SWNOVELS Chapter 13 Thirteen
When Isabelle got to the Larson Group building, she headed up to the floor she had been on the previous day. However, when she emerged at the waiting room leading to the room she had been interviewed in, a well-dressed lady approached her.
"Are you Isabelle Cruz?" she asked politely.
"Yes, that's me," Isabelle replied.
"Welcome to Larson Group, Ms Cruz. I'm Linda, the vice president's assistant. Please come with me, the vice president is awaiting you."
Isabelle blinked. "The vice president?"
"Yes. I'll show you the way."
Isabelle went with the lady, surprised at the turn of events. She had expected to be led to an interview room. Why did the vice president want to see her?
As they went, she noticed that many people stared at her. Did they know her? The previous day, nobody had really paid her any attention. But then she thought of the apology email from the company. Maybe the people here knew about what had happened with her interview?
Linda came to a stop in front of a door and pushed it open. Stepping aside, she gestured for Isabelle to walk through. "Please come in."
"Thank you," Isabelle told her as she walked past her. The room was a conference room, it appeared, with a long oval table surrounded by about twelve seats. There were already five people inside, one of whom she immediately recognised.
Ann.
Her gaze moved from her former classmate to the others in the room. She remembered them from the day before-they were the other interviewers.
But there was another who she had never seen before, a tall man dressed impeccably in a grey suit. He walked towards her and held his hand forward. "Good morning, Ms Cruz. I'm so grateful you could make it. I'm Jason Del Mundo, the vice president of the Larson Group."
Isabelle accepted his handshake, a little taken aback by his warm welcome. Was this how courteous everyone around here was? "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr Del Mundo. I was happy to receive your email.' "Please have a seat," he invited, pulling out a chair for her.
She took the seat, which happened to be directly opposite Ann's seating position. Jason took the seat at the head of the table while Linda hovered to his right, a tablet in hand.
A single glance at Ann quelled any thoughts that Isabelle was entertaining of offering her a greeting. The woman had her arms folded across her chest and was glaring at Isabelle openly.
"Ms Cruz, let me apologise once again in person about what happened with your interview. It came to my notice that your rejection was not according to our company's guidelines too late, and that's why I called you here to iron out the matter." He regarded Ann. "Ann, here, is the one who was responsible for your rejection, so I've called her to this meeting to explain herself and her actions." Isabelle nodded. "Does this mean that I did pass the interview?"
Jadson turned back to her. "Yes. In fact, you exceeded our expectations, and our panel's decision was to hire you right away. But Ms Ann brought to question your character, and eventually, they decided to reject you."
Isabelle frowned. "My character?" What did that even mean?
Jason nodded. "Yes. Ann mentioned that you two were classmates in college."
"That's true," Isabelle agreed. Her eyes slid over to Ann. What kind of tales could she have contorted to make the entire panel unanimously reject her? "What exactly is going on here?"
"Ann, would you mind telling us why you didn't think Isabelle was qualified for the job?"
"Like I told my colleagues yesterday," Ann began, her hate-filled eyes fixed on Isabelle, “this woman is of poor morals, and she might corrupt this company if we accepted her." Isabelle scoffed. "Poor morals? What are you talking about?"
Ann turned her gaze to the vice president. "Isabelle Cruz stole a classmate's design while we were in college and went ahead to win a scholarship with it. There were complaints from the original owner of the design, but the professor was on Isabelle's side because she slept with him."
"What?" Isabelle sputtered, not believing her ears. Where on earth had she come up with such a lie? Stolen designs? Sleeping with professors?
"She was known around campus to sleep with a lot of men, including other girls' boyfriends, so it was no surprise that she slept with professors for favours in class. This is why I rejected her, Mr Del Mundo. Surely, you agree that a person of such character cannot be allowed to work for the Larson Group."
"I did not do any of that!" Isabelle snapped, glaring across the table at her. "When did I ever steal a design? Whose? And those other things you are accusing me of are unfounded and entirely false!"
"Do you think you can walk in here and pretend to be a goody two shoes and expect everyone to believe you? Unfortunately for you, I am here to reveal your true colours," Ann spat. Turning to face Jason, she continued, "Why would I create lies about her? I only brought up the past because as a HR employee of this company, I was truly concerned about the kind of damage her kind of character could do to the work environment."
"Can you prove any of your accusations?" the vice president asked. "When was Isabelle accused of stealing a classmate's design? And, can you provide details on her affairs with professors and her promiscuous nature?"
Ann settled back in her chair and held her head high. "Yes. The issue with the design happened during our second year in college. The best student was to get a scholarship and apprenticeship with a renowned designer. Isabelle won the award, but the design she presented was reported as stolen by another student. But, because of her affair with the professor, she was not disqualified."
"You're lying!" Isabelle exclaimed. "You and I both know that the design was mine." She turned to Jason. "It's true there was a conflict surrounding my design during the competition, but not as she is putting it. Actually, it was the other student who stole my design, and after thorough investigation by the school, it was proven that I was the original owner of the idea. In fact, after that incident, I abandoned that idea altogether and presented a different design for the competition. That's the one that won me the first place. This is something that can be easily checked and confirmed with the college, if we must go that far." Jason nodded and turned to Ann. "What do you have to say about her side of the story?"
"She is obviously lying," she claimed. "Probably everybody we were classmates with can remember what really happened back then."
"Since both of you are giving different accounts of the incident, my office will have to investigate further. As a company, we cannot simply reject Isabelle based on your words alone. We will need concrete proof before taking further action."
"I would really appreciate that," Isabelle told him, feeling relieved that the company was no longer going to take Ann's words blindly. If they indeed took the step to investigate the issue regarding the design, it wouldn't take long to discover that she was not in the wrong.
"Rest assured I'll do everything to ensure a fair end to all this," Jason assured her. Facing Ann again, he asked, "Concerning your accusations about Ms Cruz's promiscuous behaviour, do you have any proof we can counter-check?"
Ann shifted on her seat, her face gradually darkening. "Proof? How can I have proof for that?'
"But you made the accusation," Jason pointed out. "Surely, you must have proof regarding the matter?"
"Look, everybody at school knew about it," she claimed. "It was common knowledge."
"So you mean that it was hearsay."
"No, I...people wouldn't have been talking about it if it wasn't true."
Jason's face darkened as his brows pulled together and he fixed a stern look at Ann. "Ms Ann, you must understand that you cannot judge a person's character based on hearsay. It would be very improper if you made such accusations against Ms Cruz based on what you heard from others. It's even more concerning that you used that to deny her a position that she deserved."
Ann opened her mouth as if to say something, but no words came out. Isabelle felt herself relaxing. It was evident that the vice president was not biassed against her and was determined to find the truth of the matter. Ann would have to come up with fresh, better lies if she still hoped to lock her out of employment at the Larson Group.
"Also," Jason said, still focusing on Ann, "it's to my knowledge that you gave Ms Cruz the senior examination paper, instead of the one prepared for fresh junior applicants. By doing so, you went against the company's rules. Explain why you did so."