"How dare you talk to him like that?" Jasper said, his voice stern. But I held my ground.
"He is right there. I bet he could answer my questions. I think he can speak for himself." And then I narrowed my eyes towards Cesar.
Cesar looked at me for a few minutes. Before he motioned to the door.
"Oh, what? Now you're gonna kick me out? Fine. I didn't even want this job in the first place." I started walking out when his voice stopped me.
"Not you."
I stopped, turned around, and looked at him.
"Jasper. Thank you. I want to have a one-on-one interview with Ms. Moon. So, if you will excuse us," he said.
I kept on standing there as the other two people in the room joined Jasper and got out of the room, closing their doors behind them—Jasper giving me the eye before he left, of course.
Is everybody in this company such a douche?
I walked back towards the table. And this time I took a chair, put it in front of the C, the middle of it, and took a seat. Making sure that the two of us were now staring at each other. Even if there was a lot of space between us. He had a table in front of him and I had nothing.
I crossed my legs as I got myself comfortable. I don't know where I got all this defiance. But I kind of liked it.
Now Cesar's face looked at me with amusement as he finally acknowledged my presence and said,
"So, what is it that you would like to know, Ms. Moon?"
"For starters, I would like to know what you're doing in this room. It's an interview room. You either have a question, or you have an interest in it. You weren't even listening to me. You looked bored. So I wonder, what are you even doing here? Are you here to intimidate me? To throw off your power? I wonder, what is it?"
"Jasper was conducting the interview. The other two people in the room didn't seem to bother you. They didn't say anything. They didn't ask any questions. But for some reason, you decided to attack me. Why?"
"I attacked you? I didn't attack you. I mainly asked a question. If I'm going to be working in this company—"
He interrupted me. "If....you get hired."
"Yeah, whatever. If I get hired, I would like to know what kind of boss I'm going to be working with. Especially considering that I'm going to be your PA. It means I'll have to be with your boring ass the whole time. So, I would like to know what I'm getting myself into."
He gives me a wry smile. Although, not his whole face lit with it, as he said,
"I didn't have anything to ask you. That's why I didn't ask you a question. I'm here because it's a company policy. Since you're going to be my PA, I actually have to be here. I'm not really interested in being here. But, I guess we all have to follow the rules. That was why I was here."
And then he looked at his watch. "You've already taken precious minutes that I could have signed a trillion-dollar deal. So, if you'll excuse me."
And then, he stood up, straightened his jacket and started walking out.
For a few minutes, I thought of telling him what an asshole he was. That just a few days ago, he was practically stalking me, waiting for me in his room. So he could pull me in there and do what? Kiss me? And all of a sudden, what? He's going to act like he doesn't know me?
But, something told me it wouldn't be a great move. So, I sat there, not looking at him until he left the room.
After he was gone, I took a few minutes to gather myself before I stood up and decided to leave this godforsaken place and just go home. I reached the elevators and pressed the button, only to remember that I didn't have the key card or whatever card that was needed in order to leave this place.
I mean, who thought of this security system, by the way?
I was so angry that I turned around and started walking back in the direction I just came from. I didn't even know where I was going until I turned the corner and there, in the middle of the floor, with glasses all over, sat Juliet.
I walked towards her. "Good morning."
She didn't look up.
"What can I help you with, Ms. Moon?"
"I would like to leave this building, for starters, if you don't mind."
"How is that any of my business?" she asked, still not looking up towards me.
"Are you fucking kidding me?"
Okay, I wasn't expecting to say that, but it just got out, and this finally got her attention because she then turned to look at me.
"What did you say?"
Before I answered her, Jasper appeared from nowhere and said, "Ms. Moon, this way."
I turned back towards Juliet, but she was already back towards her keyboard, typing furiously.
Jasper was already walking away, I turned to follow him towards the elevator. He put his keypad on the elevator doors and the two of us got inside.
Not a word, in silence.
When we reached the lobby, I got off, expecting him to stay back like Juliet did the other day, but Jasper actually followed me out. We walked past the secretaries, past the lobby, and then got out of the building, and as I started walking towards the company gates, Jasper still walking next to me, I found myself turning towards him.
"What are you doing?"
"What do you mean?"
"Are you following me? What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"I'm not following you. I just want to make sure you have a ride home. Do you have a ride home? Are you calling an Uber? I can get the company to take you home."
The way he was saying this, it's as if he was a brand new person from the person who had been talking so curtly to me at the office. I nearly thought I was imagining that he was actually talking like a human being for once.
"And why would you do that?" I asked him.
"I don't know, because you're... I don't know, because..."
"Why are you biting your words?"
"Okay, you know what? I was just trying to be a good person, but I've had my quarter of the day. I'm going back to work."
He started walking away with me just standing there watching him, and then he stopped. He turned towards me and said,
"You take things way too seriously. Cheer up, would you?"
I stood there with a frown on my face like, is he serious? Like, what the hell is that?
I didn't linger today. I went straight home because, yes, I was that tired—of everything, everyone—and I just wanted to lock myself inside and probably get the sleep I deserved.
I called the family driver who was right around the corner, waiting for me. I got inside, and we went back home.
I should have known that my mom would be there waiting for me, because the moment I got out of the car, she was already coming from the house.
"So how did it go?" she said, coming closer.
"It was a nightmare."
"A nightmare? Oh, I'm so sorry, darling. I know—and so early in the morning. Did they really just call you that early in the morning?"
"Yes," I said, still surprised by that myself.
"But did you reach there in time?"
"Barely. I was 15 minutes late."
"Oh, that's sad. But did everything turn out okay?"
"Yeah. I went to the second interview with Cesar and some executives."
"Don't worry. I'm sure you're going to get it. I mean, if Cesar was there, you'd definitely have the job. We should celebrate."
"I don't have the job yet. I'm not celebrating anything."
"Okay, so what do you want to do today? I'm sorry, I can't stay. I have this thing I have to do and I'm just on my way out."
"It's fine. I'm tired of people today anyway. I'm just going to go to sleep."
"Did you have breakfast?"
And this was the time when my stomach started to growl.
"You didn't eat anything the whole day?" my mother said shocked, "Okay, just promise me you are going to eat something before you go to sleep, because I know how you get when you decide to go to sleep, okay?"
"Okay, Mom."
"Alright. I'll see you later."
She kissed me, got into her car, and drove off.
I went inside, and even though I wanted to skip breakfast, I was really hungry. So I had some breakfast and then went to bed like I had been itching to do ever since I woke up today.