Chapter 16: chapter 16

"Is there any problem?" Chris asked me with concerned eyes. "No..No..Everything is fine" I stared at her, keeping my phone down, "Chris..Umm...I got to go...Jamie called me he wants me to pick him up". "Ugh..okay..text me when you reach home". "Sure" I collected my bag and came outside the apartment. "Ms Thomas, wait!" I heard her voice behind my back. I stopped and turned to look at her. She was wearing an A-line white striped skirt and a white long sleeve shirt with matching blue shoes. Her hair is left down and tied up into a ponytail. "Yes, Mrs Rovan?" "I know there is a problem. Let me guess..umm..your publisher is not ready to print your magazine anymore" she sniffed her nose, "So pitty...I heard 'New Era' is gaining popularity. Now, this...I'm scared that this will affect your stability". "No, Mrs Rovan. You are wrong, we'll find a solution". "I too hope for that" she came near and hissed, "But the thing is, there is none" she scrunched her nose with a ridiculed laugh, "But don't worry, I'll pray for you". "Thanks for saying that, Mrs Rovan" I replied sarcastically, "That makes sure, you are a human, not a devil". "Say whatever you want" she moved away and crossed her arms, "This is what happens if you near my son". She can't defeat me, it touched my ego, "Do whatever you want, I'll be in touch with your son". Without waiting for her reply, I came downstairs and started my car. God! How much this damaged magazine? Within a week we need to publish. What we gonna do now? I stopped at our office. "Oh! Thank God Ana!" Jamie was relieved to look at me, "I was about to dial you again". "Why? Why she doesn't want to publish or print our article anymore?" "Cause, she raised her price. She wants 100 dollars per day". "What?" I dropped my jaw, "That's a fucking insane price. This is ridiculous, she can't simply do that. She...she...should have informed us at least a month before. We had an agreement". "I too asked that she didn't care much". "Come on, we have to meet her". We waited at her office reception for hours. But she didn't mind letting us in. I'm not going home until I meet her. Rita Lewis, 36, head of 'Simon Publisher' one of the publishing and printing house in New York. We are publishing our magazine since our first edition. She understood our budget and gave us some discounts. But now, what happened to her? Shit! Sorry again. I know what was that, she bought money from Rovan. When the time reached evening 7, she finally asked us to come in. She was sitting in front of a large desk. Behind her, a large rack was kept against the wall, which had copies of books and magazines they publish. Rita Lewis, a plump white woman. She was wearing a black office suit and her hair was turned into a sleeked back ponytail. Her make-up was fully gone and it showed freckles and pimples clearly on her face. She didn't care to make eye contact with us, "What is it?" She asked keeping her eyes on the laptop. "Rita, what was that? Why you hiked the amount?" "Prices been increased, Ana. If you are willing to pay, you can continue here or else look for someone" she adjusted her specs, still concentrating on her laptop. "But you gave us concession...before," Jamie asked her. She sighed, removing her specs, "Look Jamie, Rules been changed. the Main office strictly informed me to maintain this price to all. I can't help you, I'm sorry my hands are tied". "We'll file a lawsuit. You should inform us prior" Jamie tried to blackmail her. "Go ahead, we don't have a problem. But, I think it'll consume more time and money than you can find another publisher. Good luck with that". Jamie tried to talk with her, I know it's completely useless. I stopped him. "Tell me one thing, Rita?" I asked her in a stern voice. Now she raised her head to look at me. "Is that main office is Rovan family?" She lowered her gaze guiltily and concentrated back on her work, "You can go, we can meet in the court". We came outside fuming, "What the fuck was that?" Jamie asked me furiously. "Crystal, she did this" I sighed. "Fuck! That witch!" He cursed. "Jamie, I'm sorry.." "Ana! Stop! We don't have to waste time on this. As I've said, we'll face this together" he ensured me, "We'll overcome this". I nodded reluctantly. Next morning - In our office,     "Why, they have to do this?" Jake asked with disappointment. "All our hard work turned into dust" Aaron joined him. "No, it's not over. We'll find another publisher soon, aren't we?" Nyra asked me. "Yeah, that's our priority now. Guys, you concentrate on the work. Me and Jamie will handle this". "How crawly and evil that bitch" Henna got angry, "We can't let her win. Let's do this together". "I'm so sorry for Chris," Nyra said. "That's what I felt and we are here now" I replied. For a week, we asked every publishing house in New York. Whenever they hear our magazine's name, they rejected