I glanced at Jake but suddenly, the shakiness he had displayed outside was gone as if it had never been there in the first place. I blinked as he strode into the room, transforming into the confident man I’d always seen in our encounters. I thought that I could learn something here, follow in his stride, so I pulled my shoulders back from their current tense position and walked in after Jake, hoping that we were capable of turning the opinion against him with only five days to do it.

Once inside the long, narrow room crowded with people, we were greeted by a long welcome table and we joined the queue there.

‘Names,’ a bored-sounding woman said without looking up from her clipboard.

‘Freya Harrison and Jake Richards.’

There was a beat.

The woman looked up and her eyes narrowed as she took us in. I suddenly felt the gazes of the people around me. A conversation behind me ceased. Was it my imagination or did the air conditioning suddenly turn up, dropping the temperature in the room by a degree?

‘Oh.’ She paused. ‘How… interesting,’ she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. ‘Here.’ She handed me two badges and looked down at her clipboard again dismissively.

‘Come on,’ I said to Jake, who was staring at the woman like he was desperate to say something, and based on our interactions so far, I knew that would turn out to be a very bad idea. ‘Come on,’ I said again, more firmly, putting my hand on his arm and steering him away from the queue and into the corner. ‘We were prepared for this,’ I hissed as quietly as I could manage, thrusting his name badge into his hand. I pinned mine on my dress, ruining the elegant vibes of the outfit instantly.

Jake looked around. ‘Everyone is looking at me,’ he hissed back as he pinned his badge on his jacket.

‘So, let’s give them something positive to talk about.’ I peered behind him. ‘I see the organisers. You ready to charm them?’

Jake met my gaze then and I was startled by the sudden eye contact. The room around us seemed to fade just a little bit like the blurring of a camera lens if you accidentally cover it with your fingertip.

‘You’re coming too?’ he asked gruffly.

‘I’m right by your side,’ I said.

The corners of his lips turned upwards just ever so slightly for a second. If I had blinked, I would have missed it but I was unable to look away from him looking at me.