by J. A. Delese
“Well, then. Have a nice time.” She showed her smile again and left.
Tom was looking at her all the way till she disappeared from his sight.
“Please don’t tell me you have a crush on her.” Nate was eyeing him with a very worried look.
“Who is she? Your friend? Your girlfriend’s friend?”
“She’s Rebecca’s colleague. They work in the same firm.”
“So, she’s a lawyer.”
“Are you really into her or something? I hope not. You know, it would be very awkward, if you dated Rebecca’s colleague.”
“No. It’s not like that,” he answered shortly.
Obviously he had no crush on her. It was impossible for him to have a crush on a girl like her. He just wanted to hear Liz’s voice more. She was the only one he loved. There was no other woman in his life.
Catherine
Working as a lawyer in a big city was absolutely awesome. Despite generally working more than fifteen hours a day—even working weekends sometimes—she still loved this job so much. Actually, she loved to keep herself busy. Whenever she was not busy, all the hardships she had come through came to her mind. Previously she couldn’t take it, so she usually handled this with alcohol; but now she had found a better way—work. Working gave her pressure and money and sound sleep. It was really far more productive than alcohol and she loved having something productive.
Catherine came back to her cubicle from the meeting with clients. She checked her phone to send a message to her colleague Patrick, and she found one message from an unknown number.
“Mr. Sharpe wants to see you.”
Catherine wondered just for a moment. Which Mr. Sharpe is this? Nate?
No, if it was Nate, he would contact me by himself.
It was the other Mr. Sharpe. She remembered Nate’s brother. Catherine remembered his pale face and blue eyes. Thinking of his eyes gave her goose bumps. She didn’t exactly know why, but she felt uncomfortable when she met him. Anyway, Mr. Sharpe wants to see her, and she didn’t think it any harm to do so. She pressed the number to call his secretary.
“Hello. Mr. Sharpe’s office.”
“Hello, this is Catherine Lee. I saw your message.”
“Hello, Ms. Lee. Glad to hear from you.” A very soft and delightful voice came from the phone.
“Thank you. May I ask why he wants to see me?”
“Oh, Mr. Sharpe wants to ask you some questions. Please bring your resume with you, Ms. Lee,” the voice said cheerfully.
After hanging up the phone, Catherine wondered if it really could be a sort of job interview.
Job interview…. She repeated the words to herself. She suddenly felt a bit excited. Could I work in his company?
Mr. Sharpe’s father, Stephen Sharpe, was the major shareholder and CEO of Lennix holdings, and she knew Mr. Tom Sharpe also worked there. She felt thrilled. Working as a big company’s representative attorney was one of her dreams. Moreover, working as an in-house lawyer definitely gave one a balance of life.
Maybe this will be a beginning of new stage. She smiled happily at the thought.
Tom
The tall, thick door swung open. She came in. She was wearing a light yellow blouse and black high-waisted skirt. It was a typical office look, but he thought she looked nice.
“It’s good to see you again, Ms. Lee.” He smiled and shook hands with her.
“Good to see you too, Mr. Sharpe.” She smiled back at him.
He offered her a seat, and she sat down. He looked at her again.
She doesn’t look like Liz at all.
Since the last time they met, he had checked online and found an article saying that if two people look physically similar, their voices could also be similar. This girl, however—no matter how much you looked at her—didn’t look like Liz at all.
“I was quite surprised by the message,” Catherine said with a smile.
But her voice is still the same as Liz.
“Hope it was a good surprise.”
“It was. Here is my resume.” She passed him a beige envelope. He opened it. It was her resume.
“I graduated from Columbia University Law School with first honors, and am now working in Kleet & Pearson as a junior associate. I currently….”
“Yes, I know,” he stopped her words. “I can easily find that information. That’s not the reason I asked you to come.”
He tossed her resume onto the table. He saw her eyes widen slightly.
“Then, what sort of information do you want to know?” she asked with an awkward smile.
He was certainly happy to answer to that question.
“Why did you get divorced?”
He turned on his iPad and looked at it. Her eyes became even bigger. Tom thought her eyes were the biggest ones among the whole Asians’ he had seen so far. It seemed she was shocked, but he didn’t mind.
“On the record, both of you agreed to divorce. What’s the reason?”
“I…don’t know why you want to know about this,” she said in a resisting tone.
He needed to know. He needed to know everything about her before bringing her into his life, but he didn’t want to tell her this right now. If he told her now, it may lead her to a false dream. He didn’t want that.
“I need to know. Answer me, please.”
She looked at him. Their eyes met for a while. In the end, he was the one who answered the question.
“Is it because you cheated on him? Just like your mother did to your father?”
She didn’t answer, but he saw her face redden with shame. He, however, didn’t care. He didn’t want to waste his time consoling her.
“Is this also the reason why your father committed suicide? Because your mother cheated on him?”
She still didn’t answer. She just looked at him. Time passed for a while. His big office was filled with silence. Tom wanted to say something, but didn’t know what to say. She looked a bit angry just now, but now she looks…fine?
