Chapter 42 Publisher

"Are you sure about this?"

Standing in front of the building, Eva looked at Christian with concern.

'I'm finally here... mom had a little trouble patenting the book since patenting something in a child's name makes everything more difficult... I insisted that she do it in her name, but she flatly refused the idea, saying she wouldn't take credit for her little boy... thanks to the examiner who was studying if my book was patentable was understanding and explained everything patiently, it was all over without any problems after 2 weeks and 3 days, something quite fast in my opinion, where the normal thing to do is to wait months' Looking at the building with bright eyes, Christian turned and smiled, while pulling Eva's hand "Don't worry mom, I'm ready, now let's go in!"

"Welcome to Lyon Editorial, how can I help you?"

As they entered the building, a receptionist greeted them with a professional smile.

"Hello good morning, I bring a book I would like to publish with this publishing house"

"Do you have an appointment scheduled with a publisher?"

"This... no, we don't" With confusion, Eva turns to Christian, who was observing the whole area.

"I'm sorry if you don't have an appointment scheduled I can't let you in, but you can leave your work and we will contact you the moment it is read by our publishers" With an apologetic expression, the receptionist shook his head, then took out a brochure and left it on the table "You would have to fill this out with your details and wait for us to contact you."

"No, that's a long time, I'm sure I'd have to wait months before I'd hear back, and I wouldn't even be sure they'd accept my work" Shaking his head quickly, Christian turned towards the exit, without a second thought "Let's go, mom"

With a complicated expression, Eva moved a little closer to the man and whispered "Sorry for the inconvenience, but... Would there be any possibility for my son to talk to a publisher? It's just that he started writing a lot of books, dozens of them... and a few weeks ago he told me that he would like people to read what he writes... I'm afraid he can't cope with rejection because of his young age, and because of rejection, he won't do what he likes anymore... he's just a kid, but he's been through a lot... please try something"

Turning his head towards the white-haired boy, the receptionist showed a soft expression, then sighed and smiled at Eva "I will make an exception just for today, it turns out that a writer already had a contract with another company and advised me that he would not be coming today, but make no mistake, just because you have the opportunity to talk to the editors, does not mean they will accept him"

"That will do, thank you very much" Smiled Eva cheerfully.

"It's still a little while before your time, exactly 2 hours, but in the meantime you can fill out the brochure" Asked the receptionist, typing quickly on his computer.

"Yes, thank you very much, I really appreciate it" Smiling gratefully, Eva took the paper and led Christian to the sitting position, while the boy turned to the receptionist and squinted 'that bastard smiles a lot at mommy'

Although Eva didn't tell Christian how she managed to talk to an editor, Christian could hear everything perfectly, something that even he doesn't understand because of the distance between them, not to mention that Eva was whispering.

So the hours passed, Eva handed the brochure with all her information to the man, while Christian took a notebook out of his backpack, and drew to pass the time.

"Miss Eva, you can come in, you have to go up to the third floor and walk to the last office on the left. The editor's name is Adrienne Martin. I wish you luck" Smiling 'sweetly' the receptionist pointed towards the elevator.

"Thank you very much" Smiling slightly, Eva took Christian by the hand and led him towards the elevator.

The time for Eva seemed to be infinite, inside she was quite nervous and scared, she had never touched the subject of publishing before, but for Christian, she studied a bit about it.

Thanks to many comments on the internet, she knows that there are stupid people in the publishing houses that can break the whole self-esteem of an adult, let alone a child.

In his mind, he has a thousand questions 'What if he gets rejected? What if he gets sad? What if he decides not to write anymore? What if they treat him badly? Doubts and insecurities gnaw at her mind, even more so if all the negative things that can happen are to her child. She herself tried to read a book by Christian, Harriet Potter, but unfortunately, she fell asleep after 10 minutes. Not because the book was bad, but because reading was never something she enjoyed, preferring sports over reading, and thanks to the fact that she didn't read anything, she doesn't know the high quality of the books written.

Between her ramblings, Eva found herself in front of the door they should enter, turning to Christian, Eva took a deep breath and spoke "Christian, my boy...promise me one thing, yes?"

"Mn"

"Promise me that you will never stop doing what you love because of third-party comments... no matter what people say, do what you enjoy the most, got it?"

Smiling slightly, Christian nodded "Don't worry mom, I'll remember your words"

With a sigh of relief, at the reassurance in Christian, Eva turned and knocked on the door.

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

"You may come in"

With tension, Eva opened the door, instantly greeting the woman sitting at the desk.

"Hello, good morning"

Looking up from the computer, the woman returned the greeting "Good morning"

Adrienne was a woman of about 32, she had glasses over her brown eyes, long curly hair while wearing a formal business suit.

[A/N: The description of all non-important characters, will be somewhat vague to avoid adding unnecessary words to the story, but if you want me to give physical details for each irrelevant character, you can tell me and I'll make the effort]

Gesturing to the empty seats in front of the desk, Adrienne spoke "Have a seat please"

"Thank you"

Taking Christian by the hand, Eva moved forward and sat down, setting Christian on her lap.

Looking at the child in front of her, Adrienne frowned slightly, then turned to Eva "Excuse me, but there can't be any children in this office"

"Why not?" replied Eva with a frown, as she narrowed her eyes at the woman.

