I couldn't have ever imagined to be working for the Ace Empire. They were a global company that had investors from all around the world. They owned hundreds of Casino's and Banks in America, England, China, and several other countries. Every year they had thousands of applicants and only very few were selected. It didn't matter what position you were chosen for, as long as you worked for the Ace Empire, you were considered to have been given a job for life. Working besides Jun Wang, one of the C.E.O.'s was a short-lived dream for many who applied to work at Ace. I waited in a stuffy room with hundreds more applicants who only had 15 minutes to impress Mr Wang. He wasn't interviewing us himself, but the interviews were live streamed straight to his laptop and if he managed to notice you and save your name you were the lucky one. My hands and legs were trembling just at the thought of entering the interview room. My heart raced as the numbers popped up one by one on the screen nearing mine. I was number 614. It felt like I had been waiting for days. My shirt managed to have creased, despite me ironing it and my palms were getting sweaty from standing in a room full of people. The monitor flashed with the number 614 as the doors to the interview room opened. I swallowed the growing knot in my throat and made my way in. A man was sitting on one side of the table with some papers beside him and a pen in his hand. He looked rather warm, having flung his blazer over his chair, and rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt. His forehead looked sweaty as he looked up at me, offering me a seat in front of him. I handed him a folder with my experience's and information and waited to be showered with questions. As he read through my folder his eyebrows furrowed and he chuckled, looking up at me.
"Your name is Kai?" He asked examining my outfit and face. I brushed my hair behind my ear uncomfortably, before answering.
"Yes." I smiled brightly.
"Isn't that a boy's name?" He continued to examine me with his eyes as I cleared my throat with a smile and nodded.
"Yes, they thought they were expecting a boy. They were already set on the name despite the surprise of having a girl." It wasn't the first time I had been asked about my name, but it was usually by children. Grownups were a lot more mature about it and it seemed that we had evolved enough where most names were acceptable for any gender. Or maybe not.
"Interesting." The sweaty man said, wiping his forehead with a handkerchief. "Are you married Kai?" I dragged my teeth across my bottom lip, getting a little irritated. I didn't want to waste my time talking about my personal life as opposed to the job position.
"No." I replied firmly with a smile. He nodded looking back over to my folder.
"It says you haven't been employed in nearly a year." He looked up at me, his look instantly writing me off as a candidate.
"Yes, my mother got sick. I took a year off to look after her." I continued to smile despite my heart trembling just at the thought of having to talk about my mother any further.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." The man bowed, noting it down on a sheet of paper. "You do have some experience, but nothing that we are currently hiring for. All of your experience is in Administration and P.A. and we are currently looking for something more." The man spoke quickly, closing up my folder and handing it back to me. He didn't seem interested in asking me any further questions. I felt my heart drop into my stomach as I fought back tears. "The hiring list will be emailed on Monday, but I wouldn't hold my breath." He smiled apologetically as if he had given me a chance. It wasn't even half a chance. He had written me off before I even sat down. I walked out of the room, thanking him for his time. I had only been in the room for 5 minutes and he was probably being paid my life's worth an hour to sit there and do what? Reject me within 5 minutes? I was furious. My mother always taught me to be respectful, so I was. I rushed out of the building and sobbed in the taxi home. When my mother called, I told her it went well, I didn't want to worry her.
Despite being told not to hold my breath, my stomach still turned as the email came through of the hiring list on Monday. I knew my name wasn't going to be in the list, but I checked anyway. As I scrolled through to the bottom, there it was. Kai Jia Chen. P.A. to Jun Wang Wei.