04 Competition

Not being given a chance to try doesn't mean losing. Grace didn't want to give up so easily. She might not be able to take the test to become an executive secretary to GM, but she had other ways.

Grace managed to persuade many employees from various divisions to apply for the secretary position. This way Evan would feel overwhelmed doing it all by himself. Thus, he would need help from the HRD in order to sort out the candidates.

Initially, Nita was the one asked to handle this task. Nonetheless, after convincing Mario that she could do better, Grace successfully replace her. Knowing all along what Grace was planning, Nita did not refuse at all.

The registration time window was limited to one day. All the data of the applicants had been collected. According to the requirements proposed by Evan, Grace sorted the applicants. Quite a number of them had to be eliminated in the administrative selection stage.

There were ten candidates out of eighty-seven applicants left. Grace was now walking towards the GM's office to submit the detailed data of them.

"Excuse me, Mr. Williams." Grace poked her head around the door after knocking a few times. "I am bringing you the data of the ten applicants who are eligible to take the selection test."

Evan was taken aback to see who appeared in his room. He couldn't believe it. His way to stop Grace's involvement in the test had failed so easily.

Grace walked over quietly and handed him a folder containing the ten candidates' data. “I have sorted them and these ten are the best. You may check them," she said, feeling content with her work.

"Thank you. You may leave now,” Evan said coldly.

Evan's words made Grace cross as two sticks. She did not expect that she would be driven away so quickly. "Are you sure you don't need my help?" she asked in vexation.

"One hundred percent. Please leave this room.” Evan reaffirmed his seemingly unwavering request.

Having no reason to stay there, Grace reluctantly turned away. In front of Evan's door, she paused for a moment. "You’ll see, Evan. No matter how I'll find out why you're acting like this to me," she promised herself.

Throughout the day, Grace tried to stay focused on her main job even though her head was filled with Evan. The best employee label bestowed on her must not be removed for any reason. She couldn't help but admit that the label was the thing that got her promoted to her current position.

Not to mention these days Grace was in need of more money for her mother's treatment. Her physical condition was getting worse due to congenital heart disease. She didn't want to lose her mom anytime soon.

"’Scuse me." A tall, burly figure appeared next to Grace's desk.

Being aware of her boss’ presence, Grace immediately got to her feet. "How can I help you?" she asked.

Mario registered a gentle smile on his face. He handed a blue USB flash drive to his assistant. "Please check some of the data here, okay? I have written the details in a separate document," he said.

Grace frowned. "Oh? Why not just send it via email?” she innocently asked.

Nita, who was paying attention to the interaction between the boss and the assistant, shook her head at Grace’s response. She couldn't believe her friend's naivety.

“Hm, well … There is a problem with my laptop. The internet doesn't work,” said Mario, looking for the right answer.

"Oh, I see. You should have asked me to take this flash drive from your room. You don’t need to bother bringing it here," continued Grace, still clueless.

This time, Nita let out a little sigh. But realizing that her voice was too loud, she pretended to be commenting on something she was working on.

Mario scratched his temple with his right index finger. "Ah, that's because I happen to be going to Mr. Williams's room, so I brought it here as well." He gave a reasonable answer quickly.

But the so-called Grace, sometimes couldn’t control her overly blatant mouth. "I guess, Mr. Williams’ room and this office are in different directions. His is to the east, while here is to the west," she said.

Upon hearing her friend's words, Nita immediately nudged Grace from behind.

Innocently, Grace turned and asked Nita, "What's up?"

Nita registered a botox grin. She stood up and said, "Grace will be doing her job soon, sir," so as to break the awkward vibes immediately.

Mario nodded. "Well, thank you," he said.

"Yes, you're welcome. But, uh, Mr. Suganda.” Grace stopped Mario from walking away. He then didn't move from his place. "So you’re going to Mr. Williams’ room, right? Is there anything I can help you with?" She deliberately offered herself, so as to meet Evan again.

Mario was thinking for a moment before he replied, “I don't think so. He just wanted to talk to me about staffing matters. Maybe it’s about the candidate for executive secretary.”

Although Grace's presence was clearly unnecessary, she couldn't help but look for the slightest opportunity to meet her best friend. "Well, there must be a lot to talk about. Maybe Mr. Williams will give you a lot of assignments and you need to record everything. As an assistant, I can help. You know I'm good at taking notes, right?" she urged.

Mario, who did not know the reason behind her insistence, immediately agreed. He thought there was an opportunity open for him to be close to his assistant. "Then come with me," he said.

Grace was overjoyed. She took her iPad and voice recorder which became two mainstay things when attending any meeting.

"Gosh, Grace. I can tell you’re such a battler,” whispered Nita in surprise. "Good luck to you."

Grace didn't give an answer to her except for a smile tugged at the corner of her right lips. She straightened her body, as if ready to enter a battlefield, and left the place with Mario.

