An interview

“Welcome chairman,” The secretary dressed in a flawless pinstriped suit and pants bowed. “If you’ll come with me.” 

Blaine nodded, and walked behind her, and they were soon before a door which the woman said led to a VIP waiting room, before the show started.

He walked in, and was surprised to see Ariel standing inside, intently listening to a staff member at the media house explain something while pointing to a tablet in his hand. 

He was shocked that she had shown up. After that ruckus this afternoon, he did not think she would show up.

“Sullivan?” He whispered over his shoulder without looking back.

“Not here,” Ethan responded from behind him, and he grimaced. 

Why would Sullivan let his wife come here all alone when he did not even like him to breathe in her direction? 

He knew he would be here, so why did he not show up beside her? Could this be a trap?

He walked into the room and everyone finally seemed to notice his presence, and turned around except for Ariel. 

He went to a chester sofa far away in the room, sat down and took his tablet from Ethan who was taking a seat beside him. 

He did not plan to disturb Ariel, at least not today.

“Chairman?”

Blaine raised his head to look up at Ethan.

“There’s an email from the chairwoman asking when you would like to go over the designs to correct them?”

“When did that email come in?” 

“Just now.”

Blaine looked up at her, and from the way her movements, became a little more animated as she spoke to her P. A, he knew she was aware that he was watching her. 

He smiled and looked away. An email right after he walked in?

She could have come to say it to him herself.

“Chairman?” 

“Tell her whenever she wants. I will be available whenever she wants,” he said, and plugged in airpods into his ear. 

He turned the document into an audio file and began to listen to it, closing his eyes, so everything stuck to his brain.

Refreshments came in, more reading of his script, Ethan disclosing that he had sent a response to Ariel, and Blaine finally opened his eyes when it was time to get started. 

He and Ariel walked right past each other without speaking, and he saw her glance up at him with confusion, and was sure she was still looking as he went to the restroom.

“You’re both ready?” The secretary returned, and smiled at them behind the curtains minutes later.

Ariel smiled back at her, and Blaine nodded.

“Wait for your cue, and you can walk in.” She smiled brightly, and mumbled something into the microphone that was clipped towards her lips as she walked away.

The silence between them made the place tense, but he did not break it because, for the first time since she reappeared, he saw a glimpse of nervous Ariel. 

The shy one who blabbered from being flustered and could not even look you in the face.

Maybe he had been taking the wrong approach this whole time. 

Maybe him acting calm and disinterested is what would fluster the truth out of her. This Ariel was the version he would be able to get through to and get information out of her.

The secretary raised a hand to them, and signaled for them to go in, and Blaine waited for Ariel to take the lead, and he followed past the curtains. 

He took in her pink suit that transitioned into a veil of the same suit fabric that touched her ankles. 

When she turned around and waited so they took a seat together, the front of her outfit was just like any other suit, and she looked just as brisk as any other male engineer. 

The interview started with Blaine and Ariel sharing a couch and watching the show host, while the crew were behind.

Blaine thought about how he would never have accepted the invitation if this was not a privately filmed show with no audience. 

He could not stand the other kind.

The host thanked them for coming and turned to Ariel with a smile to say it was not a common thing to see female automobile designers, and what inspired her to come up with these models.

Ariel smiled, nodding as she spoke, but in the end told her she was not the brain behind the designs, she just worked with Blaine to perfect them. 

Of course, the host knew all this, but it was part of the script to ease into the conversation. 

The host turned to him with a brilliant smile and then flattered him with praise, stating how few founders or chairmen ever got their hands dirty with work.

Blaine smiled quietly, wondering if that was a jab at Sullivan. 

He thanked her and said he loved his job so much and believed this would still have been his line of work if he was not a Tucker.

The host nodded, and ran through all the basic questions: how they thought their eco-friendly designs would impact the industry, how sustainable this was for their consumers, how long they thought before they began to see a shift in the industry with more businesses inspired and following their model.

He and Ariel took turns responding, and he thought everything was going well till he heard the host say,

“Can you walk us through the design process for this model,” she smiled, looking between both of them, “What were the biggest challenges you faced while perfecting it?”

Blaine noticed Ariel stiffen even though the soft smile was still on her face, and he hoped his face was betraying nothing too.

This question had been nowhere in that script. He had gone over the script that he had turned to audio, twice, and he did not hear this.

So why the hell would she suddenly ask something like this? 

This was a sensitive topic for him and Ariel even though no one else knew it. 

But did the host know about it after all? 

Did someone tip her off and that was why she threw the question in like that without prior notice?