She Can't See

chapter three

She always used to admire my sketches when we were younger.

"So," Asami bit back her lower lip after a few moments of silence between them. She eyed her father from the side, trying to figure out what he was thinking, but he only showed a stable expression. As always. She exhaled. "Do you like it?"

"You certainly have a brilliant mind, Asami. One of the best I have ever had the pleasure of witnessing." Hiroshi complimented. She always had a hard time dignifying if his words of affirmation were sincere or not, but she always took them to heart and not for granted. 

"Thank you." She said, beginning to twiddle her fingers again. "But ...?"

"You don't think it's a bit too ... out of character?"

Asami felt her stomach drop, along with her previous forced smile. She looked back to the sketch with furrowed brows. "What do you mean?"

"The design of it hardly fits anything I've created here before. Just look at it. It's curvier than others, different seating styles. What did you have in mind for the color pattern? Or were you planning on giving a variety?"

"Well, it's not exactly decided yet," She looked back to the large paper at the upper right corner. When going through the process, she thought about putting down a small key with the color pallete, though she ended up going against that. "But I was thinking that we could maybe try a dark blue shade with brown seats. It would be a nice change from the usual black, red, and gray theme."

Hiroshi rose a brow and stiffened his posture. "Nice change?" 

"Oh, um," Asami could sense her own panic taking over. "I didn't mean it like what we have now is bad, because it's not. I only meant that I feel we could expand designs. With all due respect, dad, some of our automobiles have been seen as repetitive as of recent."

"Repetitive?" Somehow, his brow rose higher at that. "Where did you get that from?"

"When you first assigned me with this project, I took it upon myself to look up some statistics, reviews, and articles about Future Industries compared to our some of our competitors." 

"Future Industries has no competitors, Asami. Not any worthy ones, anyway."

"True. However, based off of my research, I figured that with a larger variety of designs, the larger our audience grows. It's a simple fact, really. With this new design, it may and probably will attract more people." She spoke with strength. 

"Interesting." He leaned down to scope out the drawing once more. "And how did you even come up with this? Despite what I think about it matching my brand, I have to give it to you - it's quite original."

She smiled as wide as she could bring herself to. "Thank you." She said. "And I'm not sure. I guess it just came to me one night." That ... was a lie. Asami had spent days simply trying to figure out if what she had in mind would even be appropriate. She was lucky that it was easy to bend the truth in that.

"Excellent."

"Alright, so is this you saying that you'll think about it?"

Hiroshi didn't respond immediately, which caused for Asami to become self conscious again. She studied the sketch as if it was her first time seeing it. One second, she let herself admire her own work and creativity. In the next second, she wanted to crumble up the blueprint and toss it in the nearest garbage can. 

"It's a possibility." Hiroshi finally answered. It sounded flat rather than promising. 

"Oh, okay." Asami nodded with her lips spread into a thin line.