first day of school I

On the top floor of the building.

" Mr. Garcia, Ms. Meyer has been sitting in the lobby for 20 minutes now. Should I tell her to leave?", asked James.

Aaron nodded and went back to work. A stack of folders and paperwork was placed on his long white table. He got a headache from just seeing it.

---

' Should I do it?'

' What if the designs are not good?'

' But I put in a lot of effort into the designs'

' Maybe I should just create new designs'

Elise kept thinking about what Tanya said. She looked at her sketchbooks. It was filled with designs for the four seasons. From elegant and flashy ball gowns to comfortable and minimalistic everyday clothes, there was something for every occasion in the sketchbook.

But when Elise looked at the designs, she couldn't find a design that fit the theme. Even if it fits the theme, Elise didn't feel satisfied with the design. She felt that the designs were from a long time that was created based on the fashion trend and beauty standards back then.

So, the moment she arrived home, she started sketching. Daisy who came back from work collapsed on the couch. She took deep breaths and caught a glimpse of Elise who was sketching intensely in her room. Daisy went to Elise's room and leaned against the door.

" Ms. Black, it's literally 10 pm. You are still working!", said Daisy.

Elise nodded.

" Where are the kids?", asked Daisy.

" I fed them and put them to sleep", replied Elise.

Daisy decided not to bother Elise for too and went to the kitchen to cook for herself. She took out the ingredients needed for the dish and began cooking.

She took out a ceramic dish that was in the fridge. Inside was steak with a dressing made of lime juice, garlic, fish sauce, sesame oil, soy sauce, ginger, and palm sugar drizzled on it. Daisy then set up the barbeque grill outside and preheated it on high heat.

She then went on to cook the steak on the grill for two to three minutes on each side on medium heat. After that, she transferred the steak onto a plate and covered the plate with foil, and set it aside for ten minutes.

Daisy went back inside and placed the tomato, cucumber, onion, chili, coriander, basil, peanuts, and lime leaves in a bowl. She cut thin slices of steak across the grain and added them to the salad and drizzled the rest of the dressing and gently tossed it together.

She placed the dish on the round wooden table and went to call Elise. She dragged Elise from her desk to the dining table and the two began eating.