~ Business talk ~
"BEEEEEEP, BEEEEP, BEEEEP!" Elsa jump sat bolt up right in bed when her phone alarm went off. "Oh I'm not ready to talk business yet" Elsa groaned as she hit the snooze button on her phone and buried her face back in her pillow. She was still suffering Jet lag and she had been crazy busy organising her apartment and other matters the last couple of days. She had arranged to meet with a someone already in the underwear business to discuss how she would like to expand her business in London. Elsa dragged herself to the bathroom to wash and get ready for the day ahead. two mugs of coffee and a round of toast and strawberry jam later Elsa started to feel a bit more human. She was dressed in a navy blue pencil skirt with a matching blazer and a white shirt. Her platinum blonde hair was left down, she had no time or patience to put it up this morning. She stood in front of the large wall mirror in her hallway and applied her plum lip gloss before leaving her apartment.
The London underground was just a chaotic as the Subway. It was a hot July morning and the underground was already sweltering hot. London commuters were rushing about and bumping into Elsa making her feel uneasy. Elsa rarely used public transport back home and used to drive around in her the comfort of her dark blue Corvette Stingray which she had to reluctantly sell before she left New York. To make matters worse the train she got onto was rammed pack and she spent most of her journey with her face buried in some random man's smelly armpit. Damn it don't people shower or use deodorant! Elsa thought to herself wrinkling her nose at the offensive body odour. Luckily her stop wasn't too far away. Elsa got off at London bridge station and headed up some stairs to exit the station. A tall man with piercing green eyes and red hair passed Elsa on his way down the stairs. He gave a appreciative growl and winked at her. "UGH! creep!" Elsa mumbled as she exited the station. Elsa opened up the Google maps app on her phone to decide how she was going to get to the Shard which is where her breakfast business meeting had been arranged. It took her minutes to get to the the glass building and she stood outside in awe of how stunning it looked. It looked like a giant diamond glinting in the sunshine. She was excited to see the London bridge right in front of her too.
Inside the lobby Elsa approached a member of staff at the desk. "Hello, can I help you?" a young desk clerk called Jane asked Elsa "Hi, I have a meeting with Miss Spencer for 10 AM" Elsa said. Jane looked at her computer screen and adjusted her glasses. " Oh yes Miss Spencer has arranged your meeting in one of our conference rooms. Please follow me" Jane said escorting Elsa to where she needed to go. Elsa thanked Jane before entering the conference room. Maria Spencer was already present, sat at a large mahogany table. It appeared that she was in the middle of a call with another client which was quickly suspended once she had seen Elsa enter the room. She got up from her seat and took Elsa's hand to shake. "I'm Maria Spencer nice to finally you Miss Agdardottir" She said enthusiastically "Please call me Elsa, pleasure to meet you too" Elsa said. Maria was nothing how Elsa would imagine she would look. she was a middle aged lady, her black hair tied back in a tight bun and she had blood red lipstick on. She reminded Elsa of a dominatrix. "Coffee?" Maria asked holding a cafeteria. " Oh yes please" Elsa replied. "Help yourself to pastries" Maria said pouring coffee in a white ceramic cup. "Thank you" Elsa said looking at the impressive spread of Danish pastries and croissants in front of her. She helped herself to a Danish and took a small plate. Maria sat back down and sipped on her coffee " As you are aware I have my own business selling sex toys and lingerie and been in business for over 20 years. I was very impressed by your lingerie collections and would love to sell them in our chain of stores. Maria said. Elsa's eyes widened "c...chain of stores? I thought you only had the one store in London?" Elsa said shocked. Maria laughed at how naive Elsa sounded " Oh darling, I have around fifty stores in the UK!" She said in her posh British accent. Elsa nearly dropped her coffee cup on her lap when she heard Maria's response She never expected to be approached by someone who was so established with their business. Elsa could kick herself for not doing her research on this women properly. All she had found out after doing a very quick search on Google was that her business was called 'Maria's Boudoir' and she had a shop in Camden Market. " I started out launching my business in a small shop in Camden and after five years of trading there my business just expanded and has been growing ever since." Maria said pouring herself another coffee. Elsa was still in shock and was silent. Elsa's business was just online and only dealt with orders within the USA. She never would have thought her designs would be good enough for anything more. " Elsa are you okay?" Maria asked sounding concerned. Elsa broke out of her trance "Erm y...yes I'm fine..." she replied taking a gulp of her coffee. "So I have noticed that you have modelled your own lingerie collections and like that you do that instead of you hiring a model. It shows that you are comfortable with your own body and I admire you. I'd like you to continue to model your stuff" Maria said. "S..sure" Elsa stammered. Not only did this women want to do business with her, she also wanted her to model her own lingerie to display in her stores! Maria bent down to pick up her black Aspinal of London leather brief case and opened it up on the table. "I have a very reliable photographer here in London that I can recommend to you for your photo shoots. His name is Hans Westergaard" she said handing Elsa his business card. We have used him for all our shoots and he is very professional. I suggest you contact him to arrange a shoot with your recent 'frosted' range. Its a beautiful collection and would like this to be the lingerie that you will launch in my stores. Mention that you will be going into business with me when you speak to Hans" Maria said smiling at Elsa. "Of course, thank you." Elsa said taking the business card and putting in her purse. This business meeting had been more successful then Elsa could have ever imagined in her wildest dreams!