Her boss

9

After a little forgiving came the cheering up of Gabriel before he was once again himself.
Then Nathalie finally got him to show her 'the thing' which he created, the masterpiece apparently, the one which would make the ordinary assistant seem so unbelievably beautiful.
However, the thought of her looking flawless in any outfit, especially a more showing one than her usual, seemed impossible to the woman.
She knew her boss was a great designer but had doubts in herself and her image, basically the assistant thought she'd ruin the dress, that she wouldn't look 'good' in it.

Even if a thousand people would be saying she looked great, Nathalie wouldn't believe any of that. Even if Audrey herself would nod reassuringly, even then the woman wouldn't feel pretty.

Regardless she still followed her superior into the room which held all those many forgotten designs, or the ones which just weren't totally finished.

"This one." Said Gabriel holding one of his pieces "This is the one I was talking about.
It's a nice casual piece, not too scandalous but also not too boring."

"Mhm" the woman nodded unsure of what to think.
The red dress which her boss considered as a 'work attire' seemed a little too bright in her mind, it was beautiful of course, just a bit too colorful for Nathalie's likings.
She usually enjoyed wearing darker colors which would be easy to pair with anything and this short little scarlet dress sure wasn't anything like that.
Nevertheless the assistant still gave her superior a little shrug and awkward smile.

"Is it not what you were looking for, Miss Sancoeur?"

"Miss Sancoeur?" Nathalie giggled "...really?" She found the sound of that funny, especially the way that her superior looked all so serious.

"Well you know I like to treat people who look at my designs as costumers," Gabriel explained "...so right now you're the costumer and I'm the assistant helping."

"Aren't you the boss too?"

"Well party, because there's Audrey."

"But you're the one who made all this, so you're the boss of the place, no?"

"Fine." He sighed "then I'm the boss and you're the customer. Is that better?"

"Much." Nathalie smiled in approval "Now may I try on the dress, Mr Agreste?"

"Mr Agreste? Really?"

"What?" The woman grinned "I thought we were being professional."

"Alright then Miss Sancoeur, if that's what you'd like."

With that the grey haired man handed over the piece to his assistant, or should I say 'customer' in this case.

She looked at it anxiously, turning the dress around and then back just to get a better 360° imagine. But by all these uncertain actions Nathalie caused her boss to feel a bit worried, insecure even.

"Do you like it?" He asked quietly.

"Well-" the woman returned "o-of course..."

"You don't sound like you do."

"I-...uhm-...sir don't take this personally because you're a great designer and create beautiful pieces, in fact this is a beautiful piece, however it's-...not entirely my taste."

"Right" Gabriel smiled regardless of the awkward situation "thank you for telling me the truth Nath. It's better then if you would've lied." He placed his hand on one of her shoulders before staring into the assistant's eyes and suggesting:
"Would you like to try something else though?"

"I'd love to." Nathalie smiled back "Something a little less bright, please."

"No problem."

The grey haired man almost immediately began his search for the next possible attire of his assistant, and after going through a few options, Gabriel found one that he thought would be perfect.
A black pencil skirt which could be paired with either Nathalie's usual red turtleneck, or a new lighter colored turtleneck, either way a black blazer on top would bring the look together, in addition it wouldn't look so different to her old work uniform so the woman shouldn't feel too uncomfortable.