Job Interview -END

Sensing the inquest gaze from the PR head, Alex stood from his seat and walked towards her.

He went behind the desk and leaned forward such that his face was just a few centimetres away from her face.

The other two ladies in the room went pale. They knew about their PR head's temper, they thought Alex was surely a goner, but contrary to their expectations, nothing happened.

Because even though PR head was taken aback and leaned back with a jolt, when she glanced towards Alex, to her surprise, he didn't even look at her. Alex took his paper which was in her hand and said, " I found a total of six mistakes in the paper" Alex said, waving the paper in front of her.

He continued, " Let's look at the mistakes in the English paper first".

"Here, see it's written 'backlace', well, I don't know what this word is supposed to mean, but I can guess you were talking about 'backless' you see the reference used here, is to the clothes for women which are, Ummm... how should I say open from the back? From here, see" Alex said as he turned around and pointed towards his own back.

The two ladies on the sides blushed and giggled seeing Alex's gesture. The boy was too blunt...

"Well the other two are just spelling mistakes, but they changed the context of the sentence. Here, because you missed characters, you turned banned into the band, and the same goes for dual which turned to duel".

"Now coming to the Hindi paper, well it's true, not many people outside India, use this language so it's common to make mistakes. I don't blame you for this".

"Here, शूर (shoor) which means brave should have been used instead of सुर (sur) which means God. And here चिर (chir) which means Old was used instead of चीर (cheer) which meant Cloth."

" Let's leave all these mistakes behind. I was hurt the most when here, you turned a perfectly healthy die Taube which means pigeon into der Taube a deaf person". Alex said, pointing towards the German paper.

As Alex was pointing out the mistakes one by one, the subordinates beside the PR head kept searching online. The PR head looked at them after each mistake Alex points out, only to see them nodding towards her. They verified that the mistakes pointed out by Alex were genuine.

After pointing out the mistakes, Alex placed the paper at her desk and went back to his seat.

Silence prevailed in the office, after pondering for a while the PR head finally opened her mouth.

"Well done Mr Alex, you found the essence of our test," she said while clapping.

"What do you mean?" Alex looked confused.

"The purpose of this test was not just to write the right answers, but it was to find the mistakes which we have intentionally left in the paper," The department head said. She can't possibly acknowledge that there was a mistake on their part, right?

The two subordinates looked at each other, and then towards their boss, was there something like this?

The chief glared at them and mouthed them to shut up. Well, she was not too optimistic that anyone would buy this excuse, but it was worth a try.

"So it was like this, well, what you said makes sense, I mean how can such a big company make such silly mistakes". As if coming to a realization Alex said as he nodded in agreement, but the next part made them speechless, "I even thought which fool was that who made the paper, so it was intentional on your part".

Listening to Alex, the two subordinates looked towards their boss, who looked as if she was trying to hold herself back. Her hand, which was gripping a pen, had veins bulging out.

"Well, Mr Alex, let's leave that topic behind, why don't we move on?" the PR head said as her face twitched with annoyance.

"Sure, even I feel ashamed of taking such a brilliant paper setter for a fool". Alex agreed but still remarked.

Snap... the pen in her hand broke.

"Are you alright?" Alex asked with concern, he stood from his seat, went forward and grabbed her hand.

"Yes, I am fine" she replied with her face twitching.

"You sure are strong," Alex commented.

The chief took deep breathes to calm herself. After she completely calmed herself, she asked Alex, " Mr Alex, even though we said that we won't put much emphasis on your educational background, but you have not provided us with anything here".

"I don't have the records with me" Alex replied truthfully. He knew he would be asked this question, so he prepared himself for it.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you see it's a long story. I was in a car accident last year, and because of that, I lost my memories. A couple adopted me, provided me with a name, home to stay, took care of me, treated like their own son,...." and Alex kept on rambling about his parents for a while.

"Mr Alex..." not able to handle the glorification of his parents, the department head interrupted.

"Ohh... well sorry, but I will always be grateful to them for that" Alex was brought back on track by the interruption by the PR head, " Well coming back to the topic so, I don't know what I did before or anything, that means I don't have any educational proof with me. Well, it turned out to be quite short in the end". Alex explained in a single breath.

The three of them looked towards Alex sympathetically.

The chief talked with the other two and finally said.

"Thank you for coming here today, Mr Alex, we will reach out to you within a week if you are hired. You can go now".

Alex thanked all of them and left.

"Both of you can go now, we are done here" The PR head ordered the other two.

After her subordinates left, the chief dialled a number on her phone.

"So how was it? Anyone, you like?" The PR head asked.

"Two of them. I will send you the names", an emotionless voice could be heard from the other side.

It turned out the camera was not just recording their interview, but it was also broadcasting it somewhere else.

"Fine, but do it before office hours. I don't want to work overtime on this".

And both of them hanged.

* * *

After leaving the office, Alex took the elevator for the ground floor. As he passed by the reception he thought of bidding farewell to the receptionist, but when he reached the reception, someone else was standing there.

It was three in the afternoon, since both his parents would not be home, there was no need for him to rush back home.

Alex walked around the streets, ate snacks, bought some for his parents. He did some grocery shopping as well. Since Alex was mostly at home, after getting discharged from the hospital, he spent his time doing house chores. Soon Alex was more proficient in cooking than his mother and even their housekeeper, Mrs Flores.

After some time, it became a routine for Alex to make breakfast and dinner for his parents since they were not usually there for lunch.

After more than two hours, his shopping finally came to an end.

When Alex reached his home, at the same time, he saw Margaret getting off a car. From the other side, a man too got off. Seeing this, don't know why, but Alex felt dejected. The way the two of them interacted looked like they were quite close.

When Margaret saw Alex, she waved towards him and gestured him to come.

"Alex, you are back! How was your interview?" She asked, linking her arms with his.

"It was okay. Now, if you please excuse me, I have some matters to attend to". Alex unlinked their arms and strode off.

"Wierd... what happened to him? Did the interview not go well?" Not able to understand Alex's behaviour, she talked to herself.

"Who is he?" The man asked.

"My neighbour, you can go now" Margaret ordered the man.

The man nodded and left.

As Alex entered the house, he was greeted by their housekeeper Mrs Flores, " You are back. How was the interview?"

"It was fine, I suppose".

"Well, no need to think about it," Mrs Flores said as she brought a glass of water for him, " I guess you will be making the dinner today," Mrs Flores said looking at the bags in his hand.

"Yeah, I was thinking about it" Alex nodded, " Why don't you join us?" Alex asked.

"I would like to, but since I can leave early I would like to spend more time with my grandson," Mrs Flores said.

Alex nodded and took out a packet from the bags he was holding, " I bought some chocolates for him" Alex said as he handed her the packet.

"Now I know why he likes you more than me," Mrs Flores said complaining.

"It's generation gap Mrs Flores," Alex said with a smile.

Mrs Flores made faces hearing this and left.

Alex placed the groceries in the kitchen, went back to his room and crashed on his bed. He was thinking about the uncomfortable feeling he had when he saw that man beside Margaret.

After a while, Alex brushed away his thoughts, went to freshen up and got ready to prepare dinner.