Love,Love?Love!-{ Dropped }

'Why do I always get nervous'

Lou let out a breath of air, adjusted his tie, unbuttoned his blue and yellow checked suit jacket and walked through the double doors of Yovuge International headquarters.

The building was quietly hidden in the middle of the city, with its grey facade that matched the surrounding building and titleless outerface. Though it housed a company that was currently enjoying a bloom in the fashion industry across the globe and rapidly expanding.

A large park and an old disused 18th century esc school surrounded the building with other commercial buildings surrounding it in the middle of the old side of the city.

Luo held his portfolio, refixing his tie; he walked into a bright modern reception area, that was decorated with ceiling printed fabrics, images of models and magazine covers on the wall.

A girl with short hair and glass sat behind the desk " Hi, I'm for the group interviews, at 10:00"

He was taken to an area full of other suited mixed individuals. A few were nervously tapping their feet, biting their nails or were very relaxed, tapping away of their phones until the group of around 30 people were eventually taken to a large hall filled with desks.

A lady in a pair of beige bowed high waisted trousers, a cream loose shirt and beige wedge shoes, walked into the room being followed by a group of woman, each carrying folders in their arms.

She stood in front of the group " Good morning to you and thank you all for coming. We don't have much time, so I'll get right to it. For your interview's today, you will all be given three test's, one for languages, a practical test and a surprise final test for those who are still remaining by the end of the day, finishing with a one to one, with me and my colleagues….any questions?...no?okay….

We will begin the first test straight away, here at Yogvue we want to be international, a brand that people look at it and want to wear, regardless of what country that they are in. So everyone regardless of position, must be able to communicate in another language, that's why it was stressed on the job adverts "

" Now, you can either take a German, French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Russian, South Korean or Chinese test paper…. These are the countries we are operating in and also want to expand too, just let the assistants know your prefered choice when you take your seats...we'll begin in 10mins" With that said, she signaled to the group behind her, they waited till the applicants had sat down in their seats and walked towards them.

" French please, thank you " Lou undid the top button of his shirt collar, twirling his neck a bit, while glossing though the 4 page handout.

The atmosphere of the room turned heavy as a few of the candidates started swearing or groaning underneath their breathes, causing a sly smile to appear on the examiners face.

' translated this news article to French ' Lou flicked through the pages, licked his red lips and started writing away, whilst the other applicants had sweaty brows and confused faces.

' Using french write a 350 word submission on the chosen subject and the garment in question ' Lou leaned back in his chair, rocking a pencil between his fingers, the image of a woman in a feathered fluffy black jacket and thin waist belt left him feeling stumped for a moment. ' l'obscurité du manteau se bloque…. That's too cheesy'

.....

" Okay! Time's up…. we'll evaluate your scores, you may use the break rooms provided in the meantime and prepare yourself for the next test, my colleague JJ will guide you to the rooms "

Lou yawned, stretched his arms out causing the rest of the group to look at him " sorry... sorry" He shoved his hands into his pockets as they walked down a small corridor, into glassed side rooms filled with a tv, small sofas, vending machines and a mini kitchen.

" Which one are you here for?"

Lou furrowed his brows, he looked at the man dressed in a tightly fitted textured navy suit." Photography, you? "

" Hahaha, I don't mean that bro...the women, which one you got your eye on? I've got my eye on the examiner " he patted Lou's shoulder with a cheeky grin.

Lou raised his eyebrows "You came here only for the women?"

" Yeh and the chusty job, same as those guys over there " he nodded to a group of guys who were conversing near the sink with coffee in hand. " So come on spill, we don't want to cross streams, aye!"

Lou shifted in the seat " uh I don't know..they're all okay? I guess "

The man's eyes grew wider than a drawbridge, his jaw dropped to the floor " Bro! Do you not see where you are! This is a mecca for men! You've got to have one "

"okay?' Luo said with puzzled expression

The man tutted and walked away to the group of men, Luo could see they were conversing about him, so he buried his head into the magazine, like it was a newspaper tabloid.

…...

They returned back into the large hall, where the large group of 30 people was whittled down to 12. Luo could no longer see the navy suited man and his troop.

" You guys did really well on the tests… as I've said before we know you are applying for different positions but at Yovuge, we push for teamwork across all of our departments and encourage adaptability as a must have skill for all. So for you next next test, you'll have 6 hours to print out 5, A2 prints, of sets that you've photographed using, clothes that you've thrifted from around here and it must all be themed "

The hall turned dead silent when they heard that

" Will you supply us with models and set pieces?" One of the applicants asked.

"You'll have to source all of those yourself "

" Can we do it group?"

" If you want but you'll have to produce 10, if you are in a group of 2, 15 in a group of 3 and so on"

Murmurs started occurring as the 11 started talking amongst each other, while Luo was looking left and right standing to the side like a spare tyre

' ah, fuck'

" You'll start in 40mins, you'll have to be back here by 2:30pm, with the prints on this table,,,,the doors to this room will shut and close at exactly 2:30, do I make myself clear?" The examiner pointed to a row of light tables that had been placed behind her.

" Yes/Yeah/uh" the room responded

As they were talking , the group of assistants rolled out a table with camera equipment and kits.

Lou opened up his phone, looking at his contact list ' work and Peta… I should have made more friends for moments like these' he never signed harder at his lack of resources.

He put his phone away, looking around the hall at the remaining 11 people who had split into smaller groups. ' 12 X 5 equals 60 prints , 4ish problems, sourcing stuff, location, editing, and printing…..hmm, we could print here, only need 2 models and the rest to help out … get them together and this should be a breeze to do'

With his arms loosely crossed, he approached one of the smaller groups first with a wave of hand " hi"

The mixed group of men and women looked at him " We've got enough people, you can maybe join the other groups" said one of the members as he pointed to another group of 4 applicants.

" Ah,umm well..I,I" Lou licked his lips under the gaze of the group members.

" You okay" one of them asked

"Yeah,thanks... Look! I,I thought that all 12 of us could team up.. it would make things much easier.."

" What do you mean?" Raised eyebrows and confused looks were directed at him.

" Wel…..we would have groups like a car assembly… one group would handle sourcing the outfits, one would do the shoot, a small group would be the models, one handles the edits/prints, whilst the last group handles the presentation/word copy " Luo said whilst rocking on his heels

" They didn't say anything about handing in a presentation or word copy " one of the members asked, as he looked at his fellow members.

" I,I,I think that um.... the tests are interlinked in some way...we were writing articles and describing images in the previous test, so that's mostly their output standards or something, an image and a piece of text… if that makes sense " Lou said with one hand in his pocket, whilst the other flayed in the air

" Yeah that could work ".. some of the members nodded slightly

" More heads are definitely better " one the members said.

" Hey, KL, you guys wait a moment, we've got an idea " one of the member ran over to the group of 4 as the rest of the group started talking to the 3 outliers.