”
Nodding her head but completely missing the point Mohana stated “Okay..but as a bold woman I should kind of make up my mind on that”
“Nope!..” Jojo determinedly refused “..That’s why we have a list here, pineapple the tough exterior man will be all mushy and sweet from inside that you want to go for. Not someone like that annoying Wendell Pitar”
“Uh ya no, no Chanceys that Wendell is crazy” Mohana made a face at the mention of that man, Wendell Pitar. Wendell, son of Paul Pitar, would be the next in line owner of their family run Chanceys publication house. Not only did Chanceys journal stand for printing crass material, both father and son were true representatives of their sleazy business model.
Walking around the table Jojo extended another plate to Mohana. The golden plate held small heart shaped muffins with rainbow colored heart-sprinkles dusted on them.
Jojo sighed “Yes, so is his dad. Every time that Paul Pitar sees you I have the urge to get you covered in a space suit! That’s one wretched man, and he wants to keep wanting you to join Chanceys but I can’t imagine both our lives working for him! But because as a bold woman you respect honesty, I am assured we won’t end up in that pesky place”
Munching on one of the chocolate muffins Mohana ascertained “Yes. Yeah no way at all. We are attorneys at heart, this will be injustice at an altogether different level. We can drop this whole journalism thing than to ever work for Chanceys”
“Exactly but see Leya says this honesty will be paired with vulnerability. And you are so vulnerably compassionate but I have never seen you embrace your real emotions which is what will be most needed to make a woman strong and brave” Jojo ascertained munching on a muffin herself
“No, I do, I am always real” Mohana claimed confidently, though her cheeks shone pink knowing completely well she would not be able to score this point with Jojo and Leya’s list.
Just like that Jojo offered her another heart shaped treat, determinedly stating “I highly doubt it and I have proof from our work lives itself! When that whole coffee thing happened at the focus interview with Omar Shaan, did you tell me you’re in pain? No! I had to guess it!”
Trying to push back memories surfacing from that incident with the coffee and a certain someone, Mohana picked another muffin “Uhm ya that, that was an accident and I..he was hurt..and I..I had to do that interview so it wasn’t anything worth it”
Shaking her head Jojo sighed “We can’t accept this point and more so the next one! We need a husband for you to be intimate with”
