Part 2: She Accept The Deal From Xavier

[CONGRATULATIONS, CANDIDATE MISS SHENA!

AFTER PROCESSING YOUR APPLICATION FILE, THE ANDARSA GROUP COMPANY HAS DECIDED THAT YOU ARE QUALIFIED FOR THE INTERVIEW STAGE! PLEASE COME ACCORDING TO THE SPECIFIED SCHEDULE.

TUESDAY, JUNE 17, 2024

11:00 PM

PLEASE ARRIVE THIRTY MINUTES BEFORE THE APPOINTED TIME]

Shena widened her eyes after reading this new email. Shena had just stretched her muscles from waking up, but this email message that came in on her cell phone completely absorbed all her sleepiness.

"OLA! JESSI!" Shena spontaneously shouted and squealed because she couldn't contain her enthusiasm.

Ola and Jessi immediately broke down the door to Shena's room. Simultaneously, with panicked looks on their faces, they ran straight to Shena's bed. In Ola's hand was already a tablet that was on.

When Ola was about to show the tablet's display, Shena immediately hugged her very tightly. Shena couldn't help but squeal with delight as she stomped her feet repeatedly.

"Shena! Shena! Oh my, I'm suffocating!" Ola patted Shena's hand repeatedly with a choked breath.

Beside Ola, Jessi was grimacing and clumsy at the same time. Jessi was confused about what to do because Ola offered her the tablet that she had been holding. But on the other hand, Jessi wanted to separate Ola from Shena's tight embrace.

"Tell me, Jessi. We... found something," Ola said in the middle of Shena's embrace as her breath caught.

"Ola, Jessi, I've been accepted into the Andarsa Group! I passed the interview stage!" Shena said after releasing her hug.

However, instead of getting excited at Shena's words, Ola and Jessi had uncomfortable looks on their faces. They looked at each other as if they were hiding something to say to Shena.

"Congratulations, Shena. Are you very happy?" asked Ola between her uncomfortable grimaces.

Shena felt strange after seeing Ola and Jessi's unenthusiastic reactions. Instantly both of Shena's shoulders slumped limply as her enthusiasm also waned.

"Why did you react like that?" asked Shena looking at Ola and Jessi in turn.

Ola didn't move for a moment. Occasionally her eyes glanced at the tablet on Jessi's lap.

"Actually, we have something to tell you, Shena. There's some other bad news..."

Shena's eyebrows immediately furrowed. At that moment, her feelings of happiness faded a little as the foreboding of the possibility of something bad happening surfaced.

"Just say it," Shena said, even though she wasn't ready.

Ola told Jessi to give the tablet to Shena through her eyes. After that, Jessi slowly handed the tablet to Shena who had leaned over to look at the tablet more closely.

Shena read the display on Ola's tablet. An article whose title was written in all capital letters and bold.

'EXCLUSIVE NEWS! XAVIER WAS CAUGHT ON CAMERA KISSING A WOMAN! THIS IS THE WOMAN.'

Shena scrolled down the screen a little, seeing a photo with a very familiar setting. It looked like a nightclub. There was a man and a woman kissing in the middle of a crowd of visitors.

The faces of the two were not visible.

Unfortunately, after Shena scrolled the screen again, there was another photo in the article that showed a woman's face. It wasn't too obvious, but anyone could see this woman's face.

Shena almost squealed as she pushed Ola's tablet away from her.

"What is that?! Why is my face there?!" Shena raised her voice in shock.

Ola and Jessi both gasped at Shena's shocked screech. At that moment, they couldn't answer anything. After a few seconds of silence, Ola finally spoke up.

"The article was only released this morning, Shena. We don't know what happened. Suddenly your name was trending on one of the social media and we found out that the article was published by a social media user."

Ola's explanation made Shena flinch. Speechless.

"That's... my face?" Shena's voice was almost a whimper.

Ola nodded, not in the way Shena had expected.

"Yes, you can read the caption underneath," Ola said.

Since Shena couldn't bring herself to read the whole article, Ola scrolled the screen and brought the tablet closer to Shena. Ola stopped scrolling when she reached the part where the article showed a screenshot photo of a social media display.

"This is your social media username, right?" asked Ola.

Shena read the article's subheading above the social media screenshot.

'THE WOMAN WHO BECAME XAVIER'S HIDDEN PARTNER'.

What the hell is this?! Xavier who-wait, Shena just remembered something.

"Xavier was the guy I kissed last night?!"

***

Damn.

Shena never expected last night's bad incident to be no worse than today. Shena's whole body couldn't move after seeing who the person sitting in the work chair was and was going to have a job interview with Shena.

