The smell of fresh flowers went before her footsteps. Anyone who caught even a whiff of her presence was caught in this knock out trance for three or four long seconds.

This fragrance wasn't something you could buy in a bottle. There was something magical about her face, the way she walked and her aroma. It was the smell of fresh rain and the pine needles of an ancient evergreen forest. She was the smell of lilacs on a spring day, but without the allergies.

^{Picture from conger at Pixabay.}

Not just her fragrance, but her very step was invigorating. The MullenLove advertising agency building has no elevator but she prances in the room in the morning as if she were the lead ballerina in The Paris Opera. All of us are still panting from the four flights of stairs but she just smiles as she was beamed up from the starship Enterprise. The world is at her fingertips. It is never difficult for her to get what she wanted. She was gorgeous and she knew how to use her looks to get what she wanted. It was just too natural for her.

If you were a guy then you really didn't stand a chance. You could pretend that you didn't notice her, but there was something instinctually powerful about her presence. It was too difficult to ignore and impossible to refuse her any whim.

She crept up close to Mike's desk. It was impossible not to notice the grace her legs move even on a day she was wearing baggy blue jeans. She bent over to pick up the eraser that Mike dropped on the middle of his desk.

"It looks like you dropped this. You don't mind if borrow it?"

It's not like she asked for anything extreme it's just that her presence ate away at people little by little until they were no longer themselves around her.

^{Photo from Pixabay}

For the women that worked in our office it was a little different. Most of them were not carried away with her aroma, but they knew the effect she had on the men around there. Most of the women were jealous. A few tried to befriend her for odd reasons. Some were looking for some dirt on her. They wanted to get her to speak. A whole day could go by which she had only spoken seven or eight words. Her presence itself was powerful. No matter what they did it was hard to get close to her.

She left the office one afternoon a little early with her tiny bag strapped across her waist. She kicked her high heels off and slipped into her cross trainers. She just smiled and gave a little wave.

No one in the office saw her for days after that. It was strange and some of the guys went to our supervisor, Ted, to ask if that girl was ok.

Ted was in his office with his head down. He didn't look like he wanted to be disturbed and no one was brave enough to barge into his office. They waited until lunch and then asked Ted what happened to her.

Ted answered,

"She's not coming in."

That was a cop out answer. Was she fired? Did something happen to her? Was she sick? Was she kidnapped?

Ted looked up,

"Oh, She's resting at home."

A week later she was still resting at home. Some wondered if she had become pregnant or if she was getting some plastic surgery or if she was a victim of some sort of pandemic. News got to Ted what people were saying and he didn't want any stories going around that weren't true so he said to everyone,

"She said we can come and visit her now."

The whole office went together to her house not knowing what to expect. Some had heard that she was in an accident. No one knew the details or why she couldn't text or call them for a week.

When they walked in the room the pine needle forest lilac scent of a woman was replaced with a kind of vinegar/ disinfectant smell. It was as if a mouse had swallowed a bottle of formaldehyde and crawled into a corner.

The office workers passed through the living room into the corner bedroom. That was her room. They really didn't know what to expect. Mike grimaced. Ted knocked and opened the door. A middle aged nurse opened the door and welcomed us in.

The first thing we saw was her foot still elevated in a cast. That explained the vinegar smell. She was such a lively girl, not one to be kept down by an ankle cast. But one by one the office workers realized what had happened. Their eyes rolled from the ankle cast down down to where she was laying in the bed. She still had a beautiful figure, but her shoulders were also wrapped... In fact her whole head was wrapped in bandages.

Mike blurted the word,

"Burned?"

She was burned from her head to her feet. It wasn't really anyone's fault. A truck in front of her had swerved causing her to lose control. Both vehicles ended up in a ditch. Luckily, the fire department was there quickly to save her from the explosion, but not before she was already inflicted with serious third degree burns.

She couldn't really talk until months later. She went through stages and stages of plastic surgery and skin grafting but no matter what they did they could never bring back that angel face that pranced around the office. Instead they brought back a young lady who was very thankful for her life.

She was in the hospital a long time and had time to think. When she came back from the hospital she spent some time talking with Ted. She explained how she had used her beauty to twist and manipulate people. That's the only way she knew how to live.

For months she stayed at home and in hospital rooms thinking about what her life would be like if she could not be beautiful again. She thought about the firefighters who rescued her from her vehicle. They didn't care if she looked and smelled wonderful. They only wanted to save her life because she was a human being and they wanted to give her a chance.

She remembered one nurse who came to check her vitals at night. She could hear the nurse praying in Tagalog in the dark corner of the room. At first she was offended that a nurse pray during her working hours and in her private room, but she listened carefully to what the nurse was saying. It was as if she could understand Tagalog or the nurse intentionally prayed in English:

"Lord, this girl went through a lot. I'm not sure if we can do anything to help her, but help her to see the beauty inside."

That nurse left an impression on this girl. The impression was stamped on her heart. There was more to life than walking the perfect stride and making the perfect impression on the outside.

There was an inner impression that came from an inner beauty. As time went by she spoke to the nurse about her troubles and how she was going to live with her face so deformed.

Sometimes she would laugh with the nurse at night and tell stories. Other times they prayed together. She wasn't afraid. She wasn't a shy selfish little fox. She became a real woman who cared about others.

Ted offered her job back to her. He said her desk would always be waiting for her, but for some reason she was not interested in sales anymore. She was still very young. She had money saved up and she knew what she wanted to do. She went to nursing school.

A couple years later she got a job in the burn unit of a city hospital. It's sensitive work and she deals with people in intensive care. It might not seem like much compared to an advertising CEO but this is the place she makes an impression every day.