When Playful and Grumpy Collide (English)

Chapter 2

If it wasn’t for his mother’s condition he would not have wasted his time doing this interview. 

His mother became worse. She was diagnosed about two years ago with dementia. That time, she still recognizes them, but there’s a point she doesn’t know anyone. Not until last month, her doctor says she’s now in Alzheimer’s disease stage. 

Everyone in their house she doesn’t know. Even his father is always by his mother’s side. But because of his father’s busy schedule and yet he is old already. They needed one, to look for her mother all the time. So they came up to hire a Caregiver. 

SO, he kept his patience longer than he ever thought for this interview to become done, anytime, soon. 

“What would I expect if I hired you?” the guy asked her. 

“Can anyone translate here? It’s hard to understand what he’s saying. I bet before this interview ended, I’m already pale,” she whispered to herself. 

The employer gets bored waiting for her reply, which takes too long to answer. He interviewed her for how many hours, now. She kept murmuring to herself like she was talking about never before seen living things at her side. 

Instead of being angry, he found it entertaining. He has never been entertained in his life until this woman he’s talking to, exists. 

“Ahm... If you will hire me, Sir. I can work with loyalty.” she answered. 

He was amazed by her answer. She’s cute and innocent. “Wait! Did I say cute? Ugh! Erase, erase, erase! When did I become fascinated with a woman like her?” He talked to himself. 

While, Layla, talked to herself, too, while waiting for the next questions. 

“You, go girl! I’m proud of you!” her inner self cheered. 

He stared for a while at the woman on the other line, scanned her features as if she’s telling the truth. But he found she’s very innocent. Which he likes. Because nowadays, people are good at lying. He used to stare at the person, especially when it comes to the company they are talking about. He wanted to see if the person was sincere and honest with their answers. He felt this woman in front of him was un-threatened so he decided to hire her.

He understands the woman if she’s taking the time to answer him. Maybe she processed deeply what would be her answer to him. He was never a considerate person. Mostly in his environment, a huge company needs a strong personality to run a business, because a lot of people can destroy you if you are an i***t. And this woman he interviewed is an average education only. He expected it already because they put on the qualifications of hiring a caregiver. It is acceptable if they are secondary graduates as long as they finish the caregiver course. He has a soft heart when it comes to people who didn’t finish their studies but no one knew his side of being soft. He remains ruthless as people look into him. He kept it to himself. 

He is Akhmad Ibrahim, twenty-nine years old and managing their huge company in Dubai. It is an oil company. He used to be the devil in the business world. He has only two words once he dislikes his employee, “You’re fired!” Everyone hates him because of his attitude but they can’t do anything because they are working for him and earning such a good salary with lots of benefits if he likes your performance. Even his business partners like and dislike him.

Like because he is good at managing a business that earns millions of money in just a snap. Dislike because of his devilish attitude. But for the women, he’s the most handsome and very humble guy in their eyes. Maybe because his pocket was thick, that’s why.  

He thought of a condition to the applicant he will hire, the way he thought about the woman who runs after his thick pocket, he hates it.

“Okay, once I hire you, I have conditions,” he said.

“Yes! Is this the sign that I’m going to be accepted for this job, Lord?” cross finger that she prayed deeply while listening to the voice from the monitor?

“First, I want an honest employee, loyal, efficient, and also not a scratchy hand. The second and the last thing that I want is, NO FLIRTING. Will you follow my conditions?” he asked the woman.

As Layla heard, she nodded fast and raised her voice answering “YES, SIR!” with her salute hand. He smiled. 

“Okay, you’re hired now. Just ask the person from your agency regarding your schedule of the flight. I will personally talk to them. Thank you for your time and Congratulations on the job. You’re hired, once again.”

Layla almost jumped when she heard she passed the interview. Because the words that she’s wishing to hear were finally announced, “You’re hired”. She stopped herself from being exaggerated instead she smiled at the camera that Akhmad from the other line shocked. Her smile is contagious and he also smiles after seeing the woman do it.

“Dreams come true!” she exclaimed. The guy smiled widened. 

Akhmad suddenly bids goodbye to her because he needs to talk to the head of the agency. So Layla bid her goodbye, too. 

“Thank you,” she said before ending the video call. 

She smiled widened and almost reached her ears because of happiness when she left the booth. She almost greeted each person who bumped into her. Her heart was full of enjoyment for the blessings she received that day. 

The agency personnel called her when she almost reached the exit door. She lost herself because of the excitement that she felt.

“Congratulations Miss Layla, you are hired by your employer. He informed us that the day after tomorrow, you are allowed to fly to your destination. You can go home and pack your things. Come here early in the morning, the day after tomorrow so we can send you to the airport at the same time we will give you your documents and ticket once we arrive at the airport. Again congrats and good luck to your journey abroad.” said the agency personnel. She shakes her hands to them and expresses her gratitude.  

While walking at the pedestrian, she silently prayed and thanked God for her blessings.

When she arrived at her home, Layla talked to her relatives about her leaving the country. And she asked if they can watch her small house for her while she’s gone. She also said they can stay at her house if they want, but make sure they take care of it and don’t own it. Until she comes back, she doesn’t want to cry at the end because they already claimed the house. To make sure, she also brought with her all the documents of the house, at least they can’t sell it while she’s not in the country. She is also sad because she will leave her dog. It is only her companion since she’s alone, but in the meantime, she will leave him to her relatives. She called it Bantay, which means Guard. The dog felt sad as well when she bid goodbye to her lovely pet.

Her nearby relatives are humble even though they don’t talk much, they are trusted people as well. They agreed and told her to take care of herself. Come home safe as they advise her.

Early in the morning, she went to her fast-food job as a crew member to tell them that she was resigning because of her job abroad. They felt sad but accepted it. Since it’s her dream to work from another country.

When she finally did all the things she would have left, she prepared herself for the following day. Sad, to be honest, but this is her dream so there’s no room for sadness as she told herself. She even sent a message to her friend, Clover, that she’s leaving tomorrow. Her friend wants to see her for the last time but she said she needs to rest early. Clover told her that she will miss her, for sure. And she answered likewise.