Chapter Text
As you step into the sterile, yet lively, office building on the 39th floor in the heart of New York City, you still can’t believe how you managed to get hired at your dream fashion company just a few months out of college. You immediately notice just how many people there are. You start getting a bit overwhelmed, nervous and desperate to succeed.
As you walk past the front lobby, you are warmly greeted by a smiling and baby-faced young woman.
“Hi! My name’s Xiaolan, I’m going to be your assistant, but I’ve been working here for a few months so I can show you around!”
Some of your nerves begin to melt away. You are relieved by how nice your assistant is. And also a little bit grateful she looks younger than you.
Still, being hired as a lead designer at a major fashion company—let alone Belladonna—felt surreal. This was the company you’d spent years admiring from afar. The company whose collections you’d studied, whose designers you’d looked up to, and whose runways you’d watched online when you were supposed to be doing homework.
Xiaolan begins to walk you down the office, pointing out people, their names, and their jobs. You make a mental note to write all of this down. You just have to know all the ins and outs of this company, and analyzing people is one of your favorite pastimes.
“That’s Ms. Jones from marketing,” Xiaolan whispered as you passed a woman balancing three coffee cups and a stack of folders.
“How is she carrying all that?” you whispered.
“Years of practice.” Xiaolan answered quietly.
As if she had heard you, Ms. Jones turned.
“New designer?”
You nodded.
“Good luck.”
Then she continued down the hallway before you could ask what that was supposed to mean.
She introduces you to some of her friends without batting an eye. You notice just how friendly the whole atmosphere was.
Maybe this won’t be as bad as I thought.
The two of you continue through the office toward what you assume is your new workspace and Xiaolan suddenly remarks, “You know, I have to say, I was so happy when I found out I was gonna get to work under you! I have been following your page for like ever and even own some of your pieces! Everything you design for women feels so personal and I’m a huge fan!”
Your cheeks immediately blush. You knew some of your stuff had gone viral online, but seeing how it reached real people was still unreal.
“Seriously?” you ask. “You own my designs?”
“Three pieces!”
“That’s amazing! I really appreciate it, I pour my heart into all of them!”
“Honestly, when they announced you were joining Belladonna, everyone lost their minds.”
You blinked.
“Everyone?”
“Well… everyone in design, Mr Jinshi… yeah.”
You blinked.
“Everyone?”
“Well… everyone in design. And Mr. Jinshi too.”
You paused.
“Jinshi?”
“The Jinshi.”
You let out a short laugh.
“Okay, now I know you’re messing with me.”
“I’m not!”
You stared at her.
As far as you knew, Jinshi barely acknowledged anyone outside his own team. His family had been tied to the company for generations, his face was on half their campaigns, everyone seemed obsessed with him.
The idea that he’d paid attention to your work at all felt ridiculous.
“You’re serious?”
“He was one of the first people to ask for your portfolio.”
That is shocking. You stood there for a second, dumbfounded.
You and Xiaolan finally made it to where you assumed your workspace would be. After entering two humongous glass doors, you were greeted by a large white room with two green accent walls and tons of plants. On the left side were two desks, one significantly larger, one completely empty and a smaller one right next to it full of photos with friends, cute stickers and a fuzzy pink office chair that hardly looked functional. Right on cue Xiaolan exclaimed
“This is my desk, that’s yours! Ooo I should help you decorate it, wanna go shopping later???”
A little shocked but certainly glad by how quickly Xiaolan befriended you agreed to meet her after work. You noticed two other identical desks on the opposite side of the room, the larger one completely cluttered and the smaller one extremely neat.
“Xiaolan, whose desks are those?”
“Oh that’s Mr Jinshi and his assistant Mr Gaoshun’s space, although they’re always so busy they are hardly ever here”
“Wait, what?”
Xiaolan blinked.
“What?”
“You mean we’re sharing an office?”
“Well… yeah.”
You looked back at the empty desk.
Then at the other empty desk.
Then back at Xiaolan.
“With Jinshi? This is insane.”
“I mean, it’s not really that weird. You’re both lead designers.”
You stared at her.
“We’re talking about the same company, right?” You deadpan.
She shrugged.
“The CEO likes keeping the design department together.”
“Makes sense… I guess” you remark
Your gaze drifted back to the cluttered desk.
Sketchbooks were stacked haphazardly across one corner. Fabric swatches spilled from an overstuffed folder. Several coffee cups sat abandoned near a computer monitor.
For someone whose public image was always immaculate, his workspace looked surprisingly chaotic.
Huh.
Still a little thrown by the situation, you pushed thoughts of Jinshi aside and turned your attention to your own desk.
You had a new job, a new office, and approximately a thousand things to learn. Obsessing over a designer you’d never even met wasn’t exactly productive.
Even if his desk was oddly fascinating.
“Okay.”
You blinked and looked up.
Xiaolan was standing beside her desk, hands clasped together.
“Okay what?”
“Okay, enough staring at Mr. Jinshi’s desk.”
“I was not staring.”
“You absolutely were.”
“I was observing.”
“That’s somehow worse.”
You opened your mouth to argue before realizing she had a point.
With a sigh, you turned back to your own workspace.
“Fine. What am I supposed to be doing right now?”
Xiaolan immediately brightened.
“Actually, there is a department meeting in about twenty minutes.”
Your stomach dropped.
“Already?”
“Welcome to Belladonna.”
