Chapter 2: 2. I'm smart in my opinion

The alarm was a nightmare for Rose. Why? Because Wizards and Witches almost controlled some small disturbances in their sleep and traditional alarms didn't alarm them.

That's why Rose hatched a plan. She just programmed her wand to cook noodles. Surely the smell could wake her up. And her wand was really trusty. Except for the first few times when the wand cooked charred meals, the others were really tasty.

But the real need for alarm came when she found she couldn't memorize her office workbook in an hour like she imagined. After returning from the interview, she saw this problem - an example of not thinking about consequences after seeing only money.

Like they say- no shortcut for reading.

"Miss Wyatt, I heard from a vine that you got yourself a job. Congratulations. Keep your identity in wraps and don't cause unnecessary trouble. Your work identity masks your real identity and you won't be targeted. Keep it up."

A ball rolled in, played the message, and then fell in her palm. The ball was colorful and it had a gift for her inside. That was an unexpected surprise.

Rose recited the password.

"Time and flowers!"

The ball was obviously from Madam Denise and it had a thick booklet.

Rules for human workplace and survival

"Why? More homework!"

The surprise was bad.

Rose resigned to her fate. The rules were just negation to everything she felt that she could do.

1. No use of spells as shortcuts

2. No magic on humans

3. No magic to deceive humans

4. No magic to improvise

And on it went for pages and more pages.

Rose placed the book away from her sight. Out of sight, out of mind.

Maybe, the book should have started with- No use of magic to get a job.

She broke the most important rule so she wasn't going to tell Madam Denise and lose her only way of earning money.

"Ahh, let's read the management book."

Magic spells that were helpful in human world matters were completely useless in the Magic world. The Memorizing spell was never used in the Magical World. Because most of what they had to do was perform. They weren't asked to memorize.

And spells were hard to be done there. That's why the geniuses were hailed. With the ease Rose performed spells in the human world, no one would think that she was just an amateur there in the Magic World.

Rose just scanned the books and did not learn anything this time. She felt tired. She hoped to retrieve info when she was asked. She promised herself that she would learn later.

That way, she crossed a task out of her list. And made a plan to study in the morning.

The alarm didn't wake her but her neighbours were concerned when they saw blackish smoke on her balcony.

That commotion woke her up. She had to say something when she saw so many people outside the door.

"Sorry, I didn't notice."

She apologized profusely.

"Girl Rosy, don't worry. If you can't cook, come to my house. I'll cook for you. I can teach you too. You know, my son and daughter-in-law, both can't cook. How miserable they are! Learn from me."

That was true. They were a working couple and this aunt had to teach them. Seeing that they had no talent, the couple came to eat meals daily. They were also hoping to buy an apartment in the same building.

"Yes, Auntie, I'll come to you."

She thanked the elderly neighbors and then remembered that it was her first day of work.

Rose felt that this stellar start of the day would be the highlight but she was wrong.

She was taken to a meeting and almost fell asleep listening to the marketing head talking about some new app.

"Sir, this quarter, we found an improvement of 10% in user retention. Soon, we can fulfill your requirement."

Asher nodded. He sat there like a model out of a magazine, without any blemish, almost perfect. It looked like he had a good sleep.

"Good!"

"Now, let's discuss our new plan- Hover Display."

Rose tuned it out as well. But someone was already on to her.

"As we can see here, our initial breakthrough is far more profitable than we anticipated. I'm sure Miss Wyatt has run the numbers and made a report for us."

Then, everyone turned to look at Rose. Even if she was absent from there, Rose felt awake seeing their expressions.

Years of zoning out in class made Rose an expert. She played the scene in her mind and understood what they wanted.

This was in the file Asher gave her when she accepted the job. Rose had scanned it. But she didn't understand what was written in there.

And she could not get them a report now. The report needed a thorough understanding and analysis. She hadn't printed anything or made a presentation. Because she didn't know she was going to give an impromptu presentation, she had done nothing.

She decided to give an oral presentation and tell them the facts by reading from her mind. She hoped she would understand by the time she finished reading and then she could analyze something. No one here would expect expert analysis from her on the first try anyway.

Rose walked to the center and stood beside the woman who had cued her.

She first read the entire report out loud. It was only one page. Then there were charts and diagrams.

"The testing data shows 78% user acceptance with 90% fan following. Even the social media accounts have increasing follow rates on an hourly basis. Most importantly, the competition isn't on our level. Their products are not as sophisticated or well-working as ours. I have also summarized some feedback. The most valuable one is that users could like adding a game database to the display."

She ended her report and nodded to Asher.

Rose then nodded to the woman and stepped back to go and sit.

She could have frozen the time for this. But somehow, her magic felt weaker today. Her mind wasn't rested and it showed an effect.

No matter how stupid she was or acted, Rose could see that the woman didn't like her. She could practically see her red angry aura gushing towards her.

The crazy part was that the woman still maintained a smile. People who could mask their emotions were deadly.

"Thank you, Miss Wyatt, for summarizing this perfectly. I want to applaud her because when I talked with her, she had no idea of this project and now she is more like a developer."

The woman smiled and answered.

Rose almost fell off her chair after listening to this. Was she claiming credit for her hard work?

Now this is war. How could someone get credit for the amount of hard work she put into this? Or how much magic she used when she was put on the spot here.

But she didn't even know the name of this woman!

The meeting ended without any problem.

Rose followed Asher and didn't look back. If she did, she could see the angry eyes of the woman following her.

"Miss Wyatt, impressive work today. Looks like you are interested in our projects and you have unique insights. Here you go!"

Asher then produced three more books from his desk drawer like magic. But he was a genie who didn't grant wishes but nightmares.

"These are all of the portfolios about our upcoming projects this month. I want to hear what you think!"

Rose carried those to her desk and sighed at her bad luck. Constantly getting approval from your superior is also a curse.

"Sir, how can you trust a person with such sensitive information? What if she is sent by our rival?"

It was the guy who had called Rose to the interview who was speaking to Asher.

Asher seemed nonchalant.

"If they sent a newbie to this, I'm sure they are not far from bankruptcy. Have you seen the surveillance videos? She just sat there without being noticed for more than two days. That concerns me. No one called her for an interview and no one knew about her presence. Suddenly, we noticed her even when she was sitting there for what, five days. Interesting, right?"

Well, Rose never thought that her spell was noticed by someone. And that someone was her boss, Asher. Before no one could see her because she used a blindfold. And, when she realized she wanted to meet the cute guy sometime later, she just removed the spell and got caught by Asher. He asked to call her in and didn't give her much time to contemplate her actions.

It wasn't hard for him to know that there was no Rose Wyatt who graduated from the school and university like she showed in her file.

He just felt curious about her.

She was smart and proficient. So why was she posing to come to his company and work as his assistant?

If she was from a rival, he would make her pay!

Separated by a glass door, they felt opposite emotions.

Rose wanted to beat herself for choosing to work here and Asher felt elated that he caught a potential spy.