Chapter - 07
"Time is up," One of the ladies called out. Hearing her, the other ladies present there to invigilate, stood up from their seats and walked around the room, collecting the papers.
After all the papers were collected and bundled up, the lady in charge said, "We will be announcing the result in one hour. Until then, you can head to the cafeteria on the sixth floor and enjoy the refreshments arranged by the company for you," the lady looked at all the participants and continued, "You will need to show them the visiter's pass we are about to hand out."
One by one the candidates walked out of the room collecting the passes from the ladies standing by the door. Alex also followed the other candidates out of the room and made his way to the sixth floor. Due to the constant bickering of his parents early in the morning, he was not able to eat to his heart's content in breakfast.
'I hope they live up to the brand Theation' Alex had high hopes for the food they served here.
The cafeteria was unique in its own way. Unlike the usual layout where a room was filled with tables for the employees to stuff themselves, it was way different from the normal. As soon as one steps onto the sixth floor, he is greeted with walls made of glass. On the other side of the glass were employees having food. Following the experienced crowd of applicants, Alex walked through the door and into a glass corridor. On either side of the corridor was the eating area, and at the end were stairs. They were not allowed to take the stairs, instead, they were guided to the eating area.
The lunch arranged for them was the same as their employees, and Alex has to admit that it was on par, if not better, than many high-class restaurants. Working in Theation may be rumoured to be hard for men, but if you are an employee here, the company takes care of you remarkably. On top of that, the perks, not talking about the soothing and peace a man gets by ogling over the women working here, are second to none.
After Alex was done with his lunch, he had still more than half an hour to spare. To make use of that time, Alex decided to explore the company he might end up working for.
As Alex made his way through the various floors, he came across the numerous sets, shooting online reality shows. Some creators were eating a whole bunch of food in front of them, or some girls were licking the microphone making weird noises. But what fascinated Alex was the things going on behind the scene. The corridors were filled with staff bustling from here and there and the directors shouting at their assistants. Though it looked chaotic, it was enthralling.
Though everything was lively and all, what struck Alex was the scarcity of men he came across with. He has been going around for a while now, but the number of men he passed could be counted on the palm of his hand. However hopeful Alex was, he could not dismiss the fact that he might end up being trapped in a female kingdom as nothing more than a pawn to them.
'Phew!' Alex sighed. There was no use thinking about what the future had stored for him. It was not even decided that he would be boarding this pirate ship. Everything depended on the interview coming his way next. Thinking about the interview, Alex, when looked at his watch, the one hour given to them was almost up. It was time for him to head back and wait for the result. Alex got into the elevator and pushed the button for the fourth floor from the tenth floor he was on. Though a lot of people were there on the floor, he was the only one getting on the elevator.
As the elevator door was about to close, a slender hand stuck between the doors, and the door opened again. A lady wearing a floppy hat, big sunglasses, and a mask covering her face stormed inside as if running away from someone. She hurriedly pressed a button, and without giving Alex a chance to understand anything, she hid behind Alex.
Before Alex could ask anything, he heard footsteps hurrying in their direction. Alex was not sure about the situation she was in, but one thing was clear, if anyone passed by them, they will be easily able to spot her because of that large hat. There was no use hiding behind him.
"Find her. She couldn't have gone far," Alex heard a man's voice. It was no threat but anxiety and uneasiness that Alex felt in his tone.
"She is a real trouble maker. Can't she act her age?" Another man was heard saying.
"She has been stuck inside four walls for over a week. Maybe she went out to take a breather. I am sure she will be back soon." This time it was a feminine voice that took the girl's side.
"Do you think I enjoy keeping her inside, locked up? I am doing it to keep her away from the scandals that follow her around. And I am also just following the orders from Jessica. It is Jessica who is paying for my kid's school, not her," The first man said, irritated.
"All of you check the elevators."
By this time, the elevator doors had started closing again. As the steps drew closer, Alex acted as if he was removing his coat. With the coat widespread and the doors closing, those who peeked inside to take a look could not see anyone else other than a guy and walked away without looking intently.
As the doors closed and the elevator began to move down, Alex wore his coat back and stood straight, looking ahead.
"Thank you," The girl said, coming out from behind him.
* * * * *
Chapter - 08 "Thank you," The girl said. "Don't sweat it. I didn't do much anyway," Alex said. "Still, I appreciate your help." "Well, If you want to," Alex shrugged as he turned his eyes in front. "You don't want to know why they were looking for me?" The girl asked when she say the lacklustre response from the guy who just helped her. Alex nodded, "I just thought it would be impolite to ask. So, are you some kind of internet celebrity, and you snuck out of the shooting?" Alex asked. "Well, I am..." the girl began to say but paused after saying a few words. She contemplated as to what to say as Alex looked on, "Well, you can say that I am a celebrity," the girl finally said, with pride evident in her tone. "Why are you putting on such airs? What's so great about making some eating videos all day long?
