Blurred | King of Hartz

4: That Just Happened

𝚂𝚒𝚕𝚊𝚜 𝙷𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚣

"Wow a lot of renovations have transpired since my last visit" Darren spoke looking around Desioba.

"Wait till you see their break room" my greedy ass was eating all the complimentary muffins during my first visit. Tis the season of a dad bod. I smirked at my thoughts as we walked over towards the huge crowd of people.

"Ah Darren it's a pleasure to meet you" I stopped in my tracks once Peter Dunkin walked in front of us with his usual earpiece. "Would you like a coffee?"

"Actually yes if you don't mind" he asked his assistant politely before letting her scurry off.

"I just gathered everyone up to start discussing our goals for the upcoming release party"

"I'll get this started and then we can have our one on one as planned" he said towards Darren. We walked over to everyone as the hushed conversations came to a stop. I leaned against one of the wall beams with my arms folded.

"Goodmorning everyone, I hope everyone has had the time to go over the very detailed email I sent. From this day forward I expect every single one of you to present your best work, do we understand?" Everyone nodded collectively. "Alrighty I'm going to pass the torch to Mr.Hartz"

Once he walked out of earshot with Darren, I pushed off the wall. "Shit relax y'all shoulders, a nigga ain't gonna bite"

A couple of people let out a laugh. "Please call me Silas, I'm not with the formalities. It makes me feel old as hell"

"Ahem but you should be with the professionalism" an older black lady said with a disapproving look. I glanced her up and down.

"Anywho, Speeches aren't my strong suit but I will try my best to inform you of what I'm looking for in this project" a hand shot up.

"Wassup?"

"Um I heard that you will be picking a few of us to work with you on the actual designs" I nodded.

"Yeah, this week I want to hold a friendly competition to see where everyone's skillset is"

"Dang so weeding us out then?" One of the guys muttered.

"Nah I want to make sure everyone in this room is included in some way, but I also want the best of the best to work alongside me at my building... Fair?" A couple people nodded in agreement.

"Aight cool, if y'all did your research on both me and Ms. Vera White. I want you to crate a design that speaks volume to what are purpose of designing clothes is for"

"Oh psh that's easy" I raised an eyebrow.

"Word? Tell me why did I start Azure?" I asked throwing him on the spot. He looked up as his pencil stopped moving as he cleared his throat.

"To venture outward to more clientele because of your last name"

"Yeah your obviously ain't do no research nig—" the older lady glared at me. "—ninja"

"This may seem easy for a lot of you but one thing I realize that designers lack is originality and identity. Does anyone here know the reasoning on why Vera White got into fashion?"

It was quiet for a moment before a hand rose towards the back. I moved my gaze over there, as my eyes locked with Solani. She cleared her throat. "Go 'head"

"She speaks a lot about how her mother influenced her passion for fashion. Her mother was a seamstress and created all of Ms.White's clothes and she talks greatly about how it gave her a boost of confidence going to school." She started as a few people eyed her. "When her mother passed that's when she took fashion more seriously and wanted to spread that same joy of creating clothes that people could feel good in and express themselves"