Angel-Minet’s office was located in a renovated building with a modern look. The whole floor belonged to them, and there were two principal rooms : the open space, and Julie’s office. She was never inside, to be honest, she wanted to make sure that everything was perfect, so she was keeping an eye on the new hires.

  The office, designed with great care by Cyrielle, was a mix of modernity and artistry, with state-of-the-art computers, and desks that seemed to have come out of a 70’s magazine. On the walls were different pictures from her photoshoots, pstered on the brown wallpaper.

  Cyrielle got out of the elevator, and Julie ran to her.

  “Hello, baby ! Oh my, you are glowing, when did you get so beautiful ? Did you finish your work yesterday ? I was worried all evening that you wouldn’t eat properly, you tend to do that when you are too focused.”

  Cyrielle was secretly happy about the comments on her beauty, it was thanks to the upgraded gifts. But looking her friend up and down…

  “You are one to talk, you lost a lot of weight. You need to take care of yourself.”

  Shaking her hand to dismiss her friend’s concern, Julie led her to the center of the open space.

  “How can I take care of myself when there is so much to do ?”

  “That’s why you hired people, right ? Give them a task.”

  “They just arrived, how can I give them important matters to work on ? Anyway, don’t worry, I’m doing fine.”

  “If you don’t slow down on your work, I’ll quit this company.”

  While they were bickering, the staff was observing them with curiosity.

  ‘I heard rumors, but Mademoiselle Cyrielle seems really nice. I knew that the boss and her were best friends, but to see it in person… It’s different from what I expected. It seems like a nice environment to work in.’

  -Ting

  The elevator’s doors opened again, and a strict looking woman exited. Bernadette Dupuit nodded to the staff, and extended her hand to Cyrielle and Julie.

  “Hello, Mademoiselle Cyrielle !”

  “Hello to you too. No need to be so formal, just call me Cyrielle.”

  Bernadette smiled elegantly, but inside she was having a little party.

  ‘Good job, Bernadette ! She trusts you enough to be casual ! You really had a stroke of genius by negotiating for the TV show appearance. Too bad you weren’t the one to introduce the photoshoot at Versailles, but you just need to double your efforts !’

  On the other hand, the newly hired staff was having a mental fit.

  ‘Is it Bernadette Dupuit, the editor-in-chief for Femme Frenchie ? What is she doing here ? Mademoiselle Cyrielle modeled for a cover, but were they really that close ?’

  They were interrupted in their thoughts by Julie calling for a meeting. Everybody made their way to the conference room, and sat around a U-shaped table. Julie connected her ptop to the video projector, and slides appeared on the white wall.

  “Before we start with the meeting, I would like all of you to introduce yourselves. You will work together, it’s important to know your roles.”

  A nervous looking man with a snder nose and a tall frame stood up first. He seemed fragile, like a baby deer walking on ice, which contrasted with his stature.

  “Hello, my name is Yannis Fabre, I am the newly appointed secretary for Angel-Minet. I may be a little nervous, but I have a lot of experience !”

  Julie nodded.

  “I saw your resume, it’s pretty outstanding. Try to work on your presentation, you need to seem reliable. But either way, if you do your job properly, there won’t be any issue. Next ?”

  It was a composed girl’s turn. She bowed slightly to Cyrielle.

  “Hello, I am Domitille Bonnot, the accountant.”

  It was short and straight to the point, the typical image of an accountant. A bck haired woman stood up next. She seemed very casual, the total opposite of Yannis and Domitille.

  “Hi, I’m Louise Andrieux, I’m a video editor. I’ll also take care of the moderation for social media until you hire someone else.”

  Bernadette squeezed her lips in a disapproving pout.

  ‘She doesn’t seem very professional… Should I have taken care of the recruitment ? No, she must be here for a reason.’

  Julie nodded, and turned to the st person. It was a nice looking man with striking blonde hair and blue eyes.

  “Hello, I’m Vincent Felpin, I’m a cameraman who will follow Mademoiselle Cyrielle in her activities !”

  Cyrielle furrowed her brows, which made the air in the room feel freezing. After some time, she finally opened her mouth.

  “You were the one who filmed my concert at the boat, right ?”

  Indeed, Vincent was one of the two men hired to film her performance on Bordeaux’s boat. He had even outdid himself when he gave a finished edited video instead of the raw cuts.

  “Yes, it’s me ! I’m gd you remember, I didn’t expect you to know my face ! This concert was really the start for me, the video of the concert became viral and I had a lot of offers coming my way, but I refused everything and came to Paris as soon as I saw the recruit notice.”

  ‘Did I just prevent a talented guy from following his dreams ? I remember Julie telling me he wanted to be a cinematographer, but now he’ll just record videos for a MyTube channel. Isn’t that a waste ?’

  She shook her head and said in a compassionate tone.

