"We don't know what happened. We've called him more than ten times today. He was just here yesterday."
"That's fine, Laura, I can replace him for today." Ray reassured.
Jake is the main executive officer who creatively directs the ideas for the issue for each month. He has an entire team who works with him, but they mainly rely on his direction. Ray entered the office from across the hall, and Jake's team is there to meet him.
"Ray, we're so glad you're here to help us," Gabriel was the first to greet him.
"Well, I'm happy to help. Have you guys thought of anything?" he asked the group.
Mary had an idea. "Mike said earlier that October is World Animal Month. Maybe we can collaborate with PETA?"
"PETA! People would love that. Maybe we can have models that will wear faux fur? But of course, we have to verify that it's really fake." Ray suggested to the team.
"And there have to be a lot of pictures. People wouldn't be thrilled to see models photographed beside tame, domesticated animals. Maybe we should get a professional zoologist to help us with this. There are probably many models we can get who'll be brave enough to be beside wild ones?"
"I don't know models we can get for that," Laura admitted. "Perhaps you guys know anyone?"
Magdalene chimed in. "Are you guys familiar with Chloé? She's a rising model, and she's often photographed with exotic animals. I heard she has a lot of exotic pets in her home."
"We can make a long article about her," Ray suggested. "We can get the team to her house, do a whole photoshoot, interview her for awhile, and voilà! That's a lot of pages dedicated for her. I guess that's okay, don't you guys think so?"
Mike is eager, too. "I know how to contact her," he said. "I had to work with her for a week last year."
"It's set, then." Ray is pleased.
"Now for the cover," Gabriel said. "I think I know who to call."
"Wasn't Kylie in the news a just few days ago?" Magdalene spoke. "She was in the headlines. If I'm not mistaken, she wore fur to an event, a faux one. But the media was mad, because they didn't know. She posted on Instagram to clarify about it."
Ray was intrigued. He hadn't heard about it, but he's interested to know more. "Then maybe we can have her. I know how to contact her through Laura." He looked at her, and she nodded in approval. Laura knows how to contact everyone in the industry. Some of them personally know her, but oftentimes, she had to contact them indirectly first, because she gets to talk to them directly and ask for their approval for the project.
Gabriel has something to say. "Well, I guess that's it. The rest of what's going to be done can be handled by the team," he stood up and looked at Ray's direction. "Thank you."
"Of course, I'm glad to be of help. Have you heard something about Jake? Maybe he's sick," Ray replied. "If he is, maybe it's something serious that he couldn't even pick up the phone to let us know he's not going today."
Laura followed Ray to his office and sat in the front. "Have you chosen what you'd wear for next week?" she asked. Ray thought to himself, and it took him awhile to remember what she's talking about. There is something that he's been afraid to tell Rina. For the past month, he's been experiencing memory problems, but he's comforted by the fact that it hasn't caused any significant issues in his life. As of yet, it remains a miniscule issue, but he knows for a fact that it might worsen if he doesn't do anything about it.
"The fashion week," he remembered. "Yeah. We're going to Paris."
For this year, Ray was assigned by the CEO to attend the Paris Fashion Week as Vogue's representative. Last year, Jake was the one who did it, and the executive officers of the magazine company take turns in attending. The last time he has attended a fashion week was three years ago, when he went to Milan, Italy to watch a runway show.
"Wait a minute," Laura raised a finger. "I'll grab something from the stockroom, and you'll let me know if you'd want to wear it." she said. She walked out of Ray's office, and after a few minutes, she came back, holding a bright blue box. She blew the dusts away and opened it.
"This would look good on you," she unfolded the suit and presented it to Ray.
"Do I really have to wear that?" he asked, uncertain of Laura's choices.
She put it back in the box. "I mean, I'm not forcing you to wear something you do not like. But you're Vogue's representative, and you can't just come in there looking bland and boring. At least make an effort in living up to Vogue's reputation. The whole world knows what Vogue is, and we can't disappoint them, can we?"
He obliged, and she went back to her cubicle. For the upcoming fashion week, Ray and Laura will be staying in the foreign country for a week and a half. They will watch several runway shows and meet with fashion executives from different luxury brands. Laura has never accompanied Ray to a fashion week, and she's delighted to be going next week. For the first day, based on the schedule that the two of them collaborated on, they're going to meet with Gio Conti, one of the head officers of Vogue Italia. The two executives are going to talk about the prospects of the brand in Italy and how Ray's team will collaborate with them for a more diverse creative expression. He has not met Gio yet but based on the pictures he's seen of him on the internet, he is a middle-aged man with very distinct Italian facial features.
Ray did a meticulous background check on Gio, and he's discovered a lot about him. He's a bachelor who has had multiple girlfriends in the past but in an interview he's done as of recently, he disclosed that he does not believe in the sanctity of marriage and has no plans of finding a wife. This discovery led Ray to think about his own life; although he's only in twenty-five, several of his peers have already settled down. He refused to fully entertain his thoughts about the topic and promised to himself that his career remains the main priority in his life.