Inside Grace's brain, there were ideas she had compiled to find out what was wrong with Evan. What she would do and say when she saw him again? She was determined to investigate the change in his best friend's attitude. To her, it was impossible for someone as warm as Evan to turn one hundred and eighty degrees into someone else.

Once they arrived in front of the GM room, Mario opened the door for Grace. She took a deep breath silently before entering it.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Williams," said Mario after closing the door, then walked ahead of his assistant.

"Good after..." Evan almost glared when he saw his best friend also present, "...noon. Why is she here?” He clearly showed his disapproval of Grace's presence.

Mario slightly turned to Grace before replying, “Oh yeah. I hope you don't mind if I invite my assistant here. She's the one who usually helps me record all the meetings."

Evan gave him a flat look. He couldn’t do anything but approve of it. "Okay. But please be seated on the couch, because there is only one chair in front of my desk,” he said, forbidding Grace to come over in a polite way.

Grace was far too quick-witted to give up. “With all due respect, Mr. Williams, it might be more comfortable if we all sat down on the couch. This way I can hear your words more clearly," she suggested.

"Who says? I'm more comfortable sitting here,” said Evan, refuting Grace's words.

Mario realized the situation was becoming tense. He immediately intervened to downplay it. "Let's make it this way. Grace, you can sit on the couch and you can place your recorder here on this table. Whatever you miss out on during the meeting, you can complete by listening to the recording," he suggested.

Grace couldn't argue anymore. Like it or not, she had to do it according to Mario's suggestion. Otherwise, she would lose the opportunity right then and there for getting kicked out. She placed the voice recorder on Evan's desk while she sat on the couch which was two and a half meters away from the table.

Feeling triumphant over the petty debate, Evan secretly registered a smile at the corner of his lips. "Okay. I will explain my thoughts regarding the ten existing executive secretary candidates,” he began.

At first, Evan's voice was quite audible from where Grace was sitting. But as time went on, his voice volume got lower and lower. She could barely catch his words.

'Dang it. Is he doing it on purpose so I won't hear?' Grace was furious, but she didn't want to be defeated so easily. She rose from her spot and then stood next to Evan's desk.

The two men who were discussing finally stopped talking and turned to Grace in confusion.

"Oh? I can't hear very well there. So I'm standing here. Don't mind me. Please continue the discussion,” Grace replied to their unspoken question without guilt or shame.

In contrast to Mario who felt bad seeing his assistant stand up, Evan didn't seem to care. "Okay." That was his response.

'You’ll see who will win in this battle, Evan. You’re trying to make me quit before even starting, huh? You completely underestimate me.' A ghost of a smile appeared on Grace’s face again as she felt confident about winning this battle.

Three minutes, seven minutes, ten minutes. As time went by, Grace's legs began to feel tired. She moved her feet several times to be able to linger.

Mario was restless since he knew his assistant had a problem with standing for too long. Secretly, he had always been watching the girl.

As a result of Grace's constant movement, Evan couldn't help but shift his focus to her. The past accident did affect the strength of Grace's legs. He believed that the discussion should end. "We're done here. I think everything is clear enough, isn’t it?" he said.

"Yes. Definitely. Grace will also help me.” Mario got up from his chair. “I will send some of the tests this afternoon. We already have several templates that are commonly used.”

Evan nodded.

Grace finished her notes and retrieved her recorder from the table. She bowed her head slightly and turned away without saying a word.

"Excuse us," Mario said and took Grace away. His hands were guarding her from behind without touching her, in case she suddenly couldn't walk properly.

Though Grace felt a slight pain in her leg, she still acted like everything was fine. She seemed to be walking normally. To her, not performing well in front of superiors was inappropriate and also the last thing she wanted to do.

Mario insisted on taking Grace to the office even though she had convinced him that everything was fine. He also handed over the previous task to Nita so that Grace could focus on doing the GM's request.

“Aww, look who’s getting such a warm gesture from her boss. I pray that you will melt and understand his goodness to you one day soon. Don’t act so foolish as you did before," said Nita following a chuckle.

Grace clicked her tongue, not wanting to listen to Nita’s words anymore. "Hey, just finish your job. You’ve got a new task, haven’t you? It has to be finished this afternoon. you know,” she remarked then fixed her eyes on her computer screens.

Feeling ignored, Nita shook her head in disbelief. But it wasn’t a new thing to her, Grace was always like that.

It had been about twenty minutes, but Grace hadn’t stopped massaging her feet. The pain was still there and quite disturbing her work. She knew what to drink to relieve it. So she stopped working for a moment to order some medication she would usually take online.

However, before pressing the 'Buy' button, a delivery courier arrived, bringing the order under Grace's name. Believing that she didn't order anything previously, she was baffled. The plastic bag with the pharmacy's name on it contained the medicine she was exactly about to buy.

"Look how caring our dear manager is! He even bought you the thing you need to relieve your pain," said Nita teasingly in the midst of her busyness.

Not responding to Nita's words, Grace was immersed in deep thought. She had been taking this medication for years since the accident whenever the same pain came. No one knew except his mom and… Evan.

[ABY]