I blinked at the slow, terrifyingly composed tone that laced the deep vocals of the president behind me. Stopping in my tracks, I turned in his direction, once more.
"E-Excuse me?"
Surprisingly enough, I not only found him gracing me with his handsome and rare attentive gaze… But he'd stood up. To his towering, powerful height.
Which emphasized his various features. From the broad, clearly muscular shoulders, to the thick biceps wrapped in his tight Armani suit around him, to his visible neck muscles, as well as his sculpted jaw and sharp features. Add to all that, those deep, controlling pearls of his.
Yikes.
Fixing me in place with his unflinching gaze, he caught my eyes in his. Without a spec of emotion displayed in his gaze.
As he just let all the frost within his gaze to transverse into my soul.
"If your gesture stemmed from shear foolishness, thinking a nice act would be your ticket to your position, then you are mistaken by such an impressive margin." He mouthed in a slow, torturously absolute tone.
My eyes widened, and he kept holding my gaze captive, refusing to set it free.
"And worse, if your action did stem from human sentiment, then that is a red flag." He spoke, and a shudder crossed my body at this. "Because with such an attitude in the business world…"
Tears stung my eyes, not falling down but surely becoming visible to him. And yet he seemed purely unfazed, as he parted his full lips once more.
"You'll be like a lamb in a territory of wolves."
His voice was freezing, arrogant, yet also smooth and composed. It was everything you wouldn't expect from someone spitting this much venomous phrasing.
I bit my lips, refusing to let a single tear roll down my cheek.
He let go of my gaze at that, and I moved to turn around, mustering every spec of social battery I had for the day...
As I attempted to shoot him a slight, forced smile.
"It was nice meeting you, Mr. Langley."
And I stepped out, closing the door behind me.
It didn't take me much before I started sniffing as soon as I got into the elevator. The damned bastard! I was being nice to him, and that's what I get?!
The hell is up with him!! This is exactly why I never wanted to get into the corporate world! But of course, he was never the sensible human to realize that people have their reasons for doing various things! Ugh!
I gave myself the time to cry throughout the rest of the elevator ride, as I sighed.
It's okay Kate. Bad interviews happen.
Even though you'll most probably not get accepted after this, you'll apply to something else, it's no problem. I tried convincing myself with all of that. Yet deep down I was still sad about how I'd lost the chance.
Ugh!
.
.
.
The moment I reached the apartment, I was showered by another set of questions from Cassie. Everybody seemed to be questioning today, Good God!
"How did it go?? Did you get accepted? How did you do?? Was it hard? Say something dammit!" Cassie's asked with her enthusiasm at its climax.
"Calm down, calm down. I'll tell you everything, but let's eat first, I'm starving!" I groaned.
We went to the dinner table, which had the tasty food she seemed to have just finished preparing. I sniffed the yummy smell, "Ahhh, this is life!"
"Ah cut the crap Cherry and focus with me, tell me about the interview!" Cassie said persistently.
"It was not really something special, except for the fact that it was of two levels; and that the president and vice-president were like a couple of those top-paid models worldwide." Oh and except for the fact that I got insulted towards the end of the second interview, no biggie.
"Oh, all that and it was not really special?" she glared at me.
"Well, the two-leveled interview was nerve-wracking, to say the least, and the two hotties were really something." I stated with disinterest, "It's a waste that I am not interested in any of them."
"Oh, really?" Cassie looked at me with a sly smile, "I wonder why you're blushing though, Katie."
"Ugh, cut it off, Char, please!" I stammered, as I mentally shook the image of two annoying ice-eyes out of my head.
"Oh, yes you are! You're like an open book, Katherine. I can read everything you're thinking." She smiled at me.
"Cassie! I already told you, I do not believe in love anymore, for me, it does not exist! Such a thing is found? Where? Disneyland? Or is it in fairytales?" I answered sarcastically.
"You,"she looked at me seriously with her amber eyes, "Are lying to yourself and no one else. You may not have experienced love yet, but that doesn't mean you are safe from that one moment where your heart skips a beat, and time stops. You read me?"
I looked at her, directly into her eyes, "The 'moment you are talking about is merely phantasm, a mirage. An insane mirage that didn't, doesn't, and will never exist to me." I replied dryly.
"Katherine you're talking nonsense, Okay? Yes, maybe what happened with your parents was a bit disappointing to you, but that is not enough to make you that desperate." She argued back, starting to get mad clearly.
"I'm not desperate, the only thing I've become is a logical person.mLove is merely a word, a collection of emotions! It is not found. And even when you give it a meaning, it still would never be worth the pain it causes." I replied coldly.
I was stunned by my own words, how much I have changed in less than a week, and how reversed my own beliefs have become.
Cassandra folded her hands before her chest. "You truly make me laugh, Katie. You look like an old geezer talking about life after experiencing it for seventy years."
I glared at her. Sighing, my best friend's expression became a serious one. One she puts on very rarely. "Listen here, Cherry."
She started, carefully, her voice lacking hesitation. "I have exes whose eyes I will avoid if I am unlucky enough to be in the same room as them for five minutes. I have had breakups that drove me to move in with friends for weeks at a time so I could avoid the searing pain that came from being alone in my room. I have heard people tell me that no one would ever love me as much as they did, on the same day I would hear them talking behind my back." She murmured, slowly, her voice gentle.
