After Clara made up her mind, she was relieved. She now could accept meeting Horace once a week since she knew that she was only there to make job reports.
Her decision helped her get rid of all her worries and she now cared about nothing else but only her job.
We should not worry about those troubles until they occurred, and the most important thing was to cherish the present and stop ourselves from fearing the future prudently.
Having topped the list twice, everyone in the company became so enthusiastic about their job and looked forward to the next successive championship.
It was well known that to vow was much easier than to achieve. Therefore, in order to achieve the goal, everyone worked much harder and emphasized more on the interview part.
Now the company was holding a meeting, discussing who should be interviewed. Yet, although it was the third meeting that week, the company still could not reach a consensus on that matter.
“Benny Armstrong is the most famous architecture in Stratmont. Although he is more well-known than the other two candidates, he is not handsome enough to attract our readers. Well, all in all, people nowadays value look very much, so I am afraid that he is not our best choice.”
Harper Whitehead, a new worker of the company, put forward her opinion.
Although Harper was a newcomer, her beauty and professional ability had already won her other people’s trust. Therefore, some of the staff echoed her view soon.
“I think so. I think that Andre’s handsome face was one of the keys to our success. Even until now, after such a long time since we published our last issue, there are still many people talking about him on Twitter. Therefore, I agree that Benny Armstrong is not handsome enough to win us the same circulation.”
“You are right. Yet we don’t have a better choice now. Time is limited. If we don’t make a decision today, we won’t have enough time to prepare for the interview, which is detrimental to the quality of our work,” there were opposite opinions on the ground.
Then the whole meeting lapsed into silence. Everyone knew that they couldn’t ensure a good circulation if they chose to interview Benny, yet the limited time did not allow them to hesitate any longer.
“How about Andre again?” Sarah suddenly shouted excitedly, “If it is true that our readers are interested in him, we can take advantage of their curiosity. Maybe we can create a new sale record by interviewing him again!”
At Sarah’s suggestion, everybody suddenly twigged, “Indeed, Andre is now a famous eligible bachelor in Stratmont. It may work!”
“If Andre is on the cover again, I will buy the magazine without any hesitation.”
“I agree!”
“I’m in!”
Everyone agreed on Sarah’s suggestion, and now it was Clara’s turn to make a decision.
“Since you all agree with Sarah, I will talk with our leader about it and you’ll know the decision this afternoon. You can be dismissed now.” Clara said.
Clara also believed that Andre was their best choice. Yet, now that Horace was her boss, she needed to ask for his approval.
Besides, that day was the day when she needed to deliver her report to him.
When everyone went out of the meeting room, Clara sat alone, a little flustered. Although she knew that it was her job and duty to meet Horace, she still couldn’t be totally composed. She took a deep breath, trying to recover her composure.
In the afternoon, Clara called Horace to make sure that he was in KMR Media before she departed and headed for it.
After hanging up the call, Horace left Solrace and drove to KMR Media in a hurry. He was joyful all the way with a beam lingering on his lips.
As expected, she was still the same Clara, who would never give up easily, that he knew.
Moreover, this was the first time that she had ever called him since she came back from abroad, which could prove that his decision was prudent and correct.
When Clara arrived at KMR Media, she could feel the different attitude that people had towards her. Therefore, she was convinced that her relationship with Horace was known by everyone now.
Sighing, Clara knew that she did not have time to care about what other people thought about her and went straight to Horace’s office. Clara knocked on the door and then entered after getting Horace’s permission.
“Mr. Kirkland,” Clara respectfully bowed at Horace in a subordinate manner.
“Please take a seat,” Horace motioned Clara to the chair opposite him.
Without any other greetings, Clara sat down, opened her file and started the report about the job that the magazine publishing company had done that week.
Clara’s seriousness upset Horace. Yet, he could not change the current situation since she was wanted there only for the job report.
“Mr. Kirkland, we want to interview Andre Hansen again for our next issue. He brought us a great success last time, so he is our best choice,” after reporting the basic information about their job, Clara put forward her view about the interview part to ask for Horace’s approval.
“No!” without hesitation, Horace refused.
“Why?” Horace refusal made Clara anxious, “All of the staff have reached a consensus that Andre is our best choice. Can you please reconsider your decision?”
“No, I don’t agree. Stop that topic and tell me something else,” Horace looked cold and determined.
He did not care whether Andre was the best candidate or not. He only knew that he and Andre were rivals in love, so he would never let Clara be with Andre alone.
No matter how upset and angry Clara was, she had no other choice but to obey Horace’s decision since, after all, he was the boss.
Then, Horace kept on asking her the details about the layout of the magazine, their target end-users, the relative market research, and so on.
Clara was infuriated by his questions since the answers of which were all included in her report. She wondered whether he was really listening to her report. If he did not care about the report, why did he ask her to come?
No matter how rage flamed inside her, Clara still looked composed and cold.
She knew that she could not show her anger there but needed to answer Horace’s every question since he was the boss.
“Which one do you prefer, Phuket Island or Mauritius?” Horace suddenly posed a strange question.
“Phuket Island,” Clara answered before she could realize how bizarre this question was. “But why?”
Without replying, Horace smiled and gave Isaac, who was working beside them, an order, “The whole magazine publishing group can have a trip to Phuket Island for a celebration. Now make a trip schedule.”