"Don't mind it!" In the midst of her fading awareness, Marie-Rose dismissed Mimosa's vengeful antics as inconsequential. It was clear that Mimosa attributed the reprimand in the cafeteria to their earlier altercation, an assumption Marie-Rose brushed aside as she descended into unconsciousness in Jean's supportive embrace.
When she came back to her senses, she knew it was only right to take a leave from Zoe's duties and return to her usual workplace. It called for action.
***
"Why are you standing in the door? Don't you see you've become rather large? Like a cow." Cezar addressed the new accountant bluntly.
After the accountant left, Marie-Rose couldn't refrain from scolding Cezar.
"How dare you?" She kept her gaze fixed on Cezar until he was seated, then continued. "She is a human being too. She has the right to work no matter your personal preferences."
"We did everything we could for people like her. We have the wellness program in place! She didn't attend it," Cezar defended.
"She might have her personal reasons for not attending. Did you engage with her to see what she thinks, what she needs, if there is something you can help her with?" Marie-Rose asked.
As she thought about talking to the fitness trainer working with them now in a workplace wellness program, she heard Cezar retort, clearly hurt by her statement:
"They forced this wellness program on us." He always complained that it was the superiors' decision, yet he never dared confront them. He was politically appointed to his position and feared losing it since he didn't have the necessary qualifications. "Y'all clearly have fat phobia," he accused.
"Just because we are working out, does not mean that we have a fat phobia," Marie-Rose responded.
"They are forcing us to lose weight," Cezar complained.
"Since you are such an advocate for diversity, why don't you marry the 'fat boy'!" Cezar taunted, hinting at Andre from the legal department.
She couldn't believe her ears. How dare he call Andre that when his own belly was stuffed with fat? At least Andre carried the extra weight evenly over his body. Cezar must have been quite the playboy when he was younger, but the audacity to mock Andre that way was too much, especially when his own belly was the size of a pregnant woman's.
"I would like a woman for myself. Why are you still single?" Cezar diverted the subject to Marie-Rose's own relationship status.
"That's too personal, please excuse me!" Marie-Rose said.
"Why aren't you with someone like yourself?" Cezar pressed.
"That's exactly the point," she replied, realizing he was in a no-win position. Whatever response Marie-Rose gave would seem to prove her right.
Marie-Rose's thoughts turned to a recent stance, when Barbara had proclaimed that women should marry ugly men and listed supposed benefits. Her eyes had bulged in disbelief. Lately, even some men were pushing these cynical ideas, apparently to justify claiming rudeness and superficiality among women.
"I don't understand why women only marry handsome men. There are so many benefits to marrying someone unattractive," Cezar continued provocatively.
"You don't understand," Marie-Rose replied. "You can't just marry someone you find unattractive thinking it will ensure they love you and won't cheat." When Barbara came complaining 'I'll never date a handsome man again, I'll choose an ugly one who will truly love me. I don't want any more heartbreak,' she was missing the point.
Marie-Rose clarified, "When you are truly in love, your partner seems the most beautiful person in the world to you." For her, Jayden was the most handsome man, even compared to Julian who objectively had more classically attractive features.
"Besides, he doesn't want to marry me!" In fact, Andre always mocked her age, since she was older than him, addressing her with overly polite formulas like "Hello Madam!" He and his friend Emilian from IT constantly made fun of her behind her back for the novel she was writing, where the female main character was with a younger male lead. In truth, she had written it to spotlight the prejudice older women with younger partners still faced in society. It was inspired by the real-life story of her friend Margarita, who was with a man twenty years her junior.
"You didn't give him a real chance!" Cezar insisted, though he was clearly grasping at straws. "Women should be forced to marry. It's because of women having too many preferences now that men struggle to find wives."
He continued his rant, "The fact that women have so much freedom these days led to this sad state of affairs. They shouldn't even be allowed to work so they have no choice but to marry whatever man comes along. These bloody feminists! Pretending they can live without a man when…"
"Well, actually they can live without a dxck!" Marie-Rose interrupted.
"You mean without sex?" Cezar asked crassly.
"No, I mean without a man like you."
