Lavender

Chapter 11 - Interview

LAVENDER'S POV

I hate myself. Feeling hot every second that passes. I wouldn't say I liked the fact that I'm so affected by Damon's mature changes but I must put an end to this feeling. Especially that Damon was Jada's crush back then.

Even if I hide the fact to Jada that I also have a little bit crush on Damon Ellington, it doesn't mean I'm going to compete with every fangirl he has, including Jada. Just like what I thought, being silent and secretive will give me a peaceful environment and not that I'm here. I must say that focusing on what matters is truly the best decision I have ever had.

Just like now, I'm going to be silent even if I admit that I'm so freaking attractive to Damon right now. God, help me out of this torture. I hope this interview finishes early. I can't stay here long or I'm going to melt just by the fact that I've met Damon again. Our school's handsome, most valuable player has been rejected by someone a hundred times uglier, which is me.

I can still remember the genuine smile that Damon has that day but knowing that some popular kids like to play, I was also blinded the half-fact that moment. I don't want to be hurt. I'm still afraid to be hurt, the main reason why I decided to hide my s****l orientation from everyone. And I also don't want a boy to become the main reason why my friendship with Jada started to brittle.

It's okay for me always to give way to Jada, and she's my best friend so she and Dad are the only ones that matter to me, even if sometimes they are both equally irritating but I love them. I love both of them.

"Miss Miller..." said Mr. Ellington that made me look at him.

Damon still trained his eyes in my documents as he flipped one page and scanned it again before closing my document. He placed my resume in the top of his office desk as he leaned back to his swivel chair while tapping his fingers rhythmically on his desk.

"So, based on your resume, you still haven't had any experiences with caregiving. It makes my sister your first but you graduated when you turned twenty-five years old. What made you pursue caregiving instead of other jobs that are far more suitable for the degree you finished?" he asked, still with his cold voice.

Oh, that? I finished the Bachelorette of Science in Business Administration in Human Resources Management/Organizational Management. Damon's question is valid to ask as my decision to pursue caregiving is really intriguing. But my answer to his question is also simple.

"Dad had an accident when I was twenty-five. Seeing him unable to walk. It drives me to pursue caregiving when I graduated from college," I said, remembering the moment where I saw Dad in the hospital bed, diagnosed with paraplegia.

That day, the reason for him having an accident is because of my Mom. My Mom who left us after I just graduated from senior high school. That's why I also hated Mom too much. As Mom left us, I was clueless about how I can help Dad as for six months. For six months, Dad can't even move. He became paralyzed and was diagnosed with paraplegia. I had no idea how to help Dad and if only Aunt Nina is not there that time to help Dad and me, I don't know what will happen to Dad and to me.

Aunt Nina help us and she was the one who also helped Dad to answer his treatment for paraplegia. She was the one who stayed behind to take care of Dad while I focus on finishing my studies. Dad being immobilized happened for almost one year. And those times where I can keep seeing Dad, the whole time only on his bed, made me realized that I want to be the one who also tends to him. I want to see him happy and not focused his mind on being someone who can't move.

So after graduating, I immediately took training classes for caregiving. I worked and study hard while I also used everything that I've learned from my training classes. Aunt Nina continued to stay close with us and moved out from Tampa to be our neighbor near our house in DeBary.

Damon nods his head as he looks away and continues to tap his fingers on his office desk. "Okay, then. Next question," he said before looking at me again. "What will I get from hiring you? As a newbie who doesn't have any experience in caregiving. Instead of finding a professional caregiver for my sister, why should I employ you, Miss Miller?"

I gulped in that question. It's quite scary knowing that someone like Damon, a CEO of a booming company, is asking me this question. But letting his question crush my confidence for this interview is not something I will let happen. I will prove him wrong even if I'm a newbie, even if I don't have any experience yet of caregiving.

"Mr. Ellington. As a caregiver, I'm bound to be compassionate and have patience in any sort of cases that I'm about to handle in the future. I believe I can help you lessen the burden because of your sister's condition. Name it communication or being wronged, I will help your sister to live normally as if she doesn't have the condition she has at all," I said, as the answer, but Damon's face did not show any kind of expression.

Sternness is still written on his face as he stares at me like he's going to found the answers in my face to his next questions. But I do wish that he looks away again. I'm not even breathing properly as Damon continues to appear sexy in my eyes. I need him to not look at me in order to not feel hotter or more but that, is something that can not happen. He's my employer. A CEO who can give me a large amount of money to make my dreams for Dad come true.