"As expected, we will meet again, Miss Shena. But it's quite unexpected that we're meeting like this."

Shena was still stunned as she blinked her eyes repeatedly. All that time she convinced herself that she was not mistaken, and that she was not dreaming about this man.

"You..." Shena spontaneously raised her index finger. "... are you Xavier? The guy from last night?"

Xavier chuckled, his attitude so relaxed compared to Shena whose whole body suddenly stiffened. While twirling the ballpoint pen in his hand, Xavier looked at Shena intensely for a few seconds.

"I didn't expect you to remember me. So, you applied to this company?" Xavier deliberately made his tone sound like he was teasing Shena.

Shena was at a loss as to how to act. However, since she needed this job, she bowed her body. Giving respect while grimacing with embarrassment over last night's incident.

"I'm sorry about last night, Mr. Xavier. I was completely out of control," Shena said after straightening up.

In front of Shena, Xavier put down his pen and looked at Shena's application file. Xavier had already read through the file, but he doubted that the upcoming applicant would be the woman who had made him feel attracted to her last night.

Xavier instantly remembered his order to Bernard to find out about Shena-any information, including social media.

"Shena, you're applying to be a secretary, right?" asked Xavier as he checked Shena's application file.

"Yes, Mr. Xavier."

Xavier knew the job opening in question was for a secretary position at the front of his private office. But unfortunately, Xavier didn't want just that. Since last night, he had been looking forward to meeting Shena because he had expected that there would be news articles about last night's kiss.

Xavier closed the cover of Shena's file and put the document away. Xavier stood up before walking over to Shena who was dumbfounded as she watched the document being pushed aside.

"There will be no interview between me and you," Xavier said as he strode over, hands in his pockets.

Shena felt nervous, but she gave him a forced smile. "Mr. Xavier, sorry if I'm presumptuous, did I not pass this stage?"

"No," Xavier replied. He was already standing beside Shena, looking at her through eyes that showed interest. "I have a job position that is more suitable for you. Also, this position will save your name from the news articles about our kiss last night."

Shena's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Hearing Xavier mention the news article, her memory flashed back to the time she read the article Ola and Jessi had presented. Shena had almost forgotten about her name, her social media accounts, and the few things about her that were instantly publicized to the media.

Shena immediately grimaced at the thought.

"Mr. Xavier... do you read that?" Shena asked nervously.

Before answering, Xavier took a tablet from his desk and showed the screen to Shena. "I read all these articles from earlier. All the articles mentioned your name. How do you feel?"

Shena saw Xavier's tablet screen showing one of the photos in the article. It was of the two of them kissing.

'God, how embarrassing!' Shena cursed to herself.

"I could make all these articles disappear from the media and your name wouldn't be trending."

Shena's eyes lit up at Xavier's words. Hopefully, Shena looked at Xavier curiously.

"If there's anything I can do for that, I will, Mr. Xavier!"

Xavier smiled sarcastically, then placed the tablet back on his desk.

"Your job position... how about changing to my personal secretary?"

Shena's enthusiastic and hopeful smile slowly faded. Suddenly her heart felt uncomfortable hearing that. What Xavier was offering was not wrong, but the smile that implied stratagem that curved Xavier's face made Shena uncomfortable.

"Why... Mr. Xavier offer that position?" Shena asked clumsily. "Doesn't Mr. Xavier already have a personal secretary?"

"Well, I do, but the position of personal secretary is supposed to be filled by two people. I only have one. Whether you want to fill the position or not is up to you."

Shena gulped her saliva. Vaguely, Shena remembered the whispered voices of the club goers when the two of them kissed last night. Almost all the patrons referred to her as Xavier's 'umpteenth mistress'.

That meant Xavier was a man who loved to play with any woman. His predicate must have been so widespread that many club-goers knew him.

"I can't," Shena said. "I'm sorry, Mr. Xavier, but I'm not applying for that position."

Xavier raised both eyebrows. "Why? You don't want to be with me all the time because you've heard rumors about me?"

The curve of Shena's formal smile expanded. "One of the reasons, yes. I just want to focus on work. If Mr. Xavier wants to reject me now, that's fine. I'll take my leave."

Shena bowed again to Xavier, and her action took Xavier by surprise. After turning around to leave the room, Shena heard Xavier's voice say something that made her heart waver.

"If you walk out of this room with your refusal, your name will still be a trending topic and your identity will be further spread. Do you want your family or the things you own to be affected?"

The only thing on Shena's mind was a good reputation for her parents' boutique.