Maja writes: OH NO SHE DOESN’T

(Private. Absolutely not for the NOP website.)

I did not expect today to unravel the way it did.

I thought we were simply “welcoming an international visitor,” which in NOP-speak usually means tidying a single table, hiding the panic kettle, and pretending we don’t hear the printer grinding its existential screams. But then she arrived.

Shaila Rao.

Tall, composed, astonishingly alert, as if she’d already assessed the structural weaknesses of the entire building on entry. She carried herself with this calm, contained power that made the fluorescent lights look embarrassed to be near her. And from the second Julian saw her…

(Want to hear more of my story? Then subscribe here before the bosses delete this post… Love from Maja xxx