Fate stood in front of Lexiton Building that apparently The Mask owns. It's an 82-floor business building where different companies occupy, although the top 5 floors were used by The Mask.
She nervousness looked up as far as she can, it's one of the tallest buildings in the city, who would've known that it's actually the home to the most mysterious company there is.
Today she wore the best work suit she had in her dresser. More like her lucky suit really. She only wears it whenever she has to go on an important meeting or presentation, it had never failed her and she's hoping with all her heart that this time it won't as well.
Taking a deep breathe, she wore her signature stoic face and entered the building.
She received a temporary ID card after telling the receptionist her name and purpose, as instructed by the person who answered her call the day before. Apparently, The Mask is publicly known as Megastone Inc., a mid-tier company in the construction industry. They're said to do most of their contracts abroad so they're not that known locally. At least that's what she was told.
Fate was then led to an elevator that employees of Megastone Inc. use exclusively, which means it's an elevator headed straight for the 78th floor where the reception of The Mask is located. It's an elevator that can only be accessed with a special ID card such as the one she was given.
Buildings with more than 50 floors isn't uncommon in the city, she's been to a lot of them before even on it's top floor. But this would be Fate's first time going into one through an exclusive elevator.
Deep inside she's very nervous, but from experience she knows that she can't show any signs of it. Interviews like these start the moment she entered the building and not the room where the interview will happen. After all she's applying for a position that would represent a company's image, any weakness would be unacceptable.
Soon after she reached her floor and was welcomed with a long hallway at the end of which she could see the reception area which led to two hallways.
When she reached it, the receptionist smiled at her widely. At first she thought that's just SOP since it's her job to great guests, turned out it's not exactly that...
"Good day, Ms. Lestrange. You're right on time, we've been expecting you." She greeted warmly. "My name is Katherine. Please follow me to the conference room, they're already waiting for you inside."
"Yes, thank you." Fate nodded politely and followed Katherine to the right hallway.
Just when she thought they were headed to a room in the same floor, they got on another elevator at the end of the hall. She was taken aback at the arrangement, although it didn't show in her face. If Rhine was here, she'd comment on how bothersome and impractical this is.
"You're really different from what we were expecting." Katherine suddenly said once they were inside the elevator.
"Sorry?" Fate blinked at her, not quite sure if she heard her right.
"Since you're a friend of Ms. Lisa's, we were thinking that you'd be bubbly and chatty like her. Or are you perhaps just nervous? I would be if I were in you shoes."
"Ha."
Well, Lisa was definitely the complete opposite of Fate. She's easy to talk to and approach, and she's good at manipulating people.
"Ah. I don't mean it in a bad way." Katherine panicked when she realized what she just said. "You were highly recommend by Ms. Lisa, we know how capable you are."
Fate shook her head. "Don't worry about it. I get that a lot." Although she didn't smile, her tone was polite and no sign of any hostility whatsoever.
Katherine sighed in relief and then smiled at her genuinely. "I hope you get the position. We heard a lot of things about you from Ms. Lisa. We'd really love to work with you here."
Company gossips is nothing new to Fate, but the fact that people already know things about her here even though she's still not part of it makes her a little uncomfortable. Although it's all probably because of Lisa anyway. She just sighed to herself.
"Thank you. I appreciate the thought."
The elevator stopped at the top floor and after passing by a couple of doors, they finally stopped in front of a room labeled with 'Executive 1'.
"I'll leave you here." Katherine said, smiling at her widely. "Please greet me once you leave."
Fate knocked on the door and entered only after she heard someone responded.
The room wasn't that big, but the long table at the center of it was enough for 10 people to comfortably occupy. She was greeted by 3 men in suit who sat on the opposite side of the table from her.
"Ms. Lestrange, welcome. Please take a seat." The one who was seated at the center motioned for her to sit on the chair prepared for her. Fate couldn't help but think how the pair of glasses he wore had made him more attractive than he probably already is without them.
"Thank you."
"We've been looking forward to finally met you, Ms. Lestrange. To be honest, Ms. Austin is dead set on letting you be her replacement. If she had her way, this interview is just for formality's sake. If you want the job, Ms. Lestrange, it's yours. Nevertheless we still would like to go through the interview if that's alright with you."
Just from the way the people here talk about Lisa, Fate could tell that she had a great influence over them. Well, that should be expected since she is, after all, the chairman's executive secretary.
"I wouldn't have it any other way, sir."
