Alice woke up nervous on that beautiful autumn morning of Thursday, she would see John Wick again. That handsome stranger messed with her head in a way that made her feel like a teenager seeing her senior-year crush, including the insecurities that usually come with it, like feeling that he would be totally out of her league.
She wanted to look her best, so she woke up early and did a ritualistic morning routine: she took a warm shower with her favorite body wash, washed her hair slowly, covered her body with relaxing oils and lotions, wore her favorite perfume, which smelled like a summer morning, dried and styled her hair and put some fresh makeup on, highlighting her best feature: her eyes. For clothes, first of all, she elected a lovely white lingerie, although she was sure that nobody would see it at this point, knowing that she was wearing such a beautiful piece made her feel sexy and powerful. She then chose a cream-color pencil skirt and a white square-necked long-sleeved blouse that was both elegant and professional. For shoes, she chose her favorite Chanel nude satin high-heeled scarpins. As it was starting to get pretty cold, she topped it all with a Burberry burgundy overcoat. She was terrificly elegant.
When Alice arrived at her office, John was already sitting on the waiting room, impeccable as the first time she saw him, but his shirt was white this time. He was going to be her unique appointment for the day, as she had started working in a top secret medical research for The Circle. Alice kept reminding herself how competent she was, so it would not make sense to feel so nervous.
— Get your shit together, Alice. She thought to herself.
John raised his head, but his eyes slowly travelled their way up Alice's body until he fixed them to hers, not in a pervert/creepy way, but as if he was methodically analyzing her. Alice stopped breathing for 2 seconds.
— Good morning, Mr Wick, said Alice reuniting all the confidence she could find within herself.
— Good morning. Please, you can call me John, he said politely.
— Ok, John, Alice said smiling friendly. You too can call me Alice. Please follow me and take a sit.
Alice opened the door to her office, John stood up and walked side by side with her. While walking, John broke the silence asking if everything was ok, as she seemed a little concerned.
— Well, I started working in a project that is taking away my sleep... but it's very exciting on the other hand, I love studying about the human's most mysterious piece: the brain. Thank you for asking.
John loved the sound of her voice and how intelligent she was. John was definitely amazed, and he hated himself for feeling like this. Before they could take a sit, though, Alice heard a familiar voice and both of them looked back.
— Dr Geller, sorry to interrupt, we had an emergency on project 17. We will need you right now. It was George, his always friendly eyes looked very concerned and apologetic right now. — Hi John, I'll have Dr Martin handle the last phase of your checkup, ok?
— Of course, John said with a positive nod, then looked at Alice, who was trying not to look so disappointed. - Good luck.
Alice blushed a little and walked graciously back, she was close enough to John that he could smell her fresh perfume. Meanwhile, Dr Martin, another gorgeous man, mid 40s, who had Swedish traits, entered the room and closed Alice's office door behind him.
On the hall, Alice followed George, who was almost running at this point.
— What happened, Mr Rogue? Alice asked, visibly worried.
— We received a top-down order to speed up the research. I'm afraid we will have to start testing our product in humans earlier than we had planned... George said, almost whispering, putting his left hand on his head.
— What? Mr Rogue, we both know this is not appropriate... Besides, I haven't been able to learn all the details of the research yet, I am not in the position for approving something like that, especially when people's lives depend on it.
— I hate being the bearer of bad news, but... Dr Geller, I work for this company for 30 years now and I can assure you that whatever the Board decides, they accomplish. Georg sounded very rigid.
Alice felt confused and nauseous. Suddenly, she missed working for academic projects and science magazine researches, making 10 times less than this job, but with no surprises, just dedicating her life to science. She now understood that all the money they offered her for this position should be paying for much more than her professional knowledge and experience...
— Mr Rogue, I need you to be frank with me. I need to understand where I got myself into, and right now I can't help but think that this might not be just a powerful Multinational company that I am working to, as I initially thought, and project 17 is not just a partnership with one of the most influential pharmaceutical companies of America to build a new "harmless drug" to help fight depression.
George stopped walking and touched Alice's arm with urgency.
— Alice, we don't usually open the confidential details of our company to employees with less than at least a year working here, but I already understand you are way too important to keep being lied to. I'll tell you everything, not just because I trust your competence, but because I know you are strong enough to stay.
George took Alice to his office, offered her a sit and told her all the sordid details about the brilliant company she was now working to, things that she thought she would never hear from someone's mouth in real life, things she only heard about on movies or fiction books. After all, the terrible stories she heard about The Circle were true and now she was up to the neck into that shit.
After George finally stopped talking, Alice had tears in her eyes, but she was using all her strength to avoid letting them find their way down her eyes. The least thing she wanted to look now was fragile.
— I have a question, if I may... So th-that man, John Wick... Is h-he one of... Alice stuttered, she was struggling to absorb so much information and also connect all the dots.
— Mr Wick? Oh he is one of our masterpieces! George said, joy returning to his eyes, after so much tension. — He is one of the most successful assassins in the house. Never missed a target, if you know what I mean haha... some people call him Baba Yaga. John is a man of focus, commitment, sheer will. Until this moment, there was no task impossible for that man. And believe me, the Board tried to trick him when he announced his retirement about 8 years ago. I'm glad he's back to business, though. I'm very glad.
So it was all true, including her "senior-year crush", the gorgeous mystery man... Alice was shaking now, she asked for a moment to swallow all that in. She ran to the bathroom, stood in front of the mirror, wet her hands with cold water and refreshed the back of her neck, trying to recover her sanity. She never felt so frightened before, it was like she was now living a dream, or a nightmare, she kept saying "wake up, wake up" to herself. But it was real, she had to face it. She was responsible for her actions, she had to face the consequences of her choices as a grown woman. She couldn't give up now, her life would be in danger if she did it. So she breathed in and out a few times, recovered her spirit and decided to embrace it, it's not like she had a choice anyway, but she would try her best to avoid any unethical decision. Maybe she could transform the project, use it for the good of human kind... She could find a way to convert it into a valuable thing. And at least now that she was going to be focused solely on this project, she would do what she does best: science. This made her feel safer somehow.
That night, when Alice arrived home, she was not just tired, she was feeling weak and afraid. This had no return, she was stuck to that new reality. That dark and perverse reality.