Chapter 15

“We'll count next time!” Alex threatened Jack. “I'm going to eat!” He added calmly. "I won't sit here with this hypocrite."

“And you? Are you holy?” Jack began to laugh. “Look, here we have a picture of a flawless narcissist!”

“I have a clear conscience, unlike you... Show off to your friends, corrupt traitor, what photos you gave to Leo Walker.” Alex said calmly.

"You don't have the right to give a shit about who I'm meeting and what I'm doing!" He almost shouted, upset.

“With who? Leo Walker? Jack, what’s going on?” Thomas asked, concerned about what he heard. “Alex, could you explain what you are talking about?”

“What pictures?” Simon was worried too.

“Who's in the shit?” Exclaimed an irritated Jack. “Are you calling me a hypocrite? And you? What were you doing there with that witch?” He asked, pointing to the chief editor's office.

“Are you asking me?” Alex spread his hands. “Nothing to be ashamed of. I was painting.”

“Alex, could you explain what’s going on with Walker?” Adam cut in.

“Have you seen them together?” Moved, Simon wanted to know the details. “Where? When?”

“Let him explain it himself!” Alex pointed to the culprit Jack.

“Don't you have anything better on me, man?” Jack was getting more and more nervous, his face was flushed red.

Both Adam and the others knew that their colleague didn’t have a clear conscience. He hadn't been behaving normally for a while. He avoided talking about the situation they found themselves in at their workplace after Leo Walker left the magazine.

If Alex had seen them together, it was so; they had no doubts. They really wanted to act immediately; press Jack against the wall, shake him, and then by force, if necessary, find out what he was doing with Walker.

They wanted to take care of him there and then, because it ‘stank’ dangerously. The surname ‘Walker’ acted on them like a red rag for a bull, and the outrageous news required immediate explanation.

“Gentlemen, your dinner is getting cold!” The chief editor said. She had been listening to the conversation for a few moments.

“Thank you! Let's go!” Adam announced as he quickly judged the situation; concluded that it was most sensible to end the discussion before it got to the blows.

He wanted to shake Jack himself to learn about the circumstances of his meeting with Walker. But he knew that this was neither the right place nor the right time for male conversations.

Adam was the first to walk towards the kitchen.

“Come! We'll talk later!” He said, dragging Alex by his t-shirt.

The kitchen smelled of freshly brewed coffee and Chinese food.

The chief editor was bustling around in her cute work clothes, as the boys agreed upon it a few hours ago. She heated another batch of food in the microwave and brewed coffee.

Rose was standing by the sink in silence, wearing yellow rubber gloves, and was washing the dishes.

Two other female friends were sitting at the table, already dressed normally. They had finished their dessert and were sipping coffee, delighted to criticize the editorial male colleagues who stood by the wall, completely absorbed in heated discussion and pretending that they were working hard.

Seeing Alex and Adam approaching, they completely ignored the chief editor’s presence and began to comment on their muscles.

“I heard everything! End this discussion about me already!" Alex said as he entered the kitchen.

Alex didn’t hide his joy, seeing the cupboard next to the microwave stocked with numerous containers of Chinese food and a cardboard box with the logo of a familiar confectionery, full of sweets and cups with fragrant coffee.

Even though he wasn’t at all hungry, he wanted to start eating as quickly as possible. He didn’t have the willingness to engage in discussion with female friends.

It was ‘an open secret’ that at all costs, they tried to catch husbands, ones who were the best professionally situated, well-off and, of course, deadly handsome, although in his opinion they didn’t sin either in their beauty or their intellect.

They ‘hunted’ for single colleagues, as well as visiting friends, acquaintances, and basically all the men appearing in the editorial office.

They also didn’t let him go too when he came to the magazine, so he had completely lost respect for them.

One by one, they insisted on getting to him, until one day they wanted to undress him in public while he was drunk, during a party. They just didn’t suppose that despite the large amount of alcohol he had drunk, his grey cells were still working, and quite well at that.

He told them that if he wanted hookers, he would go to the brothel, and the editorials didn't interest him. Everyone present at the party rewarded him with applause.

The furious women immediately ostentatiously left the premises. For several weeks they didn’t speak to him at all. They had kept their distance since then, but Alex felt uncomfortable around them nonetheless.

He tried to avoid them diplomatically, but sometimes he had no choice but to talk to them. However, he didn’t hide that he felt sick at the sight of them.

“We know perfectly well that we both look divine. But neither of you have a chance to take anatomy lessons with us!” Adam added with a smile, having a similar opinion about editorial women.

He wanted to add that with the exception of the chief editor but she was not speaking but listening.

“How modest!” Blanca ironically commented. She had been trying to date him unsuccessfully for a long time.

"We know our worth, sweetheart." Alex said as he sat down next to her with fragrant food on his plate. “We value ourselves!” He added after a moment of hesitation.

"Not too much?" Kate asked mockingly.

“This is your opinion, you have the right to have it.” Adam added.

“What an aroma!” Simon rushed into the kitchen like a hurricane. “Food! Delicious food!”

Upon seeing him, Blanca and Kate ended the topic immediately. Both of them were meeting Simon in turn, wanting to be closer to his more attractive, handsome colleagues, which of course he was well aware of.

Cunningly taking advantage of this fact, Simon showed up at various events, banquets in their company, but eventually he got bored.

Openly and quite honestly said that he didn't feel like ‘bait’ anymore. They don't stand a chance with his buddies. For his honesty, they hated him. They gave him a wide berth, not talking to him, except on purely professional topics.

"Boys, we're leaving early." Kate said coquettishly, correcting her short, dishevelled, red-dyed hair.

“We're done with work!” Blanca added, looking at the chief editor, who smiled in a gesture of approval.

“I'm also leaving in a moment!” Alice informed the editorial team.

So they did. Nicolas and Alex also left the office with them.

The rest of the journalists were to finish the painting. As soon as the bosses left the workplace, the atmosphere relaxed. They finished painting by eleven. They concluded that it was too late and that there was no point in going home, so they should rest in editorial offices.

Jack went to the night shop and gathered the necessary supplies…