Chapter 29 - Rainy Days

Marshall's POV:

— Monday, October 3rd

Boogie and I were on the set of his new single "Rainy Days." I was in a pretty good mood. The concept of the music video was about symbolizing that internal struggle and deep thought that goes on in your head and shit. The sets that we're filming on were graffitied in our lyrics, each of us having our own then a third one that we would film on jointly.

We started out filming on my set first. It was painted slick black with the lyrics in white. I began rapping my verse, having to film multiple takes.

When the director decided we had enough takes of that, I went for an outfit change to finish the other half of my verse on the joint set. They were going to pan between both sets before me and Boogie actually appeared together. So I went into the white room that had red LED lights glowing, standing on top of the black turf that had white graffiti. We proceeded to do the same verse again just in a different location.

Once that process was repeated and completed, it was Anthony's turn. Samething, different sets. I watched as he rapped the lyrics up with the beat of the music as they recorded him. I noted how he has good chemistry with the camera and interacts with it well. Then when I saw them drop that red apint all over the white walls: OuuWee. This was definitely going to be a smash hit! I could already envision it.

Once he did his outfit change it was time for the both of us to go on the joint set to film together. We went through the song in its entirety for the billionth time today. I'd say it came out pretty dope though. Boogie is my boy, and I know all the stans are goin' to eat this shit up.

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

We were eventually done rolling for the day hours later and were just chilling, doing some random behind the scenes takes. This would come out along with the music video too, I guess.

— Take 1:

"I'm not doing shit. I got sheeps to fuck."

— Take 2:

"Just lie and say it's cool to work with me." I joked, giving the camera a side eye, knowing damn well it's not always fun to work with me.

"Ight it's cool to work with Eminem." Boogie went along with the joke.

— Take 3:

"I feel like my verse is just amazing!" He gushed.

"Okay, but my verse - " I began with deep thought until Boogie came in with a roast.

"Nah, I really snapped on him. If you really think about it, I got on him 'cause I'm the GOAT! Yea, he did cool though... I fuck with his verse."

This dude. Everyone knows I'm the real GOAT here, but I'll let him have it.

"He's the goat, I'm the sheep."

— Take 4:

We then did a take where we fake argued.

"It's my lyrics bro. Have you heard the song?" He looked me up and down, fake disgusted with me.

"Oh, you rap on this song?" I acted confused.

"Bet." He said with a smug expression.

"Oh...," I turned facing the camera, "Boogie raps on this song too."

He said something back, to which I hit him with the:

"But just go to like 2:46." I stated seriously with my typical emotionless expression.

That was when my verse came up.

We did a few more takes just saying and doing stupid shit. It was all for shits and giggles.

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

Sadé's POV:

— Meanwhile In Chicago

After the whole incident at Jordyn's birthday house party on Friday, and the hate, and all that; I actually had a decent weekend. It wasn't the best, but it was okay. I had gotten my period that Saturday so maybe that's why I was so fed up that day, you know woth pms and hormones and all. Or maybe my feelings were valid. I don't know, but I didn't think too far deep into it. I had hurried myself in work this entire weekend and was continuing to work my butt off today as well. I had figured out a name for my brand, what I wanted to sell, and the basics for brand development. Now, Monday, Jordyn and I were out looking for a warehouse and manufacturer all day. We had a few manufacturers we thought might be a good fit for what I'm trying to bring to the table, but ultimately had to wait because we had to go through the whole process of getting some samples, seeing how the quality is, the pricing, and location of it all. However, we were still able to decide on a warehouse for me to purchase since that was the first big step in creating this fashion brand. I couldn't have a team or sell anything with no storage space or anywhere to put everyone for their future designated jobs. We walked into the seventh warehouse that we saw today, and I immediately gravitated towards it.

It was very spacious, had sleek floors, white walls to match, and black trimmings. It was very modern compared to the other ones we toured and was nice. I knew that I'd have more than enough space to hold product as well as the various amounts of office space we toured that was connected via another building. The realtor and I talked about the property, conversing about when it was made, whether it had been used previously - which it had not been since it was newly constructed in 2021 - square feet, cost of maintenance, etc. With all the information I had been told being taken into consideration, I knew that it would be more costly than all the other ones, which I didn't mind even though it was slightly over our expected estimate that I'd spend on a warehouse. However, I couldn't pass this one up. This was the one. This space was made for me.

"How much is this one?" I asked Benny, our realtor who had been showing us all the tours of today.

"This one is $2,250,000 dollars. More pricey compared to the other ones, but also newly built."

Me and Jordyn gave quick glances to each other, our heels clicking against the floor as we walked & talked.

"Can we have a minutes to chat about this please?" Jordyn spoke up.