"You witch, are you a feminist?" he accused.
"No, I'm not a feminist!" she chuckled, then dropped a sassy retort: "I don't need a man. I want one!" She wanted a man, not a toy boy to play with. The meaning of the phrase included wanting Jayden as well, of course.
"Well here I am! Marry me then!" Cezar exclaimed.
"You're not a man!" Marie-Rose shot back.
"Then what am I? Do I not have a dxck? Want me to show you?" Marie-Rose was sick of getting his unsolicited explicit pictures randomly sent to her various accounts.
"You're a pig!"
"You fat cow, how dare you criticize my looks?" Cezar snarled.
"I was referring to your character and behavior, not your looks," Marie-Rose clarified, raising her voice over his. "Piggy boy!" she emphasized the fitting nickname.
This was a state institution, not a corporate office, so Marie-Rose couldn't file any formal complaint. She had to fight back by mocking Cezar instead. There was no independent ombudsman here - as her university professor had explained, the one a complaint was made against was the one who received and responded to it. Their only recourse was an association of freelance journalists not beholden to the state bureaucracies.
"When a man speaks, a woman should be silent," Cezar snapped angrily. "You should shut your mouth when talking to me!"
Marie-Rose held her tongue, though her defiant compliance clearly annoyed Cezar further.
"You're gaslighting me!" he accused.
"Look who's talking!" Marie-Rose thought. She had endured their gaslighting for years already - but not anymore. It was payback time now.
Her phone beeped again. This time, Matthieu had sent her a meme on social media showing two monkeys talking: "What do you do at work?" "Mostly inappropriate comments!"
Marie-Rose texted back, "Oh Matthieu, leave me alone! I'm so angry right now!"
His reply came quickly: "Those monkeys are the two of us!"
Marie-Rose texted: "Oh! For a moment I thought you meant it was me and 'piggy boy'!"
She could envision Matthieu chuckling to himself. His next text read: "Poor baby, I upset her!"
"Stop it!" Marie-Rose warned playfully, but both their shoulders were shaking trying to restrain laughter at their inside joke amidst the office tension.
Fed up with Cezar's relentless harassment of Marie-Rose, Matthieu finally lashed out in her defense:
"You moron, give her a break! Lose that fat belly! Rediscover your manhood!" He raised his voice sharply, sending Cezar scurrying away around the corner to the comfort of his gossiping sycophants.
Later, as Marie-Rose headed to the other office to try and find the fitness instructor, she heard Mimosa's siren-like voice call out:
"Marie-Rose, don't you want me to do your makeup? I just got a new eyeshadow palette." Mimosa seemed confident it was acceptable to do this at work. Perhaps because they dealt with the public and were expected to look pleasant, though no actual policy said wearing makeup was mandatory. In fact, Marie-Rose had on light, discreet makeup currently.
"No thank you," she replied honestly. "I don't do makeup."
Mimosa looked surprised by the refusal. Marie-Rose wondered what she was scheming now, after the revenge Mimosa had taken by leaking that photo of her in the club with Jayden. Still, not wanting to seem arrogant or shut Mimosa down completely, Marie-Rose decided to provide some explanation:
"Makeup just doesn't look good on me. I have certain features that need a specific application style. And I'm not very skilled with colors, so I prefer to avoid them." She didn't feel comfortable putting all her insecurities out there − it was rarely advantageous to trash yourself unless you were a comedian making self-deprecating jokes so people felt comfortable substituting themselves into your stories.
Yet it was true that often, a shade that looked great in an ad or makeup palette didn't flatter Marie-Rose's own complexion when applied.
Just then, Mimosa's other "supermodel" friend Barbara chimed in snidely: "Drawing a tail with your eyeliner doesn't do you any favors."
Mimosa pursued her, "Oh but you should try some eyeshadow! This new smoky eye look would be so perfect with your complexion..."
Marie-Rose took it as rude advice, knowing Barbara was just being petty. Still, she held her tongue when Barbara generously offered to show Marie-Rose how to properly apply makeup. She pretended to be an expert, so Marie-Rose accepted the favor.
