In front of the clinic, taking advantage of Alex's moment of inattention, while talking to his friend, Michael broke free from him and started to run, but he was still too drunk and his legs were not obeying him.
He hit the nearest curb and fell down. He felt the pain and for a moment he had black spots in front of his eyes. He couldn't move and he just raised his head up. He felt a wet trickle on his face, and felt its sweetish taste.
“I'm not crazy!” He started screaming as Alex caught up with him.
“You are not!” Picking up from the ground, Alex calmed him. He took a handkerchief out of his pocket and put it on his friend's forehead. “You'll stay a few days to detox.”
“I'm not crazy!” He continued to defend himself. “You must have my permission to lock me here!”
"It's been ten years. I don't want to mess with your life, but it's pathetic to watch a great man tumble down. Too painful to look at." “It's my life. You don't want to mess with it? Really?" If she was telling the truth, why did she invade his world again? “You took everything from me. Even the children I fell in love with. Go away!” He drawled through his teeth. “Michael, finish this show.” She knew he was starting to play to make her feel guilty. She knew him too well. In a completely calm tone, she continued: "I didn't take anything from you. I was in an accident in which their parents and my dear friends died. I promised their dying mother that if I survived, I would look after the children. When I picked myself up after the accident, I returned to arrange the adoption.” “What else do you want?” He asked, tr
Without waiting for Alex to bring clean clothes for Michael, she took him home. As she parked the car in front of the entrance, she wondered if she should go in. Her heart was pounding like crazy, she couldn't control her emotions. It was so hard to keep calm. For the first time in ten years, she found herself in a place with so many memories and not only the good ones. She was surprised to see that Michael didn’t change much in the interior. “Did time stop here?” She asked. “For me it has stopped.” He smiled that she noticed that. “Here, you have always had good taste and an unusual sense of daintiness. That's why I didn’t change anything, apart from the kitchen decor.” “Can I have a look around?” “Sure. After all, it's also your home.” “Not any more. I have a few of my own. That's enough.” “Will you allow yourself to be invited for tea?” Michael timidly suggested. “I will just run to my bedroom to put something on, I will be back in 5 minutes.” “Why not, but only green tea wi
Mousse de champignons aux truffes, roasted turkey, gratin Spanish artichokes and for dessert, a chocolate cake and homemade vanilla cream. ‘Delicious menu!’ He thought.She should be thrilled. Like him, she could discuss with undisguised enthusiasm and a real passion about the richness of Mediterranean flavors and the smell of freshly chopped basil, green parsley, coriander or tarragon...‘I must have gone overboard with the truffles!’ He thought as he looked at the mushroom mousse garnished with thin slices of the truffles; in fact there were even more truffles hidden in the thick mousse. He loved the taste of it; she too, and he knew it perfectly well.He hurried into the living room, which was filled with the airy scent of sandalwood incense and lavender. Once again, he arranged the colourful anemones, her favourite flowers, in a vase. Looking at them, he decided that he had taken the very easy way.He should have in
Michael was sure that he would soon be in charge of the editorial office. He got used to making all the important decisions for the magazine. He worked in it from the beginning of its existence and he knew about every stage of creating individual columns from the inside out.The bitter irony of fate!The most important fact was that he was a respected journalist, but she wasn’t one. He was ‘the best of the best’. And he lost to a woman.In addition, he died in a fight with a woman from nowhere. Nobody in the industry had ever heard of her, nobody knew where she had worked before. That was a typical information black hole.He had to admit in spirit that she had enormous knowledge and experience. Where and when she got them, neither he nor any of his friends knew, except for Nicolas, who swallowed the bitter pill and reluctantly entered into discussions about her. He only mysteriously said that she was ‘the best of the best in the bu
The beauty wasn’t very talkative. She was also not shy. The boys admired the otherworldly phenomenon, continuing to play bridge. They decided that she was definitely not a journalist, because ‘she is definitely too pretty to have efficient grey cells’.Someone had pitched in that she would be the new assistant of the chief editor, but they were having serious problems figuring out her responsibilities. In their only male controversial vocabulary, interspersed with spicy comparisons, they said that she would bring him coffee if, of course, she managed to cover the route from the editorial kitchen to his office in ‘meter’ high heels.With the eyes of the soul, they saw her scope of duties, including the most important one: creating an effective background during business meetings in order to effectively distract from the main topics of conversations and business discussions.Michael, fascinated by the stranger's extraordinary beauty,
“Today Alice will be in my office. Have a nice day, ladies and gentlemen!” Nicolas informed everyone mockingly and escorted Alice towards his office.Michael's eyes darkened. He could feel the blood rushing to his head and turning red with anger as he clenched his fists. He abruptly got up from his chair and walked fast towards Nicolas office. Then he felt a kick again on the same ankle and he crouched down in pain. He surreptitiously began massaging his ankle, before properly tying his shoelaces.At this moment, it dawned on him that he was acting quite hasty in his actions. He didn’t really have anything, a leverage of sorts, to present himself with in front of Nicolas. If he had entered his office and tried to fight for the promotion, which he had already decided was his, he might have turned out to be on the losing end.How is that? After all, it was he who was to become the deputy in chief! He had even adapted to his new office. Taking int
Finally, Thomas Evans, writing about technological and automotive news, charmed by the extraordinary beauty of the new chief editor, got the courage to go to Nicolas’ office and discuss his just finished text about the latest model of the jaguar entering the market.Thomas, upon entering the office, flashed his snow white teeth at the rest of them.The editorial ‘technologist’ was aware of his high ‘market value’ as they used to say in the male society. A large list of material goods, quite a good position in the social elite and a sensational appearance despite the approaching forties made Thomas feel like a chosen one.He was one hundred percent sure that he would be the one who would be given a public appearance at some top venue in the company of an attractive new chief editor. Anyway, the bets have already been placed on it.He entered Nicolas’ office in a great mood. Alice was beaming behind the editor's computer.
The answer surprised an already confused Michael. He knew that his friend was of the type ‘Obligatory until it matters’. He thought, however, that while he was sitting for hours in his newsroom, he must have been surfing on cyberspace, playing stupid games on the Internet and constantly chatting with friends, and that he worked at the last moment, just before the issue of the new number of the magazine was closed.More than once, Michael had seen him chatting with friends; playing online or browsing various websites, watching movies, listening to music… It was only now that he realized that he had never seen him working.“I have just finished!” Proudly announced Simon, their photo editor and journalist in one person, also editorial mocker and court jester. "This is... I mean... I finished this morning!" He added after a moment, seeing the fury on Michael's face.The others started muttering under their breaths that if they sat down