Crossing The CEO

Chapter 2: Ice

She stood frozen as she felt her heart racing faster and faster. She could hear the blood pumping in her ears. Her head seemingly felt dizzy for a second and her palms sweaty. She gulped down hard. She couldn't afford to be nervous now. She had to be bold. She had to get this job. She needed it.

She noticed the man sitting behind the table a few steps away from where she stood. He hardly took a look at her. He had his head bent and his eyes glued to sheets of paper in front of him. She couldn't get a clear look at him. She'd found no spare time to properly Google him so she had no idea what exactly he looked like, but from where she stood, he seemed okay. She put on the smile she had practiced several times in front of her mirror. A wide ear-to-ear smile, one that told him she was confident and at the same time, happy.

"Do you need a parade to walk you down here?" he asked in a calm, deep voice without taking a look at her.

She quickly snapped herself out of her thoughts and rushed down to where he sat. She stood in front of his table patiently.

"Sit," he ordered her, and she did as she tried to keep her nervousness on check. There was silence for about a second before he spoke up.

"Name," he demanded.

"Emerson," she stated faintly, unable to recognise her own voice. She hoped he heard her and she didn't blow this up.

"Name," he repeated with the same tone and without looking up at her.

This time she spoke up a bit without wiping her smile off her face.

"Emerson... Oh, I-I mean Emerson Kachi Joy Smith, but you can call me Ema, everyone does. I could go on, sir, but I'm sure you don't need all that," she chatted on nervously before managing to come to an stop.

She bit her lower lip at her inability to control her excessive chatting. Yes, she talked a lot but it got worse anytime she felt nervous.

She watched him tiredly and silently exhale as he shut his eyes for a split second before finally raising them up to meet hers.

"When I ask a question, I need a simple answer... What I don't need is a chipmunk."

Did he just call me a chipmunk? she rhetorically asked herself.

"Do we understand each other, Miss Smith?" he demanded once again but this time in a very unfriendly tone, not that it was before, but it was better and less scary.

She quickly nodded.

"Use your words," he demanded again, and quickly she searched for the word in her mind.

"Yes, sir," she answered as she looked away from his belittling green eyes and down at her hands on her lap.

There was another strange silence before she heard his voice again.

"What are your qualifications?" he posed the question to her and she searched calmly in her mind for an answer. She had rehearsed several times what she would say.

"Uh, I worked as a clerk for about a year at a small company until it ran out of money and I worked as a salesgirl in one of the shops at the mall. I used to be a waitress. I..."

"Why do you think you are capable of working here?" he interrupted her with another question.

"I... I'm good with business..."

"What position, exactly, do you know you're up for?" he interrupted her, looking nonchalant at his interruption.

Everything was making her more nervous.

"A P.A."

"What does a P.A. do?"

"Um...assist in every aspect..."