"Good." He smiled at her and looked over some papers in front of him, his other two collegues also having the same set in front of them. "We saw the resume you submitted, and we're really impressed. Just with it alone we could really see why you were highly recommended."
"Thank you, sir."
"Your skills and abilities were already vouched for, so we won't ask further." The guy-next-door to the right of glasses said. "But we do have some questions we hope you'd be able to answer honestly."
"I will do my best, sir."
"Describe a recent conflict you had with a colleague."
The third man who sat to glasses' left said. He caught by surprise even the other two when he suddenly spoke, probably because they weren't expecting for him to talk at all, after all he looked like the silent and observant type.
Fate, who hadn't smiled ever since she entered the building, smiled tightly. At least that's how she thought she did. The men in the room however registered her smile as something sinister, which inwardly made them swallow.
'Of course they would ask about that.' Fate thought, starting to get frustrated. It's safe to say that its a touchy subject to her. Then again with a company of this calibre, things like those can't stay hidden. They probably already know everything anyway and just wanted to hear it from her herself. 'At least they try not to be too obvious about it.'
"I always try my best not to get involved in any conflict with my colleagues, unfortunately the one time that I actually did it cost me my job." Her expression returned to the neutral one she wore when she first entered the room, making them relax a bit. "The incident happened when my colleague and I were introduced for the first time, he did something that he shouldn't have and although he claimed that it was an unintentional mistake, I beg to differ. Nevertheless I still got the short end of the stick and I suffered the consequences for quite some time."
"Would you have responded differently if given the chance?" The guy-next-door asked.
Fate shook her head. "Even if I have to go through the same consequences again, I would still do the same."
"What exactly did you do, Ms. Lestrange."
Fate gave a sinister smile again. "I broke his arm and kicked his nuts."
The men involuntarily became concious of their own dicks.
"You see, sir. I am proud of my profession, I always do my best to assist my boss and my colleagues, and am willing to do whatever it takes to do my job the best I can. But once you insulted my pride as a secretary, I won't hold back either."
"Is that a threat, Ms. Lestrange?" The glasses guy smiled playfully.
"Goodness! Of course not, sir. Why would I do that?" She acted surprised and even covered her mouth for effect. "It's more of a warning, really." Fearlessly she looked at them directedly in the eyes, letting them know that she's serious.
Lisa and Fate may have totally opposite personalities, but after just a short time that they had talked to her these men realized why the two of them are friends. Both of them are good with what they do and are extremely proud of their job, so much that even if they're against someone from high position, they won't back down for as long as they know they're right.
Lisa was right, Fate really is the perfect replacement for her.
The men grinned at her, even the one on the left couldn't help but smile at her response either.
"I think that's all for today, Ms. Lestrange. Thank you for your time." The glasses guy said as he started to tidy up the papers in front of him.
"I'm sorry? Is that it?" Fate blinked at them in surprise.
"Ms. Lestrange, like I said earlier, the job is yours if you want it. We really just want to have a chat with you and get to know you a bit more since we will be seeing each other a lot once you accept the job."
"There's actually one more of us, but he's still abroad at the moment."
"Oh."
'...seeing each other a lot...'
What's that supposed to mean?
Now that she think about it, who are these men anyway? Obviously they're executives of the company. Directors perhaps? They never introduced themeselves in the first place.
From what Lisa had told her, she would be Kurt William's executive secretary, so shouldn't he, at the least, be one of the interviewers?
"Excuse me, sir. Can I ask you something about the position?"
"Please go ahead."
"What do you mean by 'seeing each other a lot'? I was told that I'm applying for Mr. Kurt William's executive secretary."
Even if they're executives, she should at the most be dealing with their respective secretaries and not with them directly. So that statement doesn't really make sense.
The three of them gave each other a look.
"Ms. Austin didn't really explain what the position entails, did she?" He sounded sheepish.
"..."
"Although Mr. Williams is the chairman of The Mask, he rarely shows up."
"That's why it's up to his executive secretary to deal with most of the paperworks and decision makings in his behalf."
"Of course you still have to confirm with him, but most of the time you will be the one to deal with everything yourself."
"As you may have guessed already, we are executives in the company. And that means we will be dealing with each other most of the time."
Fate's eyes widened at this, and if she hadn't caught herself her mouth would have hanged open.
Basically they're saying that she's going to function as the company's chairman. A mere secretary like her. How crazy is that? Is this a prank, after all?
She can't believe that, that was Lisa's job all these time. How did she even managed to do that? No wonder she seemed to be in such good terms with everyone.
"So what's it gonna be, Ms. Lestrange? Are you going to join us?"