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MidReal Story
The Rivalry
Scenario:Make me a romance story between two sworn enemies at work.
Create my version of this story
Ava Martinez
competitive, and sarcastic. Ava has a longstanding rivalry with her coworker, Ethan Thompson, which fuels her drive to succeed. Despite their animosity, she finds herself drawn to him and struggles with the unexpected attraction. Her relationship with Ethan evolves from antagonism to a complex romance filled with tension and passion.
Ethan Thompson
charismatic, and competitive. Ethan has a history of rivalry with Ava that dates back to their college days. Despite their mutual dislike, he finds himself intrigued by her determination and beauty. As they work together on a highprofile project, their rivalry turns into an intense attraction that challenges their professional boundaries.
Jason Lee
neutral, and diplomatic. Jason tries to maintain peace by avoiding taking sides in their disputes but occasionally gets pulled into their banter.
Ava
Ethan Thompson was the bane of my existence.
He was the itch I couldn’t scratch, the mole in my otherwise perfect cake, the half sip of soda that warmed up my otherwise perfect soda can.
He was my sworn enemy.
And for the past six years, ever since our college days, when we were assigned group projects and presented against each other, he had been the thorn in my side.
We presented against each other for the top project in college, and he won.
We presented for a spot in a prestigious internship program, and he won.
We presented for a marketing manager position at one of the most prestigious advertising firms in the country, and I won.
But then I found out that he had also gotten a marketing manager position at the same firm, in a different department.
It was then that I decided I would do whatever it took to make sure that I was the better marketing manager.
I convinced my team to take on more projects, I convinced my boss to give me more difficult and high-profile clients, and I even convinced my boss to give me a shot at pitching against other firms for a major advertising campaign put out to bid.
I strode into the break room, my heels clicking on the tile floor.
Ethan was already there, sitting at a table with his usual smug look on his face.
He was talking to Jason, one of the other marketing managers in his department, and Lily, one of my team members.
Lily shot me a look that said "don’t do it," but I ignored her.
I walked over to the table and slammed down the client brief for the Thompson Hotels account.
It was our biggest potential client this quarter, and I had been waiting for this brief for months.
"Hey," Jason said, looking up from his phone.
"Hey," I said back to him.
Ethan just raised an eyebrow at me.
"What are you doing?"
Jason asked.
I looked at Ethan’s smirk and felt my blood boil.
"I have a proposal," I said.
Jason looked at Ethan and back at me curiously, but Ethan just kept looking at me like he was bored.
"What kind of proposal?"
Jason asked. "I propose that we each pitch our concepts for the Thompson Hotels account to the entire firm next week. The winner gets to lead the account."
I said.
Ethan raised an eyebrow at me and leaned forward in his chair.
He narrowed his eyes at me and then a small smile played on his lips.
"You’re on," he said.
"Seriously?"
Jason groaned from beside him.
"You guys are so competitive. Can’t you just let someone else win for once?"
Lily was typing away on her phone frantically, no doubt trying to text me to get out of there before I did something stupid.
But it was too late.
I had already done something stupid.
And there was no way that I was going to back down now.
"No, I can’t," Ethan said with a smirk.
"And I’m sure you feel the same way," he said, turning his eyes on me.
"Good luck," he said with a smirk before he got up and left.
"Seriously?"
Lily said as she came over to where I was still standing at the break room table, staring at Ethan’s back as he walked out of the break room.
"Why did you have to go and do that? Now we have to actually try to win that account. And if we don’t, we will be stuck working for him for the rest of the time."
I glared at her.
"Are you saying that we can’t win?"
I asked, crossing my arms across my chest.
"No," she said, holding her hands up in front of her like she was trying to placate me.
"It’s just that he is so smug. He thinks that he is so much better than us just because his dad owns the firm. And I really don’t want to work under him." "I understand how you feel," I said, turning on my heel and walking away.
"But don’t worry. We won’t be working for him. We are going to win."
And then I went home and got started on the Thompson Hotels campaign.
I spent the next few days pouring over every piece of information that I could get about Thompson Hotels, their competitors, their target audience, and what they wanted to achieve through this campaign.
I had all of my research materials spread out all over my dining room table—client briefs, competitor analyses, market trends.
My laptop was open with half-finished slides on its screen, and I had a notebook full of scribbled down potential campaign themes that I had come up with so far while pacing back and forth across my hardwood floor.
I looked up from the notes that I had been writing in my notebook to see that it was 11 PM according to the clock on my stove in the kitchen.
That’s when I saw it—the pattern that appeared when I put all of my research side by side. A pattern that appeared in successful hotel marketing campaigns—a pattern of which target audience was targeted and which messaging was used for each audience.
I was so engrossed in my research that I didn’t even notice my phone lighting up on the table until I saw Lily’s name pop up.
I picked it up and read the text.
Ethan apparently impressed a major client today with his presentation skills.
I rolled my eyes and put the phone back down.
I needed to focus on the hotel data, not on what Ethan was doing.
I tried to focus on the data, but my mind kept wandering back to what Lily had said about Ethan’s presentation skills.
He did have a way of commanding attention when he was speaking.
He stood confidently in front of the room, his sleeves rolled up and his hands gesturing as he spoke.
And his eyes lit up with passion when he was discussing strategy.
I felt myself getting hot just thinking about it, and then I remembered how close he had been standing to me earlier in the break room. And then I found myself imagining what it would be like if he were to kiss me right there in the break room, and then I felt horrified that I was imagining Ethan kissing me, so I knocked over my coffee mug in disgust.
My hands were shaking as I grabbed a fresh notepad and started to sketch out my campaign concept.
The coffee seeped into my research papers, but I didn’t care.
I was possessed with an idea that I couldn’t ignore.
I had a visual strategy that would target affluent millennials through experiential storytelling—a strategy that was so much more than anything that Ethan’s polished presentations could come up with.
My phone buzzed again, and I saw another text from Lily about Ethan, but I silenced it and kept working.
I poured all of my conflicted emotions into my campaign points, making sure that they were razor-sharp and impossible to ignore.
By midnight, I had outlined a complete pitch deck.
But every time I imagined presenting it to Ethan, my heart started racing.