However, seeing the bright red lipstick aging her complexion, Marie-Rose couldn't help exclaiming in surprise: "Wow, I can't believe how this color looks on me. It really doesn't flatter me at all!"
Barbara clearly took offense, immediately disliking Marie-Rose even more from that moment on for apparently daring to criticize her makeup skills.
Soon after, Marie-Rose overheard Barbara and Mimosa spitefully gossiping: "Some people look like dead bodies with their pale faces yet refuse to add any color to their lips." Knowing bright shades didn't suit her, Marie-Rose said nothing, serenely resolving to stick with nudes and neutrals going forward.
"You know, I was insecure too when I was young," Barbara commented. "I used to layer stockings and pants to avoid looking too skinny." She fancied herself an armchair psychology enthusiast after reading a few pop psychology books aimed at general readers. Those two or three books kept her hooked, and she began sorting everyone around her into psychological categories based on their traits.
Marie-Rose raised a brow, wondering why they were suddenly sharing insecurities. She paid close attention to their words and body language − something strange was going on here. Perhaps Barbara had crafted an analysis of Marie-Rose's own psyche.
Another girl added her story to the pile-on: "I started going to the gym to put on weight because I hated being so skinny."
Marie-Rose didn't understand what was so bad about being skinny, unless the girl had suffered from an actual eating disorder. These women looked perfectly healthy − it was society's impossible standards that had clearly warped their body images. But why let ignorant societal pressures tear yourself down?
Unable to stay silent, Marie-Rose commented, "I don't see the problem here…"
"Well, you just don't understand," Barbara argued. "People judge you for your looks...there's so much pressure from society to conform to certain beauty standards. When you're too skinny, nobody likes you."
Another girl chimed in, "Yes, I think skinny women need to do everything they can to improve their looks, or they'll always be single."
"That's why I'm considering a boob job," Mimosa declared.
"I actually went through with it - I had smaller boobs than you do, Marie," Barbara confessed smugly.
Marie-Rose was puzzled by the sudden focus on breasts. Why did Barbara feel entitled to appraise and comment on her body? Marie-Rose was perfectly happy with her figure and proportions.
What intrigued her further was that she'd just had a similar conversation about insecurities with her friend Cathy. But where that talk had vulnerability and support, this seemed a distorted echo chamber designed specifically to plant seeds of doubt and tear Marie-Rose down.
Cathy, with her curvy full breasts nicely proportioned to her figure, had told Marie-Rose she found her smaller, round breasts more beautiful. Marie-Rose didn't fully agree, but she was confident enough that surgery was not on her wish list - if no one liked her small bust, too bad.
Moreover, it wasn't only Cathy that Marie-Rose had recently discussed breasts with. By odd coincidence, Jayden had also made nearly the same crude remark when in a moment of hot-blooded passion, commenting that he loved Marie-Rose's small bust.
Yet with this group suddenly harping on the same subject, it felt too pointed to be coincidence…
"Well, I prefer to go natural," Marie-Rose stated confidently, attempting to dismiss the topic.
"Sure, you say that now," Barbara retorted. "But just wait - if you're still single when you hit forty, you'll change your tune! You'll see the amount of effort it takes with small boobs like yours just to get a man to like you."
Mimosa chimed in, "It's true - all men are obsessed with big breasts. You don't stand a chance finding someone with your tiny bust."
Marie-Rose was bemused by their logic. "I'm not sure what my relationship status has to do with this…"
"Actually, I do have a new boyfriend - I did find a man who loves me as I am..." Marie-Rose interjected, dropping a bomb into the middle of their smug teardown.
Barbara and Mimosa froze, shooting each other shocked looks.
"What? When did this happen?" Barbara demanded. "Who is he? What does he even see in you?"
The other girls began peppering her with questions too. "Is he cute at least?" "He must be using you for something if he's settling for you." "I bet she's making it all up so we feel bad for her!"
Marie-Rose stood calmly as accusations flew. She decided a few tantalizing details should silence them quickly:
"Oh he's very handsome. And so thoughtful too - he brought me the loveliest bouquet of roses last night…"