'Morning ’ smiled at the girl behind the desk. 'Hiya .' smiled back at him. 'How have ye been?' asked. 'I've been good. Everyone's been missing ye’ smiled softly. 'I've been missing everyone' winked. 'Well let me be the first to say, welcome back' . 'It's good to be back. Shame it's only recording though' frowned. smiled softly. ‘’ called out to him from behind them. hugged him. 'Ready for it?' he asked his friend 'Very ready' nodded 'Good, hey ’ kissed her on her cheek. 'Hi ' smiled. 'How have you been keeping up, with your favourite lads not coming in' smiled. 'I nearly killed myself' she replied with a very serious face. It made and 's smile fade from their faces for a second. 'Guys come on, what do you take me for ey? I missed you' frowned. and seemed to be able to breathe again. 'Well, we better go up there. See ye ’ winked. The boys went towards the elevator.

  sighed as she watched the men walk away. She wondered if there would ever come a time that wouldn't make her heart rate go faster or slower. It had been the first ever time had seen the Westlife boys walk into the building that caught her undivided attention. She did know who they were, but Westlife wasn't her kind of music and so she didn't know them individually. Noticing a new receptionist the lads had come up to her and introduced themselves. had been smitten with from that moment on. Now it was a few years later and was in love as she ever was.
'You know , you should just ask her out' said, hitting the button to call the lift down. 'I don't think she would say yes, ' shook his head. 'How would you know if you haven't even tried?' asked, patting him on the shoulder. ' , that I'm , doesn't mean every gorgeous woman in the world will fall at my feet when I ask them out’ laughed lightly. 'Take it from me mate, don't think would say no’.

  At the end of her workday turned off her computer and left the building. The boys were still working upstairs in the studio, she hadn't seen them coming down for lunch, which meant they had their lunch in the company's canteen. For a missed chance to see the one light in her life, even if she wasn't his. Lost in thoughts, she didn't notice where her feet were taking her and suddenly found herself in an alley she was sure she had never seen in the streets of Dublin before. It was dark, there were hardly streetlights and couldn't find a way out either. Before she got any more lost, she went into the nearest shop whose sign said 'OPEN'.
The products in the stacks made think it was a joke shop. Near the cash register she found voodoo dolls. 'Try them on someone you hate or love' murmured under her breath. 'Can I help you dear' a croaky voice startled her. looked up and saw an old lady smile, the friendliest smile. 'I was.. I'm lost I think. I was just wondering if you could help me find the main road again. I was walking home from work you see and I didn't see where I was going and I wound up here' 'exactly where you needed to be sweetheart.' the old lady smiled again. smiled. 'I thought voodoo dolls worked only on people you hated’ she quickly changed the subject. 'Well that's the dark magicians dear. White magicians use them on the people they love' the lady smiled softly. 'I don't believe in magic' shook her head. 'Anyway, I came in to ask whether their was a way out of this alley'  'Love is magic dear. And it led you here, but as you say, you came here to ask whether there was a way out of the alley. There is, go back the way you came in and then left, the way you wound up here. You'll see you'll get back to where you want to be' the old lady winked at her, then left behind the curtain that closed of the private part of the shop. frowned, turned round and left the shop again. She did what the lady said and found herself back in the centre of Dublin, streets that were familiar to her. When she turned round the alley had gone and her bag felt heavier. When she opened it, a box with a voodoo doll came out. A post-it was attached to it 'try it. Love is magic. Happy Halloween’ read it. She turned around again, but the alley had gone. sighed and continued her way home.
When she had gone through her daily rituals:  cook dinner - warming up the left overs of the night before in the microwave - , feed the cat, do the dishes, plumped down on the sofa, the voodoo doll box in her hand. She examined the box. On the backside she found the instructions on how the voodoo doll worked.  'All you need is three hairs of the person, you'd like to bewitch' read. 'Right' she rolled her eyes. 'Enough hocus pocus. I'm going to bed' she decided.

  The next morning went to her work, voodoo doll packed in her bag. She couldn't let it go and had decided that just for the fun of it, she was going to try and get three hairs from . So she smiled very happily when he entered the building, together with his three friends. 'Morning lads' she smiled. 'Morning ' they came up to her.  'So how was it yesterday?'  she asked. 'It was great. Great to be back. Ready for another session’ smiled 'Me too' nodded. 'Oh , come here' gestured. 'What?'  frowned. 'Just come here' she gestured for him to lean over again.  did and quickly grabbed three hairs from the collar of his jacket. Almost losing herself in the smell of his aftershave 'Saw something on the collar of your jacket' she smiled, when he straightened up again.'  'Oh right' nodded. 'Well have a good session lads' said cheerfully, sat down on her chair and went back to work. The four men in front of her looked quizzically at each other, then decided they had better go upstairs.
waited for them to be out of the hallway before she got up and rushed to the kitchen. As no one ever came in there, had it all to herself and right now she was more then thankful for it. The instructions said to pin the hairs to the doll and then put it into boiling water for ten minutes. After that, the victim would be all hers and would obey to all her commands. The instructions had said for every command a pin had to be inserted into the doll. For the command to stop that pin had to be taken out again.  It was around noon when decided to see if it had worked. 'All right. , I command you to come down here and take me out to lunch' she spoke to the doll and put a pin in..... Ten minutes later heard the ping of the lift arriving, she didn't take any further notice of it, people walked in and out all the time, until she heard his voice ' , we're going out to lunch' looked up 'all right see ye soon'  it was then she noticed was alone. 'I mean you and me’ he smiled. 'Oh. OH.. Ok' was stunned. She looked at the doll in her bag, then back at and smiled. 'Cool' she grinned.
They had a great time, talking about anything and everything, as they left took her hand in his and he held her hand right up until they were back at the record company building. 'Lunch was great . Thank you'. leaned in. expected the kiss on her cheek and was surprised when it ended up on her lips. She kissed him back fiercely.  'I have to go back upstairs now' winked, reluctantly breaking the kiss. 'OK. See ye later' smiled and watched him go. When she was alone again she jumped up and down excitedly, took the voodoo doll out of her bag and planted kisses all over it.