A soft smile crossed her lips demurely at this. "Now, though, I am alone. I know that my happier ending is somewhere on the horizon, but I am currently too far away from it to see what it looks like. For now, all I have is the hope that this cycle will turn upwards again, just like it always has, and bring me to something that I actually enjoy."
Looking in my direction at this, she kept her warm smile, "So you too, Katherine. You should try it, I'm sure you'll find it someday."
I fixed my eyes on her. And with the coldest tone I have:
"Finished?" I questioned.
She blinked, clearly having not expected such a rude retort from me.
"Okay, okay I get the message, Cassie will shut her mouth up, and change the subject."
she pouted.
I laughed, I usually use this tone with her when I am angry
indicating for her to shut up, oh and it worked so well on her.
"So, tell me about the two hotties, will you?" Cassie said as she clapped her hands together as a sign of excitement.
I bit my lips, recalling some of today's incidents. "Well, let me tell you this! The whole waiting room was filled with women, a large number of women applying for the interview with only a man or two. At first, I found that weird, but then again, a sane woman would be blind not to wish for those two to be her bosses for her upcoming work!"
Cassie laughed, "You did get me interested now. Tell me about them you silly!"
"Hmm, well, the vice-president is called Leonard Baker, he is
friendly and cheerful. Quite the hot guy, I would say, a blondie with light blue eyes, but does seem like the busy playboy living his life to the fullest." I stated as I recalled Leonard Baker.
Cassie arced her eyebrow in disclaim at this. "Hmmm, I see. Well, he does seem like fun for me! And what about the president?"
A nerve popped up my head, and I just pursed my lips. "Ugh, let's please not go there."
From before me, my best friend smirked. "Sure we won't."
She paused for some seconds, then: "Yes, what about him?" She cheered, "You know I won't drop it!"
Seeing how enthusiastic she was, I knew she wouldn't. And so I just decided to go with the flow.
"The president," I paused, "Well, he is... handsome, more like, for a man, he's beautiful. Though all his beauty is wasted on a rude as hell personality -such an unbearable cold and arrogant attitude he has there. Yes, believe me when I say this particular man radiates arrogance from one kilometer afar. I didn't even see his teeth, not even a slight expression be it a happy or a displeased one. Honestly, Cassie, you wouldn't believe how rude he is! No way!" I finally stated.
"Wow! To have you speaking about him like that, he must be really horrible." She stated.
"I-I don't mean to make him look like that!" I sighed, "On a side note, I do think he has a part of his demeanor that attracts people to him whetherI like it or not." I said.
"Huh, whether he is horrible or not, I don't really like such type of self-centered billionaires! It's going to be uncomfortable for you if you are going to work for a person like that, bunny." Cassie commented.
"Hah, It's not like I'll fall for him anyway -if I were to be accepted at the job, which has become quite far fetched now, our relationship will be purely business, and I shall rarely have the grace to see his divine looks."
I smiled at my own words, but before Cassie could respond to me, my phone rang. I looked at the caller's identity; it was a private number. Wrong number, I thought, annoyed.
"Hello?" I muttered.
"Signorina Reed."
Blood froze in my veins, and my eyes slightly widened...
At the cool, composed, and ultimately unfazed arrogant vocals which echoed from the other side of the line.
Cassie gave me a questioning look, concerned who the caller might be, judging by my abnormal reaction. I didn't give her much attention; I already had something way, way, way greater to worry about at the moment.
He was on the other side of the call.
Rickard Langley Conway.
The Rickard Langley Conway!
Why would this man from the heavens be using his own voice, to call me personally?
I wet my lips, which became dry from the shock, then swallowed slowly in an attempt to maintain the coolest voice I could manage.
"P-President Langley!" I finally managed out.
"Si." He answered curtly with that maddening voice which set my ears to flames.
"U-Um?" I tried to ask. I really did. But that was too many words for me to manage in my shocked state.
He seemed to get the message. As his composed, authoritative and deep voice came, icily: "It was initially planned for Leonard, the vice-president, to call
you, but something came up. And as I'd rather not waste a further day without an assistant, I had to resort to such a generous measurement." He announced, dispassionately.
I blinked. Hah?
A pause followed, yet the speaker was not very interested in any reply I had, as he continued.
"Signorina Reed, you have been accepted for one of the
positions of the recruited private secretaries."
I jumped, slightly.
Huh?
Did I... hear right?
"What?!" A wide smile crossed my lips, as I minipartied,
"Really? Really?"
Expecting an assuring, comforting retort from my soon-to-be boss, my hopes were literally shot down on the spot. "You scored the highest rating among the group of appliers which Leonard forwarded to the second level. This resulted in you being appointed as my private secretary."
The last words he said took their time to be slowly examined and comprehended in my brain. What? My?
"You are to realize that your position is that of high importance to and influence on the company. I expect you to work efficiently starting two days from now. I also expect you to be at my office at eight in the morning, daily. Am I clear enough?"
Cool, arctic chills ran across my spine with every word in that deep voice of his. "Y-Yes! I'm thrilled, sir." My voice came out a bit wobbly from surprise, as I grinned widely.
"Expected." He responded, "Good day."
And without even waiting for my reply, the line went dead.