Adrian clenched his fists in anger. Just by a fraction of a few minutes he had missed his seeing niece. She was right in front of him and he could do nothing to get to her. He looked up towards the sky trying to curb his anger. It took him a great deal of patience to calm down.
The man in front of him darted his eyes between Adrian and Steve. Noticing that they were quite absent-minded, he dashed to his car and drove away without further delay. He had to save himself first. Who knew what the crazy man would do if he continued staying there?
"Hey? Get back here." Steve shouted seeing the man escape. However, he was long gone before he could do anything.
"Should we follow him?"
"No need. He knows nothing." Adrian said in a daze, still looking at the sky.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"What if it is all a pretense and he is trying to divert our attention?"
"No. If he wanted to do something like that, he would not have come in front of us in the first place. Why would he risk being seen when he could do things in the dark?"
"True." Steve agreed with his words. "What do we do now?"
"I have no idea. The police here are useless. I need to do something myself." Adrian responded with a grim face. He then went to the car and sat behind the wheel. Steve got in after him.
"Where are we going?"
"I am in no mood to go to the office. Let's go to the gym, I want to blow off some steam."
"Now?" Steve looked at his watch. It was almost time for the interview to begin, the candidates would be in the building by 10.30 a.m.
"Is there a problem?" Adrian gave him a small glance and turned to look ahead.
"Yes, we are interviewing potential candidates for the post of your secretary. Remember?"
"Damn it." Adrian cursed. How could he forget about it? As much as it was important for him to find his niece, it was also important to focus on matters related to his company, though Ahana was his first priority. He had to cool down, for now, he had other matters to look into.
"Let's go to the office."
"Okay," Steve replied with a sigh of relief. It was too stressful to handle a furious Adrian. It was like a raging canon ready to blast anything in his way.
It took them more than fifty minutes to reach the office. They were on the outskirts of the city when they were following the car. So, it took them some time to return to their original route.
Except for the four guards, there was nobody in the vicinity of the building. It was silent and peaceful. But that would not be the case from the next week when the employees would start working. It would become hectic and crowded. So, it was the only time for them to enjoy the peace as much as they could.
Instead of going to his cabin, Ade went to the small conference room where the candidates would be interviewed. While Ade went inside, Steve waited outside. He had to make sure everything was in order. There were only two of them right now and it was their responsibility to manage it correctly.
"Excuse me." Steve was organizing the papers when he heard the voice of a female.
"Yes?" He looked up. There were two women, dressed in professional attire, standing in front of him. One of them was taller than the other by half a foot and she had ash-blonde while the other had copper-brown hair. The taller one was dressed in a white blouse and a light pink pencil skirt, while the shorter one was wearing a navy blue shirt and black trousers.
"Is the interview for the King Corporation taking place here?" The woman with the ash blonde hair asked.
"Yes. May I know your names?"
"Yes. I am Mina Williams." The copper-brown haired woman spoke up while the other woman spoke next. "I am Jennifer Mane."
"Take your seat ladies and fill this form." Steve handed them each a form to fill. "Let's wait for the other candidates to arrive, shall we?" He smiled at the two women in the process.
By 10.30, more than twenty-two candidates were in the hall, there were three men among them. Though the company was opening its branch for the first time in the city, it was well established in other parts of the world. So, there was no doubt that it would flourish in Vlei too. Hence, there were a lot of candidates trying their luck to get into the company.
"Okay, ladies and gentlemen. Listen to the rules carefully. First, there will be a written test. It lasts for around forty minutes. I cannot say how many of you will be selected for the next round. But I hope you do your best. Best of luck everyone. Now would you please follow me?" Steve spoke to them gently and led the way.
All the twenty-two candidates followed Steve inside a large conference hall. They were told to occupy their seats which they did without any delay. Steve handed them the papers along with the working sheets.
"Guys, don't even think about cheating because I have my eyes on all of you. Also, your future boss is watching you all from the CCTV cameras. Anyway, you won't be able to cheat even if you tried. The question paper for each of you is different. You can start at the count of five."
The exam proceeded peacefully. While some candidates were nervous and anxious, some of them attempted the paper calmly. During the entire time, it was only Steve who was in the hall, Adrian had not stepped in at all. The forty minutes passed by in a blink.
"How did you guys do?" Steve asked after collecting their papers. While some looked ecstatic and confident of passing the first stage, there were many who looked tensed.
"Take a break and come back here after an hour. I'll tell you the results by then." Saying that Steve walked out of the hall. The crowd started to murmur among themselves discussing the questions they had received and the possible answers for them.
Steve took the papers to Adrian. "There are twenty-two, let's divide."
"How are the candidates?" Adrian questioned taking the first booklet.
"Didn't you see them via the cameras?"
"Nope." Adrian shrugged his shoulders. He did not feel the need to do so. Steve was present during the examination and in his presence, nothing could go wrong. He read the first question and the answer the candidate had written for it. Seeing the horrendous answer for the question, he threw the booklet away without even looking at the next question.
"Did you check the booklet this fast?" Steve asked dumbfounded.
"The candidate has given some shitty answer for the first question itself. I don't need to read further to decide their capabilities." Adrian answered without any emotion on his face making Steve sigh.
Within the next ten minutes, he had already thrown away thirteen booklets, thereby rejecting them. On the other hand, Steve had finished evaluating only five and had chosen two for the next round.
"Adrian, didn't you find any potential candidates from these people?" Steve asked.
"Not yet."
Adrian then took a look at the next answer sheet and was immediately surprised by the answer the candidate had written for the question. The question was something as follows: Why do you want to work for the King Corporation?
The answer the candidate had given was: It would be a lie to say that it is my dream to work here in King Corporation when it is not the truth. I just accompanied my friend here to wish her luck for the exam and it was her who applied on my behalf without my knowledge. Having no other choice, I took up the exam even though I am not qualified enough. I apologize if my words are straight-forward. My ambition is completely different altogether and it has nothing to do with working in King Corporation. This is the truth and I will not deny it.
The candidate's answer impressed him. He was not sure if it was written in all honesty or just to gain his attention. Nevertheless, he passed the candidate to the next round to test them personally. He would eventually find out their true characteristics.
"Finally. And here I was thinking nobody was capable enough to gain your attention." Steve chided seeing Adrian select one of the applicants.
Within half an hour all the candidates had been evaluated, yet they had to wait half an hour more. At exactly the scheduled time, Steve walked inside the conference room to see all twenty-two candidates seated inside.
"Hello everyone. I have the results in my hand. All those who get selected, I congratulate you in advance and those who are not selected, don't be disheartened. This is just a test and who knows you may be destined to do things greater than to work in this measly company."
Everybody laughed at his words. Kings Corporation was anything but measly. However, their laughter died on listening to Steve's next words.
"We have selected six candidates for the next round and the names are as follows."