Chapter 21 Interview

• Sia couldn’t make meaning of what the guy just said hence she cocked her brows questioningly. Their eyes meshed.
• “Excuse me?” Sia asked, quite befuddled. Among all the twenty people she had interviewed, no one behaved weirdly.
• No one had the balls to ogle at her face the way the young man did.
• ‘What’s with the look? Why is he behaving abnormally?’ Sia asked herself.
• “Ahem!” She coughed so the guy would recollect his resolve.
• “Oh, I’m sorry ma’am.” He apologized, inching closer to the seat.
• “Please have a seat.” Sia gestured, eyes not straying from his.
• The guy settled on the chair, clasping his hands together.
• “What’s your name…?”
• “Liam!” He answered abruptly.
• Startled, Sia reclined her head a tad, studying the guy’s features.
• She doesn’t seem to know this person but something about him is so uncanny that she can’t help being intrigued.
• “Liam, I see.” She spewed, nodding her head. “what makes you fit for this position?” She asked, anticipating his answer.
• “Because I have attained four years experience in this field and know how to handle both my boss and others in general.” He responded, wisely.
• “Four years experience?” Sia asked. “Where did you work before?” she added.
• Liam nodded, tersely. He wet his dry lips before spilling his reply, “Yes ma’am. I was the personal assistant of Mr. Brooke who owned a consultancy firm in San Francisco.”
• “Wow. That’s impressive. You mentioned San Francisco? Why did you leave your job there?” She probed further.
• “Well, uh…” He stuttered, this time he tore his gaze from Sia. “That’s because I needed a change of environment…”
• “Change of environment? How sure am I sure words are nothing but the truth? Or did you leave a bad record there…maybe you committed…”
• “No, not at all ma’ am. I just resigned myself and moved then to Florida.”
• “Let me see your record.” She stretched her hand and Liam handed her his documents. Sia studied it laboriously. Flipping and examining every page.
• “How long have you been in Florida?” Sia asked, her eyes still nestled in the documents.
• “Six months…” Liam said with a tilt of his head.
• “And what have you been doing ever since?” She asked, shuffling her gaze between the documents and Liam.
• “Nothing, I've looking for a job ever since.” He responded, hesitantly.
• “And how did you get information about this job?”
• “Through an email. I received an email from your company regarding the job post.”
• “Email?” Sia asked, surprised at how the company messaged him for a job post. That’s unusual.
• “Yes, I had once applied for a position in your human resource department but didn’t attain the job. So that’s where they got my email from.” He carefully explained, clearing Sia’s confusion.
• “Impressive,” Sia whispered, closing the documents. “Well, having assessed your documents and heard your response I’d say you’re bold enough, which is one thing I need. So Mr. Liam. Congratulations, you’re hired.” Sia announced, grinning.
• It was as if a heavy stone was hefted from Liam's shoulders. His chest began swinging up and down as he sucked in deep breaths, surprised he had finally gotten a job.
• With lips perked up, he uttered, “ thanks a bunch ma’ am. I’m so grateful.” He giggled, cheerfully.
• “The pleasure is mine. You’re to begin work on Monday morning.” Sia added and Liam inclined his head.
• “Alight ma’am.”
• Afterward, Sia handed him his documents back and beckoned on Rebekah for others to stop coming.
• While leaving the office, Liam secretly peered at Sia. His heart pulsating.
• However, Sia was equally wondering why Liam was shooting incessant glances at her. Although, she didn’t delve deeper into thinking about it because she procures that look from men.
• So a mere employee might be fascinated by her beauty that he might not be able to hide his gaze.
• “But he seems nice. Intelligent too.” She said to herself and continued working on her laptop.
• As Liam twirled away from the floor, he could feel a deep rumble in the pit of his stomach as his mind reeled with questions about Sia.
• ‘Why do feel something deep for this lady?’
• ‘It’s not like I know her from anywhere or something and besides is she the widow? What’s wrong with me.’ He slammed his hand on his temple, grunting.
• ‘You like her Liam? Maybe you like her but that’s too bad because you can’t like someone in such a position. She would never settle for a lowly man like you.’ He heard his inner voice rattling.
• Liam shook his head, muttering ‘no’ under his breath as he made his way to the elevator.
