Chapter 1 - The Fresh Grad (1/2)
Claire has been standing in front of the huge TXCI building, a brown envelope containing her references and curriculum vitae in her hand, wondering if she should actually proceed with this application. She has been so deep in her own thought, not realizing the tall, well-dressed man standing behind her.
A heavy hand falls on her shoulder. She turns and sees him.
”Are you going in or not?” he says irritably. He takes off his Rayban sunglasses almost theatrically, as if he thinks he's in a movie, and squints. The sheer beauty of his face takes her breath away; she dumbly stands there, looking up at him. ”Well?”
”Errr, I...” she stammers. ”I'm looking for...”
”If you're not going in, please don't stand in my way.” He almost brushes her aside, and she's so stunned it takes her a few moments to realize what he just did.
”What the…who's that rude guy? He acts as though he owned the universe, this whole building!”
”You're still standing there, Miss…”
She turns around and there's another man, an older one, who's been trying to enter but couldn't because Claire's occupying all the space.
Claire blushes in embarrassment; she moves to the side to allow the growing line of people behind her enter the revolving doors of TXCI building.
”Should I still even try to give my application?” This would be her 23rd attempt to find a job. There's not a lot of companies that are willing to take on such an inexperienced applicant. The fact that Claire is prettier than your average fresh grad even works against her—people look at her cute face, and they somehow find it hard to take her seriously.
During one of those interviews, the HR person asked her if instead she would consider taking on a sales agent job selling condos. She scoffed at the suggestion—she didn't struggle through all those years of studying business management and marketing strategies only to sell cramped concrete residences to urbanites. But that was months ago. After almost two dozen interviews, each of them failing or never calling her back, getting a job as a sales agent is becoming less and less repugnant to her sensibilities. If that's what it takes to get a job in this city, then so be it.
The woman at the reception desk asks for her CV. She takes one look at Claire. She shakes her head, almost imperceptibly. ”I hope you'd last a day with him.”
”What do you mean?” Claire's voice is hoarse, her heart is in her throat.
”Mr. Tan is notorious for having a long string of executive secretaries who couldn't even last more than three days.”
”How does he look?” Claire says for lack of anything to ask, as if it was relevant.