Chapter 42 - Ice Cream & Pac-Man

Sadé's POV:

— Tuesday, October 18th

I was at the house working while Marshall was at the studio. It's been a few hours now, and I was just chilling in the dining room, sending out emails, on zoom calls, in meetings, etc. I was on a zoom call with Jordyn, eating some fruit I had cut up for lunch. It was only us two, discussing manufactures for my brand. We were now at the point where we had been given samples, I had tested them all out, and now I had to choose who I wanted to work with to make and produce my product. We had originally started with Eight different companies, and now we were down to three.

"Okay, so now that we have our top three, you need to choose one." Jordyn said.

"This is so hard!" I huffed.

"Girl, as soon as you pick one, we can get the ball rolling. This is like the final step before you can really start designing your products and building your brand."

"I know. I'm so excited!" I squealed, "I just need to choose one." I gave my self a pep talk.

I looked over the sunglasses that were now placed in my top three category. I was considering everything: Quality, cost, wear, time to manufacture, other cliens they produce for, etc., everything. I kept trying them on, then taking them off, and switching around the ratings on which one I liked more. After a good five minutes of thinking about which one I wanted to work with, I finally decided on a manufacturer.

"Alright. I made my choice, and I want to go with Lixottica Group S.p.A." I finalized.

"Okay, great! I'll get in contact with them confirming that we'll be using them as a manufacturer for the brand, and get all the paperwork to start the process, getting it all done and filed." She took notes.

We discussed more small details that needed to be finalized regarding some legality of the brand and what not for another hour while I finished up my lunch. Once that was done, I gave my goodbye to Jo before ending the zoom. I then received my pictures back from my Halloween photoshoot that I did a little bit ago so that I could post them the last week leading up to Halloween. Every year I post myself in these cool costumes and it always gets people talking so it was going to be no different this year. I planned out what day I'd post them to my instagram and in what specific order. I pretty much finished up work early for the day, ending around 3 in the afternoon. That was until Marshall called me. I didn't know why he was calling me while he was working, but nonetheless answered the phone anyways.

"Hello."

"Hey, Sae." His voice came though the phone.

"What's up? Everything good?"

"Yea, I'm actually here with Paul. We needed to call you about something important." He sounded unsure.

"Hi, Sadé." Paul greeted.

"Hi, Paul. What's going on?" I asked as I took a seat on the couch.

"So you know the photoshoot we hired you to do for the Eminem merch, right?" Paul reminded me.

"Yes, I do. For the 24th of October."

"Well, we were thinking maybe we could push it up to an earlier date." Paul replied.

"How early? The 24th is... a week away." I double checked the calendar on my phone.

"That's correct. We were thinking about tomorrow?" Paul said.

"Is that a question or a statement?" I squinted my eyes, even though I knew neither one of them could see me.

I was pretty confused on the sudden change up. I thought we had agreed on the 24th in the contract. Moving the photoshoot wasn't an issue for me, but it was about time: I value my time, and I'm a busy woman. This was extremely last minute, and a little inconsiderate. Honestly, it was a little unprofessional on Paul's behalf.

"Would you be able to do it or not? If not we can keep the schedule for the 24th." Paul sighed.

"I'm able to do it. It just seems unprofessional. Don't you think, Paul?"

"I do apologize. It's just that it would be more ideal if we got the drop out before the end of October, considering all that's going on." He said.

"All of what that's going on?" I asked, puzzled.

Marshall cleared his throat. That was the first I heard of him this entire call despite him being the one to ring me.

"Ummm... Paul, the rest of the team, the publicist, and I were discussing the shoot, and the topic of marketing got brought up; And well... it was suggested that we use some of the recent controversy to our advantage." Marshall mumbled the last part.

Oh. I thought.

"Yea. We just kind of thought that since there were rumors, and both Jordyn & I agreed we that neither of you would comment on the allegations, that we could use that publicity to our advantage. Keep the people talking..." Paul rambled on.

He kept on talking about how it would have more people engaged in the drop, and blah blah blah. Honestly I tuned him out. I was pretty upset right now, because I did not want any more eyes on me right now. I didn't want to receive more hate then I was already getting. At least not yet anyways. Especially when Marshall was just telling me how I shouldn't be worried about the opinions of others or them being in our relationship, yet here Paul is trying to capitalize off of it. That literally makes no sense to me. So yea, I was upset at the both of them right now. Paul for suggesting it, and Marshall for agreeing with it.

"Sadé? Are you still there?" Marshall asked me.

I guess Paul was done rambling, trying to convince me.

"Yes."

"So are you sure you'll do it? You don't have to." Marshall replied.

I thought about it for a second. I guess there's not too much harm in moving the date up. Whether it was tomorrow or a week from now, people would still loose their marbles over me modeling in his merch. So I guess the outcome would've been the same either way. I just didn't like the way they sprung this on me last minute, and how they both went about it, I guess. At the end of the day it's business so I couldn't be too upset.

