Fifty shades of Agreste

The interview

I was waiting for my turn. Soon the receptionist asked me to follow her. She took me to an office and stood in front of the door and said "right this way".

I opened the door and while entering I slipped and fell on my knees. I saw a man walking towards me in a suit while saying "Ms.cesaire are you ok?". I looked up and saw that someone was no one else than Adrien. "I uhh umm" I wasn't able to say anything. He offered me his hand and I took it embarrassingly and stood up fastly.

"Well, I don't think you are Ms.cesaire?" He said. I was staring at him and wasn't able to believe that it was actually Adrein but I tried to contain myself and said "ya umm I think you already know I am dupain Cheng, well Alya was not well she had a doctor's appointment so she asked me to fill in". "I see" he said and continued "so you are studying journalism as well". "No fashion designing I am actually graduated from a college of America" I said.

"As I said I have only 10 minutes. Please have a seat Ms.dupain cheng" he said. Ms.dupain cheng???? He took a seat at his desk chair and I took in front of the table. I opened the notebook where questions were written and turned on the recorder but then I realised I wasn't having my pen. I took a nervous glance at Adrien and then at the pencils which were neatly sharped and kept on his table. He took the hint and gave one of the pencils to me. I took the pencil and bit my lips a little bit and in a low voice, I said thank you to him. On the pencil, agreste was written.

Now he was standing in front of me keeping his back on the table. I took a deep breath and cleared my throat "ready" I asked trying to show a little confidence. "Whenever you are" he replied.

"Oh umm ok... so this is for one of the blogs on which Alya work. So, you are very young to have amassed such an empire, to what do you-" he cut me off and said "to what do I owe my success" I nodded and said "yep". He said "seriously". "Yes"  I replied.

"Business is about people and I have always been good at people what motivates them what incentivizes them what inspires them". I shrugged and said "maybe you are just Lucky" on which he snickered. "I have always found that the harder I work the more luck I seem to have, the key to my success is always identifying talented individuals and harnessing their efforts". "so you are a control freak?" I asked. "Oh I exercise control in all things miss dupain Cheng" he said. "ok umm.... your company is primarily involved in the telecommunications sector, yet you also invest in numerous agricultural projects including several in Africa, is that you feel something passionate about? Feeding the world's poor" I asked. "It's smart business" he replied. I looked away from him while rolling my eyes. "You don't agree" he asked. "I don't know enough about it" I said and then looked straight into his eyes and for at that moment our eyes were locked and I continued "and I just wonder if, perhaps your heart may be bigger than you want it to let on".

"There are now some people who say that I don't have a heart at all" he said on which I questioned "why would they say that?". "Because they know me well" he replied. I cleared my throat and he said "go on". "Do you have any interest outside of the work?" I asked. "I enjoy various physical pursuits" he replied.

"You are unmarried and... you are not seen with your fami-" I cut myself off before I could continue reading. "You already know the answer" he said looking away. "I am sorry, I didn't... I didn't...." I tried to say. "Do you have an actual question miss dupain Cheng?" He asked.

"Yeah. Sorry. Are you gay?" I widened my eyes again and went through the question. I looked at him and chuckled nervously on which he smiled lightly "I am sorry it's written over here... I just". "No, Marinette I am not gay" he said smiling.
"I apologize Mr.agreste Alya can be a little-" he cut me off and said "intrusive?". I slowly danced my head by tilting it at both sides and put the pencil in between my teeth and said "curious. Actually, she was not knowing it's you, no one was knowing".

We were silent for a few seconds  but then he walked towards the chair near to me and sat on that and said "what about you?" He said and my eyes widened a little and I took the pencil off my mouth. He continued "Why don't you ask me something that you wanna know?".

Our eyes were locked again with each other. I asked "earlier you said that there are some people who know you well. Why do I get this feeling that, that is not true?" I asked. His smile faded and it was like he was staring at me with a shock which was not seen on his face. Suddenly the door opened and his receptionist came in and said "Mr.agreste, your next meeting is in the conference room". "Cancel please we are not finished here" he said. "Yes sir," she said and left. "No, I... I am umm I can go it's fine" I stammered. "I would like to know more about you or I should say catch up with you" he said. "There is really not much to know about me" I said. "You said that you are graduated from the college with a fashion designing course and got yourself a certificate, you never told me that why you in the first place fell in love with designing?" He asked.

"I just loved dresses when I was little and imagined myself designing them with the ideas which I get inspired. I just wanted to use my inspirations and do them by my own" I said. "I hoped something like this" he said and I smiled. "What are your plans now since you are graduated?" He asked. "Well I was thinking to apply for jobs in some companies or rather open a boutique for a kick start" I said. "We offer an excellent internship program" he said. I forced a smile and said "I don't think I did fit in here" I laughed a little and said "look at me". On which he replied "I am".

I started leaving after a few minutes of silence. He came to the elevator with me and asked "I hope you got all you wanted". "I... I think you only answered four questions". I heard elevator sound and turned around and entered. While the elevator gate was closing he said "Marinette". I said "Adrien" then the gate closed. I came out of the building and while taking deep breaths of relief I muttered "holy cow". Well, that was something new...
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14 January 2020
Next part tomorrow