Eric knew Hui could be very picky when it came to interacting with people, especially strangers and hence he wanted him to be involved in the selection process at this stage itself. "Ok, don"t meet them today. At least look at their profiles and tell me which one appeals to you in terms of qualification and work experience," he bargained.
Eric was one of the few people who could make him feel guilty and responsible at the same time. Privately, he thought that this whole interview process was a waste of time. He didn"t see himself working with anyone in such close quarters in the near future. He would just brush up his social and networking skills. If required, he would take Eric along for the next crucial meets.
Sighing, he said, "Ok, let"s see what gems have been gathered for us by our erstwhile HR team."
Eric grinned at his words, "your words do not match your inner thoughts. Don"t you dare think of rejecting all of them on some flimsy pretext. I will simply ask the recruiter to get us more. You will be wasting your precious time in doing this exercise again and again."
"Don"t you think you have turned into a bully these days?" Hui said in an irritated voice.
But, the next minute, he picked up one of the files and started to go through it. Not only was his reading speed legendary but he was also blessed with a near photographic memory. Another reason why he hated going through irrelevant stuff because then it would stay in his head forever like useless junk.
"Oh! This name looks familiar," Eric remarked in surprise, going through Jia Li"s file.
Hui looked at him questioningly. Eric handed over the file to him and saw his face darken.
"I told you!!! First from Shanghai to Tunis and now from there to London. You still think this is a coincidence? Are you still going to tell me that I was being paranoid?" he stood up and started pacing the room.
"So this is…ah, I remember now. No wonder the name looked familiar in the first go. Boy! She is pretty though," Eric said mildly.
Hui gave him a look of incredulity.
"The woman is a SPY. And you are checking her out??" he said in near outrage.
"Well, I can"t turn blind simply because you don"t like her. And if she has been sent to spy on you as you are claiming, then isn"t she doing a poor job at it. I mean, she would know that anybody would suspicious of her running into you in the most unlikely places unless it"s really a…" he stopped himself from saying the word coincidence.
"What do you want to do about this? Should we tell the HR person to cancel the interview with her?" he asked instead.
Hui stared at the wall for a few seconds before saying, "No. Let"s get her in here. I want to confront her. And if she is proven guilty, I will hand her over to the police."
Eric still thought that Hui was over reacting to the situation but her arrival in London, right at the same time as Hui had caused the first seeds of doubt in his head as well.
"Are you sure that is a wise move? If people more powerful than us are already unhappy with us, do you want to incense them further by confronting the person sent by them? Let us just thwart her attempts to ingratiate herself with us," he advised.
But Hui was done playing games. He wasn"t a man who backed down in front of a challenge, in fact quite the opposite.
"They are waiting for you. Please go through the second door on your right," the receptionist informed Jia Li.
Clad in a grey tweed skirt and a pearl white silk s.h.i.+rt, she had swept her hair up in the customary bun and slipped on a pair of uncomfortable high heels, more for her confidence boosting than the look. The profile was exciting but out of her familiar terrain and she was nervous. After the near mental breakdown of the night before, she had spent wee hours of the morning trying to get her composure back. Since she hadn"t been that impressed with the company"s building structure and lack of employees, she hadn"t studied the company"s profile in depth. Despite that, she hoped that she hadn"t come ill-prepared for the meet.
"Ms. Lin, I am Eric Hunt. I am the in-house lawyer and COO of the company," he extended his hand.
Jia Li found her hand engulfed in a warm handshake and responded with a smile.
"Our CEO will be joining in shortly. Why don"t we start with some basic information about you which isn"t mentioned in the resume," he said.