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Chapter 35: The Atelier

Author: Sire Bliss
last update Last Updated: 2025-11-08 01:07:40

Monday arrived too quickly and too slowly at the same time.

I’d barely slept, running through every possible scenario. What if Genevieve had changed her mind? What if this was some elaborate joke? What if I showed up and she didn’t even remember inviting me?

Clara had helped me pick an outfit. Simple black pants, a white blouse, my only pair of decent shoes. Professional but not trying too hard.

“You look perfect,” she said, straightening my collar for the third time. “Now go. And don’t come back until you have a job.”

The atelier was in a beautiful old building near Saint-Sulpice, the kind with massive wooden doors and a courtyard hidden from the street. I checked the address on the card three times before pressing the buzzer.

“Oui?” A woman’s voice, crackling through the intercom.

“I’m here to see Madame Moreau. My name is Serena Moore. She asked me to come at two.”

A long pause. Then the door buzzed open.

Inside, the building was even more beautiful. Spiral staircase. Original mold
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