KATHERINE…
.
.
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The office was rather as lifeless as its owner -no decorations, no colors, no nothing. It was like an abandoned room. A black and white theme dominated it, and it combined elements of classiness, elegance, wealth, and power.
The moment I stepped in, cold air conditioning made way against my skin, and I shivered softly. Taking a deep breath, I bit my lips.
His delicious, masculine and high-classed cologne filled the air, you could breathe it and feel him everywhere, and he was sending his own waves of silent aura.
My eyes directly zeroed over him, centered behind his desk, scribbling something on some piece of paper in front of him. Behind him, there was no normal moderate wall, but rather, a glass wall-like window that projected over the entire busy city of London.
"Uhm, good morning." I said in a soft, low voice. Okay, I'm nervous, but I can do this.
Unlike Mr. Baker, Rickard Langley Conway apparently found no need for a warm greeting, because all he did to welcome me was simply look up from his papers for a moment to glance at me, then back to the papers again.
Why thank you for your endearing welcome. You know, a fellow human new to your company, first time in your majestic office, in desperate need for work after her life fell apart not so long ago...
Why be nice or kind to her?! Pshhh, why waste your time like that? I gulped, maintaining my silence.
I stood in my place for a few minutes, waiting for him to greet me, say something, ask me to sit, or even start the interview, but he did neither.
He simply kept writing smoothly on the cursed paper in front of him.
I approached his desk. "May I," I started, carefully, "Sit?"
He didn't -God forbid- look up.
But simply kept his icy gaze burning holes into his desk. "You may." -was his warm reply.
I did, and waited for a minute, two minutes.
Then another two minutes.
Five whole minutes, and he did not seem to plan on any form of interaction with this fly of a human before him.
I let out a soft breath, feeling my bravery battery starting to run out.
My anxiety was slowly eating me up, and I genuinely did not know how longer I could keep up my brave face before just feeling like I couldn't answer and feeling nauseous.
"Excuse me, sir, won't we start the interview?" I finally gathered my courage. I mean, I want to get over this already. The pressure is Wrecking my nerves! Like, please?
"We will." he started, "As soon as I am done with this matter before me. You need not be concerned about that, I have complete knowledge of my commitments, and..." He paused, as he, for the first time since I stepped into his territory… Looked up.
Straight into my eyes, piercing with his steel orbs so deep into my soul that I shivered.
"I do not appreciate unnecessary interferences." He said his words not in an angry tone, not in an aggressive one either, nor with a single hint of fury, he did not even raise his voice, but the venom he put into every word, was enough to shut
me down.
I gulped, my eyes slightly wide at how it was not possible for someone to be rude during their first meeting with someone else. Just… how?!
I felt the cursed moisture threaten to creep up my lids, but refused to let it do so. It was not the time for my tear-jerking habits to ruin it all.
And so, I kept silent, waiting for him to finish his matter. After some time of waiting, without any alarm:
"Your resume says you are a graduate of a rather high-classed university." his voice tickled my eardrums, and echoed through all of my senses.
I was stunned by his sudden question. "Huh?" I stuttered.
For a moment, only a slight tiny moment, his eyes reflected curiosity. "It is quite surprising that you could afford that, and you don't have your own company." he said in a curt voice
.
"I was..." I blushed, sighing softly as I continuued, "A scholarship student. I do not really come from a wealthy background." My heartbeat pace picked up at this, and I scolded myself mentally at how unsure my tone was.
Maybe because his presence was too intimidating. Maybe because I was too desperate for this job. Maybe both.
He looked at me for a moment, then continued to examine my CV, which I had placed over his desk when I entered. "Your resume is close to satisfactory, I might say."
A blink escaped me, as I looked at him with slightly wide eyes. As my expression started warming up, in hope. "Am I... supposed to consider that a compliment?" I asked with a small smile.
"No, nothing is good enough to reach my standards for a compliment or excellence in my eyes. Don't flatter yourself." He spoke, moving his gaze back to my resume, "However, relative to the applicants before you.." He paused.
And I waited, in anticipation, as he moved his jaw. As his gaze darkened, his lips parted. "You check most of the qualifications list off." He finally admitted, not a single spec of admiration or even congratulation present in his voice.
On a will of their own, my features lit up, and a small grin spread over my face, as I realized he was actually complimenting me, but not willing to admit that, "I'm... gratified to hear so. Thank you."
Just as he took a glance at his wristwatch, the desk phone before him rang. Casually, he thoughtlessly pressed some button, setting the person on speaker as he accessed something on the desktop before him.
"Leonard." That was it. He muttered a single word in arrogance and coldness, while keeping his saturated and focused gaze into the screen before him.
From the desk phone, Vice President Leonard Baker's gentle and confidernt voice came coolly: "Oh, you picked up. Are you done with the interviews already?"
From before me, the president's jaw twitched, as his expression didn't change the slightest. "No. Be fast."
"Ah, shit. I'm going to have lunch at the cafeteria. You're not coming?"-came Mr. Baker's retort.
Rickard Langley Conway didn't seem to even ponder over the question. "No."
I blinked. Wow, such thoughtless commitment.
"Are you sure, though?" Leonard Baker's voice came at that, rather srprised. "You're still on the food they served you on the plane from Italy, and I bet you didn't sleep considering you arrived directly to the compan-."
