Withered

Chapter 8

It had been a month since her accident, and she still was in a wheelchair. Her prosthetics implant was due in a month or so. At least that's what I remembered from the last time we talked. I had been pretty busy lately, due to preparations for my placement. I was in need of some stability in my life now, and a decent job seemed a good choice for that.
I had an interview with an architecture and interior designing company, 'Regal Arc.' in some hours. Wait, I checked the name again. Yes. I had finally been able to remember this name. After all, this was my twelfth interview, and names of companies were mixing up in my head. I had no hope in landing any job, because I hadn't received a call from any of the dozen companies yet. It surprised me, because my grades had been pretty impressive lately, and that was only because Stace had taught me for months. My heart skipped a beat at her name, and brought an unexplainable pain. It also reminded me of what might she be feeling right now; she always had great ambitious plans for jobs in high end companies, and now, she couldn't even stay conscious without a dose of painkillers. Of course, she wanted to turn up for the interviews, which she did, and the companies rejected her because of 'unknown reasons'. Well, everyone knew that the unknown reason was the empty space below her thighs.
I decided to get ready for the interview. I opened my wardrobe. Mom had suggested a blue shirt. And Stace had suggested grey. I chose blue. Wait, shirt colours don't matter anyway, do they?

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I was just leaving for the interview, when I saw a text.
From Stace:
"Hey. Tried to call ya, your phone was busy. Best of luck Max. I know you'll do good."

I smiled. She had a perfect timing for wishing me luck. I was just starting to become nervous. I took my Mom's car and sped to the office of Regal Arc. I stepped out of the car and stood in awe. It was definitely way more grand than all the companies I had visited in last few days. It had a big, shining, silver logo of a capital 'R' with a sharp arc just below it. I felt the vibe of hustle and bustle by just standing in the parking lot. A voice broke my spell.
"Hey, excuse me."
I turned around. A beautiful young woman, in a sleek black pencil skirt and white formal shirt was standing by my car and pointing accusingly at it. I gave a puzzled expression.
"It's my parking space.", she added.
"Oh.", I managed to reply. I was finding it hard to look at her face and talk simultaneously. She had something special about her presence, maybe that look of confidence. I had never seen a more confident woman in my life. I realised that she was staring at me. I was putting up a dumb show.
"Wait, how is this  your parking space?  I mean, does it have your name painted on it?", I questioned confidently. It was probably to regain my image after  my dumb show insult moments ago.
She looked surprised for a moment and smiled. That confident smile. Once again.
"It doesn't have my name. But it has my car's number painted on it, right beneath your feet, Sir.", she replied with a smirk.
That 'Sir' was so emphasised and sarcastic. That sarcasm could pierce anyone's confidence.
I couldn't look her in the eye, and caught sight of a board with the words, 'VIP PARKING' painted on them, I quickly got in my car. I drove it to the common parking beside, and looked in my rear view mirror. She was still smiling. I sighed. This woman was someone important in this company and I had ruined my image, even before entering the building. I walked to her, to say sorry and clean the mess I had created due to my arrogance.
"Haha. How was the experience?", she asked me.
"Pretty embarrassing, to be honest. Actually I am sorry for being rude, you know...I.", I tried to smile.
She had a straight face.
"Cut it. You've already wasted a lot of time. My time, atleast. So, I will get going, and by the way, best of luck for whatever you are here for.", she said with an eerie poise. Looking me straight in the eye.
She walked away, and I stood there, in awe. She had a mysterious aura. I reminded myself that I had an interview in some minutes. I decided to go in.

