Chapter 15 I’m Not Scared of You Since I Have Nothing to Lose

The interview began with a written test, followed by a face-to-face interview. Chloe excelled in the written test and submitted her paper confidently. As she was leaving, she noticed that there were many blanks on Melody’s test paper. However, Melody was calmly admiring her freshly painted nails and showed no signs of concern. Suddenly, Chloe had a feeling that passing the interview would be an uphill battle for her. Sure enough, when the results of the written test were announced, Chloe had not been selected and had received the lowest score among all the candidates. "This is impossible. I couldn't have scored so low!" Chloe confronted the interviewer. "I want to see my test paper and I want to know a clear explanation of where points were deducted." The interviewer, William Grace, stood up and arrogantly replied, "Each interviewer has their own criteria, but one thing is consistent: low scores represent failure. Please don't make a scene and leave immediately. Our time is valuable and we cannot afford to waste it on you." "I'm only asking for fairness. Your time may be valuable but so is mine. I won't let this go without a proper explanation," Chloe insisted, standing tall and facing William's gaze firmly. The other candidates looked on, bewildered by Chloe's strong reaction. Melody smiled gleefully, anticipating the drama that was about to unfold and recording the whole incident to share with Ava. Chloe knew that Melody was behind this and suspected that the interviewer who asked her to leave was the same one who marked her test paper. If he had given her a valid reason or pointed out her mistakes, even if it was just perfunctory, she would have accepted it. After all, she had spent two years in Estre and had passed the C2 language test. Fairlight was a company filled with talent, and while she might not have been selected for the interview, giving her the lowest score was pure humiliation. Chloe could not understand why this interviewer was targeting her. She did not know him at all. Did they really think they could embarrass her like this? No, she would not allow it. Chloe was not afraid to make a scene, and if necessary, she would make a big deal out of this. She refused to believe that a company as large as Fairlight would let something like this slide. "If you're questioning Fairlight's integrity, then I have no reason to be polite with you anymore," William responded defensively, realizing that Chloe knew something she should not. He quickly changed the subject and yelled for security to remove her from the premises. "She's disrupting our work." This security guard was much more forceful than the ones at Artron. Despite Chloe's attempts to avoid him, she was dragged out, sustaining several cuts and bruises on her arms and legs in the process. She gasped in pain, taking in sharp breaths of air through her teeth. She looked at the crumpled resume in her hand, feeling both aggrieved and angry. In a fit of pique, she balled it up and threw it in the trash can, but it missed and fell outside of it. Chloe did not care at this point. She had no desire to maintain her composure anymore. She had read news reports about well-known corporations bullying new employees but shrugged it off as nonsense. She always believed they were in a civilized society now and such things would not happen, but her eyes were opened today. If she had known things would turn out this way, she would not have bothered staying up late preparing for the interview. She checked her wounds and found that the scrape on her ankle was particularly deep and was still bleeding. Seeing a pharmacy across the street, she gritted her teeth and hobbled over to the zebra crossing, enduring the pain. "Did you fall down, miss? Your leg is bleeding," said a little girl who was also waiting at the zebra crossing with her mother, looking innocently at Chloe. She was taken aback, the frustration on her face turning into embarrassment. "Yes, I just tripped and fell," she replied. "Why didn't your mommy come to keep you company? When I fell down, my mommy was so worried. She not only accompanied me to the hospital but also fed me," the little girl said. "Don't pry into other people's business. Remember what I told you? People like their privacy," the woman said softly to the little girl. The little girl stuck out her tongue and playfully said, "I won't ask again next time. I was just curious." "Well, even so, you shouldn’t ask such questions. The next time you forget, I'll punish you by not letting you have ice cream for a week..." As the mother and daughter walked away, their conversation reverberated in Chloe's ears. At that moment, she suddenly missed her mother and tears began to well up in her eyes. Less than ten minutes after Chloe left, a Rolls-Royce stopped at the entrance of Fairlight. Joseph got out of the car and a gust of wind blew a crumpled piece of paper toward his feet. His assistant, Lucas Anderson, was speechless. 'Who the hell threw rubbish all over the floor? And where are the janitors? Don’t they know that Mr. Joseph is coming today?' Lucas bent down to pick it up and unfolded it, only to find that it was a resume. "Chloe?" he muttered.