"Miss Amaria?"

"Yes, that's me."

"Right this way miss."

I let out a deep breath as I followed the lady from the lobby of the building to the front desk. After typing away on her computer she finally turned to me.

"You can take these elevators to your left. The office is on the twentieth floor, room 207."

I gave her a smile which she returned and thanked her before proceeding to the elevators and stepping inside. My nerves started overpowering me, but I managed to temporarily keep my nerves at bay by instead distracting myself with the gorgeous view of the outside as I kept climbing higher and higher into the sky. At long last, the elevator dinged and opened. Now just remained the task of finding the room number without making a fool of myself.

Luckily for me, as soon as I turned to my right, a large wooden door with the numbers 207 engraved in gold became apparent from all the way down the walkway. My heels clicked on the white marble floor with each step I took closer to the door that will decide my fate. Without giving a second thought about it, I knocked then froze in terror.

A voice called "Come in," before I hesitantly turned the knob and opened the door to reveal a large room with floor to ceiling windows spanning three of the four walls, overlooking the city. The floor itself was covered in a beige carpet with a light wood desk and bookshelves lining the one non–glass wall to my left. The figure of a man stood facing the shelves, studying one of the books, before he put it back and turned to me.

"Ms. Kaiden, welc–wait...Amaria?"

"Michael?"

We both stood in temporary shock as neither of us had expected the other to be there. Until Michael broke the silence by releasing a light giggle and smile.

"This is such a pleasantly unexpected surprise! Who knew I'd meet you before this interview?"

My mouth practically hung open in shock. The only thing I managed to say was, "Your last name is Jackson?"

He laughed and made his way to the chair.

"Yes, it is. And please, sit down."

I sat down in the comfortable chair opposite him as I pondered over his name.

"Michael Jackson. That name really suits him."

"So, Miss Amaria, even though we have already met each other beforehand, I will still conduct this interview in a professional way as I still need to see if you truly do qualify for the position or not."

I nodded my head in full understanding. "Yes, I understand."

"Wonderful. Let's get started shall we?"

For the next hour and a half, Michael drilled me with questions about my background, prior work experience, and even my ability to compromise and work in a team. My father's friend certainly wasn't wrong when he said Michael is picky about who he hires. And an hour and a half later, he concluded the interview.

"I must say Ms. Kaiden, I'm quite impressed with how professionally you handled those questions."

"Thank you Mr. Jackson. And please, call me Amaria."

He chuckled. "Only if you call me Michael."

We giggled before he scratched the back of his head with a sheepish look. "Um, I never got your number back at the coffee place."

That same realization dawned on me as well as I fished out my phone from my purse. "You know, if I didn't know any better, I would have thought you wanted my number for 'unprofessional' reasons."

We laughed until it finally died down and a somber expression replaced his cheerful one. "I guess it's lucky then that I don't want another relationship."

The cheerful atmosphere died away as the silence settled in. I thanked him for his time and began gathering my stuff in preparation to leave until Michael spoke again.

"Before you leave, I have something to tell you."

He had my full attention now as my body turned to face him and he uttered the words I didn't expect to hear.

"You're hired."

My jaw almost visibly dropped to the floor as waves of euphoria crashed through my body. Though internally I was experiencing intense turmoil, my face only conveyed a ridiculous look of shock. He chuckled a bit and asked.

"So, same time and place tomorrow?"

At first, I was confused as to what he was referring to. However, once I realized, I tried getting over my ecstatic shock as best I could and nodded and verbally confirmed it.

"Great! See you tomorrow then."