The Assignment - Marlowe Industries

ＣＨＡＰＴＥＲ ４

Today was finally the day of my interview at Marlowe Industries. At exactly 8.45 am, I stood outside Marlowe Industries waiting to be let inside. If you didn’t work at Marlowe Industries or had an appointment, you surely wouldn’t be let in. The high-security standards calmed my nerves as I recalled dad’s words at graduation day; “maybe he already had good security,”. I hadn’t seen Davy since May 20th, but I felt like I was constantly being watched. The first few days after seeing Davy, dad lent me one of his guards to keep me safe, but it wasn’t long until dad needed him back because of a difficult trial that caused the client to need full protection, 24 hours a day. A shiver went through my body as I thought of Davy, but then I decided to shake the shivering feelings away and go through my presentation in my head. 

We were quite a few people waiting in line to get inside Marlowe Industries, and that’s when I realized we were a bunch of people waiting to be interviewed for the new position. We were a mixture of both men and women waiting to get in, some more nervous than others, I included. As the queue slowly became smaller and smaller, it was suddenly interrupted as a shallow guy with perfect blonde-ish hair and sunglasses made his way past all of us. Who did he think he was? My thought was discontinued as the guy took off the sunglasses and took a look at the line, that’s when I realized that the shallow guy with perfect blonde-ish hair was Quentin Nathaniel Marlowe. He looked good, standing right in front of me in one of his tailored suits. Quentin smiled widely as he made his way past the guard, then he turned around and winked. To whom he winked, I wasn’t sure, but I suddenly felt uneasy. 

I finally made it inside at five minutes till 9, so I hurried over to the elevator and pressed button *18* to go to the 18th floor. Yesterday I had received an email with more information about the when and where of my interview, to which I had been very grateful. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have known where to go, when I got inside the building. When I left the elevator, a girl at the reception greeted me with a smile. “Hello, you must be Ms. Oakes?” she addressed to which I nodded. “Mr. Marlowe and his son will be ready to see you in just a few minutes, until then, please have a seat,” she kindly told me. I thanked her, then I went over to the seating area but quickly turned around again as I realized I was the only one there. “Where’s the rest of the applicants?” I asked her as I made it back to the reception. “The other applicants? I’m not sure what you mean?” she told me. “I thought we were gonna be a bunch of applicants going in for an interview,” I expressed. The girl shot me a smile, then she shook her head and took off her headset. “You and five more have been invited to an interview for the new position. The others you saw downstairs all applied for other departments,” she explained. I thanked her for her explanation, then I went back to the seating area and sat down. Only six candidates for the job, and I was one of them! How was this even possible?! 

I let out a small breath, then I closed my eyes and prepared myself mentally for the interview. As I did so, I leaned my head back onto the wall behind me. What I didn’t realize was the fact that the wall was a lot closer than I first anticipated, which caused me to slam my head right into the wall, causing me to hit the back of my head pretty harshly. As I sat there, groaning in pain, Mr. Marlowe opened the door into his office, and out came both Mr. Marlowe and Mr. Marlowe Junior. They both looked at me in confusion, then they realized what had happened. Marlowe Junior let out a small laugh to which I looked at him with squinted and deadly eyes. My eyes immediately softened as I looked him up and down, taking everything about him in. “Are you alright, Ms. Oakes?” Mr. Marlowe asked as he walked over to me. I lightly nodded, then he held out a hand for me to take, which I gladly did. Apparently, I had hit my head so hard that I was now feeling rather dizzy, so my hand let go of Mr. Marlowe’s, and moments later, I was falling to the ground. To my surprise, Quentin was quick on his toes, and he managed to catch me before I hit the ground. 

“I know I’m good looking, Ms. Oakes, but you’re not supposed to fall for me right away,” he humoredly said as he held me in his arms. I gasped at his remark, then I quickly got up from his arms and pushed him away from me. “I am surely not falling for you, Mr. Marlowe Junior,” I said while feeling flustered. Quentin rolled his eyes and took a step closer to me while grabbing my hand. “You better not,” he quirkily said, then he placed a peck on my hand. Once again, I was quick to pull myself away from him; he had already done way too much damage to me on one day. Mr. Marlowe laughed at Quentin’s remark and my repulsion, then he invited us into his office to start my interview. This was already going awful! 

“So, Ms. Oakes, I’m sure you are interested in knowing what position you’re applying for,” Mr. Marlowe started as we got seated. I nodded and kept quiet, just waiting for him to continue. “I’m guessing you have done your research about my son and me, correct?” he continued. “Of course, Mr. Marlowe,” I agreed. “Then you’re probably also aware that my son’s reputation isn’t the best,” he sighed. “Which is why you come into the picture; If you get the job, I would like you to follow my son around, firstly getting to know him, then it’s your job to show the world the real Quentin, which might be difficult, but it’s doable. You will be handling Quentin’s communication with the rest of the company, but also the outside world. We’re trying to establish a new reputation that Quentin is ready to take over for the company once I retire, and we need the employees to see him as a good leader to make sure they stand by him in the process” Mr. Marlowe explained. I gulped as I took it all in. Imagine working for as handsome a man as Quentin! 

“Okay, so what will that require of me? Will I be working constantly beside Mr. Marlowe himself, or will he just forward me things to rewrite and post for him?” I asked Mr. Marlowe Senior, then I found a notepad and a pen to write down the new information. “Quentin will have a personal assistant attached working for him, who takes care of his schedule and all that. You will be working alongside Quentin, attending his meetings, business dinners, fundraisers, etcetera,” he explained, “You will also be the one to write articles about Quentin whenever that’s needed, for an example, after a fundraiser” he continued. This seemed like an opportunity of a lifetime. I wouldn’t just be someone that rewrote something. I would in on everything, helping Quentin improve himself and the company. “That sounds amazing. Can I ask you a question, Mr. Marlowe Junior?” I asked Quentin. The entire time he had been sitting in the background staring out the window, clearly not impressed by the fact that he had to have someone help him communicate with others. Quentin removed his eyes from the window and looked at me in confusion. “You want to ask me a question?” he asked as he sat up straight, now clearly interested in what I had to ask him. “Of course, you’ll be the one I work for, so I think it’s appropriate to ask you a few questions as well to get an idea of how you see our co-operation,” I explained to him. Quentin shrugged and gestured for me to continue. 

The rest of the interview went by in the blur and not long after, we were saying goodbye. Mr. Marlowe promised to either email or call me when they had decided on whether or not I would be the one for the job, but it would be a week, tops! Just as I left the room and closed the door behind me, I heard Quentin say something that made me feel accomplished; “I like her, father, no one else has taken an interest in me and my views on this arrangement”. Had I met Quentin a few months ago, I probably wouldn’t have liked him very much due to all the partying and different girls on his arm every night. But today I liked him because in front of me had been a very polite and professional man with a dream to globalize Marlowe Industries. Okay, so maybe he wasn’t completely professional, but he tried his best, and he had a lot to learn.