it immediately. So, she bribed them all. Some asked for more money than the old publishing house. We tried to convince them, but they weren't ready to lower their price. We became tired and weary of the rejection. Slowly my confidence got lost in the air. This is it, we got finished. I came back to my cabin, after the 16th rejection. Jamie came inside with a tired face. "Any luck?" I asked him with a bit confidence. He shook his head, saying no. Expected that. "Guys, now what we gonna do? Already a week passed. Our magazine should be out the day before yesterday itself. Subscribers gonna start question us" Aaron asked us in a worried voice. "I think we should make it an e-book for now. At least, until we find someone. What do you say, Ana?" "Yeah, that's the only way to handle this" I replied worrying, "I'm sorry guys. I am responsible for this. Our magazine gained speed and I stopped it". "No! No! Ana!" Nyra replied, "You can't blame it. We'll face this type of hurdles more in the upcoming days. As a head, you should not give up. Even we would have reacted the same for her words" she pressed my shoulders softly, giving confidence to me. I looked at Jamie, "I told you so" he raised his eyebrows. I tried to smile, my phone rang. I looked at the screen, a new number, "Hello?" I answered. "Umm..is this Ana Thomas?" An old female voice asked me. "Speaking". "Hello Thomas, My name is Samantha Roy from 'K&S Publisher' ". I stood up from my seat, "Hello, Mrs Roy". "Umm...if you don't mind. Can I meet you in the office?" My hope got raised, "Sure..sure..I'll be there within 10 minutes. One thing, Can I bring my partner too?" "Sure, I'll be waiting for you guys" she hung up. "Jam! Jam! Wake up. One publisher wants to meet us. Hurry! Hurry!" I rushed him. He hurried to wear his jacket. As we promised, we stood before her desk within 10 minutes. Samantha Roy, she must be in her mid-fifties. She and her husband started this publishing house 20 years ago. It's now a well-known publishing house in New York. She is an Asian-American woman. I studied her features, she is white, her short hair is clipped back and a silver lining has started near her forehead. Her small eyes looked at us with love, her face and hands started to wrinkle, accepting her age. She was wearing white jeans and a yellow top. "Ms Thomas, sorry for my assistant's behaviour" she apologized. Remember, when I said some publisher asked us for more money than the previous one. This is one of them. "It's okay, Mrs Roy" Jamie smiled. "Oh! Call me, Sam" she smiled back, "By the way to the point, I read your magazine, it was good. I'm ready to publish and print it". We got happy, "Re...Really?" I asked her unbelieving the words I heard. She nodded keeping her hands on the table before her, "Yes, in fact, I was ready to subscribe to it. Non-controversial contents are rare these days" she appreciated it. "Thank you so much, Sam" Jamie replied. "How much we need to pay for this?" I asked her. She gave a thought, "What if I do it for my entire lifetime subscription fee ?" She laughed. "Sam, what? Are you kidding us?" Jamie asked happily. "No child, I won't kid in business. I like your contents. So, I'll do it for free. The only thing you have to do is free my subscription. What's your deal?" We looked at each other happily, "Hell, yeah". She laughed again, "Okay, then we can prepare an agreement tomorrow and start our publishing with a great level of advertisement" she stood up extending her hand for a shake. I shook it, "It was a pleasure doing business with you". "Same here".After few more discussions, we came out of her office. "Well, we should appreciate Crystal for what she did" Jamie replied very happily, "Instead, we cursed her".I laughed, "Come on, dial our stupids". He took his phone out to dial them when we walked towards our car.Meanwhile Chris,    "Sam, Did they bought it?" I asked her. "Yeah, you heard by yourself" she replied ensuring, "You heard how happy they are". I got relieved, "Thanks Sam, for doing this. Their publication fee will reach you monthly... and about my Mom..." "Don't worry, I've seen many like this. I can handle her, she can't make me to bend". "Once again thanks". "You are welcome". I hung up. I found this issue about few hours. For a week she was busy and didn't mind calling me. I tried to, she didn't answer. I felt something wrong and dialled Jamie, same response from him. When the magazine didn't reach my table as per their schedule, I ensured that something is wrong. I asked Chuck to enquire about it and as I expected their problem was caused by my Mother. "Chris" Chuck called me, "Do you even know what have you done? You went against your parents and that's for a girl". I didn't reply to that. "Chris, I don't want to ask you again. What happened to you? You never broke your parent's rules. Are you aware of what you are doing? "