• ‘This is beyond like. It’s fucking more like a connection…really a connection with the manager of the Monson group? Oh Liam you’re so losing it. Pull yourself back together.’ He screamed inwardly, trying to mute the word battle going on inside him.
• At long last, the elevator dinged and flapped open on the last floor. He wriggled his way out, making a beeline to the receptionist counter to submit his visiting card.
• “Hey, how was the interview? Did you make it?” The nosy receptionist asked, bashing her eyes on Liam. She has apparently questioned all the applicants that came to submit their visiting cards but no one actually got employed.
• Moreover, she was wondering who in actuality is in charge of hiring a personal assistant in the company.
• Mr. Monson never had one when he was alive except his secretary Rebekah. So seeing this ignited her curiosity more.
• “Is she the widow?” Liam blurted out his question instead.
• The receptionist scrunched up her brows, finding his question a bit bizarre.
• “The widow?” she gushed, supporting her jaw with her hands.
• “Oh…uh…never mind. I was deep in thoughts just now.” Liam brushed it off, handing her the card.
• She clutched on it but her curiosity became more watered, “tell me…why do you think she’s the widow? If it’s actually her then, all the employees would know. And besides, it’s not yet time for the widow to start working in the company, she’s supposed to be indoors by now.” She rambled on.
• Liam shot her a knowing smile, shrugging his shoulders.
• “You’re right. I should go.”
• Without wasting a minute, he twirled around and started whisking away from the building.
• “Hey! You didn’t tell me if you got the job!” the receptionist shouted but Liam knows better than to give her another response because it’ll give room for more questions.
• Liam boarded a cab but before he wriggled inside, he hefted his head and glanced at the building, apparently at what he presumed to be the floor Sia was in. Afterward, he shoved himself inside the car and drove off.
• **
• “Danika!!” Isabel yelped, flapping her arms when she saw Danika tottering into the boutique. They’ve successfully set up the boutique and a few people have begun buying from there.
• “You’re here?” Isabel asked, cheerfully as she sprawled her arms to clamp Danika in a hug but the latter distanced herself farther.
• Danika began darting her eyes around, mentally crosschecking her inventory.
• Seeing the outright extrication, Isabel scratched her head shamefully knowing that other employees saw what transpired between them.
• “Are you good!?” Isabel asked, thankfully she got a quick nod from Danika this time.
• “What’s this!?” Danika asked, staring pointedly at the framed one dollar on the wall. Isabel looked in that direction and saw it was the money, a slight grin affixed on her face.
• “That’s a framed one dollar.” Her words came out in a curt response as she veered her head back to face Danika.
• “And why’s it there?” Danika’s brow tugged together as she bore her gaze at Isabel.
• “That’s a part of the first money we made the first day the boutique was opened. So I decided to frame it…you know, it’s more like a norm.” Isabel wiggled her brows playfully but Danika didn’t smile.
• “Isabel, if it were someone else, trust me I won’t cherish such behavior. This is a boutique for Pete’s sake, not a fish market you could comply with your so called norm!”
• Danika’s harsh voice not only startled Isabel but the other employees as well.
• “She’s mean…harsh so to speak.”
• “I pity Ms. Isabel. She was merely trying to make things right.”
• “Ms. Woods is something else.”
• The clustered employees whispered among themselves while watching the show.
• “Oh, Danika please don’t freak out. I'll have it removed…”
• The beep of Danika’s phone made Isabel clamp her mouth shut. She sucked in a quick rush of air when Danika fumbled with her phone, she instantly picked up the call when she clutched the phone, and skittered away from her.
• Isabel wasted no time removing the money and putting it back in the drawer.
• However, Danika was outside answering her call.
• “Mother, why did you call?” Danika asked, tucking her hair strand behind her ear.
• “I just wanted to inform you that I’ll be coming back next week.”
• Her mother’s voice reverberated and Danika’s lips tug up in a grin.
• “That’s amazing mummy Hera. Can’t wait to see you here.” She exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air.
• “Be safe Danika. Until then.” Was her mother’s last words before she hung up the call.
• A complacent grin hovered over Danika's face.
• “Let’s see how Lucas will keep playing a tough man when Mrs. Woods is around.” She muttered under her breath before heading back inside the boutique.