My heart beat faster as I waited outside of the interview room. There were another two young girls waiting for their turn to be interviewed. I assumed they were the same age as me. I fixed my hair as well as my clothes that I wore so they won’t look so wrinkled. Then I tried to compare between my clothes and theirs, there was too much difference. I felt so small compared to their world.

One of them looked so elegant with black tight knee-length skirt and matched it with black blazer. While the other one wore a blue blazers with long black pant.

This white long sleeve shirt I wore right now already reached one year old. It’s not like I did not have any other clothes, but to me, this shirt was the only one that still looked ‘new’ when it hung together with the other clothes in the closet. I sighed slowly.

Suddenly the door opened slowly from the inside. A girl stepped out of the interview room. The door closed again. A minute later, there was a guy opening the door and looking at three of us.

I managed to glance inside the interview room. There I could see two women who were sitting at the special table as they talked to each other. One of them I think, she was about 25 or something. Then I shifted my sight to another woman who was sitting next to her. Without me realizing, our eyes met. I was shocked because I did not expect that to happen even though I hadn’t been interviewed yet. I quickly turned my face to the other direction. I could feel my face slowly turning red. !

“Miss Lucy.” Called the guy who was standing at the doorway. He was looking at our direction.

The girl with long pants stood up. She swung her bag onto her right shoulder and held a file in her left hand. She quickly walked inside the room, following the guy from behind. The door closed.

Me and the girl with black skirt looked at each other. Then I smiled at her but, she immediately looked to the other way. What? She’s so.. arrogant. I said in my heart. I prayed that this job wasn’t for her, but for me instead. I felt really sick of her.

I looked down at my watch. It’s already 10.30 in the morning. Sigh, for how long I have to wait? My heart said again.

The door opened again after half an hour later. The girl with long pants had finished with her interview. She walked out, behind her was the same guy.

“Miss Sofea.”

The girl with the black skirts stood up and walked with confidence entering the room. I really hate her! The guy who called the girl’s name was still standing at the door. The same woman who looked at me before, was still looking at me for the second time. I felt uneasy with her stare. Our staring contest only ended once the door closed for another time.

I sighed slowly. I was starting to feel nervous with that woman’s stare. I tried to calm myself down by looking at the outside of the window. The only one who left to be interviewed was me.

A moment later, the door had been opened again. The girl named Sofea walked out. She seemed disappointed. I looked down at my watch, it was 10.35. They interviewed her for only five minutes? I asked in my heart.

“Miss Jessica?”

I nodded and held my handbag together with other important documents which were for the interviewer to read. I stepped inside the room calmly. I didn’t mind if I failed in this interview.. I already had a good, stable job. It’s just I wanted to find new working experiences somewhere else.

The guy asked me to take a seat. There was a long desk in front of me. There were two women and one guy sitting right upon me. They were now reading my application form and all the important documents about myself thoroughly.

“Can you speak English?” One of the interviewers asked me in English all of sudden.

I am a bit puzzled by the sudden question. I have been interviewed before, but this question was unexpected.

“Is something wrong with it?” I replied in English.

My eyes wandered to the woman who sat next to the interviewer who asked me a question. She kept on staring at me since the beginning. Weird! I wondered what made me so interesting that could make this woman stared at me without blinking.

The woman who asked me, smiled widely.

“Graduated from SMU?”

“Yes.”

“Your English is.. er..er quite impressive.” She continued as she showed me the letter I have written as well as the English essays test they gave before the interview.

“Thank you.” I simply replied.

“If that so, what if we change the air? We talk in Korean. All this time, I have never interviewed a candidate in Korean.”

I smiled.

“I don’t mind, it’s up to you to decide how it goes.”

And that ‘certain’ woman was still staring at me with full of interest.

“Okay, before we start, let me introduce myself first. My name, Kim Taeyeon. You can call me Taeyeon but here, our staff called me Miss Taeyeon. I am an Engineering Division Manager of this company. This guy here, Park Jeong-su but, you can call him Mr Leeteuk. He is Division Manager of Human Resources. The last one but not least, Miss Choi Sooyoung. She is Senior Manager of Marketing.”

Choi Sooyoung.

Sooyoung.

That name was playing in my mind like a song. We stared at each other. She stared at me without blinking her eyes.

“Okay.. now it’s your turn to introduce yourself to us.”

I took a deep breath and my eyes just fixed to a woman named Taeyeon. I could not look at another  person next to her, especially the one who had a very sharp eyes.

“My name is Jessica Jung Sooyeon. I’m from Gimpo and now living with my foster family since I was smaller. I am the third from three siblings. I have two brothers.”

I went silent for a moment. Every time I brought up this topic, I can easily get emotional.

I happened to glance at the woman named Sooyoung. As I expected, she’s still staring at me. I got nervous and uneasy when someone observed me like that, even though I knew Mr Leeteuk and Miss Taeyeon were also looking at me. I know, every time I tell someone that I am adopted, I could feel that I have indirectly attracted the attention of people who listened to it. Perhaps the question that was playing in their mind was, am I all alone in this world.

“I graduated from Gimpo Convent High School. After that I further study at Busan SM university, majoring in Secretarial and PA. As soon as I graduated, I worked as a temporary secretary at a law firm in Gimpo. Six months later, I was offered a position as personal secretary at one telecommunication company in Seoul.”

“What’s the difference between temporary secretary and personal secretary?”

I started to lose a grip of myself with that question. Then, in a joking tone, I answered;

Please log in to read the full chapter