10 1.9 The CEO

"Long time no see, beautiful."

Startled, Sonja turned to find that corny voice but regained her composure quickly when she saw who the voice belonged to.

Being polite, but cool, Sonja expressed her annoyance. "Mr. Illiescu, I do not believe that we had not seen each other for very long. On top of that, we had only met yesterday, so please do not address me so informally."

Sebastian chuckled, amused at the cold outburst from her, so different from the charity ball. "Speaking of formality, I don't believe I caught your name. I guess something so simple must have slipped my mind."

He wasn't the only one to forget. She could recognize Sebastian because who wouldn't, but it was an entirely different story with her. "Sonja, Sonja Moreno." The look in his eyes made her want to flee immediately, but being the polite person she was, she thought of many excuses to leave.

Sebastian leaned on his car, sizing up Sonja as she thought of every excuse imaginable to leave. Noticing as such, he shut down every excuse she would have come up with with a single phrase. "I do believe that Ms. Moreno would be interested in an interview of sorts, as she did apply to work at my company. It's only natural, as we did only meet last night, but it certainly was a night to remember. For it to happen right now is very convenient, don't you think? Don't worry, I'll have you back home before your parents need to worry." For someone like Sebastian Iliescu to look over a mere resume must have been since he told his men to investigate who Sonja was, but Sonja didn't know nor need to know that.

Every word from that mouth made it seem like they did more than just talk and have a few drinks, much, much more. Grinding her teeth silently in annoyance, Sonja managed to force a small smile and agree with that proposal, as she "wasn't doing anything anyway". The smile on that guy's face made her believe that there was not nearly enough cups of coffee in this world to tolerate him.

"Fantastic." Sebastian looked down at his watch, then looked back up to Sonja, who was still fuming. "Coincidentally, there's a restaurant around here that would be perfect for this interview. Shall we?" Sebastian straightened up and, with a wave of his arm, invited Sonja to get in his car.

At this time, the almost forgotten, slightly foolish system started calling out "Stranger danger! Stranger danger!" as Sonja entered the black Maybach, which probably cost more than her family's move to Los Angeles. Her mouth twitching, Sonja hissed "Be quiet, will you? Between you and this shameless fellow, I'm going to lose my mind!"

Being berated by its host, the system shut up, only to sulk in the corner of Sonja's mind and started drawing circles. Sighing at what this life has become, she sat down in the passenger's seat, not giving a flying fuck what Sebastian thought. He was actually thinking that nearly stalking her for this moment was completely worth it. If Sonja actually knew what he was thinking, she would have done a system and actually say "Stranger danger! Stranger danger!".

The drive to the restaurant was silent, but not uncomfortable, as each person was in their own mind. Music would have made the ride awkward, so none was playing. From time to time, Sebastian would look at Sonja and Sonja would look at Sebastian, but the glances were o fleeting that the other party wouldn't feel a thing.

Finally, the car made it to the restaurant. When Sonja opened the car door and took a good look at the place, her eye twitched. What "good restaurant for an interview"?! This was clearly a place meant for the socialization and splurging of the rich and famous! What damage does this guy's brain have, to take her to this place? What she was wearing would only look like a potato sack next to all the fancy dresses she sees, so why even bother to go here?!

Not paying any attention to Sonja's internal distress, Sebastian walked up to the valet for them to park his car, then turned back to Sonja, who was beginning to hatch a new escape plan. With the corner of his lips curling upward, he shook her out of her daze, "Well, shall we then? You do want this job, right?"

For the nth time that night, Sonja sighed, then nodded her head and followed Sebastian into the restaurant. The staff at the entrance saw this interaction and nearly cramped their brains trying to understand what was happening? This demon of a man actually was performing an interview of sorts personally, and civilly, if they may add. Confusion and bewilderment ran rampant across the waitstaff, especially that poor hostess who had to show them to their seats, a private room. The girl was almost crying at this change in the devil, as who didn't know his infamy? He had conducted business that made grown men cry in this very building, so for him to be treating a girl so gently, and even offering her a job, was completely out of the ordinary.