"It's simply publisher's rules, I'm sorry"

"But he's the person who wrote the book we're bringing you today"

"He?" Pointing her finger at Christian while arching her eyebrows, Adrienne shook her head and pointed her hand toward the door "Miss Eva, if you think we will accept your book just because you say a child wrote it, you are quite naive. I have already seen many cases of desperate writers making up anything to make their book 'something unique', please leave my office"

Furrowing her eyebrows to the extreme, Eva looked coldly at the woman "Are you saying my child couldn't write books?"

"Of course he could, but those books are only there for parents to appreciate, not to sell or distribute" With a professional, but mocking smile for Eva, Adrienne replied.

"Are you saying that what my son writes is dog shit to you?" leaning a little closer to the desk, Eva spoke coldly, while her gaze looked as if it might penetrate the woman at any moment.

"You said it, not me" Raising her eyebrows in surprise, Adrienne spoke with disguised astonishment.

"Who do you think you-?"

But just as Eve had lost patience with the flippant woman, Christian took her hand, while directing a reassuring smile at her.

"Let's go, mom, we're wasting our time here"

Getting off Eva's legs, Christian helped her up and without giving the woman another glance, walked towards the exit with the frowning Eva.

"Une femme stupide, pensant qu'elle pouvait s'en tirer avec un mensonge aussi évident" (A stupid woman, thinking she could get away with such an obvious lie - French Idiom).

But as they were about to leave the room, the woman spoke behind their backs, causing Christian to instantly stop his steps, as a cold light seemed to shine through his eyes.

Turning to the woman, Christian narrowed his eyes "What did you just say?"

Raising her eyebrows, the woman just smiled nonchalantly "Nothing, I was just singing"

With the pain in his stomach confirming that he understood correctly what she said, Christian looked coldly at the woman "I'm just a child and children are usually underestimated all the time, that's why I let your words pass, since, if I were an adult, I would also find it hard to believe that a child wrote a good book, but... you just insulted my mother, that's something I won't let pass in silence"

Furrowing her eyebrows at the child's tone of voice, Adrienne replied impatiently "What are you talking about child?"

"Une femme stupide, pensant qu'elle pouvait s'en tirer avec un mensonge aussi évident" Spoke Christian, perfectly imitating the woman's tone of voice "Don't believe me stupid. Je comprends aussi le français, espèce de femme stupide" (I understand French too, stupid woman)

Widely opening her eyes, the woman froze staring at the child.

"Is something wrong?"

While Eva, still furious at what they just experienced, asked Christian with a frown.

"This woman thinks she's so smart, she just insulted you in French, thinking she's the only one who can speak more than one language in this room."

Unable to scowl any longer, Eva did turn to Adrienne, looking at her with uncovered aggression, but as she was about to approach her to hit her, Christian stopped her.

"Leave it, you get nothing out of violence, you'll only get hurt" Shaking his head, Christian turned towards the exit 'We have no proof of what the woman said or her attitude, if mom causes a scandal, the editorial will only protect their employee's side and her image, mom would get hurt for nothing'

"Don't forget my next words Ms. Adrienne, you will regret in the future everything you did today. My name is Christian Grey, it doesn't matter if you forget my name now, because in the future you will hear it everywhere, whether you want to or not" Without turning to the woman to speak to her, Christian walked out of the office, tugging on the hand of the furious Eva.

Already going down the elevator, Christian kept pulling Eva's hand, who was still furious about the whole situation, but in the middle of the way, he stopped and turned to the receptionist "Thank you for the opportunity, have a nice day"

With those words, Christian wasted no more time and left the building, walking calmly through the streets.

Rejection is not something new to him, in his past life he went through quite a few similar situations before being hired and becoming a millionaire. He understands that there are people who think they are better for having a higher position in certain places, even a head janitor can think he is the center of the world just for being 'boss' at something, treating everyone under him like dirt.

'People treat others badly for no reason or motive, they are nothing but trash.'

With that thought ingrained in his mind, Christian just let it all happen.

Garbage doesn't deserve his attention, simple as that.

Now if garbage wants to fall at his feet, it's as simple as kicking it aside and that's it.

But well, right now as that trash fell at his mother's feet, he realized he doesn't have the strength to kick it to the side, causing his thoughts to become quite serious.

'That woman could have called the guards and told to get us out for insulting them or hitting her. It doesn't matter if it's a lie or true, she has more weight in that place than mom and I combined... and if that happened, we could just eat the anger and unwillingness without being able to do anything, that's just the way things are... even if the probability of that woman doing that is quite low, it doesn't change the fact that the probability exists... I don't like the variables.'

Although his thinking was quite extreme, since situations like that almost never happen, since he was reincarnated in this life, Christian started to feel the need to control, even if he doesn't notice it, little by little that growth is growing.

The reason for this feeling?

Even I don't know, this child doesn't act under my idea for the novel.

But if I can decipher anything, I would say it's because he now has something he wants to take care of, his family.

Before he just wanted to live a good life and find something he loves, now he wants to keep what he loves and live a good life with them.

With Ashley's unexpected death, the feeling of lack of control haunted him unconsciously, causing his thinking to become more and more radical, finding even the slightest variable of risk to every situation.