A FIRM REFUSAL

Emily dragged her feet as she entered the house, dropping her bag on the table with a heavy sigh. She was about to head to the kitchen for a much - needed meal when the doorbell rang, interrupting her thoughts.

Turning on her heel, Emily made her way towards the front door, her pulse quickening with each step. As she reached for the doorknob, she paused for a moment to steady herself. Taking a deep breath, she turned the handle and swung the door open to reveal a man.

"Good day, miss," said the delivery man, his smile wide and cheerful.

"And a good day you you, sir," replied Emily, trying to hide her nervousness.

"I've got a package for an Emily Kevan," the delivery man said, consulting his clipboard.

"That's me!" Emily exclaimed, a flutter of excitement in her chest.

The delivery man handed her a book and a pen. "If you wouldn't mind signing here miss?" He requested.

Emily scribbled her name on the line and handed it back to him. The delivery man nodded and gave her the package, then turned to leave.

Emily carried the box into her living room and carefully set it down on the table. Carefully peeling away the tape that sealed the box shut, she opened the carton and found a paper inside bearing the logo of "La Belle couture."

With a sigh of relief, she carried the box into her designing room and set it down on the workbench. The contents of the box were a welcome sight - like a rainbow of possibilities, it held all the materials she needed to bring her idea to life.

There was no need to rush, the deadline still very far. She gently arranged the bolts of fabric and rolls of thread with other materials on the shelves.

After finishing up in the room, she headed back to the kitchen and began preparing a simple yet nourishing meal for herself. The sounds of sizzling and chopping filled the air as she moved with ease around the kitchen, lost in the rhythm of her culinary artistry.

Once the meal was ready, she took it to the sitting room and settled in to enjoy it while watching her favorite show. The comfortable him of the television filled the air as she ate.

Just as she took another bite of her delicious meal, the sound of the doorbell echoed through the room. She sighed, wondering who it could be - surely it must be important if they were interrupting her peaceful lunchtime.

Upon opening the door, she was surprised to see her friend Lucy standing in the doorstep, a big smile on her face.

"Lucy!" She exclaimed, unable to contain her joy at the unexpected visit. The two friends embraced, and Emily led her inside, eager to catch up.

"Your house smells amazing!" Lucy said, taking a seat on the couch.

"Oh, that's just lunch," Emily replied, gesturing to the kitchen.

"My stomach is screaming for food!" Lucy joked.

"Help yourself," Emily said with a smile, gesturing to the kitchen.

Lucy stood up and made her way to the kitchen, returning with a plate filled with food.

"So how's everything been?" Emily asked, genuinely interested in her friend's life.

"I'm sorry we haven't been able to chat much or see each other," Lucy replied, her tone apologetic.

"Don't worry about it, I know you've been really busy," Emily said with a reassuring smile.

"Yeah, school has been really stressful lately," Lucy admitted, sounding a bit exhausted.

"True but I wish that was my problem right now," Emily said, a hint of sadness creeping into her voice.

"What's wrong, than?" Lucy asked, picking upon her friend's change in mood.

"Well, first, my design was accepted by La Belle couture," she began, a touch of excitement in her tone.

"Wow, that's amazing! Congratulations!" Lucy said, her eyes wide with happiness.

"Thank you," Emily replied, a small smile tugging at her lips.

"And second, I might be getting married!" Emily blurted out, dropping the bombshell.

"What? When? How?" Lucy's eyes were wide with shock.

"Calm down," Emily urged, her voice soothing. She went on to explain the whole situation to her friend, who listened with rapt attention.

"Wow, that's...a lot to process," Lucy replied, still trying to wrap her head around the news.

"Yeah, it looks like a dream at first but turns out it's reality," Emily said, her voice filled with emotions.

"Are you okay?" Lucy asked, her voice full of compassion.

"I'm all right," she replied, trying to put on a brave face.

"We're in this together," Lucy reassured her, taking her friend's hand in hers.

"Thank you," she replied, feeling a rush of gratitude.

After lunch, they chatted about other topics as they finished their meals. Then, they headed to Emily's designing room, where she continued working on her project while Lucy looked on in fascination.

As the hours passed, Lucy stayed until evening, chatting and watching as Emily worked. Finally, it was time for her to leave, and she said her goodbyes with a promise to visit again soon.