Not noticing the strange attitude of the waitstaff, Sonja thanked the hostess, sat down in her seat, and tensely waited for the interview to begin. Sebastian also sat down, and since he was an interviewer, he took on a serious persona. The questions began firing as Sonja answered them to her best ability, which was quite well. Questions ranged from having any prior experience working in a business to any medical problems that need to be made known. As Sonja described her heart condition, she could faintly see Sebastian's eyebrows crease, but quickly smoothed out again. She hoped that her condition wouldn't impact her chances, but when she thought of working at a desk all day wouldn't require strenuous exercise, she pushed her worries to the back of her head.

The food that had arrived at the table in the middle of the interview prompted them to halt for a bit to get the dishes sorted, but what really put a question mark over her head was that neither of them officially ordered food, they had hopped straight into asking and answering questions. Feeling her confusion, Sebastian only offered a single sentence, "I'm a regular here, so it's not surprising for them to know my preferences."

This sentence nearly made the waitstaff cry. You traumatized us so much so often that if we couldn't remember what you usually order, we should just slam our heads against a pillar! Also, why are you explaining yourself?! Master, did you eat the wrong medication today?!

After the food was plated, the interview continued, albeit with a slower pace since they were eating at the same time. Seemingly focused on answering the questions, Sonja didn't eat much of it, mainly drinking the tea that was set out. The food wasn't that bad, but to Sonja, it couldn't compare to the home cooked meals of Mother Moreno. Plus, that feast-style lunch was enough to keep her going until tomorrow.

Then, one question caught Sonja off guard. "Why do you want this job?", Sebastian asked. This seemingly simple question was one of the toughest to answer, as any answer may rub the wrong way. For Sonja, her purpose for this job was to separate the main leads, but she couldn't tell him that. So, she went back to her family with, "The opportunity to work at a prestigious business would greatly increase my knowledge of the business world, much more than what a normal business could. My world is too narrow, as I had just moved to Los Angeles. This opportunity would greatly improve my skills in the business world, and who knows, I perhaps can help increase the prosperity of your company, not that you need it, of course." Adding a little bootlicking really wasn't her style, but Sonja had no choice if she wanted to answer this tricky question.

Normally bootlicking from a potential business partner would earn him or her a cold invitation to the door, but since he was planning to accept her as an employee even before this interview, he let it slide. It didn't feel that bad for the object of your interest to pay a compliment to you, so Sebastian's mood improved as well. The two continued talking for another 15 minutes before Sebastian had to stop the "interview" and give Sonja a formal answer. Normally, an interviewer would take a few days to review the applicant's resume and interview, but Sebastian thought of that as a waste of time. However, he still had to go back and "review" Sonja's resume, so he couldn't hire her on the spot.

"Well, from the answers you gave, this may have not been a waste of time after all." As soon as those words left Sebastian's mouth, Sonja nearly exploded from anger. Whose idea was it to have this interview now, and yet you dare say that it "may not have been a waste of time after all"! If you didn't want to hire me originally, you didn't need to go through all this pretentiousness to satisfy toying with someone else's mental state!'

Sadly, Sonja couldn't blurt out what she wanted, because Sebastian than said, "I'll go and review your resume in more detail later. Look forward to a response in a few days."

"Look forward to a response"? Do you actually think dealing with someone like yourself would make me eagerly wait for a phone call or an email? If I had any better options, I wouldn't even be here talking to you in the interview! Sonja was about to give this man a piece of her mind, regardless of the consequences, but he had already left the room, Sonja could only follow. He was her ticket home, after all.

When they reached the car, which had been driven back to the restaurant by the valet, Sonja managed to calm down and bring back her calm mindset. The outbursts in her head really were out of the ordinary for her, it must be because she was near such a shameless and infuriating person. Briefly telling him her address since her phone died half an hour ago, Sonja stiffly sat in the passenger seat. The drive back to Sonja's apartment took around 15 minutes, but in this time frame, Sonja was making a resolution in her mind to distance herself from this strange male lead. This would solve any problems that may arise, and she only needed to separate the leads, which could be done from afar.

What Sonja didn't know was that it was pretty much impossible to distance herself from the male lead at this point. If she wanted to do that, she wouldn't have interacted with the male lead at all during the charity ball.