To Color Your Life

"Well Miss, how about a couple of cans of beer?" a grizzly biker with a red beard winked at Emily and laughed fervently.

The girl smiled and shook her head, refusing the treat. She did not want to drink or eat at all, but it was funny to watch this cheerful company.

She still wondered how she got here?

Half an hour of a crazy ride at speeds exceeding one hundred kilometers per hour gave incomparable sensations. It was scary and exciting at the same time.

Emily grabbed onto Barkens like a lifeline on a stormy sea. Although, in the event of an accident, it would still not help.

The man was tall and thin. In some places, Emily will even be fatter (the evening gluttony with pizza is to blame), but at the same time she felt masculine strength in Barkens. This restrained and calm boa constrictor only outwardly seemed weaker than his friends, but the girl quickly noticed with what respect each of the bikers treated him.

And she was almost not surprised when she learned that Gregor Barkens was the leader of their pack. This is probably why he coped so well with the duties of the editor-in-chief.

Noticing every detail, thinking ahead, assessing the situation and making a cold-blooded decision - Kelly was hardly capable of this. But she had other strengths. Hmm, Ohara, you definitely are going to have a serious fight with this man for the main post in the magazine, Emily remembered her impulsive best friend.

Battle of fire and ice. There is no other name for it. After Kelly returns from vacation, Pharaoh is going to witness interesting changes. But Emily will never see them.

"Are you sure you don't want anything?" Barkens leaned against the motorcycle she was sitting on. There was a touch of a light uneasiness in his even voice.

"I'm sure," Emily tried to smile, but it came out unnatural.

"Then how about getting in on the fun?" the man nodded to the side where a bunch of bikers intertwined like a brood of snakes.

"Getting in on that?!" the girl almost choked on air. "I'm not sure this is a good idea."

"As a host, Miss Hayes. God forbid you to get into this mess of overgrown children." Gregor shook his head as he watched his friends, but the slight smile on his lips suggested otherwise. Who knows, maybe he, too, was not averse to participating in this madness?

Have you ever seen a crowd of adult menacing men with tattoos on their arms playing a twister?

So, Emily hasn't seen such a thing either. At least until now.

When they got to their destination, she was panicked at the first moment. Did she make the mistake of refusing to go home?

Twenty motorcycles stopped in the middle of a field, God knows where, and the men set to work.

Half an hour later, three bonfires burned nearby, on one of which they immediately began to cook a barbecue. Someone turned on the music, someone laid out two folding tables and took out plastic plates. Somewhere came beer, juices, soda, and fresh fruit.

A very strange combination of products for an equally strange company.

It was like a witch's sabbath, except that a bunch of bikers in their thirties acted as accultists. One of them was even her grandmother's age.

The men were having fun, laughing and fooling around like teenagers, not at all embarrassed by the presence of an unfamiliar girl, accidentally hooked along the way.

"You know, Mr. Barkens, I couldn't even imagine that you could get involved in motorcycles. Plus, you drive very well. Although this is probably a common thing for the leader of such a gang." Emily looked at the man with interest.

Her first impression of Gregor Barkens cracked and crumbled like a broken mirror. What was this man really like?

What were the people around her really like? Did she really know them? And what was she like? Did she know herself?

Emily Hayes, whom she knew, would never have sat down on the bike of the first biker she met (albeit the one who she was familiar with, a little) and left with him in an unknown direction, trusting her life.

But it all started with the boss.

Or her promise to her grandmother to marry the first person she meets?

She has croaked some problems on her head.

"We don't know each other well enough, Miss Hayes, for you to know my interests. So it's okay to judge a person based on what you know."

"The creepy skull in your office makes some very strange assumptions about you."

"And what are they?" the man raised his eyebrows in surprise, as if he hadn't expected such a reaction.

Hey, seriously, you don't have an Easter bunny standing there, but a skull! The most real skull! Although the bunny would have looked no less strange had it been there.

"Well, how can I put it..." Emily was deciding whether to tell the truth. On the other hand, what has she to lose? She is going to quit soon anyway. Maybe even tomorrow.

"This skull and this aura in your office, plus," she took a quick glance at the man, "Plus your strict appearance gives the impression that if I break the deadline even for a minute, you will curse me. And-sorry for being straightforward." She turned away and stared at the ground. The hair on her neck stood on end, waiting for the editor-in-chief's reaction.

Hell, what if Gregor Barkens is really capable of this?

"Hmmm." Emily heard a long sigh from the man. "Miss Hayes, do you think others think so too? I noticed that some of the employees get very nervous when they submit reports to me. Although I have never even raised my tone."

Emily nearly fell off the motorcycle. Is he serious?! It would be better if he did raise his tone! Then it wouldn't look so creepy.

"Mr. Barkens, have you tried to smile when you thank for the report?"

The man frowned. Judging by his appearance, Emily's words triggered some serious brain activity in his head.

"I somehow accidentally heard that my smile was created in order to scare naughty children. Since then I have tried not to smile without a serious reason," he replied.

Serious reason to smile? Shouldn't it be the other way around? What is it with this strange logic? And there are no children in Pharaoh!

"The person who said that was joking or was completely wrong," Emily decided to remedy the situation.

"Do you really think so?" Barkens turned to the girl and smiled.

Emily Hayes, you'd better keep quiet. How do you tell the person now that you are taking your words back?

If in the normal state Gregor Barkens looked like a cold-blooded snake, then with a smile he looked like a maniac. He could have starred in the horror movie like Scream. He wouldn't even need a mask. Since his smile looked even more eerie.

"Miss Hayes, you seem to have turned pale?" the man stopped smiling at once, and Emily remembered how to breathe.

"It's okay, don't worry. I just got nervous today," she replied, feeling a little ashamed at her thoughts. The man did good to her, and she thought of him as a maniac.

"Hey Bark, I won! You owe us a song," shouted in their direction the red-haired giant, whom Emily had already mentally given the nickname Grizzly. The man emerged victorious in the Battle of Twister. Which is not surprising given his size.

"And what do I have to do with it? You are the one who won, so go and sing yourself."

"Bark, if I sing, this lovely lady next to you will go deaf for the rest of her life. Well, what do you want? Just one song, and saddle up for another quick ride."

"You can sing?" Emily raised her surprised eyes at the editor-in-chief. How many more surprises were hidden under this discreet mask?

"Well... Kind of. Actually, I used to sing before. I don't do it often now. Just occasionally, mostly for friends." Gregor was reluctant to give an unplanned performance, but the genuine interest in the girl's eyes was hard to resist. "Okay. Just one song. Then I'll take you home. It's too late already."

Barkens took a guitar from one of his friends, ran his fingertips over the strings.

Emily's heart pounded with joy. She knew this song! This song has been one of her and Kelly's favorites since university.

Kelly sang it from morning to night, but the vocals in the original arrangement were difficult. The acoustic version was a little easier, but no one else did it as soulfully as the author of the song himself.

Gregor Barkens opened his mouth and Emily stopped breathing.

No way! It cannot be! It's impossible!

But the more she listened to him, the more shocked she became.

And what will you feel when your idol, whose songs you have idolized for several years, is at arm's length from you?