She didn't feel very confident. And somehow, she managed to come to terms with it. The nervousness lingered but another force strongly withheld her from running away from this opportunity. Determination.

Her heels clicked on the shiny marble floor as she held her head high and walked in careful steps towards the direction the receptionist had pointed.

It was a maze of corridors. Finally finding the right one, she let herself be relieved.

The way the whole building was designed was very intriguing and she found herself observing every minute detail. What was originally a distraction from nervousness turned into fascination.

The opposite walls of the corridor were black and the marble tiles were more on the cream-ish side. Long, metallic and triangular figures adorned both the walls, which were stuck to it and kind of resembled a net.

Words couldn't even start to describe it. The whole structure screamed modern art while she, staring at it in awe, was almost on the verge of forgetting the interview.

"Who do we have here?" A voice seemed to pull her away from her trance. She noticed the slight annoyance it held.

Looking in the direction of the voice, she caught the stare of a lady--probably a year or two older than herself-- with her arms folded who seemed to be scrutinizing Blair's every breath.

"I'm Blair Casella. I was sent up here for an interview for an internship," She replied, trying to keep her voice as sweet as possible. "Is Miss. Mary in there?"

"An intern?" She mocked, looking at Blair with an undignified gaze. "Haven't had one in months!" She laughed and plopped down on her seat, completely disregarding her question.

It seemed to tick something off in Blair and all she could think about was coming up with a witty response to her statement. But somehow, her mind went blank.

Swallowing up her irritation, she repeated, "Is Miss. Mary in there?"

"Well... you don't seem very observant. Haven't you seen the name written in big, bold letters right on the door? Obviously, it's Miss. Mary's cabin."

Blair looked at the woman in confusion but then realised that her question had been misinterpreted. Frowning, she muttered a 'thank you' and heard something along the lines of 'do your worst' in response.

If I do get this internship, I might just end up strangling this woman the second I find a chance.

She thought, surprised by the control she had on her anger while that devil-of-a-woman insulted her.

As she stood in front of the door, she heard the woman behind her making a call and probably informing the boss inside of Blair's presence because the next thing she heard was a loud 'come in' from inside the cabin.

In an effort to reassure herself, Blair sucked in a huge breath before deciding to open the door. Her fingers gripped the handle tightly before giving it a gentle push.

What she expected-- or what any other normal person in her place would've expected- was a spacious, dull, cabin with a certain aura of intimidation.

What she didn't expect was a series of bright colours striking her eyes as soon as she could have a peep into the room.

What she certainly didn't expect was her boss to be casually sitting on the chair with her legs folded on the table with her head hidden behind the screen of her laptop.

"Excuse me," Blair muttered hesitantly but the silence in the room carried her low words across.

The face that looked up had her in shock for a few moments.

Because the person sitting behind the huge marble desk was none other than her fashion idol.

Marianne Schulte.

She blinked a few times, unable to register what she saw before herself. But upon seeing her face, a sudden bubble of excitement surged through her veins and for a moment-- only a moment-- she wanted to fall to her knees and cry. In joy, of course.

"Yes?" A stern voice brought her out of her momentary time lapse. The same voice she'd heard on fashion shows, awards functions and radio channels.

"Oh my god," Blair closed her eyes and quietly whispered to herself before she got herself together. "Good morning Miss. Marian-"

"Just Mary, please." The boss enjoined, although not rudely.

A slight hesitance marked the next words that came out of Blair's mouth. "A-alright. I am here for the internship. The receptionist apprised that you called me-"

"Ah! Yes, yes. Please come and have a seat, Miss. Blair."

Blair gripped onto her portfolio and entered steadily, closing the door behind her with a soft thud. She chose to sit in the right leather chair out of two seats before Marianne's table and watched her boss intently. She tried to ignore the pair of legs resting on the huge desk right in front of her face but her gaze kept flickering to it. Marianne seemed to take notice of this before she snapped her laptop shut and put her legs down.

"Oh! I apologize for my mannerisms," her tone felt genuine.

She probably had been busy the whole morning. And Blair suddenly felt like she was interrupting her daily work routine.

Scrap that! What are you thinking?
Her conscience chastised. That poured a bit more confidence.

"Shall I have a look at your resume, please?" Mary asked as she held out a hand waiting for Blair to give the file she was gripping onto for life. As realisation struck, she quickly nodded and plastered a smile before placing the file in the boss' hands.

