Chapter 15

“How is this possible?” Janet murmured, confused. “I’ve never heard of a failure notice being withdrawn before.”

Even so, she decided to give it another shot and went to the Larson Group.

The receptionist ushered her to the meeting room and motioned for her to enter.

As soon as she stepped inside, all eyes fell on Janet.

It gave her a momentary fright, but she calmed herself and mustered a smile. “I apologize. I’m afraid I’ve come to the wrong place.”

But before she could turn and get out of there, a voice called out, “You’re in the right place, Miss Lind.

Please come in and have a seat.”

Now that she looked closer, Janet recognized her. She was one of the interviewers yesterday, the woman with straight, chestnut-colored hair.

She must not be mistaken, then. Janet swallowed and cautiously moved forward. What was going on?

“Hello, Miss Lind. I’m Garrett Harding from the Larson Group. We invited you here today because we wanted to deal with some problems that occurred in yesterday’s interview.” The one who spoke was a handsome man in a tailored suit. He was sitting right in the middle of the long table, and he was eyeing Janet carefully. His silver-rimmed glasses made him look like the typical boy next door, charming and friendly. It helped that he also had a mole at the outer corner of his eye.

Garrett Harding? Why did he have to do with all of this?

Janet had only ever seen him in financial news and magazines. He was the vice president of the Larson Group, as well as a notorious playboy. Back at university, a lot of her female classmates were so enamored by him. They had been shameless and vocal about their fantasies to be his lover, and they eventually went on to try their luck in landing a job at the Larson Group.

“I see,” Janet said now, not really seeing anything. She still had no idea what was happening here.

And then she noticed that Elaine was also present, albeit looking like rather distressed. She looked up and gave Janet a glare filled with hatred.

Janet only looked away. She didn’t know why Elaine had just done that, either. She was absolutely clueless.

Garrett pressed his glasses against the bridge of his nose and glanced at either side of the table.

Seeing that everyone was there, he cleared his throat and spoke in a gentle but clear voice. “All right, let’s get down to the matter at hand. Elaine, you rejected Miss Lind on the grounds that she had moral issues, but we cannot simply take your word for it. Now, kindly tell us in detail what exactly is wrong with Miss Lind’s character. It is only fair that you clarify things face-to-face, with us as your witnesses.”

Elaine gingerly got to her feet, her fear showing on her face. She hadn’t expected to cause such a commotion, all because she had rejected an applicant. Who was this woman, anyway? As far as anyone could tell, Janet was clearly a nobody.

More than a dozen heads turned to Elaine, waiting for her response.

“I—I,” she stammered. “I heard it from the others. When she was in university, she had sex with a—no, with several male students, and… In any case, they said that she is not innocent and sweet as it appears. She—”

“Think carefully before you speak,” Garrett interrupted, his tone sharp. “Who did you hear it from? Give us the names of your informants, of the people involved, as well as the time and place of these incidents. Most of all, you need to give us evidence to prove these claims. We must clear this matter up once and for all. I don’t want to find out later on that you were judging potential candidates for the company based on hearsay. It’s easy enough to investigate whether you are telling the truth or not. You will have to take responsibility for every word you say today. I don’t think I have to remind you, Elaine, that there’s a fine line between gossip and slander. It can easily turn into a legal matter entirely. In addition to that, you failed your duties as an interviewer by treating Miss Lind with bias. You know very well that it’s against the company’s rules to let the newly-graduated applicants take the advanced examination meant for professional designers with years of experiences.”