To Color Your Life

Pharaoh's adult magazine turned out to be a very popular publication, which came out on top in its niche in just two years.

Since Emily was never interested in such literature or glossy publications, she did not know about this and did not even see a single issue of the magazine.

The magazine consisted of two parts and it was also created by two teams - male and female. Moreover, the men's team made the women's version of the magazine, while the women's team did the opposite.

Each reader could leave any question regarding the thoughts and interests of the opposite sex and get an answer to it in the article of the next issue.

Identical questions were collected in a common pool, and those that were leading in terms of quantity during a month or a quarter were included in the extended paper version.

Thus, men could find out what they were shy or afraid to ask their women directly.

A distinctive feature of each issue was a specific theme and quest game. Each team had five models, photos of whom were used for articles.

So, the men's version of the magazine had girls in the images of a fatal beauty, a romantic student, a cheerful roly-poly woman, a mother of many children and a cold business woman.

The female version included a sexy macho man, a smart professor, a hard-working construction worker, a hard-headed businessman, and an expressive musician.

Each topic was discussed from different angles by these role models, based on feedback from their readers.

Each reader had a personal account in the application of the Pharaoh magazine and participated in the creation of the next issue for the opposite sex.

Those who were active had the opportunity to receive a photo session with their favorite character of the magazine as a gift and become a guest of the next issue.

By and large, Pharaoh magazine was not just an electronic and paper edition, but also a whole social network with a growing client base, which itself created it.

And all this was created in two years under the leadership of Justin Evans, who became not only the owner of the magazine and responsible for the new direction in the company. He also managed to become the right hand of the current managing director.

"Ahaha, I can't believe that!!! So is it all true?! God, Emily, how did you come up with such a thing?" The hysterical laugh of her best friend made Emily move the phone away from her ear a few centimeters.

"Kelly, stop laughing like a horse! How did I know he was the local boss?" Hayes snorted and took a sip of hot coffee. Although the office coffee machine was sophisticated and advanced, the taste of the drink was far from the one that the girl was used to ordering in her favorite cafe.

"No, I'm serious! Justin Evans is terra incognita, a land inaccessible to mere mortals. Do you even know how many girls from our department had a major crush on him? And you know what? Not only girls, ha-ha. There were even a couple of boys." Kelly burst into wild laughter again.

Either she was really so amused by this news, or the girl went too far with free champagne at the hotel. Emily was leaning towards the second option.

"That many?" She clarified with disbelief, "And in general, how did you have the conscience to duck out to Hawaii and not even warn me about where you sent me?! Admit it, did you do it on purpose?"

"My intentions are noble, and my thoughts are pure!" Kelly replied so briskly as if she had been rehearsing this phrase all day in anticipation of an angry call from a friend, "And you and I were talking about the boss. I don't understand how you came up with the idea to drive someone away? Where has my educated and sensible Miss Exemplarity disappeared, huh?"

Emily rolled her eyes, she knew these tricks very well, "You're changing the subject. Don't expect me to just leave you alone. You hid the truth from me, because you knew that I would not agree to such a thing."

"Oh, don't be a prude. It's a great job, Em."

"Do you have any idea what I've been doing all day? I had to read three erotic novels to write reviews on them! Three! How do people read this? I think my IQ fell forty points after that," Emily sat down more comfortably in a chair and picked up the nearest book with a half-naked man in a provocative pose on the cover, "Just listen!"

She opened the book to the first page she came across and began to read emphatically in a deliberately seductive tone, "Ah, Clark, I'm on fire! Hurry! Jasmine was stroking his six-pack abs. It got wet between her legs. The CEO was outwardly cold, but she knew she would melt his icy heart. "You are only mine!" He squeezed her chin and made her look into his eyes. Oh, what eyes he had! Jasmine's knees were weak. "Yes, Clark, I'm yours! Yours only!" she exhaled and gave herself up to his strong hands," Emily slammed the book shut, "What. The. Hell. Is. This?!"

"What happened next?" Kelly asked, showing genuine interest.

Emily rolled her eyes (again), sighed, opened the book to the last page to reread. The plot was so "unpredictable" that she forgot it when she closed the book. "They got married and had children. The end."

"Oh, then this is a normal book," Kelly approved of the work of an unknown author, "I read that once! There, one girl got into a fairy-tale world, where all the hottest guys wanted her at first sight. And they all had such huge-"

"I don't even want to hear about their huge-" Emily interrupted.

"Huge what?" a deep, velvet voice sounded over Emily's ear.

The girl twitched in surprise and nearly fell off the chair. "W-what the hell, I mean, Mr. Evans, what are you doing here?" she exhaled, just in time to shut up the abuse that was coming off her lips.

"What are you doing here, Miss Hayes? It's ten in the evening, the work day is over," Justin Evans answered her question with another question.

Emily turned off the phone, ignoring her friend's interest in the phone, and looked around the empty office, "I finished late an article that was supposed to go to tomorrow's issue. Kat, I mean, Miss Catherine Joyce said that I could stay and finish it and then go home."

In fact, Emily finished the article more than an hour ago and could have gone home already, but her office chair turned out to be so comfortable that the girl decided to indulge herself with a cup of coffee and, at the same time, chat with her best (hmm, really?) friend.

"Hmm, that's how it is. You were so passionate about your work that you didn't hear me calling you several times," Mr. Evans nodded, laughing flashed in his eyes.

"I had an important call, sorry I didn't answer right away-" Emily's eyes widened in surprise. She didn't know what she looked like after a long day at work, but Justin Evans looked definitely worse, "What's with your face?!"

"Oh, this?" Justin touched his bruised lower lip, which was caked with blood, "One expressive person was offended that I did not agree to stay with her overnight. I said that I recently broke up with my fiancée and was not ready for a new relationship. I got that in return," the man sighed heavily.

He looked like a battered puppy. Or pretended to be most likely. For a second, Emily had a desire to feel sorry for the man, which she ignored right away. That was stupid of you to hang around with expressive persons at night time! It serves you right!

"You need to treat the wound," she said, showing concern. Fictitious. He was her boss, after all.

"Will you help?"

"I don't know where the first aid kit is," the girl looked around, trying to guess where this saving box could be. All that remained was to find this box, hand Evans a plaster and go home with a clear conscience.

"I have one in my office," the man suggested.

Yeah, right! I am not going to that place voluntarily the second time. Moreover, at ten o'clock in the evening!

Emily smiled politely, "Well, Mr. Evans, it's far away. Your wound can open again. I'll ask Kat, she should be with the programmers in the next office. Will you wait?"

The girl turned around and walked briskly to the neighboring doors.

"Miss Hayes!" Evans recalled, "I remembered. It looks like the first aid kit should be in that drawer over there," he pointed to a large shelving with folders and drawers. There were ten of them.

Emily pushed the lowest one.

"Khem, try the fourth one from the bottom," the man added and looked away.

The fourth one from the bottom, you are saying?

The dragon sleeping inside Emily opened one eye. The fourth drawer contained a first aid kit. What a good guess, Mr. Evans. You hit the spot right away, Sherlock Holmes.

"Well, how is it? Found what you need? I think the wound has opened again. I would appreciate it if you could help me take care of it." The boss's worried voice made Emily smile. Justin Evans was lucky not to see that smile.

"Oh yes, I found it," the girl answered with anticipation, twisting two antiseptics in her hand: one with alcohol, the other without. "Of course I'll help."

Emily put the non-alcoholic antiseptic back into the drawer, picked up the second, and walked over to the man.

Miss Hayes' inner dragon growled happily.