As Marianne skimmed through the file, Blair took the time to observe her. She did that a lot lately-observing people. Her blonde hair was styled in a bob. And her nose was small and sharp, just like her high school principal. On TV, she may as well walk down the ramp because she looked gorgeous enough to be a model. But up real, her skin was pale and her blue eyes reflected exhaustion and her face was makeup-less.

But her outfit- a sleek dark grey suit and a peach shirt- was on point.

"So tell me, Blair," Blair jumped and hopefully, Mary hadn't noticed that. "How was your internship at the Hector Factor?"

Blair's mind stumbled over words but the only word that came to her mouth was 'horrible'. She searched for words that would express her distaste to a lesser degree.

"It was good," Far from it. "But I had my reasons to quit it." She almost choked on the word 'quit'.

"I hope I'm not being intrusive, but what might those reasons be?" Marianne raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"I... was not treated very well," Blair almost cringed at how bad that sounded. "They made me do odd jobs and babysit models when I was actually there to experience fashion designing. I was never included in any discussions and my workspace was not very... convenient," Gosh! She must've sounded like a ranting child. But at least she hadn't stammered.

Mary seemed to just study her face for few seconds, squinting her eyes at times- not to forget making Blair more conscious than ever. Clearing her throat, she intertwined her finger giving Blair a very casual look.

"Well, I personally don't have any obligations to your internship and your portfolio, I must say, is very impressive," Mary raised her eyebrows and Blair beamed. "I believe you're good to go," she added with a thumbs-up.

Go? Go where? So was she in? Those questions were answered when a small smile appeared on Mary's face.

"Tomorrow morning, nine 'o' clock sharp."

~***~

It was almost three when she left 'Fashion Era'.

Blair was giddy the whole taxi ride back home. Even when she walked from the taxi to her front door, there was a skip to her step. Her happiness made her expect a warm welcome from her mother as soon as she entered. The front door was open so she didn't have to use the spare key.

But the atmosphere in the house had tensed up. It clung to her like tendrils and sucked out all of her excitement. She walked towards the kitchen and was disappointed not to find her mother's presence. The sky had clouded up and she knew that not a second longer, she'd hear that patter of the rain. Removing her footwear, she carried them in her hands simultaneously calling out to her mom. There was no response.

Placing her file and heels in her room, she shuffled towards her mother's room adjacent to hers.

"Mom?" She voiced, as she neared the door.

"Yes?" Came a muffled reply from inside.

"Can we talk over lunch? I'll tell about the interview," Blair uttered, with a hopeful smile which her mother couldn't see.

"I've had my lunch. And I'm not feeling very well so I'll just stay here," Her mother's voice sounded monotonous and detached.

She was back to being her old self.

Blair's eyes pricked and anything remotely positive in her body vanished-poof. Her lips pulled up into a thin line as she slammed her fist into the wall next to her door. She wasn't necessarily strong but she needed that punch.

"Why are you so difficult!?" She roared, unable to control the anger within her.

"What did I ever do to you? What was my mistake, huh? Tell me! Tell me what did I do wrong? Tell me something, anything. Just... talk to me," Her voice broke down by the end. Her eyes begged to let out the waterworks and it took all of her willpower to hold them back.

What happened this morning with her mother was something that would occur once in a blue moon. It wouldn't be happening anytime soon.

She had tried so hard to keep her mother happy. To make her feel proud. But the throbbing pain in her knuckles reminded her of her failure, again.

Maybe she should give up. Not on her dreams, but her mother. Suddenly, Blair only craved for one thing.

For the night to fall so she could go back to the rooftop.

|||||| END OF CHAPTER 4 |||||| 

Hey there! Hope you haven't forgotten about this book. It's been so long since I last updated, the previous chapters are probably fossils.

I haven't edited or as much as gone through this chapter since I'm freakishly busy. (My exams start in two days. AAAAH!)

It is a short chapter, yes, but exciting things are about to come.

I assure you (mostly myself) that I'm not giving up on this book. I even have the plot planned out and recorded neatly in a new notebook. With the character sketches. And trust me, that's the most serious I've gotten in years.

(Small Info: 'Marianne' is a French name and 'Schulte' is a German surname. Marianne's parents were from different backgrounds, hence the contrasting name.) [more details in the future chapters.]

Word Count - 1606

Pears 🍐