With a sigh you gather your things and follow Xiaolan
The conference room was already half full when you arrived.
Designers clustered around the long table in small groups, discussing sketches and fabric samples. A giant screen at the front of the room displayed mood boards for Belladonna’s upcoming Spring Collection.
You followed Xiaolan inside, trying not to look as nervous as you felt.
Several people glanced your way.
Right.
The new designer.
No pressure.
“Over here,” Xiaolan whispered, guiding you toward two empty seats.
As you sat down, your attention was immediately drawn to a chair near the front of the room.
It was empty.
What was strange was that nobody seemed willing to sit in it.
Not even as the remaining seats filled up.
You leaned toward Xiaolan.
“Reserved?”
She followed your gaze.
“Oh. That’s Mr. Jinshi’s seat.”
Of course it was. You roll your eyes, he’s probably not even that good.
Before you could respond, the room quieted.
A woman in an elegant pink suit entered the room and immediately commanded everyone’s attention.
The CEO. You would recognize her anywhere, she was an absolute icon and had been one of your inspirations for quite a while.
She offered a brief smile before setting a tablet on the table.
“Good morning everyone.”
A chorus of greetings followed.
“We have a lot to discuss today, so I’ll keep introductions brief.”
Her gaze landed on you.
Several heads turned.
You resisted the urge to sink into your chair.
“As most of you know, Belladonna has welcomed a new lead designer to the company. [your name], we are so excited to have you here.
Every eye in the room somehow found you at once.
You put on your best smile and posture, hoping to make a good impression
The CEO continued.
“We didn’t recruit her because we needed another designer.”
The room fell silent.
“We recruited her because we needed new ideas.”
A few people nodded.
You felt your face warm slightly.
“Her independent collections have consistently challenged industry trends and attracted a younger audience. Belladonna’s success has always depended on innovation, and I expect all of you to learn from one another.”
The attention finally shifted away from you, but you found yourself feeling very proud. You knew your work had just begun.
You released a breath you hadn’t realized you’d been holding.
The meeting moved on.
Upcoming deadlines.
Fabric sourcing.
Campaign schedules.
Department budgets.
Mostly things you planned to write down later so you wouldn’t immediately forget them.
Then the screen changed.
Images from previous collections appeared.
Collection after collection.
Award after award.
Magazine covers.
International campaigns.
One name appeared over and over again.
Jinshi.
You glanced at the empty chair.
Three consecutive Designer of the Year awards.
Seriously? This was honestly getting irritating.
“Mr. Jinshi’s concept presentation will be distributed later this week,” the CEO said.
A few employees scribbled notes.
You raised an eyebrow.
The man wasn’t even in the room and somehow half the meeting was still about him.
Beside you, Xiaolan covered a laugh.
“I can literally see you judging him.”
“I’m not judging him.”
“You absolutely are.”
“I’m evaluating.”
“That’s worse.”
Before you could defend yourself, the CEO spoke again.
“Mr. Jinshi is currently reviewing concepts with the executive team, so he won’t be joining us this morning.”
Several people nodded as if this were completely normal.
Of course it was.
The meeting continued for another twenty minutes before finally coming to an end.
Chairs scraped against the floor as people gathered their notes and headed for the door.
You remained seated for a moment.
Belladonna suddenly felt a lot more real.
A lot bigger.
And somehow, despite never having met him, one designer already seemed impossible to ignore.
You could do better
You just know you can do better.
And you’re going to prove it.
…
The rest of the afternoon passed in a blur.
Emails.
Paperwork.
Passwords.
At one point Xiaolan had appeared with an iced coffee and a stack of company guidelines before disappearing again.
By four o’clock, your desk looked significantly less depressing.
You leaned back in your chair, studying the sketches spread across the surface.
Belladonna’s spring collection.
You had dozens of ideas already.
Some good.
Some terrible.
Most somewhere in between.
You reached for a pencil and quickly adjusted the silhouette of one design.
No.
Still wrong.
You frowned.
The office was unusually quiet now.
Gaoshun’s desk remained immaculate.
Jinshi’s remained a disaster.
You found yourself glancing toward it more often than you’d like to admit, there was something oddly fascinating about it.
The sketchbooks, the fabric swatches, the coffee cups.
The evidence that someone actually used the space.
Not exactly the image Belladonna’s marketing department liked to present.
You smirked slightly.
Maybe he wasn’t as perfect as everyone claimed.
The office door opened.
You barely looked up.
“Mr. Jinshi—”
Gaoshun’s voice cut off abruptly.
Silence.
Interesting.
You finally lifted your head and immediately understood the problem.
The magazines had somehow under-sold him.
Irritating.
He was taller than you’d expected and, unfortunately, just as unfairly attractive.
Also irritating.
For a moment his attention remained fixed on Gaoshun.
Then his gaze shifted.
And landed on you.
A pause.
His eyes flicked briefly toward the sketches scattered across your desk.
Not your face, but the sketches.
You found that oddly reassuring.
“You must be the new designer.”
His voice was calmer than you’d expected.
You straightened slightly.
“And you must be Jinshi.”
One corner of his mouth lifted.
“I’ve heard a lot about you.”
You snorted.
“Funny. I’ve heard a lot about you too.”
His eyes briefly drifted toward the sketches scattered across your desk.
Then back to you.
“I was hoping they’d hire you.”
You blinked.
That wasn’t the response you’d expected.
“Why?”
The smile returned.
“It’s more interesting this way.”