As usual, Emily continued working late into the night, stopping only to grab a quick bite to eat. The hours slipped by as she worked, immersed in the creative process, completely absorbed in the task at hand.

Camilla called Emily before bedtime, giving her the usual words of encouragement.

The following day after school, Emily set her sight on creating the perfect lip gloss. She went to her designing room, brimming with anticipation and a creative spark.

She made her way to the corner where she kept her cosmetic supplies, her mind racing with ideas. The cosmetic areas of the designing room was filled with jars, bottles, and bags of various raw ingredients.

There were powders in all colors of the rainbow, shimmering and sparkling in the light. The containers were neatly labelled, each one holding a unique ingredient, from mica to borax, to carnauba wax. Each ingredient had a specific shelf or bin.

On the shelf were the pigments, from white kaolin clay to indigo blue, all labelled with their specific names and uses. On another shelf were the carriers, including coconut oil, castor oil, and sweet almond oil, each one with its own unique properties.

Everywhere she looked, there were tools and supplies for mixing, measuring and blending. As she scanned the shelves, she spotted a few promising ingredients, grabbing them and setting them on her work table.

With everything she needed at hand, she was ready to bring her vision to life. First, she gathered all the ingredients including castor oil, beeswax, candelilla wax, red ochre pigment, carmine pigment and mica.

Next, she melted the waxes together over a low heat, then added the pigments and blended it until it was fully incorporated. Finally she added the castor oil and stirred until the mixture was smooth and glossy.

Then when the mixture has cooled slightly, she transferred it to a sanitized glass container, and then she added the rose essential oil and stirred it in.

Once the essential oil was fully incorporated, she poured the mixture into the lip gloss tubes, using a sanitized funnel to avoid any contamination.

Looking at what she came up with she had a satisfied look on her face, she just had to let the lip gloss cool and set overnight, then cap the tubes and add the labels. She decided to call the "Ruby Red" lip gloss "Garnet Glamour."

After hours of work, she was finally done. Emily was preparing dinner when her phone rang. When she saw that it was her parents, she let out a sigh and dropped the phone on the counter, going back to what she was doing. She was still upset with them and she didn't feel like talking to them right now.

After dinner, she curled up on the couch and turned on the TV. As she flipped through the channels, she also scrolled through her social media feed, catching up on the latest news.

Then, feeling tired from the long day, she decided to call it an early night. Crawling into bed, she snuggled under the covers, ready to give herself a much - needed break.

On Friday, Emily woke up bright and early, knowing that she had classes later in the day. She got ready, grabbed her books and headed out the door.

The classes went on smoothly, and before she knew it, school was over. On her way home, she stooped by the grocery store to pick up a few things she needed.

Emily arrived home and put her groceries away in the kitchen. Just as she was setting the down, she heard her phone ringing in her pocket. She brought it out and it was Camilla calling.

"Hay Camilla, what's up?" Emily said, answering the phone.

"Nothing much, how's it going?" Camilla asked.

"All good on my end, how are you?" She asked.

"I'm good, your parents called me, they are worried about you not answering their calls," Camilla said.

"I've told you a million times that I have nothing to tell them," Emily said, stacking her groceries in the cupboard with one hand while she held the phone to her ear with the other.

"They're still your parents, and they're worried about you," Camilla replied.

"Who said they weren't? I just don't want to talk to them," she retorted, clearly frustrated.

"But..." Camilla started to say when Emily cut her off.

"I just came back from the grocery store, we'll chat later," Emily said, and hung up the phone.

After a deep sigh, Emily heard the doorbell ring. She went to answer it, and a man handed her a brown envelope, saying nothing, and left.

"What's with all these packages?" She mumbled to herself, as she sat on the couch.

She carefully opened the envelope, and inside was the ring, documents and other items she'd given back.

"Of course," she said, as she pulled out a note from the envelope.

It read, "Dear Emily Kevan, the consequences of not signing the contract will be dire. It's in your best interest to sign it and return it as soon as possible, please do not take this lightly."

Emily scoffed and stood up angry. "Why did I bother returning it? I should have just kept it in the house! That way they wouldn't see it to return. I'm not signing a thing, they can keep waiting - I couldn't care less. I don't give a damn," she spat, as her frustration spilled out in a torrent of words.