Chapter 2

No, she didn’t talk to me. But she definitely talked to her son. And like any young, inexperienced girl, I understood that only in hindsight, once I was analyzing her son’s newly awakened feelings for me. And our second time. It wasn’t as awful as the first, but it wasn’t even close to emotional fireworks either. More like a “Let’s get this over with” amusement ride, where you’ve wandered into an adult entertainment club and have to live up to all that adulthood.

Last New Year, Marik and I got drunk on tequila at a bar called Red Ass (which was actually named Red Apricot, but the sign looked least of all like an apricot), hugged each other like siblings, and told each other about our “first times.”

God, first we cried out of pity, and then we laughed until we were neighing and crying, hiding nothing.

In short, when the occasion arose, I had plenty to tease Subbota about too.

I hung my coat in the closet and sat down at my workstation. Turning on the computer, I remarked quietly to my friend:

“Marik, one day you’ll finish Arnold off, and Regina will fire you.”

“No, Vetrova, one day you’ll dump your little omega, open an advertising agency, and make me your second-in-command. I promise to work my ass off and call you nothing but B o ss!”

“Is that a proposal?”

“Yes. Keep it in mind.”

“All right.” I exhaled seriously and tucked my bad leg under the desk. “Maybe I’ll think about it. Someday… not now!”

Marik kept looking at me while I opened work files, pretending I was about to work, although the whole team had only one job today: sign the contract and start the workweek with a corporate reception. I couldn’t take it:

“Subbota, you’re going to drill a hole through me! I’m not running to Arnold, satisfied? If he has to, he’ll come a third time.”

“You never ran after him anyway. I’m interested in something else.”

“What’s that?”

“Why your cell isn’t answering, and what happened to your leg. Gelya.” Marik turned serious. He knew how when he wanted to. “What happened? Your mood is absolute garbage.”

“Is it that obvious?”

“To someone who knows you, yes.”

My mood was even worse, but I was trying to hold myself together. Before I told my friend about my catastrophic morning, I exchanged work updates with the girls. There weren’t many, but I had thought a few things over at home on the weekend and was now making changes to the work tasks.

Besides the Koreans, we still had current projects, and for one of them I pulled up a new script on the shared monitor with a proposal to review it. It suddenly occurred to me to change everything—from the logo to the commercial. From the slogan to the corporate colors.

“Girls,” I addressed my six-person team, “I want your comments and suggestions by the end of the workday. Draw and write down anything that comes to mind! Then I’ll show you what I’ve come up with. The client company has exhausted its old image—that’s the real problem. They need a full rebranding!”

“Lina, but Agromars will be against it,” noted the artist Larisa, a very efficient, serious woman of about thirty. Our department’s resident argument in favor of the “minus” column. “That’s a serious expense for the company.”

“I agree with Lina. So what? If they’ve decided on changes, why not make them radical?” Kristina, the copy specialist and our department’s resident argument in favor of the “plus” column, hurried to object. “The result is what matters! You’ll see, they’ll change their minds when we create a new face and a new life for them!”

“Exactly!” I chimed in. “Smart girls! A clean slate. That means the company logo should be white! Inspire trust. Attract people with the purity of an unstained reputation. No gold in the palette. Simple, natural colors. Clear words. Times are changing. People don’t want to pay for something that disappointed them once before.”

“And you’ll say that to Agromars directly?” Doubt was still visible on Larisa’s own face, but she had already placed her hand on her graphics tablet and was opening her work program. “Regina will dump the negative reaction on you again and wash her hands of it.”

I shrugged, knowing perfectly well that was exactly what would happen.

“I will, Laris. In the end, that’s why they came to us, and they pay us to solve their problems. I’ll tell them, otherwise I’ll refuse to be responsible for the campaign’s failure.”

“And coffee, Lin? Are we having some? We waited an hour for you.”

“All right, girls. Everyone gets a ten-minute coffee break, then we work!”

 
It was during those ten minutes over hot espresso that I told Marik about my lousy morning and my adventures with the cat and the broom.

And then the door opened and Arnold appeared. And for some reason, today I did not want to see him at all.