"Sure! I'll be right this way once you're ready to discuss more." Benny replied.

Jordyn pulled me to the side, getting ready to talk business.

"So what do you think?"

"I like it a lot!"

"I know we had initially said our estimate for the entire brand was around $2 million when we first spoke about it then increased it to $6 million once I went and did thorough calculations, but $2.25 million on a space? That's over a third of your entire budget for the investment costs for the whole project, Sadé. We agreed on no more than $2 million solely for the warehouse max." She spoke with understanding and diligence.

"I'm aware. Did you forget one of the degrees I have is a degree in business management? I know it's a large portion of the investment budget, but have you seen this place? It's modern, sleek, has two buildings, and is wayyyy nicer than all the other ones." I stated a bit annoyed.

I know she was just trying to look out it for me, and make sure I made practical, responsible choices, but I think I can make some on my own too. I'm not stupid. I have two degrees for pete's sake. I think I can handle this. I ain't get that degree for nothing.

"Look, I agree. It is a nice warehouse. It has room for growth as well so you don't have to worry about outgrowing this space and moving to another one. I just wanted to make sure that you're sure about this. You know to consider all your options carefully before deciding." She stated rationally.

"Yes, Jordyn. I'm 100% sure about this space. This is the warehouse I want." I confirmed, feeling content.

"Okay, let's go tell Benny then." She smiled fondly.

We made our way back over to Benny, where we informed him that we wanted to put in an offer. Since we were the first and only ones to be interested in this space at the time he said that I could simply flat out purchase it that way I wouldn't have to worry about anyone else possibly beating me to it. So we had spent the rest of the day going through that process. It was exhausting and super draining, but I knew that it'd all be worth it in the end once I had the keys to my warehouse in my hand. This officially marked the upcoming of my brand, and I couldn't be more proud of myself in this very moment.

Marshall's POV:

— Later That Night, Detroit

I had gotten home some hours ago and had taken a shower from earlier when I was sat, chilling on the couch watching some Marvel movie. I was eating some take out that I had ordered to the house, as I was doing so when I received a call. I tiredly paused the movie, grabbing my phone from the coffee table. I scoffed seeing Paul's name displayed across the screen. What could this man possibly want from me now on a Monday night a little past 8pm?

"The hell, man. What's going on?" I asked into the phone as soon as I answered.

"We need to talk about that thing." He said getting straight to the point.

"Okay, what is it?" I say no longer slouching on the couch.

"So you know how I told you that I'd hand some of the info over to one of the tech guys to see if they could help us out locating the person who runs the account a few days ago, right?"

"Yea."

"Well they ran the IP address. Unfortunately, they couldn't get an accurate location because whoever they are uses a VPN."

"A what? What's that?" I questioned.

He knows damn well I don't know nothing about all this technology shit and slag involving that ish. I'm barely getting the hang of social media and emojis thanks to Sae.

"It's a Virtual Private Network. It adds security and can make basically anyone anonymous online."

"How the fuck can they do that?"

"By downloading a system software. It hides the user's actual public IP address and "tunnels" traffic between the user's device and the remote server." He clarified.

"What the fuck. This person really doesn't want to be found, huh?" I ran my hand over my face stressfully.

"It appears not." He sighed.

"Now what?" I replied, feeling complete hopelessness that whoever this person was would continue to do damage to Sadé's image and eventually her.

"There's two options. We can either keep checking all their accounts, hoping they'll slip up and reveal themselves or at least something that can help lead us to identifying them, OR we can get Jordyn involved. She's one of the closest people to Sadé because she's her manager so maybe she can help."

"I don't know about that, dawg." I openly tell him, "What if she tells Sadé? That girl would flip on me for getting involved in her business like this. And what if she can't help us? Then what? If I wanted her help, I would've gone to her and not you." I ran my finger through my dark hair.

"Well, We've got to try something. Otherwise they're going to continue their attack on her. And I really didn't want to say this to you, Marshall, but I am concerned for her safety." He said sympathetically.

Her safety? He sees this account as a threat to her and didn't tell me, immediately?! I take a deep breath in and out to calm myself. This account is harmful and I need to think with her best intentions at heart.

"Ight. Call her up. Tell Jordyn to get here as soon as she can." I tell Paul, ending the phone call shortly afterwards.

God, why the fuck am I fighting so hard for this girl?

Why am I trying so hard to protect her?

Why am I even still involved with her?

Why do I want her so badly?

Why am I even being patient, waiting for her to be ready for a relationship?

Why did I have to catch fucking feelings, yo?

I have all these thoughts about her running rampant though my mind. So I do what I know best when I can't seem to express myself or have too many thoughts going on at once that needs to be let out. I go to my home studio in my basement and write.