The House

Chapter 8

Through grand double doors I marched into Park Industrials. I had to take a flight from LA to New York and despite jetlag and a tension headache. I couldn't stop thinking about Tzuyu's words the night before. I walked to the receptionist's table in my navy blue power suit.

"Hi, I have a meeting with Larry Alpert." I smiled,

The receptionist looked up at me. Her hair tied in a near bun with not a hair out of place. She looked almost like an air hostess, "Let me look into that for you." She tapped away on her laptop, "Ms. Son?"

"Yes."

"Please take a seat, Mr. Alpert will be with you shortly."

"Thank you." I walked towards the simple set of grey sofas in the side of the room. The walls were mostly one-sided glass, barring any concrete meant to stabilize the walls and ceiling.

I read through the files again. Sometimes clients liked to make their important meetings wait in the lobby to gauge reaction, body language, reaction style, etc. The way you're seated, if you're on your phone, are you disgruntled that you have to wait at all?

I kept rereading the first few lines on the file, flipping the pages back and forth every now and then to seem as though I was carefully reading through it. My posture straight and my facial expressions neutral. I liked to come off as serious, confident, and prepared. It was also the reason why I showed up to most meetings five minutes early and despite not wanting to... I stayed aware of societal standards for men and women trying to adhere to them. 

Though I'm sure being a lesbian broke those standards.

A few minutes later a man with an in-ear, unnecessary sunglasses, and slicked back hair walked in. "Ms. Son?"

"Please, call me Chaeyoung, Mr. Alpert." I arose, picking up my bag and raising a hand forwards to shake.

"I'm just here to lead the way." He spoke, turning his back to me and leading me to the hallway of elevators. We got in one and he pushed the second highest floor '9'

With a ping the doors opened to a secluded parking lot like room, skyline views, but no furniture, as though it had just been made and there was yet to be any decoration decisions.

He led the way to a secluded table in the middle of the room. 'Were't these too many theatrics for just a meeting?' A bald and bulky man sat on one side, with an open laptop going through what looked like emails and contract papers. That was probably the mechanism he would use to convey information to Ms. Park in the case of any deviation to the deal with my firm.

The security guard went and stood to the side, by a concrete beam, besides it another guard, this one wearing a uniform and a cap.

"Ms. Son, please have a seat." Larry had a coarse voice something not exactly appealing to listen to but one you'd have to get through and one that certainly didn't suit a "Larry". I imagined a plushy man, with glasses who walked with a slight wobble. It was an accounting decision for god sakes.

I walked up to the table. Sliding out the chair in a swift screech. "Please. Call me Chaeyoung."

"Ms. Son, as you know a proper accountant is important for any company, it can make or break the efficiency and growth of the company. If we're not able to allocate properly or if money is miscalculated...What I'm trying to ask is why should Park Industrials pick your firm to do our accounts?"

This was a pretty basic question, all companies wanted to know the five Ws: Why should we choose your company. What aspects of the company would you focus on most in order to increase sales and efficiency. Who would really be working on the accounts or would it be pawned off to an intern. When should they expect work to be finished by. Where would you focus your energy. 

I had done a background check on Park Jihyo, she was an heiress, an only child. The previous CEO was her mother, Cho Mi-ja. But Jihyo didn't receive her position due to nepotism, she was quite acclaimed on her own, doing many philanthropic projects and studying psychology and business from top institutes and going out of her way to search for acclaimed professors in the field to learn to her best extent. She didn't mess around when it came to her company and I doubt she'd want someone else to care less than she did but also she was young and unique she wasn't looking for average answers.

Do I answer in accordance to her wants or what Larry here wants to hear. I chose the former with the possibility that Mr. Alpert is looking for what Ms. Park wants rather than his personal opinion. Possibly he'd be sending our conversation to her via the laptop anyways. 

"There are a lot of accounting firms in the country for you to choose and I won't make any claims that we are better than anyone because I can't speak for everyone who works there. But I can tell you that I will be on your case and I have a proven track record of being the best. I understand passion. And how Ms. Park must treat Park Industrials like her baby. I believe that I will be able to understand her needs and wants going forward with decisions and also how I'll have to handle matters of cutting budget and employees carefully. So I'd say don't invest in the company but invest in me." 

Larry nodded and continued to his next question. "We deal in a delicate matter. Besides focusing on architectural materials and designs we having dipped our toes in the health industry. It is a vast and cutthroat industry how would you go about ensuring that money for that venture is spent wisely."

"Well I care mostly about what Ms. Park is focused on with her venture. If she wishes to focus on a specific product she is endorsing or a market she's focused on, etc. But I will have to tell you that ethics and morality are important to me and there is a lot of unethical behavior that occurs in our healthcare industry so if Ms. Park in the future wishes for me to act unethically or help her do something unethical I will have to respectfully decline and turn down my position as your help from my company's side."

"I doubt you'll have to worry about that." A sharp voice spoke out from behind me and I turned to see the guard had removed their cap and it was a girl, her skin glowed and her silky, black hair fell just below her shoulders.

I smiled waiting for an introduction, "My name is Park Jihyo." 

She reached out a hand and I took it. "I didn't know the CEO did interviews."

"I don't," She laughed, "But in certain positions like money, and managers I like to sit in between my meetings."

"I respect that, I assume this interview is over then?" I raised to my feet.

"Actually I'd like to hire you. I meet many people and can tell when I like someone. I also like doing things quickly and we've had to interview too many people already."

"When can you start?"

"Now."

"Perfect. I like you Chaeyoung." She smiled widely and then made her way to the elevator, behind her, a body guard.

.....

I changed and headed straight to the airport, working on confirming contracts on my laptop while I listened to jazz on the way there. Ignoring the poor driver as he made an attempt at a conversation. 

I finally closed my laptop two and a half hours later as boarding started. Ending my tasks by putting in a week leave from work. Cole probably wouldn't be happy. He'd blabber about VP as if I hadn't realized that he just wanted to weasel his way into my pants.

Ms. Park seemed sweet. After I left, I got an official email with my contracts attached. It was signed off by Jihyo, who hoped to get some coffee to catch up and make sure we were on the same page. It was new, I had never actually had any relation to the person I was working for, most of the time they just wanted someone to get the work done well. 

Author's corner:

Ooh Jihyo is a CEO.

Hope you all are having a great day!

-C.V.K   :33

.