And the ice block before me decided to simply cut the call off at this, very courteously.
I blinked, fidgeting curiously, "Um, he was-"
He didn't seem interested in letting me continue, either. "-Wasting my time with futile concerns? I know. But he probably understood that now. Let us advance." He spoke nonchalantly. Frostily.
I gulped, eyeing him in discomfort for a second. But then I remembered the words of the vice-president for a second. 'You're still on the food they served you on the plane from Italy and I bet you didn't sleep considering you arrived directly to the company.'
Now that I think of it, he hasn't stopped working for a minute ever since I'd come in. And that's probably how it's been ever since he'd stepped into his office.
I suddenly felt bad about the fact that he's skipping lunch because of me.
Wetting my lips, I fixed him with a cautious yet sincere gaze. "Um, if... if you wish to go have lunch. I'll wait here, I don't mind."
From before me, the man in question stopped typing on his desktop's keyboard for a second, as his gaze snapped towards me. Vast, fearful, and arrogantly unfazed beads raked over me enticingly slowly, and I felt myself fidget under the sudden observation.
Hey wh-what's with this sudden microscopic observation of his?
Slowly, he turned back to the desktop before him, resuming whatever he was doing. "I thought you were in a hurry to be done, no?"
I blinked at him for some seconds, before understanding that he was probably hinting at the fact that I'd asked when we're going to start minutes ago, clearly showing my impatience to finish. I wet my lips, "I-I am." I shifted, fixing him unsurely with a slight frown, "But... skipping lunch is unhealthy." I slowly yet hesitantly continued, "So my interview can wait."
Again, the typing sounds of his keyboard came into a halt. But he didn't look in my direction this time, as his glare remained as composed, yet deepened some folds. He didn't honour my reasoning with any answer, as he resumed his typing once more. It occurred to me at this how natural it was for him to just ignore humans. Earlier with Mr. Leonard, now with me. Aha.
I pouted. Why you little asshole, I was being nice to you. I sighed, pursing my lips as I just waited.
Until his voice came, a minute or so later. Cold. Demeaning . Absolute. "Your interview starts in less than a minute." He looked up again, intensifying the darm blue in his ocean orbs, as he fixed them directly into my eyes, "Brace yourself."
I jumped slightly, his words sinking in. "Eh? L-Less than one
minų-"
He didn't really leave me space to continue, as he'd already shot me with the first question.
And many others followed.
If I had the slightest thoughts that Mr. Baker's interview was the hardest version of interviews, they were all gone now.
This man here knew exactly how to affect the person before him psychologically. I was nervous, and basically half my answers were with a trembling voice and a lot of stuttering.
Still, the good thing was that I did manage to answer right.
Finally, the last question came and I answered it as perfectly as I could. Letting go of a breath I did not know I was holding up, I smiled slightly in relief, as my torture was over.
"Make sure to close the door behind you, Signorina Reed. In case of any updates, you shall be contacted by Vice-President Baker or myself." He announced, resuming his work as he fixed some piles of papers in front of him.
I bit my lips, feeling the urge to say something, but well... what?! Open a convo? Seriously Kate?
"Th-Thank you." I nodded, as I headed towards the door to leave, glancing at him one more time.
He was back to operation, alternating his dark gaze between the desktop before him and the pile of documents on his desk. This human... he really has no concept such as a break, eh? I sighed, and then moved to le-
Something rustled slightly in my bag at this, and I blinked, remembering what it was. Involuntarily, I glanced at the human version of an iceberg behind.
He didn't even seem to have noticed I was still in the office, as his expression remained as emotionless as though it's been molded from some ice mountain.
I bit my lips, pulling out the thing from my bag, as I took some steps back towards his desk. Wordlessly, I placed the mini-crackers box I'd gotten with me in the morning for a snack on his desk. I didn't say anything, not really awaiting a reaction from him or wishing to disrupt his work focus.
And I really didn't, as he kept his focus alternating between the computer screen and the documents before him.
Except when I moved to leave, his aristocratic voice came, slightly, almost unnoticieably, laced with a hint of arrogant... wait, was that... sarcasm? -thus freezing me in my tracks.
"Ah. Are you attempting to bribe me, Signorina Katherine agreed?"
I gasped, as I flushed, turning around as I bristled. "What?!" I frowned in his direction. "Th-That's not the case at all! I... I just thought that you haven't had lunch yet, and I couldn't ignore that!"
From before me, the president seemed to have finally paused his work, as he effectively focused on freezing me now. His composed, arrogant and mysterious gaze was fixed into me, as though purposely wrecking my already anxious and socially-awkward self.
My blush remained, as I bit my lips. Hey you! The heck is up with you! Say something! Ugh!! He really thought I was bribing him?! GAH! Kate! Why are you like this?! When will you start to ignore that stupid conscious of yours and leave people be?! Look what you've gotten yourself into now!!
I let out a shaking breath at this, shaking my head as I realized he probably did not plan on saying anything, but was simply fixing me with his torturously beauteous beads because he was a sadistic son of a bachelor that enjoyed the effect his eyes had on people.
"A-Anyhow, I doubt you'd want to believe me." I spoke, exasperatedly softly, and turned to leave, "Good day, President Reed-"
"Regardless of the motive, this was wasted effort."