To Color Your Life

After slamming the front door of her apartment, Emily kicked off her shoes, her purse also flew to the side. The girl went straight into the bedroom and collapsed onto the bed.

How did it come to be that editing three articles was so tiresome? Who is she kidding, though? It was not about the articles, but about whom she was distracted by between them!

Justin Evans did not rest content, and in addition to the morning meeting in his office, he showed up to their department in the afternoon.

Not that she could forbid him. After all, he was the boss.

A businesslike man walked around his property, exchanged a few phrases with other employees.

He honored Emily with a polite nod, pretending that there was nothing of the kind between them. Or did it just seem to her that there was?

After that, Justin withdrew with Catherine to the meeting room to discuss the next photo sessions.

"What a shameless bastard!" the girl slammed her fist on the blanket. She herself did not understand what infuriated her more: the boss's insolent grins, noticeable only to her, or how she reacted to them.

Most irritating, she couldn't concentrate on her work while Evans was within reach, alone with another woman.

Oh, does he even know that he will soon become a dad?

"Hayes, this is a clinical case, for sure. You started to go crazy," Emily has been repeating to herself like a mantra, arguments about physiology, psychology, and any other -logy for the second day already.

But the brain suddenly recalled its high level of IQ precisely at these moments and was actively throwing in counterarguments.

Physiology? Ha! Wake up, you fool, you fell for him!

"Ahaha, no, that is complete nonsense," the girl sat down on the bed and stared at herself in the mirror.

"No... Well, so what? A handsome and charismatic man. Will charm whoever he wants," answered her reflection in the mirror.

"Exactly! He will charm whoever he wants!" she caught an unexpected idea, "It's just a sporting interest. What makes you think that he isn't playing with you? Maybe he got bored and is having so much fun?"

The thought made something unpleasant prickle in her chest. She had no rosy illusions about the stories about Cinderellas, and love at first sight at her and Justin's age was more like an unfortunate pick-up situation.

But what then? The man did not answer her direct question.

"Haa, forget it. Tomorrow is a new day," she decided.

She didn't want to think that Justin Evans was a two-faced scoundrel.

She had not experienced such lightness in the presence of a stranger for a long time. Next to him, Emily wanted to be herself, even if at the same time she showed her not the best sides.

The phone in her jacket pocket vibrated. She didn't have to look at the display to guess who it was.

Without noticing how her lips curled into a smile, Emily took out her phone. A slight feeling of disappointment showed on her face.

"Hi, Kelly. How is Hawaii? Are you sleeping peacefully?" she asked her best friend with undisguised sarcasm.

"Em! How was your workday? What's new? Hey, turn the video call on! I'll show you someone!" Kelly, as usual, ignored her friend's remark.

What did she manage to throw in two days? Emily switched to a video call mode.

The tanned figure of Kelly in a turquoise swimsuit appeared in front of her eyes, and next to her was a similarly tanned man with black curly hair.

"Emily, this is Marco. Marco, this is my best friend, Emily Hayes."

"Ciao Senorita Hayes! Piacere di conoscerti! Sei così bella," the stranger Italian broke into his Italian smile. [1]

Emily straightened and reflexively smoothed her hair. Damn it, Kelly, you have to warn about such things in advance!

"M-mucho, oh, buenos noches, Marco," she stammered back. [2]

"Ahaha, Emy, it's in Spanish," Kelly laughed, "Darling, get me a cocktail," she smiled at her admirer.

"Certo, mia bellissima Kellita," Marco kissed the girl's fingers, winked at Emily, and disappeared from the frame. [3]

"What was that just now?!" Hayes barked at her friend.

"This, my dear, is called a turbulent personal life. See the difference? Not what you do every night with a cup of cocoa along with pizza," Kelly scolded her.

"Don't touch my cocoa - it's sacred!" Emily scolded back, "And my personal life is normal!"

Very stormy. Recently.

"Okay, if so. How's the work?"

"Okay. My article got the first place in views."

"What?!" Kelly jumped off the deck chair, forgetting about the special sexy body posture that she was having, "How come, the first? Did you beat Gregor?!"

"Well, yeah," Emily scratched her nose. And why did they all get this rating? She would rather not provoke Barkens anymore.

"Ahahaha!!!" Kelly burst into wild horse laughter. Several tourists behind the girl flinched in surprise and moved on to the chaise longue further from her. "Oh, I can't hold it!! Damn, I wish I could see his face!"

"You are reacting to it as if you have been waiting for this event for many years." Her friend's reaction was too vivid for an ordinary working moment. Hayes sensed a catch. "Do you and Barkens not get along or something?"

Kelly instantly turned serious, brought the screen closer to her face, and said gravely, "Baby, this is not just not getting along well. This is a fierce war. Armageddon of the local scale."

"Why? Does he harass employees?" The editor-in-chief, of course, inspired terrible awe when meeting in person, but Emily did not notice her colleagues as somehow "oppressed".

"No, the employees have nothing to do with it. We have a war for the position."

It took Emily a few seconds to comprehend this information. "W-wait, are you aiming for the position of the editor-in-chief?!"

"Oh, well, yes. Didn't I tell you?" Kelly patted her eyelashes innocently. "Evans has to decide who gets that chair next year. Me or Gregor."

Damn the news! It's getting crazier every day!

