To Color Your Life

Emily left the stage and walked across the hall. She noticed that many shareholders were poking around in their phones, installing a new application. Whatever the age of a person is, the curiosity of a child will always find a chance to prove itself.

"Kelly, how're the registrations going?"

"In twenty minutes we managed to have collected eight hundred and fifty thousand new users! I'm shocked! I am sure we will break through the million mark in half an hour!"

Emily exhaled. Internal tension has become slightly less. In just ten more minutes they will know everything.

She walked over to one of the models, took off the chain from her tiara and handed it to her, "This is a gift from Mr. Evans for your hard work and invaluable help in the development of the magazine."

Justin wanted to order small pins-brooches, but when they changed the concept, he made a deal with a friend of his, who happened to be a jeweler, to make three dozen gold bracelets, on which they attached these pins as pendants.

"Thanks," the girl beamed and hugged Emily.

"I want a bracelet like this too," a broad-shouldered guy appeared beside her.

Emily turned her head. Their magazine's Apollo looked better today. Apparently, he got his dose of praise from Catherine for a successful photoshoot.

"I'm not sure this thing will work for you, Bradley," Hayes chuckled.

"And who said that I want it for myself? My girlfriend, actually, also works in the magazine. And by the way, Alpha, can I take three days off next week? I want to take Catherine to one great place," the guy asked in such a tone as if everything had already been decided and Emily was appointed his boss.

"Let's not tackle those issues just yet, Bradley. We still have seven minutes before the end of voting." Emily didn't know where that confidence came from, but she had no doubt that they would be able to get the right number of users. But she didn't want to rush things. Luck is a lady with character.

"Nine hundred and ten thousand! Just a little bit left!" Kelly exclaimed happily that Emily had nearly gone deaf.

All employees of the magazine present in the hall looked at each other and began to congratulate each other. It was like watching the game of your favorite team, which is in the lead, and five minutes before the end of the match you know who will win.

This happens quite often.

But sometimes a few seconds can be enough to break the game.

Emily couldn't help smiling as she watched her colleagues rejoice at the current download data for the app.

Only a little bit remained until victory.

"Miss Hayes, can you help me?" One of the shareholders from the second row approached the girl. So he seems to be from the scientific literature department. What was his name?

"Of course, Mister... Merley," Emily smiled, remembering the man's name in time.

"I went to the site that you said, but I cannot install the application. The link does not work."

"Does not work?" a chill ran down the girl's back, "May I check?"

She took the phone from the man's hands, but the page of the site from which she had to download the application did not react to any of her touches. It was bad. Very very bad.

"J-Justin, are you there?" her throat was instantly dry, her heart pounded like a medieval alarm bell before her public execution.

"Sorry, I'll check with the team now and get back to you," Emily handed the phone back to the man and started looking for Barkens. She needed someone to check the situation.

The editor-in-chief looked too gloomy for the general fun that reigned around. When their eyes met, his sympathetic look indicated that the man was aware of the situation.

"Justin, answer me." Emily glanced quickly at the broadcast. There were less than two minutes left.

"Em, we have a problem," she heard the boss's voice. Evans had the tone that usually comes with bad news. In their case, even a small problem could be fatal.

"The server is frozen. The flow of visitors turned out to be much higher than we expected."

"Now what? Can you solve this problem?" she asked. Although her computer knowledge was enough to know the answer to this question.

"It'll take about ten minutes," Justin's voice sounded lifeless to her, like someone who had just heard his sentence, "Emily, I'm sorry."

The red counter numbers on the screen finished their report. Music was still playing in the hall, and Emily felt as if the world around her had become silent.

The picture on the screen was updated, displaying the total data on the users who had installed the application in half an hour.

[987 546 new users.]

Emily closed her eyes, but the numbers seemed to be imprinted on her irises and in her head. A little bit. Just a little was not enough.

"Come on," Justin's hands dropped to her shoulders. The man returned to the hall to finish the meeting.

Emily didn't notice as she went back to her seat. People around her said something, looked in her direction, but their faces and words blurred into one monotonous noise with hazy outlines.

Denver also returned to his seat.

