Sleeping With The CEO
Chapter 84: There Can Be No Other

Chapter 84: There Can Be No Other

Emily was gone. There had to be a replacement for her, that much Derek knew. In a way, the CEO considered himself lucky, as far as HR knew, the replacement would only be temporary, they did not know that it was permanent. And Derek was hoping that Emily somehow came back before they realized it.

But even though he was being spared having to face up to the fact that Emily might never return. He was not so lucky when it came to the choosing of her replacement.

He had expected HR to just pick a PA from the PA farm or something. Or maybe regular, boring Pas who were not Emily grew on trees, he did not know, and he did not care. It was none of his business where the strangers came from, but Padma had made it his business.

"Mr Haven, we have thinned down the herd, and have chosen the most promising candidates. We require your presence to pick the best fit for you,"

’Unless they make really good tea. Like taking naps at random times during the day, are as tough as nails, and are called Emily Molson, I want nothing to do with them,’ Derek had nearly said. But that would have been very unprofessional, and would have brought more attention to the fact that Emily was not at her post as she should have been, he so he had simply nodded at Padma and then walked with her to the interview room.

Which was the reason that Derek was currently stuck in the hell that he was experiencing. Hell was even too kind of a word. They were interviewing, a man by the name of Mark. His last name had been mentioned, but Derek had been too busy being uncomfortable to care.

Mark was a looker. And not a looker in the sense of someone being attractive. No, Marks just...stared, and stared and stared. Throughout his interview, he had answered every single question with his eyes firmly fixed on Derek.

No blinks, no pauses, just a dead eyed stare that made Derek wish he had some sort of weapon on him. To be safe, he had taken two pens from the table and had been holding Mark’s gaze, not backing down.

When the interview finally ended and he left, Derek turned his attention to Padma.

"If you hire that man, I will fire you," To her credit, she was already putting Marks’s file in the rejected tray.

Then of course after Mark, there came Amber. All Derek did was breathe and the poor girl began to shake.

"If I jump up and say ’boo! Will you faint?" Derek asked out of genuine curiosity. Amber looked the type to scream bloody murder at the sight of her own shadow.

She gripped the sleeves of her woollen sweater tight, and chanced a look up, immediately looking down when she found them looking.

"Nnnno, sssir, Mr Haven. I-I will not f-faint," She muttered, the tips of her ears burning.

"Boo," Derek said, not shouting, just saying the word in a flat monotone. To her credit Amber did not faint. But what she did do, was burst into tears, get up and run out of the room.

Great, just great. Not even half way through the interviews and he already had a crier.

"Padma, I thought you said that you had shortlisted these people. Why does it feel like you chose the wrong list and we are interviewing those from the rejected pile?" Padma shrugged, her focus on her tablet.

"This is quite normal, sometimes interviewees who did well in the preliminary rounds just panic in the end," She said.

Emily never panicked, she just got things done.

He wanted to tell her, but he wisely kept his mouth shut. Instead he said something else.

"If the next person to come through that door does not wow me, I am leaving. I have much better things to do than waste my time here,"

The next person to be interviewed was a woman named Mary-Anne. In Derek’s humble opinion Mary-Anne did not belong anywhere near an office.

Her muscles were straining beneath her white blouse, the buttons looking ready to pop. Her face showing years and years of exposure to the elements.

Looking down at the hobbies listed in her resume, Derek understood why. Surfing, mountain climbing, parachuting...If he tried to put Mary-Anne in an office, Derek would bet good money that within a day she would be outside trying to climb the skyscraper unassisted.

"Why do you want to work here, Mary-Anne, be honest, "Derek genuinely wanted to know, and Mary-Anne was kind enough to get straight to the point.

"I want to raise enough money to climb the seven highest mountains in the world," Ah, of course, who didn’t love climbing mountains. The below freezing peaks, the lack of good signal, the treacherous rocks along the way, good times.

He ended up offering to sponsor Mary-Anne if she promised to promote Haven Group.

After her, the people just seemed to get worse, and Derek’s patience went down the drain.

Amanda tried to do a striptease. Padma had security escort her out.

Brian tried to choke Derek, after Derek rightfully told him to brush his teeth and learn about deodorant. He was also escorted out by security.

Laura promised to slit her own throat if she was not hired. Just to be safe, she was escorted from the building by security and handed over to medical professionals.

Before he could see even more wild and unusual things, Derek decided to just call it quits.

"I will be in my office getting actual work done. If you manage to unearth someone looks even vaguely like a good PA, you would have pulled off a miracle,"

He left after that, returning to his office. But once there, he did not work. Instead he pulled out his phone and stared at the only good picture that he had of himself and Emily.

It was one that had been taken during the strike. All that fire, all of those angry people, and Emily was right next to him, ever steady.

She had stayed when anyone with a lick of sense would have long run away ... why did she have to leave him now? Wishing that he had not left her coat in the car so that he could hold it, Derek stared at the picture, a heavy knot around his heart.