Cruella x Reader Oneshot Collection (GXG)

Open Your Heart - Part 1

Request summary: Y/N and Estella both work forthe baroness and get together at work. {A request from my IRL best friend, who I force to read all of my fanfics in the early hours of the morning.} 

AN- This is part 1/ 3 

When my alarm clock rang on that Monday morning, I woke up expecting it to be a normal mundane day at work. I opened my curtains to look out at the bleak dark sky that overshadowed London, wishing that I didn't have to be awake so early. As I got myself ready for another day at work, all I felt was the existential dread of another day working for the Baroness. It isn't that I didn't enjoy my job, in fact it was quite the opposite, I loved it. Being a designer was my dream. Being able to create dresses that can only be described as spectacular pieces of art was amazing. It made me feel so accomplished and fulfilled.

But working for the Baroness was an absolute nightmare. She was a horrendous boss. She was demanding, rude and disparaging. She gave little thought to anybody else's feelings, never acknowledging anybody else's accomplishments and she took all the credit for everybody else's hard-work. I often thought about leaving, but working in the fashion industry was my dream and I was so passionate about my job. I would have been stupid to throw away such an opportunity. So every morning I would drag myself out of bed and hope that each day would be better than the last. But it rarely ever was. Until that fateful Monday.

There seemed to be a gloomy atmosphere in the air that morning. The sun had not yet fully risen, and the sky was covered in a dense blanket of grey clouds that covered the usual vivid colours of the morning horizon. The roads were quiet and there was a stillness that radiated throughout the city as I walked the dimly lit city streets of London to work, with no idea what that day would entail. As soon as I got to work I settled myself at my work station. I could feel the Baronesses cold glare fill the room as she stood at the window of her office looking down on me and my fellow colleagues, waiting for us to get started at work. Though her last show had only just finished, we were expected to immediately get started on designs for her next show.

I sat at my work station mindlessly sketching my design ideas. As I looked up from my sketchbook my eyes were met with the most captivating woman I had ever seen. She was dressed all in black, and wore a beret that framed her beautiful red hair. She had piercing emerald green eyes that instantly enthralled me. She was the girl that everybody had been talking about, the grubby one that was covered in trash when the Baroness scouted her from Liberty a few days prior. She stood behind Jeffrey, just momentarily taking in her surroundings. I could tell she was a little nervous but I couldn't help but momentarily admire her beauty from a distance, as I looked at her in wonderment.

All of a sudden a stony silence fell upon the room, and as the Baronesses voice interrupted my thoughts. I now raised my gaze to her, as she stood peering down at the factory floor from the staircase of her office. She held up the fashion section of Tattletale as she began to read about her recent show, which had been dubbed as a triumph.

"She really is a genius." The baroness repeated in a smug arrogant tone that left a bitter taste in my mouth.

"Yeah right." I muttered to myself under my breath.

The Baroness was many things, but she was not the genius people made her out to be. She had talent and the ability to create beautiful designs, but she never did. As usual she had just taken the credit and success for other people's hard work, never praising them and arrogantly disregarding their feelings and input. It had happened so many times now it was the norm, and part of me had grown to accept that that was just the way working in the fashion industry was. But that never stopped me feeling bitter, especially when I had personally worked myself to the bone to design her latest triumphant signature piece.