Celebration
1025 Words
Ruth's mouth parted ready to as what for when he added.
"The company has one final assessment for you."
Her brow furrowed. "I thought it was over."
"It usually is." Mr. Ben smiled as he handed her another laptop.
"The CEO personally approved an additional test."
Ruth swallowed hard, has she done something wrong? Was that why she wasn't picked?
She kept thinking of different reasons why she was the only one being accessed again.
"It's a debugging exercise." Mr Ben uttered
"And there isn't a time limit. If you solve it, we'll know exactly where to place you."
She sighed, nodded and sat back down.
The program loaded onto the screen.
At first glance, everything looked normal.
Then she noticed it.
A tiny inconsistency buried deep inside thousands of lines of code in the system.
It wasn't very obvious but it could downgrade the entire system over time.
Hours passed. One by one, the employees packed their bags and left for the day.
The office gradually grew quieter.
The cleaning staff arrived, even the receptionist had gone home.
Mr Ben walked past the room and peeked inside.
Ruth was still there completely focused.
His lips curled. "She's stubborn."
Another hour passed.
Ruth rubbed her tired eyes.
"No..."
She whispered.
"That's not it."
She rewrote another section.
Still nothing, she leaned back and closed her eyes for a moment. What was she doing wrong?
Then she remembered something one of her professors used to say.
"When the answer refuses to come, stop looking at it from the conventional way."
Her eyes flew open.
She wasn't searching for the wrong code.
She was searching in the wrong place.
Her fingers raced across the keyboard.
She opened another module.
There. A single misplaced line, one tiny mistake...
Creating hundreds of hidden errors. Ruth corrected it.
Then pressed Run. The loading icon spun across the screen.
And then a green notification appeared.
Debug completed successfully.
Ruth let out a long breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.
"I did it..."
She quickly stood and hurried to the Mr Ben's office.
He looked up in surprise.
"I think... I fixed it."
He accepted the laptop.
His expression remained calm as he checked the result.
Then his eyes widened.
He ran another verification.
Successful.
A third, successful again.
He slowly looked up at Ruth.
For several seconds, he didn't say a word.
Finally, a smile spread across his face.
"Congratulations, Miss Bennett."
"You've just saved us days of work."
Ruth blinked.
"I... did?"
He nodded.
"You won't be joining us as an intern."
Her heart skipped.
"Excuse me?"
He extended his hand.
"Welcome to TC Corporation."
Ruth stared at him, unable to believe what she had just heard.
She stood there for several seconds, convinced she had heard him wrong.
"I'm... not an intern?" She stammered
The supervisor smiled.
"No."
He extended his hand again.
"We're offering you a full-time position."
Ruth stared at his hand before slowly shaking it.
"I don't understand. I wasn't even listed as part of the interns."
He chuckled.
"Your assessment score was exceptional. Then you solved a debugging issue that has kept part of our team busy for days."
Ruth blinked.
He picked up a document from his desk and handed it to her.
"This is your employment package. Since it's late, HR will take you through the rest tomorrow morning."
Ruth looked down at the papers.
Her fingers trembled slightly.
Just this morning, she had walked out of another company believing five years away from work had destroyed her future.
Now she had been hired by the one company she had only ever dreamed of working for.
"Thank you," she said softly.
"I won't disappoint you."
"I believe that."
He glanced at his watch.
"You can leave now. It's getting late. Everyone else has gone home. "
Ruth looked around.
Only then did she realize how quiet the building had become.
She had been so focused on the challenge that she hadn't noticed the sun had already set.
She let out an embarrassed laugh.
"I didn't even realize."
"That usually happens when people enjoy what they're doing."
His words made her smile, for the first time in days... It felt genuine.
After Ruth left the office, the supervisor took the assessment reports upstairs.
Scott was still working.
The lights in his office were the only ones left on the executive floor.
A soft knock sounded.
"Come in."
Mr Ben entered.
"Sir."
Scott signed the last page of a contract without looking up.
"She solved it?"
Scott capped his pen.
"How long?"
"Just under seven hours."
A faint look of approval crossed his face.
"Better than I expected."
"I've already processed her employment."
Scott nodded once.
"Good."
The supervisor placed a file on the corner of Scott's desk.
"HR asked me to leave her file with you."
Scott didn't even glance at it.
"There are also the files for the new interns."
“Keep them till my PA gets back.“ He ordered.
“Ok sir.“
The supervisor hesitated before leaving.
After the door closed, Scott reached for another stack of documents.
Outside, Ruth stepped out of the building with the employment letter clutched tightly against her chest.
She looked back at the towering glass building.
A smile slowly spread across her face.
"I actually did it..."
She immediately dialed Rinna's number.
The call connected on the first ring.
"So?" Rinna asked impatiently.
Ruth couldn't stop smiling.
"I got it."
A loud scream burst through the speaker.
"I knew it!"
Ruth laughed.
"No, you don't understand."
"I wasn't accepted as an intern."
There was a brief pause.
"What do you mean?"
"They hired me as a full-time staff member."
There was silence at first and then another louder scream.
"I told you! I told you you were wasting your talent!"
People walking past turned to look at Ruth.
She laughed even harder.
"When are you coming home?" Rinna asked.
"I'm on my way."
"We're celebrating tonight."
Ruth's smile softened as she ended the call.
****
The moment Ruth got home, Rinna practically dragged her into the bedroom
"We're going clubbing..."
Ruth blinked.
"Club?"
- Writer