"Miss Hayes...," he called the girl, but Emily did not even turn her head.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you enjoyed the show our team has put together for you," Justin addressed the audience.

His hair was tousled as if he had run his hands over it many times, his smile was restrained.

"From the bottom of my heart I want to thank everyone once again who responded to my proposal three years ago and stepped into the unknown. There were many difficulties, but there were also many successes."

Emily listened to the boss's words with closed eyes, because she felt that a little more, and she would cry.

"Today we have accomplished the almost impossible. For the first time in the history of the Pharaoh publishing house, we were able to attract such a number of new users in such a short time. Unfortunately, some technical issues did not allow us to realize the plan in full," Justin looked into one of the cameras that were opposite him,

"But I and the entire team of Pharaoh magazine sincerely thank each of you who fulfilled our request. The app you have installed will be in beta testing and I hope you can take advantage of all the features we have developed for you. And now I propose to start voting."

Justin was approached by his secretary Stephanie, who was holding a tablet in her hand. He gave the girl the instructions, and she walked to the second row, where the shareholders with fewer votes were sitting.

Each of them had a plastic ID card, which they had to attach to the tablet in order for it to scan the user's data and count the votes.

"Emily, look at me," Denver leaned a little towards the girl, "Forget about that bet, just vote as you see fit."

She raised her reddened eyes to the man, "It's my fault. I should have considred all outcomes possible," she said in a broken voice.

"Listen, it's not always possible to calculate everything to the end. You just don't have much experience yet," Christian replied.

"But mistakes like this are the best experience," Arthur Pitcher, sitting on the other side of Emily, patted the girl on the shoulder. "By the way, your project is in the lead." He nodded towards the screen, where the voting results were displayed in real time.

The exact number of votes for each participant was not known, but the two vertical columns were quite understandable. And at the moment, Emily's project was outrunning that of Denver by a little bit.

The second-tier voting was over. And Stephanie with the tablet approached them.

"Mr. Denver, select the final project and attach your card, please," the secretary politely turned to Christian.

Emily looked at the big screen. Denver's project was five or ten percent ahead of their idea, as far as she could tell from the diagram.

Now he will add his package of votes to it, which was quite logical, and will become the undisputed leader.

That's all, Hayes. Probably, God knows better and he thought that you were not suitable for such responsibility.

Denver selected the project and attached his card. The voting screen flashed, displaying updated data.

Emily turned sharply to the man, staring at him with shocked eyes. Did he just... Did he just vote for her?!

"But why?" whispered the girl. Wasn't he determined to the opposite?

Denver shrugged, "Probably I caught a bit of spontaneity from one dragon I know," he smiled.

"Miss Hayes," Stephanie said to the girl, "Select the final project and attach your card. Please Alpha," she added, and it seems like this was the first time Emily saw this Cerberus in a skirt with a sincere smile.

Stephanie looked at her without her usual irritation or displeasure. She looked as if they were not close friends yet, but colleagues who respect each other.

Emily turned her gaze to Justin, who was waiting for the results onstage. The man smiled and nodded, allowing her to make the final decision.

She was already in the lead, and if she adds her large package of votes to her project, then the gap from Denver will be colossal. This will be a complete and unconditional victory.

But will it really be the victory? 

"Mr. Pitcher," Emily looked at Justin's grandfather, "You have created a wonderful company. Here I feel like I am in a big family. Thank you so much."

She raised her hand to the tablet, pressed the required button and put her card, giving her votes for the chosen project.

The data on the screen updated and displayed the final result. There was a deathly silence in the hall.

Denver looked at Emily with the same shocked eyes, just as she had looked at him a couple of minutes earlier.

Tears came to the girl's eyes, which she had tried to hold back for so long. To the man's unspoken question "why?", Emily shrugged her shoulders and replied, "Family relationships cannot be built without honesty. That was the deal."

She looked back at the stage and from Evans's glance knew that he supported her decision. After all, it was he who told her when they first met in his office, "Miss Hayes, just be yourself."

Justin turned on the microphone, took a deep breath, and announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, according to the vote, Christian Denver's project has won."