I walked in. A totally busy bespectacled receptionist was busy giving out orders to her colleagues, and simultaneously giving instructions to job aspirants like me. I sat down beside a nervous lanky guy. He was rubbing a charm ring in his finger, and was tapping his foot on the floor. Looking at him brought my nervousness back.
"Max Sterling. Your turn."
I froze. I don't know why, but this nervousness was definitely due to the importance of this place. This place was definitely regal. And I stood no chance whatsoever, to land a job here.
"Max Sterling!" The overburdened receptionist screamed. I stood up with a start and walked up to the interview room. Just before entering, I took a deep breath and recalled Stace's message.
"I will do good.", I thought.
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I walked in the interview room and the first thing my eye caught was the luxurious and brilliant furnishing it had. Beautiful. I slowly turned my head towards the three interviewers and walked towards them. Wait. My heart stopped suddenly for a moment. I blinked once again to confirm what I saw. Out of the three interviewers, two were men with tailored suits of grey and white respectively, and one was a woman, wearing a black pencil skirt, a white formal shirt, and a confident smirk.
The woman. The woman, with whom I had just behaved rudely, was sitting here, with my future in her hands. I knew it was over, even before the interview had started. I considered walking back.

"Hello, Mr. Max.", they man in grey suit said in a deep husky voice.

I froze. I couldn't get my mind off the shit I had landed in.

"Hello, Sir.", the woman said this time and smiled, emphasising on the 'Sir' yet again, but without sarcasm this time. She signalled me to relax and gave a thumbs up signal. I took a deep breath.

"Hello, everyone. Nice to meet you all.", I said in a confident and relaxed manner, although I felt my legs were shaking out of fear.

"Have a seat, Max. And tell us something about yourself.", the beautiful woman said in an unexplainable way; a mixture of friendliness and professionalism.
I smiled and sat down. I talked about my passion and ideas about Economics and Business, about my experience of handling accounts in my Mom's NGO, as well as an honest ambition for a well paying job. They asked me questions, out of which some had logical answers and some just needed sweet words to deal with. All this time, the woman had not spoken, she was alternating between looking at my CV, and me. Although everything was happening pretty fast, my mind had been noticing every detail of hers; light brown eyes, blonde hair, high cheekbones, and yes, that confident smirk.

The interview was over soon.
"Thank You, Mr. Sterling. It was a great time with you. We'll inform you about what we think about you. Best of luck.", one of the men said.

I smiled, confident of the fact that I would
never get a call or message from this company. I mean, companies of lower stature had rejected me before this, it was impossible to get this one.
I left the room and saw the place at the reception where the nervous guy had been sitting. It was empty. I hoped that the guy's nervousness had been over till now.
I drove to my house and quickly fell on my bed. I looked at my phone. 10 missed calls from Stace. I called her up.

"Hey Max! How was the interview?", she asked as soon as she picked up the call.
I narrated her about the interview, skipping the parts which contained my encounter with that woman, and actually, I didn't mention her at all. I don't know why I did this.

"Max, trust me, you are going to land this job. I know it.", she said confidently.
Only if she knew how I had offended one of the interviewers in the parking lot itself.

"Yeah, I hope.", I said. I smiled suddenly, because Stace seemed genuinely happy today.

"And Max, say something..", she said.

"How was your day Stace?", I asked, not able to think of anything else to talk about.

"Just as usual, sitting in my bed, looking out of the window, wishing to go out and you know..", she said, her voice breaking.

"Hey Stace, listen up, don't cry alright. Things are going to be fine again, just relax.", I said.

"I actually miss you a lot, and that makes me even more sad.", she said.

"You know that I am stuck in this muck of finding a job, right? Do one thing, try to distract yourself by reading or stuff like that, alright?", I said, my voice a bit loud.

"Hey Max! I didn't mean that I am forcing you to come and meet me. Of course I know that you are pretty stressed right now, it's just that I cannot help missing you. And loving you.", she said, hurt showing in her voice.
I sighed.
"I love you too Stace, and sorry for the way I talked right now. You know, I'm just tired today.Goodnight, we'll talk tomorrow.", I managed to say.
"Goodnight.", she replied.

I put the phone down and closed my eyes. Stace's smile greeted my closed eyes.
I laughed. No matter what, whenever I laid down to sleep and closed my eyes, Stace's face appeared in front of them. Every single day. I laughed again, realising that I couldn't help loving her.

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