Making my way to my cubicle, I don't miss the awkward stares I get from my colleagues. I know I'm dressed professionally, my period passed a few days ago, and I'm on time! So, what is the big deal?

The girl from yesterday makes her way to my desk.

"Hey; what's up with everyone googling me?" I ask when she makes it.

"Charlene called for you."

I take a look at my wristwatch. 08:28.

Shit!

"How long ago?"

"Quite a while. Just go now. You don't want to end up on her bad side."

Taking the elevator to her floor, I will it to go faster and pray Charlene's in a good mood; but she looks like one of those people that are never in a good mood. I hope my observation is wrong!

I knock on the door and wait outside for a minute before a cold voice invites me in. Stepping inside, I am met with Charlene glaring at me with her lips curled in a disapproving frown. In front of her is a man with an athletic build focussed on his mobile. The tattoos on his neck and that slick hair on his head leave no doubt as to who it is.

"I see you chose to disobey me, Miss Brown?" she quips coldly, her voice clear as she loses the mumble from yesterday.

"I'm really sorry, Charlene. I totally forgot-"

She laughs slowly, in a low voice, though I'm not convinced of her amusement. "You forgot? I heard you got a written warning yesterday; surely another one wouldn't make much of a difference."

At this, the man turns to look at me, his bottom lip caught between his teeth to hide his amusement. "I'm sorry. It'll never happen again."

"It better not. Sit down; I don't have time for this." She does very little to soften her glare as I follow her instruction. "This is Alejandro García. You know him because you've worked with him. I think his introduction to the fans is the most important project we have right now. What do you have for him?"

Sitting next to Alejandro, my senses are overcome by the almost faint scent of birch and patchouli emanating from him. It's so faint I wonder if I'm imagining it, and my nose discreetly searches for the scent. I feel tingles run up and down my body as I feel his heat just pour itself onto me as though it's been waiting for me.

Is he as aware of my presence as I am of his?

I steal a quick glance at him: he's completely focused on the text messages on his phone. His muscles bunched under the short sleeve of his t-shirt, his tattoos enjoy full exposure.

'qui audet adipiscitur'

'llibertat' - accompanied by a butterfly

'ΑΝ ΠΡΕΠΕΙ ΝΑ ΤΡΒΟΥΜΕ ΓΙΑ ΝΑ ΖΗΣΕΤΕ ΝΑ ΣΤΑΘΕΙ-'

"Miss Brown, you are skating on thin ice as it is," Charlene warns me, to which Alejandro shifts his focus to me, his lips curving at one side in a smirk.

I fish my notes out of my bag and clear my throat lightly before starting: "I agree that Alejandro's campaign should take priority, but I think we should run two campaigns instead of one. I think it's important that we introduce him to fans of football, and a Guess Jeans promotion would work well to that end. But - and maybe more importantly - Alejandro has facial features and a body that make him a great candidate for 'sex symbol' status. To that end, a Calvin Klein promotion could expose him to a primarily female audience that will undoubtedly make him a global superstar. And he can't be accused of selling out by his more masculine fanbase as he would be promoting men's underwear.

"Plus, the benefits are tremendous: as you will know, Guess and Calvin Klein are already associated with one another pretty much everywhere, to which a question I kept asking myself as I was studying the history of the company's campaigns was: 'Why have we never used them for related campaigns?' That was what I sought to solve as I came up with these two campaigns."

Throughout my talk, her lips change from being set in a frown, to a hard, unemotive line, and then to a slight smirk.

As she prepares to speak, however, she loses the smirk and assumes a more stoic expression. "I guess it could work. Just leave this here, I'll add a few tweaks, run it past management and then tell you how it goes. You did pretty well for a first timer, though. Now, please go to your desk and I'll call you when we need something."

Just like that? I spend all night working on two campaigns when I only needed to work on one and I get told that I did 'pretty well for a first timer'? Excuse me, but I should be getting a corner office and a team to tend to my personal needs right now! Heck, they should be begging me to be their new CEO!

I rise and go back down to my cubicle. The mood in the floor seems to have calmed as people are starting to get on with their work, for which I'm extremely grateful. Patricia walks to my cubicle.

"What did she want?"

"Work."

"Speaking of which, I heard you're working on the Chelsea F.C. deal?"

"Yeah."

A naughty grin takes over her face and she whoops hushedly. "Everyone wants that deal!"

"Why?" I ask while chastising myself for causing early wrinkles for myself by furrowing my eyebrows.

"'Why?' Did you really just ask me that? That is one of our biggest clients and they just gave them to you!"