"Let's say..." He looks away as he leaned both of his elbows in his office desk. "Let's say I hired you. And now you are working for me. My condition is to help me form a bond with my sister. You see, because of her condition, she's becoming more distant. She can't even talk to me or wouldn't want to talk to me. What can you do to help me have the connection again with my sister?" he said with eyes like a hawk.

Now that I know his sister's condition, I understand how deeply he wants to get the connection he once has with his sister. But what he wanted is something that I can be the only want to solve. If he wants to have a great bond with his sister again, he must be open to anything that I'm going to suggest. And because he's the Chief Executive Officer of Ellington Enterprises, I take it that he rarely gives his sister time and attention. I also think that Damon Ellington is now someone who doesn't know how to express his feelings.

I really don't know what happens to Damon Ellington to look stern and cold, but whatever it is, it became one of the factors why he changed to someone who's looking cold and distant. And like what I said earlier, I will do my best to do what I'm hired for. I will help him lessen the burden he's been feeling for when his sister started having early-onset dementia.

"I'm good at giving people what they desire, Mr. Ellington. But in order to achieve what you wanted, I'm going to need my employer to be open with suggestions. Like giving his sister time to give her attention or even have communication while eating dinner," I said which made him show a wee bit of shock reaction.

I'm right. Being the Chief Executive Officer of a company like Ellington Enterprises, I understand that men like him seldom care about anything other than their business. Being a leader is also a big responsibility and like the male receptionist earlier, his employees also trust him.

Damon clears his throat as his eyes were like avoiding looking at me now. What a relief. Now, I have affected him just like what he's doing to me. It was like, victory to hit a part of him even if I'm just stating the fact of how he's acting brother but not really like a brother.

"Next question, Miss Miller. I wonder, after having this job that pays more than the usual caregiving salary, what will you do if ever once of us wants to exit the contract, as the contract was an indefinite term. What will be your next move? Will you continue caregiving or will you go back to the right path where you should have been someone like an entrepreneur or a Professor?"

I know the answer to that question. Even if he says that I'm unwise and only wasted the degree I have worked hard to have, I will stay in caregiving. I will stay tending to people who need taking care of. I will stay at the job that satisfies me to see patients or the elderly happy being helped.

Feeling my heart warmth, I answered. "I will stay in caregiving, Mr. Ellington. It satisfies me more to help in need than be on the job that I'm not happy doing," I said with a smile.

Silence greeted me after saying those words. Damon continues to tap his fingers on the desk as his eyes right now continue to stare at me, making me uncomfortable. And even if I want to look away, I can't move. I feel like I have been entranced by his grey eyes. I can't breathe properly as Damon continues to stare back, eye to eye.

Damon doesn't know what he's doing to me but I'm really affected. I really am nervous, still feeling hot as Damon appears with oozing s*x appeals even if he keeps his appearance stern.

"Well..." Damon suddenly stood up, breaking the staring contest between us.

God damn it! Why can't I stop myself from feeling stupid? So stupid of you, Lavender. I keep myself silent as I wait for Damon to say what he's going to say.

He turned around, facing his back to my direction again as he walked towards the large panel glass in his office that offers the colorful scenery of Sunny Isles Beach.

"Can you do full-time? Being full-time will make you have a large amount of salary as my stupid friend already discloses that part to you, yes?" he asked and I answer it, nodding my head.

"Uh, yes. I can do full-time." Especially since I have already discussed this with Dad, there's probably no problem as it seems that Dad also allows me to be far away from him.

"Then you are hired, Miss Mill---"

Yes! Show me the money! If only Damon's not around, I'll be dancing crazily for this success. I can finally do the dream I have for Dad.

"In one week equals to one hundred and sixty-eight hours, you will get sixteen thousand and eight hundred dollars. And like what I said earlier, the employment contract is in the indefinite term, I wouldn't wish to exit the contract as long as you wouldn't give a reason but also, you can leave whenever the reason is important or not," he said before turning his body to face my direction.

His grey-colored eyes instantly met my hazel ones as his face was still stern and unwelcoming. I don't know what happens to Damon Ellington but one thing is for sure, people who have the same coldness as him already learned how unfair life is. But now that Damon Ellington is my employer, I wouldn't want to know things that I shouldn't have to know.

What I need to focus on is how to do my work properly, as I have Damon Ellington, a cold but soft-hearted person like what the male receptionist said earlier, as my boss. Knowing that Jada has a crush on him, I bet she's going to be shocked.

"Congratulations, Lavender Miller. Your job will start immediately, tomorrow."