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 room along with others who were in charge.
The three ladies hurriedly picked up their stuff, and since they were already seated at the front, dashed out of the room. Alex didn't bring much with him. He picked up his bag and decided to slowly walk out of the room in no hurry.
But he hadn't even taken two steps when all the guys in the room ganged up on him, leaving no room for him to escape. Surrounded by so many guys, it would be weird if Alex wouldn't feel threatened and have his survival instincts kick in.
Adjusting his collar, Alex tried to keep a brave front and asked, "Wha... What do you guys want?"
"Boy, Do you know who I am? Who we are?" One of the men, probably in his early thirties, asked.
Alex was taken aback by the question. He had no idea what context it had and all he could do was slightly nod his head before shaking it in denial. He was not sure which path to take so, he ended up neither agreeing nor denying with the man.
"Listen up, boy..." the man continued, slowly approaching Alex. When he was close enough, the man held Alex's hand, sending shivers down the latter's spine.
'No... Please don't... I am begging you. Anything... Anything but that... At least not... not... here..." Alex cried out in his heart. He closed his eyes, and slowly... slowly, he was giving in to his dreadful fate. But deep in his heart, he continued to scream trying to make sure he remembered that he didn't swing the other way.
But contrary to Alex expectations, the man did nothing but slowly slid something into Alex's palm. When Alex felt something in his hand, he slowly opened his eyes and was surprised to see what it was. When he looked at the man in front of her, the latter just winked at him assuringly. In his palms was a card that read CEO of some company. After that, in a matter of minutes, Alex's palm was full of dozens of cards. Each read something along the same lines as CEO, Managing Director, Senior Manager and so on.
Unsure of what was going on, Alex looked at the bunch in front of him with questioning eyes.
Noticing the confused look in his eyes, the man in the front who was leading the charge put his arms around Alex and said, "Look, boy. Everyone here is a big deal in their own field. So why do you think we all are here?" The man asked.
Alex just raised his eyebrows gesturing for the man to continue.
"Girls, man... Girls. All of us are here for the women. This company is a garden full of beautiful flowers ready to be plucked," the man told Alex with great enthusiasm.
Alex nodded, "Well, that's true. But, what do you want from me?" Alex asked.
"What else? We want you to hook us with girls from here. Introduce us to them as close friends, bring them to parties we throw, just do whatever you can, man, and... and in exchange, whenever you are in trouble, just ring us up, and we will be there. Ain't that right, boys?" the man proposed to Alex and asked the others around him.
"Yeah..."
"Sure..."
"Absolutely, my man..."
Everyone in the group agreed with the man.
The man then turned towards Alex, and putting his hand on his shoulder, gave it a little squeeze before asking, "So, now where do you stand, MY BOY?"
"I don't think..." Alex started with a bit of reluctance.
"Hmmm?" The man glared at Alex.
"...I have any reason not to accept the offer. I will try my best to be of service," Alex changed his tone.
"My man... My man... Now that's what I am talkin' 'bout. I knew I could trust you. Now tell me your number. I am gonna add you to our group," the man said.
"What kind of group?"
"It ain't nothing much. It's just a group of us guys and a few more. Now we are going to add you too. I will give you two odd months to mingle with the women here, after that, you better be useful, or else..." the man tried to scare Alex.
"But what if I don't get the job? There is still the interview I need to face," Alex asked cautiously.
"We will think 'bout it later. Now hurry up, or you're goin' to be late," After the man was done taking his number, he pushed Alex out of the encirclement.
Just as Alex exited the room, he saw one of the ladies in charge of the interview process waiting outside.
"You are here... Let's go," the lady said when she saw Alex walk out of the room and turned around to leave.
"I am sorry. I was..." Alex apologised. He was about to tell her why he got delayed but stopped.
The lady looked at him and smiled, "It's alright. You couldn't have escaped from them any faster."
Alex was embarrassed when he heard her. Either she already knew what was happening inside, heard them or both.
Alex followed the lady to another room. The other three girls who passed the exam were already there.
"In a while, you will be called inside one by one. You can relax till then and have something to drink," the lady said and called out for a man passing by there. She whispered something to him, and he went away only to be back with refreshments for them.
"Anne Allinson," the first one was called after waiting there for about ten minutes.
It took about fifteen minutes for Annie to walk out of the room. One by one, the others were also called inside.
"Alex Rutherford," Finally it was Alex turn after more than half an hour, and since he was the last one to be called. He was the most nervous of them all.
* * * * *
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
Chapter - 16"You? Why are you here?" Alex asked, looking at the person in front of him.Martha also followed behind him, and she was also surprised to see the person at their doorstep."Margaret?" Although Martha was surprised, she didn't forget to smack Alex for Asking such a silly question, "Why would you say such a thing, instead of inviting her in?"."I..."Martha glared at Alex, making him eat his own words."It's alright, Mrs Rutherford. I was just here to give you this," Margaret said and forwarded a small bag towards them."What is this?" Taking the bag from her, Martha asked. Inside it was a bottle of wine."I got this bottle as a gift from my friend, but you see, I am not a big fan of wine, and since I live alone, there is no one I can share this bottle with," Margaret said, "Then I thought maybe you and Mr
Chapter - 17Alex followed behind Margaret to her door. No one spoke a word all along. Margaret in the front would occasionally look back at Alex, thinking on how to bring forth the matters she needed to clarify. On the other hand, Alex looked everywhere except at Margaret. He wanted to turn around and run away as fast as he could.When they reached her door, Alex finally spoke, "Well then, Good night Miss Cole," Alex greeted her and hurriedly turned around to leave.But Margaret had it enough, and the dam of her patience finally collapsed. She could not take this game of silence anymore. She grabbed Alex by his arm, pulled him towards her and pinned him against her door. With her arms on either of his side, she even blocked his escape routes."Wha... What do you want? Why... ar... are you doing this?" With his back against the wall and nowhere to escape, Alex nervously asked. Being a movie buff, he