"I mean, I've worked with them; so, maybe that's why?"

"Well, congratu-fucking-lations. You had better do a good job because everyone is going to want to snatch that one from you. But don't worry: we're not overly competitive. Come to us if you need help," she advises me, and I nod. And then, she adds: "You'll probably enjoy working with that hot piece of ass - Alejandro - won't you?"

We enjoy a little banter before she leaves my desk to go back to work, but not before reminding me: "Today. After work."

***

I dial the guy Edward said I should call.

After work, Charlene told me that the campaigns had been greenlit and that Oscar would be finalising the deal between Guess and Calvin Klein; therefore, I should also start preparing for the shoot - they want it to be dealt with very quickly while people are still talking about Alejandro after the shoot I'd done with him earlier.

When I asked Edward if he could be my director again, he said he was too busy trying to complete his application for the NYC gig. And then, he gave me this guy's numbers and told me he was really good.

"Who's this?" he asks, his voice hoarse.

"Hi. I'm Edgar. I got your numbers from Edward," I answer, uncertain how he'll accept me. Edward's contacts have all taken me by surprise thus far, and I don't want to raise my expectations of this guy - especially not after I heard that voice.

Seriously, what kind of people does Edward hang around when I'm not there?

"Okay. What's the deal?"

"Well, I need a director for a photo shoot I'm doing for Guess Jeans and Calvin Klein in about a week."

We discuss the budget for the shoot and his pay; and, when he finally agrees, I start preparing for work.

Patricia's friends didn't like me very much: I told them I didn't drink, and they told me that was fine; they were willing to drink non-alcoholic beverages. When I told them that it was fine and that they could drink alcohol, there was some guy - I think his name was Trevor - that kept telling me that it was fine, and that I had clearly wanted the spotlight to be on me. Everyone was laughing at that, and I pretended to laugh as well, but one can see when another isn't happy - or, at least, comfortable - with something that is being said about them. Patricia suggesting we order food didn't help the situation either.

"Oh. I'm vegan," I told them, not very hopeful that they would be understanding.

Suddenly, they all remembered things they had to do; and, one-by-one, they got up and left. I ended up leaving as well, thanking Patricia for the invitation, but I know when I'm not welcome, and making people uncomfortable with themselves is never a goal of mine.

So, I guess that's my social life with colleagues down the drain.

***

BBC NEWS: BRITAIN OUTRAGED OVER 'CULTURAL DILUTION' AFTER CONTROVERSIAL BLIZZARD ARTICLE

"Why are you so upset?"

"I'll tell you why I'm so upset: this country, right? This country has gone to the dogs! It's gone to the dogs, and I'll tell you why: it's these immigrants, right? I hate these bloody immigrants because they come here with their own food; they come here with their own culture; and they force us to accept their way of life! I tell you, next it'll be the transgenders, and you have to ask: where do we draw the line? When do we think about the children? This is how it starts, right? Someone poses in front of a flag, and then we're being colonised by some barbaric tribe from who-knows-where! What legacy will we leave for our children, then?"

"That muchacho with the flag - what he did was no different from blasphemy, I tell you. If we were in the sixteenth century, he'd be burned at the stake, and we'd all agree that he deserved to burn at the stake, and you wouldn't be siding with him as you're doing right now."

"This is why I vote Brexit, right? We have to take back our country before we lose everything! These immigrants - they're taking everything from us, right? Well, I won't sit back and watch them destroy my country. They'll have to deal with me, first!"

"This is brutality of the worst kind! England has been under attack for the longest time - what, with all this talk of 'white patriarchy' and all that hogwash. We have spent centuries spreading our civilisation to many of these lesser nations, and what do we get for our kindness? Attack after attack after attack! You attack that flag, you attack my country; and when you attack my country, you attack me. If they hate us so much, why don't they go back to being bloody nomads, then?"

"Our greatest fear is that this sort of behaviour is constantly being normalised and is fast becoming the quickest grab at fame: you want people to talk about you? Shame the flag and invite illegal immigrants into the country. We are severely disappointed with the Blizzard article - particularly the interview with the new captain - where the motif was the struggle of being an immigrant and the relentless racism that mocito has suffered in this country. The only goal of that article - and every other article with those themes - is to defame the country, and we have had enough of it.

"It is for this reason that we will stage a protest against the game on Saturday - and other games that may involve Chelsea F.C. We implore Britain not to watch their matches, not to buy their merchandise, and not to support their partners. Everyone is welcome to the boycott; if you still care for Britain and want it to continue to prosper, we urge you to take a stand, and join us at Chelsea's home stadium this Saturday. Thank you."