“Give me your CV already, will you?” Brushing the arched moustache on his upper lip, he reached out for my file, and I handed it to him.

With narrowed eyes, he scrutinized my CV. Though I’d topped in most of my exams and my other qualifications were also good, I was still at the edge of his judgement. Because the way he was looking at those papers, I got a feeling he was a judge in some time of his life.

“You’re fluent in Spanish and Italian? Or you just added it out of excitement?” His tone was already calling me a fraud.

But I remained calm. “No, Mr. Cooper. I’ve taken courses on Italian and my second language was Spanish at high school. If you want, I could converse with you in one of them.”

“No need.” He waved his hand, grunting. “It’s not that I’d understand anything, anyway. You could blabber to make a fool of me.”

I gritted my teeth, but kept my composure. This grumbling potato was now getting on my nerves.

Who takes interviews like that? I wonder who even made him the CEO of this company.

“You eat well?” For the first time, he looked up.

My brows creased. How did that relate to anything with the job? “I do when I’m hungry. Why?”

He snorted. “Girls of your generation are fond of keeping themselves empty stomached to stay lanky. And if your stomach is empty, so will be your head. How would you create designs if you’re empty in the head?”

Do I still want to work in his company? Sadly, yes.

“No, Mr. Cooper. I prefer to be healthy than be… lanky,” I replied.

He cast a look, observing me. I fidgeted in my seat. Then, he closed my file and slid it to me. “Get out now. And tell Lucinda to send the next headache.”

I raised my brow. Did he just reject me? Then I understood it was his way to say: you may leave now. And I assumed Lucinda was that woman who sent me in, and headache was the next candidate.

Pressing my lips tight, I flashed him an even tighter smile and stood up. The nervousness now turned into fear as I informed Lucinda and then walked away. She said I’d receive an email later to know if I was selected or not. Until then, I would have to wait.

As I got out of the elevator, my shoulder bumped into someone.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Looking up, I found a man near Mr. Cooper’s age standing before me. But he was far from small and round, the opposite, in fact. Tall and fit. Some gray hairs were peeking out of his dark strands.