Chapter 3 Cannot Quit

The cab parked down the street Acia building was located and Elsie got out, walking the remaining distance. The cab driver informed her that cabs were not allowed in front of the building or its premises. She did not argue with him.

When Elsie got to Acia, she couldn't help looking up and admiring the tall glass building. The building reflected everything close to it and it looked like one gigantic mirror.

Down below, on the ground level outside, Elsie checked her reflection on the glass windows. Her cherry red gown fitted and hugged her narrow hips.

The black belt accentuated her waist, giving it an illusion of being smaller and her lips matched her red dress.

Her blond hair was in a bun on top of her head and the flats she'd borrowed from Darla were comfortable. According to her reflection, she looked great. She couldn't help but smile to herself.

"Thank God for friends that have the same shoe size as you," Elsie muttered to herself then she stepped into the building.

In less than ten seconds, she found the receptionist. She commended the planners for making the layout of the building easy to navigate. At the receptionist's table, she stated her reason for visiting.

"I'm here to see Mr. Hunt," Elsie told the dark-haired receptionist who looked to be in her early twenties.

"Do you have an appointment?" The receptionist looked her up and down as if she was a spec of dirt.

Elsie ignored her and surged on.

"I suppose so. I was told to come here immediately I got an email notification. So, here I am." Elsie smiled brightly, making the receptionist frown at her.

"On what grounds?" The receptionist asked, typing on a keyboard in front of her.

"Uh, employment? I'm going to be the new secretary, I think." Elsie wondered out loud.

This caught the receptionist's attention. She looked up to look at Elsie, but this time she didn't look her up and down. Instead, she looked as if she pitied her. She smiled to herself as if there were an inside joke Elsie wasn't aware of.

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" The receptionist grabbed the receiver of the telephone across from her and pushed a black button.

"Mr. Hunt, a woman is here for the role of the secretary."She spoke into the receiver. There was a little pause before she nodded, said" okay," and returned the receiver.

"You may wait for him in the seating area over there." The receptionist stood up and showed her hand in the direction where couch-like seats gathered around coffee tables. There were a few people already seated but it didn't sway Elsie.

She thanked the receptionist and walked over to the seating area.

She took an empty couch and took out her phone to keep herself busy. Elsie opened Google Chrome to browse about Mr. Hunt, thinking she was going to be his secretary. In the search tab, she typed the words "Mr. Hunt, Acia company."

The page loaded and several images and articles were produced. The first image on top of the page showed a blonde man with a black turtle neck overlayed in a sky-blue blazer. His blue eyes reminded her of the reflection of a clear blue sky when one looked at it through a mirror.

It seemed glassy but warm at the same time. Elsie was immediately thrilled and enchanted. Mr. Hunt was handsome, she made a promise to herself to not have a crush on him.

Thinking that Mr. Hunt was the CEO of the company, she didn't bother looking at the articles that indicated he was the president of the company. She also didn't bother to look at other images that showed Mr. Hunt standing next to the actual CEO.

All she gathered from her small research was that Mr. Hunt's name was Calvin and he was thirty-three years old.

Satisfied with that revealed information, she smiled to herself. She dropped her phone and decided to look around. Then she started hearing the conversation the people seated across from her were having.

"Heard Clare was fired this morning but that's a lie. She quit, someone that knows Clare told me so." A woman wearing a black cashmere top and red pantsuit told another woman seated right next to her.

"Why would Clare quit all of a sudden? Was she facing any difficulties?"The woman she supplied that information to asked, her eyebrows pulled together in confusion.

"As if you don't know how demanding and cruel the CEO can be," the woman in the red pantsuit answered. She picked up a Starbucks cup of coffee from the table and took a sip.

Elsie couldn't help admiring how beautiful both women looked. She wondered if all employees were just as beautiful. Then she began to wonder who Clare was.

"Do you think her new replacement will do well? Clare was really efficient and reliable." The woman that was confused asked the red pantsuit woman again.

"Well," the red pantsuit said and kept her cup of coffee back on the table, "she really was, that's why I am a little disappointed she quit like that." She puckered her lips and went on.

"Clare was a really good secretary, I don't know if anyone will be able to replace her." The red pantsuit woman concluded.

The last statement piqued Elsie's curiosity but she couldn't ask the ladies for more information. At least, now she knew who Clare was and what role she filled in Acia.

"Clare was efficient and reliable," the earlier statement continued to fly in her head. It looked like the women adored Clare but Elsie wasn't sure. She could only hope that she was a bit more efficient and reliable so she wouldn't let Mr. Hunt down. Besides, she had already agreed not to quit unless the CEO said so.

