However, Ivan would not budge and would rather feign dead on the ground everyday. Even after Sarah threatened to chase him away, he still pretended to sleep on the ground.
Hence, she could only try to bribe him. “I’ll give you this cat. I’ll give you Judge! I’ll give you Judge’s collar too!”
However, Ivan still wasn’t moved, looking like a pile of mash potatoes that could be moulded into any shape.
Meanwhile, Sophia went to LK to learn from them and had many chats over coffee with Kenny. On top of that, she also visited a few big shots of luxury brands who were in her cohort in Bayside University. She could find many well-performing teams for production and marketing in Cethos; what she lacked was merely the designing team.
There was a lack of designers in the local market. Apart from that, the designing requirements for humans and animals were very different. The few products done by local brands elicited the same response—they were ‘very old-fashioned’. Their products made the animals look like stray animals after wearing them.
Of course, there were locals who were talented in design; however, all of them had pursued their careers overseas. It was too difficult to make a career out of this in Cethos. There was a talented person in front of them, yet they could not utilize him.
Initially, Ivan designed luxury items for humans, but he had intense love for animals and thought of them as his family. Using his technical abilities, he created a unique luxury brand for his cats and dogs, but unintentionally, he became the pioneer of the pets luxury fashion, and so Ivan’s focus shifted from creating luxurious goods for humans to that for animals. His creations had been very popular.
However, it was a pity that his sister, wife, and child had passed away. Even his final mental support—his cats, dog, and hamsters—died as well. Since then, his life had completely fallen apart, never to see the light again.
Sophia scoured around for designers. In fact, she managed to find a few who were creative enough, but their skills were simply not up to par. What they lacked was someone who could mentor them. Ivan was an experienced designer, but he was simply too stubborn and troublesome. No one could stand him.
Meanwhile, other candidates were either too far away or too incapable, and Sophia couldn’t find anyone else. Even though Ivan was stubborn and troublesome, she would have to make do with him. Hence, she decided to pester Ivan until he obliged to her requests. She went to the cat cafe everyday to persuade him, almost in a flirty manner sometimes.
“Ivan, help me out—I’m your junior in university! If you work for me, I’ll give you Villa No. 1! By the way, Garfield’s mom is the Queen’s cat. I’ll hook it up with a date next year and give you all the kittens!”
Nevertheless, Ivan remained unfazed. I will never design anything anymore! Never!
However, Sophia stuck around him like a pesky fly. Finally, Ivan flipped out and proposed a humongously difficult request to her.
“Unless you can make Taylor Murray and Ethan Winston—the two Oscar award recipients—perform a sexy dance in front of me, everything is off the table!”
Sophia was shocked by his request. Sure enough, she was scared away by his rude, lecherous, and difficult request, and so she steered clear of the cat cafe for a while. However, not long later, Sarah suddenly pushed Ivan into a car that was full of cats and fetched him away.
After a short drive, the car stopped. With a few cats in his arms, Ivan was led into a house by Sarah in a daze. After the door of the house was opened, Ivan saw a few cats in it, so he bent down to stroke them subconsciously. He had completely given up on himself. With cats and dogs, at least he thought that the world was warmer.
Without caring what occasion this was, he lay down on the ground while hugging a few cats. Among the litter of cats, there was a white Samoyed, which he also pulled into his arms. He was surrounded by animals, feeling delirious and high. Amidst the daze, a cold, irate voice suddenly rang.
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