  'What the hell were you thinking?'  'What the hell , just walking out when you're in the middle of a recording?'  'I did that?' asked. 'Don't play dumb with us. You just walked out. Like a zombie' 's nostrils flared. 'I swear, I didn't know. I was singing and then all of the sudden I felt like taking out to lunch and I did.' shrugged.  'And apparently she kissed you' suddenly started chuckling. 'What do you mean?' frowned 'I kissed her yes and she kissed me back, but only on the lips' he explained.  'Really? then why are there lipstick lips all over your face, ?' pointed at him. 'Yeah right' smirked, then decided to visit the mensroom. Looking in the mirror he found his friend was right. There were lips all over his face a ruby red shade. He washed his face, but it had no use. The lipstick marks came back again. 'This is crazy' he got angry now. He was going downstairs to and ask what was going on.
'Good day sir'.. ended the call she had just answered.  ' ' stood in front of her again. It surprised her, cause after all she hadn't commanded him to, but then she noticed the lips all over his face.  ' , your face..'  'Is covered in kisses. I know. I tried to wash it of, but it won't go away. Now I just had a six months break so I can't be overworked. What is going on . I just found out I walked out while I was recording. I was singing up there and suddenly I feel an urge to take you out to lunch, now normally I would wait until I was finished, but I just walked out..' 's eyes pierced right through her. looked at the doll in her bag. Its face was pink from all the kisses she had given it. 'Oh god..' she whispered. 'What?'..   spat.  decided to spill the beans. ' , I like you!  I really really like you. I'm in love with you. Have been for a long time. The other day I was walking home from work and I walked into this alley. Now I've grown up in Dublin and I know every part of it, but this alley ... I swear, it hadn't ever been there before. I went into this shop and I thought it was a joke-shop. There were voodoo dolls near the cash register. I asked for directions that took me back to the centre of town cause I was so lost I couldn't find my way back. The old lady gave me directions but tried to sell me a voodoo doll. I left the shop, followed her instructions and found my way again. Now this is going to sound crazy. When I got back into the centre of the city. The alley had gone and there was a voodoo doll in my bag. I hadn't nicked it from the shop, . I swear. So, I went home, did my thing, read the instructions and then decided to have a little fun with it. So this morning I took three hairs from you, like the box said, followed all the other instructions. Then around noon I ordered you to have lunch with me and the rest .. is history'  explained all the craziness. 'Here's the proof' she picked up her bag and took the voodoo doll out. The face pink with lipstick. The pin with 's three hairs in it. 'Where's the pin that commanded me to take you out to lunch?' asked. 'To end the command you have to take the pin out. I did' explained. nodded. 'Right'.  'I'm sorry . It's pathetic I know. I was just.. I ... I didn't know how else to attract your attention' sighed and sat down on her chair.  'Did you command me to kiss you?' asked.  'No I haven't'.  'So, I kissed you because I wanted to myself?' asked. 'Yes, yeah you did' nodded.  started smiling. ' , . You silly girl.' he laughed.  'This isn't funny , I'm embarrassed' looked a little irritated at him. ' don't you see? You only commanded me to have lunch with you. Which means the rest was all out of free will.' walked behind the reception. 'Yeah, so?' shrugged.  ' . You don't have to command me to do things. I like you. I really really like you. The lads have been bantering me for ages to ask you out. I was just to chicken to do it' smiled.  started laughing. took 's hand in his and rubbed the back with his thumb. 'Do you have a date for the Halloween ball tonight?' he asked. 'No, I wasn't planning on going' shook her head. 'Would you like to go with me?' asked. 'Yes, yes I would' nodded.  'Good, it's a date then' smiled and kissed her shortly.  'Oh and do me a favour will you?  Leave the doll at home?' winked as he got up. chuckled. 'I will'  'Good, I'm picking you up at your place. Seven pm'  'OK' nodded. 'Oh yeah, another thing. Could you please wash that dolls face? I look a little silly' pointed at his face. nodded again. 'I will yeah' 'Good. See ye later then' smiled. 'See ye' replied.  She took a tissue from the tissue box and wiped the pink colour from the dolls face. Still she couldn't resist placing a kiss on the dolls lips. Upstairs smiled, he couldn't wait for it to be night..


THE END



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