“No, I didn’t cheat on my ex-husband, unlike my mother,” she abruptly answered. Her smile was gone. Even her voice was lower and thicker now, just like when Liz was angry.
“No, my father didn’t commit suicide because of my mom. He did it to avoid the debt. I thought you could find this sort of information easily,” she finished her words and looked at him. He could see that her eyes were quite daring, which he didn’t like.
“You still didn’t answer my question, Ms. Lee.”
“I don’t know why I have to answer to that question, Mr. Sharpe. This is a very unexpected style of job interview. That is personal—”
“This is not a job interview,” he stopped her words again. “We don’t hire junior associates for our legal team.”
Tom felt annoyed that he couldn’t get the answer. He needed to know the answer. He didn’t understand why she was resisting like this. Usually, people answer his questions. They were eager to answer to whatever questions he asked.
“Then, what am I doing here?” Catherine asked, but he didn’t want to answer it. He couldn’t tell her that he brought her here because she had the voice of a woman he loved so much. It seemed she would not answer the first question, so he moved on to the second one.
“You had lots of plastic surgeries before. Why? Why did you do that?”
He really wanted to ask this. He knew that many Asian girls have plastic surgeries, but he didn’t really understand them. Why do they want to pay and put themselves in danger?
“To be pretty,” she snapped.
This answer confused him even more.
“For what? You want to be pretty and—”
“And I can find a better man to be with.” This time, she cut his words.
Tom looked at her for a while. Her last answer was quite disappointing. He thought she would be like Liz, not just her voice, maybe also her character, but Liz would never think in that way.
“If you don’t have any more things to ask, I’d like to l
eave now. I need to work really hard to make my living.”
She grabbed her bag and walked to the door. Tom finally realized that something was wrong.
“Ms. Lee, are you uncomfortable with what I said today?”
“No, I thought this was a job interview, and if it’s not, there’s no reason for me to stay, Mr. Sharpe,” she shot back and opened the office door by herself.
His secretary stood up to see what happened, but Catherine didn’t say anything as she walked past her and out of his office. He wanted to stop her and talk more, but she looked a bit upset, so he let her go. After she left the office, he sat down on his chair. He thought about what he said.
Was I rude? Was it too personal?
He furrowed his forehead and thought about what he did wrong. Maybe he was a bit rushed. Maybe he should have talked about something light first, but he still believed that he did what he had to do. He really needed to know everything about her. Otherwise, his whole plan would not work.
Catherine
She came out of his company building. Finally she felt like she could breathe. Catherine couldn’t believe what she had just heard. If she were young, she would cry, but now she was old and strong enough to stand this kind of insulter. Actually, this was not the first time she had been asked those hurtful questions. She’d been experiencing these things ever since her parents divorced and her father committed suicide. People were cruel. Her friends and neighbors were crueler. They liked to talk behind her back or make fun of her with her family history. Today, things were not any different. He thought he was rich and powerful, and maybe he was bored. He just wanted to make her embarrassed and enjoyed watching it.
Such a pervert.
She could not believe that the vice president of such a big company had so much time that he could do this.
Stop thinking! she chastised herself and shook her head. It was a waste of time to think about a man like that. Catherine walked faster and bumped into somebody. She lifted her head up and found that it was Patrick.
“Careful, Cathy!” Patrick smiled beautifully.
Seeing his smile, Catherine felt like crying, but she knew she shouldn’t.
“Hello, Patrick.”
“Hi, Cathy. Where have you been? I didn’t see you today!”
“I visited somewhere.”
“Are you okay? You look a bit…sad,” Patrick said with worried eyes.
As soon as she heard his words, she felt her eyes fill with tears. She put down her head right away. She didn’t want to show her tears to anybody.
“What is it, Cathy? What happened?”
Patrick held her shoulders and dipped his head to see her.
“Nothing. Just very tired,” she waved her hand at him.
“How about taking a half day off, then?”
“Na, have tons of things to do,” she said as she walked into her office building. Patrick followed her.
“Did you meet a client?”
“Sort of.”
“The meeting wasn’t good?”
“Not at all. He asked so many weird questions.”
“Like what?”
She wanted to tell him everything, but she felt that it could be dangerous to spread stories about someone so powerful, about him.
You don’t know what they will do to you, she thought.
“Some kind of personal questions.”
“Is it a guy? If he’s a guy, maybe he is interested in you.”
“I hope not. I really don’t like him, and even if he is, it doesn’t mean that he can ask personal questions!”
Patrick suddenly started to laugh. She didn’t understand what part of the conversation made him laugh.
“Why? What’s so funny?” she asked.
“Noted with thanks, Cathy. I will never ask you any personal questions. Would you like to have dinner with me? What do you want to eat? Oh, wait! Is that too personal?”
Cathy swatted at his back, and he laughed louder.
“What’s wrong with you?” she shouted.
“I’m sorry. I suddenly feel it’s so funny!” he said and smiled at her.
