3. Interview

Next day she reached the company at 8:30 , her interview was at 8:45. She was welcomed by a man in his early thirties.

"Hello Miss Lara, I am George, the head of the hiring department. Nice to meet you.. " ,he said with a warm smile.

"Hello sir. Nice to meet you too ", she replied. He guided her towards the elevator. A man was waiting there with his back towards her.

George's phone rang suddenly and he said, "Excuse me Miss Lara, this is urgent. Please go to the top floor. I'll be there soon." She nodded with an understanding smile.

She turned and scanned the back of the man standing in front of her. The guy was wearing a grey suit from a popular luxury brand. She could guess that the man was handsome from the outline of his figure.

When the elevator opened and the man entered, she saw his face and at once recognized him. Her face had an expression of surprise but then she quickly composed herself and got in.

'Oh god I am so dead. I didn't recognize Liam Page. And I even bumped into him.' she thought.

Liam wasn't in a very pleasant mood. He had to interview another candidate. It had been the 20th this month. All the candidates he had interviewed were all similar and had nothing different. But when he saw Lara, his expectations rose up.

'Today might not be as bad as I am thinking'

He was quite surprised by the speed with which she could compose herself. He scanned her from head to toe.

She was wearing a beige shirt with a brown pencil skirt. Her hair was flowing and her bangs organized. She had chosen a partly professional and partly casual look.

Even though on the outside she looked calm, in the inside she was worried. The man she accidentally bumped into the previous day turned out to be her future boss.

She didn't know how to react and so, decided to keep quiet. The atmosphere in the lift turned very awkward as neither of them wished each other.

Liam was used to other's wishing him first. But seeing how awkward the lift had become, he decided to take the initiative to start a conversation, for the first time in his life.

She was looking at the floor numbers when he wished her ,"Good morning Miss Lara Wright."

" Good morning sir", she immediately replied. She then kept quiet and continued staring at the numbers.

Again silence.

Breaking the suffocating silence, the elevator suddenly stopped with a jerk making her fall back. But she caught the handle in time and steadied herself.

Her file had fallen down. She bent down and picked it up and was looking at her watch and thinking,' How come he did not shake. Is this pre planned ?,'

He hadn't moved when the elevator stopped because he was used to this. It was their interview strategy. Since the post was something which required continuous contact with him they had to make sure how the person would behave with him.

The other employees would watch from the CCTV camera. Every other woman he had interviewed used this opportunity to flirt with him. But he was surprised that she wasn't even looking at him. She was in her own thoughts.

"You are different", he told looking at her. She turned to him with a confused expression and asked, "If you don't mind, may I know how I am different?"

"Well every other female would try to use this opportunity in an umm.... unpleasant way and acted as though they were scared but you didn't." , he replied straight.

She chuckled and said, " Well I happen to lack claustrophobia. " She paused and looked at him and continued," Especially the type where they try to cling onto the man next to them."

This made him chuckle with a slight smile. The others who were watching were surprised seeing him chuckle. It was a rare sight and this woman achieved it within her first five minutes with him.

" You have a great sense of humour ," he commented. She replied with a calm face," It keeps me going in a world filled majoritarily with people who are after money and power."

He was quite stunned by this reply.

When he looked at her he saw that she was wearing a serious expression and thinking. He asked her," May I know what your thinking about?"

She looked at him in a bit of a suspicious way and told," Well, I don't know for sure but it's just an assumption. From your reaction from when the elevator got stuck, something tells me this was a pre planned activity."

She paused and continued," Probably something like an interview strategy?"

He was stunned. " Your expression tells me I am correct.", she said with a smile.

His eyes widened in surprise.

The others who were watching gasped.' How did she find out?', this was going on everyone's mind. " How did you find out?", he asked in amusement.

She smiled and replied," Sir, if I have the brains to graduate with a double degree from one of the top universities with high scores two years before any average person, then I think I should be able to guess this easily."

He was surprised and asked her " Hope you don't mind me asking this question, how old are you?" "23 years old", she replied.

He was momentarily stunned on knowing her age.

'She is this young!?? Only two years younger than me??'

The others who were listening immediately pulled her CV out and saw. They were stunned seeing that she had extremely high scores and was being sought by many leading companies.

" She is going to be very helpful. Hope that boss will hire her." One of them said. The others nodded in agreement