"Alright, I'll do it. But Paul, the next time you ask me to capitalize off my relationship the answer is no. And Marshall, you better have ice cream with you when you walk through that door later." I rolled my eyes.

"You got it, pretty girl. Thank you." Marshall let out a sigh of relief.

"Yes ma'am." Paul let out a chuckle.

"Okay, cool. So let's talk about these details of the shoot tomorrow."

We continued on about what I would be doing, what time we all had to be there, and other stuff until our phone call meeting was over. I immediately sat my phone down since it was now almost four. I was tired of looking at screens all day, and just wanted a break. I felt so overwhelmed with everything from the fashion brand to the photoshoot change to just general life stuff so I decided to take a short nap once again until Marshall got home since I finished with work early for the day, forreal this time.

Marshall's POV:

— Meanwhile At The Studio

Paul and I were still sat in his office talking business after our three-way phone call with Sadé. I suddenly had through of a question I've been meaning to ask him.

"Yo, is it any updates on Investigation Myers yet or what?" I glowered.

"Unfortunately it's still the same old, same old. It's like they just stopped. I'm not saying it's necessarily bad, because that'd be great, but I am worried. Skeptical." Paul rubbed his bald head.

"I get what you mean. Like what if they got some shit planned or something up their sleeves. Ya' know? They were going so hard then just went cold turkey? Nah, that's suspicious." I rolled my eyes.

"Exactly, but they can't hide forever. As long as we keep it under wraps it should be fine."

"Ight, thanks. I'll see you tomorrow, man." I got up dapping him up as I left his office.

I then departed back to the recording room, where Dre, Naunie, Boogie, and Royce were at working on some heat. I joined them until it was 5, which is when I'd end my workday. All in all, today was a productive day.

I walked out the studio to my car, making my way back home, but not without stopping at the store first to get ice cream and a few of Sae's other favorite snacks. I could tell she was upset with me because I basically sounded like a hypocrite earlier so whatever she wished for was my command.

— Back At The House

I walked through the door, taking my shoes off as I entered the living room. I once again found Sadé sleeping on the couch under a blanket, light snores coming from her. I didn't bother waking her up this time as I figured she was tired from doing her work while I was gone. I sat the snacks on the coffee table then went to the kitchen, putting the Ben & Jerry's "Gimmie S'more" and "Chocolate Caramel Cookie Dough" (her favorite flavors) ice cream in the freezer. I walked back to the living room, lifting her feet up as I sat down on the couch placing them on top of me. I kicked my legs up on the coffee table and watched some Black Mafia Family until she woke up.

—

She ended up waking up almost 45 minutes later. She rubbed her eyes, sitting up. She looked at me with a tired smile on her face before scooting closer to me, hugging me and giving me a short kiss.

"Hi. How long have you been home?" She asked me.

"About an hour."

"Did you bring back that ice cream?" She gave me a side eye.

Man, she doesn't forget nothing do she?

"Yes, I got ice cream. And snacks." I laughed at the foodie in her.

She grabbed some of the candy that was in the bag and started eating it.

"Oh, okay. Just making sure." Her side eye were now replaced with a content look, "So how was your day?"

"It was good. Dre stopped by the studio today and we made some magic happen. We're going to record this song together before he leaves home to LA called "Gospel"." I nodded my head as I looked at her.

"Oh, that sounds cool. I can't wait to hear it whenever it comes out." She said as she snuggled up to me, me wrapping my arm around her.

"Yea, how about you? How was your day? Must've been pretty rough if you were knocked out in the middle of the day." I teased.

"I was so busy. I was replying to emails all day, then I had to pick a manufacturer that would produce my sunglasses, and then you and Paul called me, and I was also in like 5 zoom meetings. I was so tired even though I didn't feel like I was at first." She explained.

"It's like that sometimes. You'll be ight, baby. What do you wanna do the rest of the day?"

"Hmmm...Ooo! Can you show me how to play Pac-Man? My mom would always try to teach me, but I always ended up dying." She giggled, making a tight lipped smile afterwards.

I looked at her because I didn't expect her to asked me to teach her how to play in all honesty. She knows I love my arcade games. But then again, I am the champion, the best at the game so it's only right that I be the one to do so, and teach her.

"Alright, let's go!" I beamed.

We got off the couch, making our way to the basement where all my arcade games were held. But before we went down, of course she had to grab a pint of ice cream and snacks to munch on. I sat on the stool, her sitting in my lap while I showed her how to play. I went over how to avoid running into ghosts, eating dots, Blinky & Pinky, moving at a fast speed, etc. She was really into it, and tried it a few times. She wasn't bad, but she mentioned how she'd rather watch me play because it was way more entertaining. So for the rest of the day, she sat on my lap, consuming her ice cream and snacks while I played Pac-Man, trying to beat my high scores until it was night time. We had a quick meal before going to bed, and calling it a day.

Just a little something for you guys to read. It's more of a filler chapter, but something is better than nothing. I've been hit with a case of writers block, but I plan on uploading more chapters within the coming days/weekend. And once again, thank you all for the support. Love ya!- 🤎