If Kadri had any hope that Adrian Knight didn't recognize her from the elevator, it died the moment he looked directly at her.
His gaze swept across the row of interns, and paused when it landed on her. Not for long, but just long enough to make her stomach twist into a knot.
He said nothing. Just made a mark on his clipboard.
Kadri sat up straighter, trying to radiate innocence and respectability, like she hadn't just referred to the man as "Your Majesty" in a moving elevator.
The HR rep continued, oblivious. "Mr. Knight personally reviews intern performance. Every report, every mistake, it all goes through him."
Great. That made Kadri feel so much better.
"Punctuality, professionalism, and discipline are our core values," Andrew said. His voice was smooth, low, and chillingly emotionless. "We don't expect interns to be perfect, but we do expect them to learn fast, or leave early."
He didn't glance at anyone. He didn't need to. The room felt ten degrees colder.
After the meeting, interns were shuffled to their respective departments. Kadri was assigned to the Product Development team, same floor, different hallway.
"You're with us," said a friendly guy named Dami, offering a hand. "Don't worry, everyone's new. Except our supervisor, he's a bit… intense."
"Intense is relative," Kadri muttered, shaking his hand.
Dami smiled softly. Kadri smiled. "At least someone here has a sense of humor," she said within her.
She spent the next hour exploring the open-plan workspace. Sleek white desks, glass walls, smartboards, and many people in blazers. Her desk was near the window, complete with a desktop monitor and a welcome folder.
Just as she was settling in, her tote bag betrayed her. She reached inside for her notepad and knocked over her half-finished cup of iced coffee, sending a creamy waterfall cascading down the side of her desk, right into the power strip.
"Oh no no no!" she scrambled, yanking plugs and grabbing tissues.
A nearby staffer gasped. "You fried the backup server cable!"
"I didn't know that's what it was!" she said, panicked.
In seconds, a few screens around her went black. Kadri stood frozen, drenched in embarrassment and hazelnut syrup.
That was the moment Andrew Knight walked by.
He stopped, looked at the soggy chaos, then at her. Again, that unreadable stare. He didn't yell. Didn't sigh. Didn't blink.
He simply said, "Follow me."
Kadri wanted to disappear into a crack in the floor. But instead, she followed. Dipped in regret.
They stepped into his corner office. Floor-to-ceiling windows. A minimalist desk. Zero clutter. It smelled mild and nice.
He gestured to a seat. But she remained standing.
"I'm really, really sorry Sir…" "You had one task," he interrupted. "Sit. Observe. Learn. Not cause a system alert within your first hour."
"It was just a coffee spill!"
"And that cable was just a connector to our testing server. Do you know how many engineers I'll have to pull off task to reset it?"
She clenched her fists. "Okay, I messed up. But it was an accident. I didn't do it on purpose."
He stood, slow and deliberate. "I don't care about intention, Ms…" "Kadri. Kadri Ayotunde." "I don't care about intention, Ms. Ayotunde. I care about impact. If this was your final project grade, you'd already be failing."
Her pride prickled like a rash. "Well, thank God it's not. It's only day one," she muttered in silence.
His lip quirked. "And yet, you're already making an impression."
"I aim to be unforgettable," she said, forcing a smile.
He walked closer, just a step. But close enough for her to smell the expensive cologne and tension between them.
"Do you always talk back to authority?"
"Only when authority talks down to me."
There it was, a flicker in his eyes. Amusement? Annoyance? She couldn't tell.
He returned to his desk, flipped open a document, and said, "Report to Sandra in logistics. You're on inventory duty for the rest of the day."
Kadri blinked. "You're demoting me to fetch boxes? Over unintentional spilled coffee?"
"Think of it as reallocation of risk."
She bit her tongue.
As she turned to leave, he
added, "And Ms. Ayotunde?"
She paused.
"No more coffee near company hardware."