Eric turned to look at Hui when he heard him bid farewell on what had been a quiet conversation. There was a weird expression on Hui"s face, one which he couldn"t seem to decipher. "Is everything alright? Who called?" he asked when Hui kept staring at his phone.
Ying Hui finally responded, "the executive from that Chinese company called to say that they are ready to accommodate all my demands and wish to sign the contract ASAP."
Eric"s mind tried to make sense of what Hui had just said.
"You mean…you mean to say that they wish to work with us? Oh that"s bl**dy good news. Why do you have that weird expression on your face then? You nearly scared me with it," he laughed.
"Because this implies that they never sent someone to spy on me. The executive said that the entire team had carefully re-examined my proposal. They concluded that the benefits of my discovery outweighed the inconvenience caused by my demands and hence they have agreed to everything," he said the words carefully, as if absorbing their implication right then.
"Aha…which means that Ms. Lin or for that matter, no one had been sent to spy on you. This also proves the fact that coincidences do exist, howsoever preposterous they may seem. So should I call her back in then?" He asked Hui.
It was not often that his CEO was proven wrong and Eric wanted to milk it for as much as he could. He couldn"t suppress his glee at the discomfort on Hui"s face when he said that he would call the woman back in. He couldn"t wait for Hui to face her again. This was going to be d.a.m.n interesting. Without waiting for Hui"s affirmation, he asked the reception to send Ms. Lin back in.
"She what? Why did you let her leave?" Eric said to the bemused receptionist.
The poor woman was used to being subjected to funny questions by the big boss. But it seemed that the COO had also gotten bitten by the same silly bug. If the interviewee wanted to leave after finis.h.i.+ng the interview and the bosses hadn"t bothered to give the reception any further instructions, how on Earth would she know about it. And even if she did, how could she stop someone from leaving if they wish to? But of course she didn"t say any of this to Eric. She apologised and waited for further instructions, if any.
Eric put down the phone in frustration.
"The receptionist is absolutely useless. We need to replace her as well. She let that woman go," he complained to Hui.
Hui was secretly relieved at the prospect of not having to face the woman. He was feeling like a moron who had behaved in the most idiotic manner in the past week. This is what happened when one let his emotions take over his common sense. He had been upset about the company"s rejection and had built mountains in his head over nothing. Looking back, he couldn"t believe that he had made the most illogical leap before arriving at the absurd conclusion about a spy being sent after him. Even worse was the fact that despite repeated caution from Eric, he had zeroed upon that woman being that spy. It was as if he wanted to see her in the worst possible light and he had no reason for it.
"I think there is nothing wrong with our receptionist except that she is surrounded by eccentric people. I personally think its mighty brave of her to have stuck around for as long as she has. So do us both a favour and don"t say a single word to her. As for Ms. Lin, well she has left and that"s that. I am sure you will find someone else equally if not more qualified and appropriate," he said dismissively.
"I don"t think so. I spent the entire last week combing through that person"s personal history, including her education and work experience. Trust me when I say this, she is the perfect candidate for this job," he said firmly.
He didn"t add the fact that because he had researched about her background, he was sure that she wouldn"t use her proximity to Hui for nefarious purposes. Hui may be a genius but he was worse than a clueless teenager when it came to the matters related to women and relations.h.i.+ps. Eric was extremely protective of his boss and was kind of sure that the man had never been in love ever. h.e.l.l, he didn"t even know whether Hui preferred a man or a woman as his companion. But he wanted to protect him as much as he could.
Eric recalled the time when had walked in for the interview with Ying Hui for the first time, five years ago. He had done so, despite getting negative feedback about him from everywhere. But he had had his own selfish reasons for the same.