章 4: Oops

Seeing the man in front of her only look at her for a while before flipping through the file in front of him, the feeling of indifference in Liz only grew greater.

So she wasn't even worthy of being greeted in return?

Starting to realize just why so many before her had had to resign, Liz made sure to maintain her neutral expression while waiting for the man to speak.

Although her eyes were set squarely on his face, the handsome features and the irresistible allure had lost their charm over her.

Only apathy remained, with the sole reason for her still allowing this interview to continue being that the money was too good to pass up.

Thus, bringing the image of her cute brother and clumsy mother in front of her mind, she endured, while starting to calculate how many months of salary would be enough for her to clear all the debts and move Derek to a better school.

"So why did you reject Harvard?"

The deep voice interrupting her thoughts, Liz took a moment to collect her mind before answering in the same deadpan voice with which she had been asked the question.

"Because I couldn't leave New York."

A pregnant silence followed, which Liz didn't make the effort to break to elaborate further.

With a measuring tone that might have made Liz apprehensive if she weren't ticked off, Mr. Will Bradshaw stared at her as the seconds ticked by.

She could almost hear his brain whirring, as if it were performing some sort of calculations.

After nearly a minute had gone by, Liz finally began to calm down and analyze the situation she was in.

Since childhood, this had been a problem of hers. She would first be pissed off by whatever it was that affected her adversely, before calming down and thinking about the matter.

What had she done since entering the room?

She had become dumbstruck by his image and almost collapsed on the chair, as if she were one of his ardent fans who was gushing to meet him.

Thinking till this point, Liz tried to put herself in his shoes.

If she was Mr. Will Bradshaw, CEO of the largest company in the world, how would she feel? What would she do?

Well, first, she would open her phone to check how many zeros her bank account had.

'No, Liz! Concentrate!'

Berating herself inwardly for thinking useless thoughts, Liz imagined herself sitting in that seat, interviewing people over and over again.

What if almost each and every one of them reacted in the same way?

Wouldn't she feel… tired? And a little bit of apathy?

Maybe, that had been what the CEO had been feeling when he made that expression?

If that were the case, then had actions been uncalled for so far?

Was she going to lose the job because of her bad habit of jumping to conclusions unnecessarily?

What about Derek, whom she promised to take out wherever she wanted?

What about the debts?

What about the family's….

Just as her mind was about to devolve completely into panic mode, the voice of the CEO rang across the room, startling Liz and making her mouth make a perfect "O" shape.

"You are selected. Start from tomorrow."

Absorbed in her own thoughts and fears, Liz hadn't noticed that the CEO had been looking at her all this while, assessing her expressions and her eyes to make sense of what she was thinking.

"Jenny, start the formalities. Assign Rao to her. Oh, and finalize the second package."

Hearing the CEO say these words after pressing the intercom, the fact that she had already cracked the interview finally started to settle into Liz's mind.

But….why?

She must have been the rudest one to ever interview for this post.

Then….what had the CEO seen in her which made him give her the job?

Wait….did he have a masochistic fetish?

Was that why so many had left their jobs?

Feeling her mind going into the 'crazy' territory, Liz did something that shocked the man in front of her who was used to addressing thousands of people without flinching.

She shook her head vigorously, almost as if she were trying to get rid of something that had gotten into her ear.

As she did so, the two pins which she had used to hold the bun in place flew off in two different directions.

One harmlessly hit the wall, but what the other did made Liz stop what she was doing and gape in shock.

The other sharp pin had actually scratched the face of William Bradshaw, who had just gotten up to go to his next meeting.