Chapter 2 - The Encounter (2/2)
”You mean, despite all the wonderful stuff written here in your curriculum vitae, they won't hire you?”
She makes a little nod of the head. That's right, Claire. Play the damsel in distress card now. See where it takes you. ”I don't understand either. I'm willing to demonstrate to you what I'm capable of.”
Mr. Tan pinches the bridge of his nose, as though trying to offset some oncoming headache. ”Let me be honest with you, Miss Monteverde. Nobody can stand me. I've had countless people work for me, and they rarely last a week. What you're seeing now is my best possible side—this is actually me being in a good mood. And proof is that you're sitting there, not actually crying.” He stops. He just sits there staring at her, his eyes taking all of her from head to foot.
Claire clears her throat and fixes how she's seated. She crosses and uncrosses her legs. She gazes in the general direction of the nearby glass walls, where the breathtaking view shows the outlines of the city. She hopes that Mr. Tan follows her gaze and realizes he must come back to earth, to this moment, and make a decision favorable to her. When after a few minutes she turns back to him, her heart slightly jumps—he's still gazing at her, as though reading her intently. It would have been fine if not for those eyes—those penetrating eyes that seem to be taking her clothes off, as though he's seeing through her layers of clothing. Strangely, the thought of him imagining her nȧkėd sends a shiver of delight through her whole being. She shouldn't be like this. She should try to think and act like a mȧturė, professional person.
She returns his gaze. ”Well,” she begins. ”What do you want, Mr. Tan? Won't you ask me questions HR officers usually throw at prospective applicants? Won't you ask me about my strengths and weaknesses, how do I see myself five years from now, or if you could ask my best friend, what might be the bad things they might say about me? Or would you instead like to demonstrate how bad you are as a boss, in order to find out if I can stand it?”
Mr. Tan laughs dryly. ”There's no need for that. And I'm curious, too, so it must be your lucky day. You'll soon find out what kind of a person I am. Are the rumors true? Was my receptionist—yes, I know she's been blabbing about me, which she doesn't realize is the reason why I haven't fired her—telling the truth? Or are those all lies, which I spread just for shits and giggles?” He looks around and sighs. ”Yes, Miss Monteverde, as an answer to your unspoken question, I'm hiring you. On probation. Pending your actual discovery of whether you can actually stomach the darkest of my moods.”
”Really, sir? Oh, my…”
”But before I welcome you to hell,” he says, cutting her off. ”I have a proposal I believe you simply cannot refuse.”
”And what would that be, sir?”
When he explained the proposal, in all its sordid detail, Claire Monteverde almost stood up, finding it hard to believe what she's hearing.