Love Fool

1 Porcelain throne

Early March

At last. Two minutes of peace in my private "office" away from my office.

"Doop. Da doo doo, doop, da doo doo." I hummed to the tunes of an annoyingly sticky television advertisement that managed to gaffer-tape itself around my limbic system.

I, Eva King, a proud Australian feminist, sat on my favorite porcelain throne at the end of the women's restroom. It was no iron throne that ruled the seven kingdoms, but it was my sanctuary for a few minutes of peace on the top floor of the Hudson Engineering building.

Coated with faux gold trimmings along the marbled walls, and scented with lavender, the women's restroom was a forgotten and unused space on this floor. Each morning, the cleaners came with freshly rolled hand towels and stocked the Molton Brown liquid soaps and moisturizers.

It was a pity that much effort was made to keep up the pristine condition of this graveyard of a restroom because it was rarely used-except by one other woman and me.

Most of my colleagues were men, and the only other woman on the top floor was Mary McQueen, who handled administrative tasks for the global management team. After five years of grueling, hard work, and weekends dedicated to working on tenders to win contracts, I had been promoted to the global management team a few months ago.

I moved from the second floor to the top floor, and thanked my old boss, Derek Chang, for pushing my promotion. He was the man who hired me when I was a penniless graduate looking for work. Judged by both men and women, I was on a lonely road, but Derek was my mentor who kept me strong.

As Hudson's new marketing and communications director, I dissected the company's product lines and looked at the stars, cash cows, question marks, and dogs. As a team, my colleagues and I discovered that the product line with the biggest market potential lacked a strong brand, so we ran a re-branding campaign and scared the competition.

I got along with most co-workers except Larry Holden, who despised me. That was fair because I didn't think much of him either. His animosity began when I dared to speak up during one of his presentations. I saw a lack of strategy in the company's sales plan and reiterated that his objectives needed to be measurable and realistic.

He didn't have a clue about the art, science, or strategy of sales. According to my colleagues, clients refused to deal directly with him. Yet, he was Hudson Engineering's head of sales. He spent enough time licking the asses of top management to get his job. The color of his tongue was brown.

Ah, Larry, Larry.

Quite contrary.

Smiles one way and frowns the other.

If looks could kill, I'd murder him with my silent smother.

Larry, Larry...

The porcelain throne was a great place to escape from Larry.

"Eva! Eva, are you in here?" Mary McQueen's shrill voice disrupted my moment of peace.

"Eva?"

I groaned.

"Mary, give me a minute!" I rolled my eyes and let out a loud sigh of exasperation.

A few minutes later, I stood across from Mary after washing my hands and slathering a dash of Molton Brown on my dry hands. My arms folded, and I stared directly at her, with one eyebrow raised.

"I'm so sorry," Mary mumbled apologetically. Her eyes gave away a blend of fear and desperation.

"Well, you're here now, so please go ahead," I commanded.