  “I’m honored you chose me instead of your dream. You would have been successful as a cinematographer, considering the quality of the concert’s video.”

  Vincent’s legs started to shake, he almost fell backwards.

  “You… You remember my dream ?!”

  Before he could faint, Julie smoothly changed the subject.

  “Bernadette, do you want to introduce yourself too ?”

  Femme Frenchie’s editor-in-chief nodded and stood up.

  “Hello, I am Bernadette Dupuit. I work for a magazine, but I am also Mademoiselle Cyrielle’s fashion agent.”

  The staff almost fell from their chairs, except for Vincent who was still stunned. The famous Bernadette Dupuit, Cyrielle’s agent ? It didn’t make any sense. They suddenly felt that they weren’t hired by a normal entertainment company. What they had stepped into was much bigger.

  Julie stood up and pointed to the slides on the wall.

  “Let’s start the meeting now. We’ll begin by showing the current state of Angel-Minet talent agency. As you know, we have only one talent as of now, it’s Mademoiselle Cyrielle. Here is her current performance.”

  She pressed a button and various screenshots appeared.

  [Mademoiselle Cyrielle]

  Subscribers : 1,3M

  Videos : 121

  @MademoisL_CyriL

  Followers : 912,471

  Posts : 39

  It was her MyTube and Instantgram accounts. Cyrielle was amazed. She hadn’t checked her social media in a while, focused on her album as she was, and she had no idea so many people liked her content. It wasn’t wrong to say she was one of the biggest content creators in France, not yet in the top 100, but not that far away either.

  “Keep in mind that she has an international audience, approximately 20% of the comments on her videos are in another nguage, with a bigger proportion of english and german messages. Now, let’s see her recent issues and how she rose to fame.”

  It was basically an expose on Cyrielle’s career. How she had sung in a bar, created a MyTube channel with her a capel covers, went on stage with ‘Heavy Protector’, started interior design videos, sung at a drag show, did photoshoots… All until now. Cyrielle got teary eyed. It all went by in a fsh, but she had truly worked hard with Julie. Having a million subscribers in six months would have been unimaginable without dedicating their blood and tears to it. Even the new hires were impressed.

  ‘All of that in six months ? I thought she had been doing MyTube for a long time, or that she had a backer, but it was only hard work ? This is insane !’

  After Julie finished the expose by talking about the most recent issue, the scandal with Coline, she changed the slide again.

  “Now, let’s talk about what is to come. Firstly, tomorrow a magazine will drop with Coline Fntier as the principal model. Mademoiselle Cyrielle was the one to design her outfits, and that fact will probably blow up once it becomes known. That’s why Louise needs to finish editing the outfit creation video as soon as possible, so that we can ride on that issue.”

  The video editor nodded. Julie then turned to Cyrielle.

  “The recording studio is rented for next week, are the songs ready for the album ?”

  “They will be by next week. I went with 12 tracks, is that okay ?”

  “Perfect.”

  Bernadette froze.

  “Wait… album ?”

  Julie giggled. She had kept the matter a secret on purpose.

  “Yes, Mademoiselle Cyrielle will release her first album by the end of june.”

  This time, it was the entire staff who had eyes so wide they were about to pop out of their skulls.

  “An album ? You mean original songs ?”

  “Wait, who is the composer ? Did Mademoiselle Cyrielle do everything herself ?”

  “Is it a joke ? Boss, is she really releasing an album ?”

  They were all panicking, but froze again when music resounded in the room, coming from Cyrielle’s phone. It was a beautiful and mencholic bald, with lyrics about pain and overcoming your sufferings. The acoustic guitar went well with the tune, smoothly transitioning to an electric violin for the climax. They had never heard anything like this before, it was undoubtedly an original song.

  “This will be the title track.”

  She neatly stopped the music and sat back elegantly. Everybody mimicked her, as if in a trance. It wasn’t a joke, Mademoiselle Cyrielle was going to release an album, and a fantastic one at that, if they were to believe what they had just heard.

  Bernadette was having a mental fit.

  ‘The more I know her, the more incredible she is. How is she so talented ? It doesn’t make any sense ! Was she not in the fashion industry before ? Was it the music industry ? Both ? I don’t know, I’m so confused ! But do I need to understand ? No, it’s my job not to pry. I just need to do my best to help her, and ride on her fame a little bit to take my career to new heights.’

  Julie had a satisfied look on her face, while watching the silent room. Judging the situation to be somewhat resolved, she changed the slide again.

  “That’s why we’ll create a new project. It’s a mini docuseries about the creation of Mademoiselle Cyrielle’s first album. Vincent, we’ll need you more than ever, to capture all the steps it takes, including the concert for World Music Day where the first original songs will be unveiled.”

  The cameraman gdly nodded. Filming another one of Mademoiselle Cyrielle’s concerts ? Watching for free a second show of this incredible singer ? It was a dream come true.