Chapter Two

Bloom was frozen to stillness as she walked into the building. All around her were people in formal suits, walking about and no one even bothered about her presence there. She held her breath as her stiff legs brought her to the front desk receptionist.

Bloom couldn’t help but panic a little in discomfort when the blonde lady stared up at her. She looked so professional in her grey suit and her eyes settled on the badge stuck to the left side of her chest. ‘Anna Simpson, Front Desk Receptionist’.

“Excuse me mam, how may I help you?” The woman spoke softly to her and Bloom felt her tongue glue to the roof of her mouth. She was stuck and luckily for her, the woman only smiled and moved on to speak. “You must be here for the interview. Ella!” She looked away while Bloom was seemingly speechless as she remained rooted to her spot, unmoving and almost forgetting to breathe.

Another professionally dressed woman walked up to the front desk and smiled brightly at her. At that moment, Bloom couldn’t help the thought that they must have practiced that smile often.

The front desk woman spoke to the new dark-haired woman, “Ella can you please show her to the floor of the interview?”

The woman referred to as Ella nodded at the other woman and politely walked closer to the frozen woman. “Mam please follow me” That was all she instructed as she moved past Bloom and walking to the end of the lobby. Bloom finally shook herself out of it and followed behind her after she mouthed her thanks to the front desk receptionist.

Both women stepped into the elevator and Bloom clutched the brown folder in her hands to her chest like she wanted to push it right into her. The woman standing abreast of her let out a soft smile and spoke to her. “If you remain like that, I’m afraid you won’t be able to speak at all when you get there” She teased playfully and Bloom finally let go of the tension arresting her veins to smile back at the woman beside her.

“I’m j-just…nervous”

She seeped out, feeling her fingers dig into the folder again. There was no telling what was waiting for her when they will arrive at the floor and that only scared her the more.

It felt like the quiet moment before the storm struck and it only dampened her mood even more.

A soft ding sound alerted both women of their arrival at the desired floor and Bloom could only suck in a rugged breath. By this time, the folder in her grip was almost screaming for help.

“Come with me Mam” Ella stepped out first and Bloom’s wobbly legs moved on their own to make her follow Ella in lead.

Tucking loose strands behind her ear, she couldn’t help but marvel at the gorgeous decor of the place. And what’s more? There was an even more elaborate reception desk in there as well. She dragged her frozen feet over the sparkling marble floor after Ella in front.

Ella got to the high receptionist desk where another young woman in the same style of clothing as her was donning. This new woman had her blonde hair up in a perfect bun and just like Bloom, her face was sprinkled with reddish-brown freckles over her cheeks and straight nose. When Bloom met gazes with her, the young woman smiled politely at her and spoke.

“Welcome mam. The waiting room is over to your right, you’ll encounter other applicants in there” She maintained her smile and it really made Bloom flush for a moment before she nodded hastily and said her thanks.

Ella wished her luck and left to return to the ground floor while Bloom summoned whatever patches of confidence she had left in her and began her steps in the direction she was directed.

“Best of luck mam!”

But she stopped at that voice and turned to see the receptionist smiling widely at her. Now, this was kind of unexpected for Bloom. Nevertheless, not to appear rude, she smiled and thanked her before continuing her way there.

Bloom stood before the oak wooden door, sucked in another round of calming breath and held the knob. She carefully pushed the door inwards, almost as if she was a thief trying to sneak in through the backdoor of a house. And once she got into the room, the oxygen flowing in through her lungs got knocked out with such tremendous force that she nearly lost her balance.

Just up ahead were the early applicants, seated already with their backs to her. From the looks of it, they were all women and judging from their backs alone, Bloom hated to admit it but…she felt like a ragamuffin in their midst. Still, it was too early to decide.

So she shifted from the door and walked in fully and occupied the seat next to large floor-length windows. Her tongue ran over her small but plum lips as she fixated her gaze out the window, observing the drifting clouds and fighting to stable her racing heart.

“Next, please come in”

Bloom’s head whipped forward to see a very cheerful looking small woman by the opened double large doors which was in front of them all. The happy looking Latina was pregnant and Bloom could instantly tell she was the one her brother spoke of. The woman called in the next applicant who stood up on her super high pencil heels. The brunette wore a very tight suit that clung unto her body like a second skin and Bloom’s brows met with wonder at how she could walk in that without her skirt even snapping.

She looked away once the woman went in and rubbed her clammy hands together. ‘You can do this…don’t fret…you’ll be fine’ She spent her time holding a prep talk with herself and wasn’t aware of anything else until she was woken from her mental world by a smiling face and tapping on her shoulder to gain her attention.

“Miss Santiago?”

Bloom snapped out of it and bolted up with a start. The woman laughed a little and told her, “You’ve been spacing out for a while now. Come on, my boss is waiting”.

The warm way she spoke and the soft smile on her face instantly helped to rid Bloom’s worries at that moment and she apologized for her foolishness and tagged along with the woman. But when Bloom walked through those doors, the baggage of worries she had somehow succeeded at locking away, suddenly came spilling down on her almost trembling frame.

The office was large and decorated in a masculine tone of gray and white. At this point, Bloom had forgotten to even breathe as she moved like they were rocks tied to her ankles. Her large faint brown eyes rotated a perfect three-hundred-and-sixty degrees as she marveled at the grandeur of the place. The woman she came in with had already moved to the corner by the left where her work table was while Bloom was lost in her trance.

Not for long though. A hard, deep bass voice suddenly split her world in two with its glacial slash.

“Here for a job or sightseeing?”

Bloom instantly felt her very blood dry up from the coldness, smoldering and empty, yet uncharacteristically calmness of the voice. This was almost contradicting the usual uptight and stern personality of most bosses. The trembling woman, looking like a cat drenched from the rain, snapped out of it and was whipped up in immense embarrassment.

She parted her lips to speak, peeling her lingering gaze from the beautiful green plants in artistic big flowerpots but only air flowed out.

“Done admiring my office then sit”.

His tone was harder, yet not imposing. Bloom was at a crossroads at trying to decipher how such a person could sound one way and at the same time appear far from it.

She moved, at last but it seemed she wasn’t arriving at his desk at all from the distance she had to cover. This of course made her worry pique its highest as she could now see the intimidating and overwhelming form of a man seated behind a large wooden desk with a glass top. She froze, just like that when she drew closer and her large eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.

“Miss Santiago, have your seat”.

There was no trace of warmth in his authoritative voice at all and Bloom shivered involuntarily. She was afraid of glancing at the seat which was just in front of her. The man’s aura was too contradicting for her to comprehend. On one hand, it felt graceful and elegant and on the other hand, it was asphyxiating and disconsolate. Bloom stiffly settled into the chair and held her hands for support.

Sitting in front of this man whose bluish-green eyes were hooded and trained on her, Bloom could already see herself flunking that interview. His gaze was so focused as if he was observing her.

Those ice cold orbs glimmered with a dangerous light and it chilled her wholly. His blazing aura wasn’t letting her sit well nor breathe comfortably. Every passing second was ultimate torture for her and she couldn’t wait to sprint out of his compressing office.