Chapter - 09 "YEAH!" Alex cried out in excitement, but when he came to sense over his overenthusiastic display of happiness and saw the people in the room looking at him weirdly, he quickly gave a slight bow to the ladies in charge and sat slumped back in his seat, trying to hide behind the big guy in front of him, avoiding everyone's gaze. He waited for the ladies to continue, but when he did not hear the lady speak again, he peeked from behind the big guy and found the ladies still looking in his direction. Embarrassed. he could do nothing but hide behind the guy once again. The lady finally continued again, "Well, once again, those who did not pass the first stage, try harder, and we hope that you get to join this company the next time. Those whose name was called out just now, congratulations. Please pack your stuff and follow behind us. We will be waiting for you outside," the lady said and walked out of the r
Chapter - 10 Alex, when called, walked inside the room. Inside the room, there was this large table and on one end sat the lady from before, the PR head, who was nowhere to be seen since the start of the written test. Sitting on the sides were three ladies from earlier. Alex walked in and greeted the PR head with a nod followed by a nod towards the three other ladies. "Mr Rutherford?" The PR head asked to confirm. "Yes, mam," Alex replied. "Please take a seat," the PR head gestured towards the empty chair at the other end of the table for Alex to sit. "Thank you," Alex went ahead and sat in front of her. As soon as he sat, his attention shifted to the camera setup beside the PR head. It was probably recording the proceedings of the interview. When the PR head noticed Alex staring beside her at the came
Chapter - 11*Snap! The pen in her hand broke."Are you alright?" Alex walked towards her and held her hand to look.The PR head tried to pull away, but Alex had gripped her hand quite well, "Quit moving and let me see," Alex rebuked her.The other ladies in the room giggled when they saw the scene unfold in front of her. This was the second time the guy got intimate with their boss, and she could do nothing."I am fine, Mr Rutherford. Please stop creating a scene and take your seat," The PR head told Alex."Indeed, nothing more than a scratch. I must say you don't look like it, but you are quite masculine,""Let's not beat around the bush and get back to the job at hand," the PR head insisted, and before Alex could say anything, she continued, "Mr Rutherford, it's true that we said that we are going to overlook the educational background
Chapter - 12As Alex was leaving the building, he thought it would be nice to bid farewell to his only friend here, Susan. But when he made his way to the reception, he found her nowhere, and someone else was seated there in place of her. A bit disappointed, he decided to leave.It was already three in the afternoon by the time Alex left the building, and since none of his parents would be at home, he was in no hurry to rush back. He walked around the streets, ate snacks, did some shopping, bought things for his parents and even purchased the grocery.After getting discharged from the hospital after the accident, when Alex was adopted by the Rutherford couple, he didn't want to be a burden and extra baggage for
Chapter - 13 In the evening, when Martha and George returned home, they were greeted by the fascinating aroma of the food made by Alex. The dinner was already served and placed on the dining table, and Alex was busy in the kitchen with the last of his masterpiece, the tomato spinach soup with saffron. "Why are you the one making dinner? Where is Mrs Flores? Wasn't she supposed to get dinner ready before she leaves?" Martha asked as soon as she saw Alex working in the kitchen. "I was done with my interview quite early, so I bought a bunch of stuff on my way back and decided to cook for you guys," Alex said, picking up the soup and carrying it to the table. "But you must be tired. You should have let Mrs Flores do the cooking," Martha said. "It's fine. Now you better freshen up before the food gets cold," Alex urged her to leave.
Chapter - 14'God! Why? Why today of all days?' "Alex?" Margaret was confused as to where Alex was lost."Miss Cole, Why are you here?" Alex asked, averting his eyes from her chest."Why do you think?" Margaret asked."I don't know, but I got to go," Alex said and tried to run away."Where?" Margaret was not going to let him leave so easily.Alex was regretting coming out. He was better off settling the dispute between his parents than stand here in front of Margaret face to face."Father asked me to run some errands for him. I better get going, or I will be late," Alex said and again tried to run away, but this time Margaret was prepared for it. She had her arms interlocked with his, not letting him leave."I won't let you run off. Not before you tell me what's wrong with you?" Margaret
Chapter - 15 The following days passed by, and a game of hiding and seeking began started Martha, Margaret and Alex. Whenever Alex came across anyone of them, they tried to talk to him, he would slip away from there as fast as he could. To avoid Martha, Alex would leave the house early in the morning in the guise of hitting the gym. He would only come back when he was sure that nobody would be there. As for Margaret, although they lived next to each other, the association between her and the Rutherford's was only up to the level of greeting each other whenever they crossed paths. Alex was the only one she had a friendly interaction with. So she can't just walk up to Martha or George and ask about Alex and his whereabouts. Like this, five days had already passed, and like always, Alex had just slipped into the house after making sure that none of his parents was at home. First, he cleaned himself up, then ate what M