She rolled her eyes. I can’t understand him, she thought and walked into the elevator.
Tom
“Don’t cry, Tommy.”
Her voice barely made a sound, but he understood what she was saying. She was dying. Blood poured from her mouth and nostrils.
“God is punishing me.”
He tried to save her, but there was nothing he could do.
He screamed and woke up. It was still night. Tom checked the clock—five in the morning. It had always been like this ever since the day Liz left him. Ever since she left, he couldn’t sleep. He always saw her in his dreams. The doctor gave him some pills to take, but they didn’t work. Previously, he purposely wouldn’t sleep for days to make himself tired, but he still dreamed of her in the end. His ex-wife complained everyday that she couldn’t sleep because he screamed in the middle of the night.
He lay on the bed and closed his eyes. He tried to relax, but he could not sleep again. So he got up and got ready to go to work. He put on his clothes and looked outside of the window. The big city was already waking up. He checked his schedule on his phone. It was filled with endless meetings. He cupped his chin in his hand. He was thinking of what time he would be able to meet her today. She looked quite upset last time they met. He wanted to meet her and explain to her the things she misunderstood, but whenever his secretary contacted her, she either refused or didn’t answer.
Maybe I visit her now?
His first meeting starts at 9:00 a.m., so he surely had enough time before the meeting. He asked his driver to get ready and soon was in his car on the way to her firm.
He reflected on his talk with her. Maybe she thought he intended to hurt her, but he didn’t mean that. He just needed to know who she was and what kind of life she had lived—even the darkest part of her life.
How can you buy an item if you don’t know what it’s made of?
The car stopped and his driver, Reg opened the car door. As soon as he got out of his car, he could see the busy people of New York. It’d been about a month since his last visit, but he felt like he’d been staying in this city all the time. He stepped into the building and got on the elevator with other people. He could have called her, but he didn’t want to give her another chance to avoid him. He stepped out of the elevator and entered the offices of Kleet & Pearson. One young woman welcomed him with a smile.
“How can I help you?”
“I’d like to speak to Ms. Catherine Lee.”
“Do you have an appointment with her?”
“No.”
“Oh, let me check with her, then.” She picked up the phone and called someone. Tom suddenly heard someone calling his name.
“Mr. Sharpe!”
It was Mitchell Kleet, a partner of the law firm. Tom met him once when Waldorf’s sued his company.
“Hello, Mr. Kleet.”
“What a nice surprise! I’ve never expected to see you at my firm, especially early in the morning like this.”
Mitchell opened his arms wide. Tom didn’t like this kind of man, maybe it was because he didn’t really know how to react toward this kind of welcoming.
“What makes you visit my firm today?”
“I’d like to speak to one of your junior associates.”
“Which one?”
“Ms. Catherine Lee, but she’s not here yet,” the young receptionist answered for him.
“Well, then would you like to sit in my office and have a cup of tea with me?”
“Do you know what time she’s going to arrive?”
Right then, one of the elevators opened, and many people filed out. He saw her among them. She was talking on the phone.
“Ah! Cathy is here!” Mitchell spoke in high tone.
Catherine heard it and looked at Mitchell and Tom. He could tell that she was a bit shocked when she saw him. She just walked by, but Mitchell sto
pped her, and she finally hung up the phone.
“Mr. Sharpe has been waiting for you.”
She turned back and faced him.
“Hello, Ms. Lee.”
“Hello. How can I help you?” her voice carried no emotion.
“May I speak with you?”
“Sure. Please.”
She stood straight in front of him. She was taller than he thought. He was also quite tall, but she was not much shorter, even considering that she was wearing high heels.
“Not here. I’d like to find somewhere private.”
“Sorry, Mr. Sharpe. I have a meeting soon.”
“Never mind the meeting, Cathy. You can go and talk with Mr. Sharpe privately.” Mitchell said cheerfully.
She looked like she wanted to say something, but her phone rang again. “Hello I know! Please wait a moment, Judy. I’ll talk to him now and get back to you in five minutes. I mean it!”
She hung up the phone and looked at Mitchell.
“You need to talk to Judy right now. She’s going to have an interview with The New York Times and your story will be all over A6!”
“What? Is she out of her mind? Excuse me, Mr. Sharpe.” Mitchell said and after opening his arms dramatically again, walked into his office.
Catherine turned her head back to him. “Mr. Sharpe, I don’t think I can talk with you privately now. Would you briefly tell me what exactly you want to talk about? I will spare time later and contact your secretary.”
He didn’t answer right away. He knew that she was saying this just to be polite.
“No need for that, Ms. Lee. I’ll see you next time.”
He didn’t wait for her answer and walked out of the firm. It was so obvious that she was still angry and didn’t want to talk to him. He thought that he needed to find another way.
Catherine
The doorbell rang. Catherine got up from the bed and put on her robe.
Who is it this early in this morning?
She could see the bright sunlight coming through the window, but for her, this was very early, especially on Saturday.
“Who is it?” she called.