"Kelly, what the hell? Why are you telling me about this just now?!" If it was possible to strangle a person through the phone, Hayes would have seized the moment.

"Not only did you send me to such a place, but you also didn't warn me about your undercover intrigues! Do you even know what half of the department thinks of me? They think I am Justin Evans's lover!"

Kelly was not surprised by this news, "Come on, never mind. Taking into account the specifics of the work, our people like to fantasize where it is not necessary. They'll chat for a couple of days and forget. Evans is like a mirage in the desert - you see him, but you cannot touch."

Maybe her friend was talking about some other Evans? Emily thought. Because her Evans seemed more than accessible. And her instinct told her that he was not opposed to closer contact.

"Wait, or did the boss have his eye on you?" Kelly was suddenly alarmed, "Where did such speculation about his lover come from? I bet the men's department rang the bell. They are worse than the old neighbor ladies! Especially Bradley, the tall blond guy. He's also a model in their department."

Ahh, Mister bet-a-hundred, Emily remembered the man who recognized her pregnancy before the girl herself. He had become a gynecologist with such a trained eye. Better not, though. Medicine is not perfect anyway.

"Why would Mr. Evans hit on me? It's just gossip," Emily snapped immediately.

She knew her best friend too well. If Kelly gets even a hint of something serious between Hayes and the boss, she will turn on Cupid mode. They already went through this in college.

"Are you sure?" Kelly stared at the girl through the screen. With that look and her bright red hair, she would make a great fortune-teller. "Come on, say his full name out loud. Slowly."

Emily swallowed. Her friend had a phenomenally tuneful ear. In their student years, they were even going to create their own musical duet.

"Oh, my grandma is calling me on the second line! Talk to ya later!" she immediately hang up.

It was impossible to fool Kelly. Emily knew that one hundred percent.

On the other hand, maybe it's worth telling everything? After all, she knows the boss better and can give her advice.

Hayes leaned back on the bed and sighed heavily.

Who would have thought that in a couple of days her usual life could have changed so much? And the matter was not even in the fact that her job in the Pharaoh magazine was temporary. Although this fact was significant.

The main reason was the man, who began to occupy more and more thoughts in her head.

Too many to keep ignoring.

The phone under her hand vibrated again.

"I knew you wouldn't just give up," Emily smiled and answered the call without looking. "Okay Kelly, ask any question. Anyway, you won't calm down until you get to the bottom of everything."

"I'm not Kelly, but I don't mind asking any question either. May I?" the already familiar velvet baritone responded with tempting notes.

"Mr. Evans?" Emily felt all the blood in her body collect and rush to her head. Or to the heart, or to the abdomen.

No, after all, it was most likely her heart, because it was pounding madly from such pressure.

"Good evening, Miss Hayes. How are you doing? Did your working day go well?" the man's voice was relaxed and calm. In tune with the classical music playing in the background.

"Is this Tchaikovsky?" Emily asked instead of answering the boss's questions. The fact of his call was already perceived as routine as if it should be so.

"Yes. You like it?"

Does she like it? She wished she knew it herself. Too many memories were associated with classical music.

"This is one of the world's recognized masterpieces."

"Ahaha, your answer sounds like a learned encyclopedia phrase, Miss Hayes." Justin's laughter echoed in a warm wave as if transmitted through a telephone.

Yes, it is, she thought.

"I'm just surprised that you listen to that kind of thing. Doesn't sound like you."

"What do you think I should listen to? Hard Rock?" it was obvious from the man's intonation that he was smiling.

Emily smiled back unconsciously. "Well, judging by how loud your music was playing in the car, when we met in the parking lot, it was clearly not Chopin."

"Ah, then," he drawled as if this meeting had been twenty years ago, not less than a week. "You're right. Rammstein is not very much like Chopin. But that doesn't mean I can't like both, right? Do you agree?" [4]

Emily said nothing. There was silence in the receiver for several seconds. The distant sounds of Tchaikovsky's first concert filled it, uniting two people in one space.

"Mr. Evans?"

"Mmm?"

"You have not answered my question. There, in the office." Emily did not elaborate on which one. She was sure that the man would understand.

Are you hitting up on me? Do you like me? Or does it only seem to me?

Grandma said that any woman (if she is not the complete fool) will always understand if a man is not indifferent to her.

Emily didn't think she was a fool. At least until then.

"Good night, Miss Hayes," Evans replied with a slight grin in his voice.

Here is a brazen peacock! Ignoring her again!

"What, you won't even advise me to take a second blanket? So that I don't freeze in a lonely bed?" she scoffed with his own words.

"I hope you won't need it anymore soon, Miss Hayes."

The girl was speechless. One phrase - and the corresponding pictures filled a wild imagination.

She distinctly heard Justin chuckle contentedly on the other end of the line.

What a shameless bastard!

"Sweet dreams, Emily," he added and hung up.

The phone screen went blank, and his last word was still ringing in the girl's head.

Emily. Emily.

Before that, she had no idea that her name could sound so beautiful.

Sweet dreams, Emily.

But how can you fall asleep after that?!

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[1] Ciao Senorita Hayes! Piacere di conoscerti! Sei così bella - (Italian) Hello, Miss Hayes! Nice to meet you! You are so beautiful

[3] Certo, mia bellissima Kellita - (Italian) Sure, my dear Kelly

[4] Rammstein is a German music band (source: Wikipedia)