Something else from the ladies' conversation also bothered Elsie. When the red pantsuit lady called the CEO demanding and cruel, did she mean Mr. Hunt? To Elsie, he looked like a nice guy but maybe the woman was right. Some people looked nice but were the furthest thing from nice.

While she was examining the conversation in her head, Elsie heard her name in the distance.

Then she looked up and saw the receptionist motion for her. Elsie got up and grabbed her black purse. When she passed the women who were having a conversation about another topic, she overheard one of them saying "Wow, that red dress is a killer."

Judging from being close to them a minute ago, Elsie concluded it was the red pantsuit lady who had said that. Internally, she danced for joy but outside, she could only manage a smile on her face. When she got to the receptionist, the receptionist looked frightened. To her, she wondered if Elsie had a permanent disease of smiling too much.

She shook her head and relayed her message to Elsie.

"Mr. Hunt is ready to see you now. There's an elevator to your right when you walk down there. Mr. Hunt is on the fifteenth floor." She informed Elsie.

"Thank you," Elsie told the receptionist, she glanced down at the name tag on her chest.

"Thanks a lot, Gloria." Elsie confidently said, attaching the receptionist's name.

The receptionist was taken aback by Elsie's kind gesture but she couldn't muster up her gratitude. So, she nodded instead and cleared her throat. Elsie was already gone before she looked up.

When the elevator doors opened on the fifteenth floor, Elsie got out and was immediately welcomed into an open layout type of office. She looked around, seemingly lost. She took one step, then another, and another until bumped into someone she decided appeared to be a nice person.

"Hi, I'm here to see Mr. Hunt, please can you direct me to his office?" She politely told a man not so much taller than her. The dark-haired man appeared to be deep in concentration, reading the papers in his hands until he heard Elsie's voice and looked up.

"Well, of course." He smiled brightly at Elsie, showing most of his teeth.

"Thank you so much," Elsie followed the man through a cluster of office desks tables and hardworking employees. They turned a corner and another one before they arrived at a door that led into another room big enough to hold fifty people.

There was a table in the right corner of the room, opposite the woman were floor-to-ceiling windows and chairs. The man informed Elsie that he was Mr. Hunt's secretary.

This surprised Elsie but she didn't dare ask what was happening. She figured Mr. Hunt will explain the situation himself. The man left Elsie at the door.

"Let me know if you need my help again. Here's my number." He took out a card and handed it to Elsie then left her.

Elsie took in three deep breaths before she entered the next space. She greeted Mr. Hunt's secretary and told her she was there to see him. When the secretary asked for her name, she realized she hadn't told the receptionist downstairs.

"How silly of me, I didn't tell the receptionist my name."

The secretary smiled at her, producing a file from the desk.

"You're Elsie Cruise?"

"Yes, how do you know my name?" Elsie was surprised.

"You filed in an application." The secretary held up a file that showed Elsie a page that had her face in the front.

"Mr. Hunt will see you in his office now." The secretary gestured to the door by her left.

Elsie went to the door and knocked.

"Come in," a soft male voice said through the door.

Elsie opened the door and went through, taken by surprise by the large office.

Inside, she spotted Mr. Hunt at the end of the office, sitting at his desk. Google images didn't do him justice because he looked even more handsome in person.

"Mr. Hunt, thank you for having me," She beamed with anticipation when she arrived in front of her desk. Calvin Hunt closed his file and looked up at Elsie.

"Man, Luca is going to have a lot on his hands." Mr. Hunt said, smiling. Elsie was confused but remained silent.

"I'd ask you more questions but your application is enough. It means you've agreed to the terms and conditions and you qualify for the role." Calvin nodded to himself.

"Ms. Cruise, I hope you know this job is possibly for life. You cannot quit unless you're told to. Or you're fired."

Elsie nodded. "Yes, I am aware."

"Good. You can cook and do basically anything else to assist someone? Including being up in the dead of the night and answering their calls?" Calvin asked.

"Yes, very much ready to live my life serving someone else, to earn lots of money," Elsie said dryly, making Calvin laugh.

"You're a funny one, unfortunately, I cannot keep you. You'll be working with the CEO. He stays on the thirtieth floor. Take this," Calvin gave her a file, "go meet him there and introduce yourself."

Elsie had so many questions but she didn't ask Mr. Hunt any of them. She collected the file and left his office. She was in a daze when she rode the elevator to the thirtieth floor and stepped out. When she was directed to the CEO's office, she knocked at the door and entered inside when she was told to.

Then she gasped, letting go of the files in her hand when she saw the CEO. He was possibly the most handsome man she'd ever laid her eyes on. She swallowed hard and bent to pick the files up, not knowing that the man sitting at the far end of the room was already irritated with her.