Then, she noticed how messy her hair was as she looked at herself in the mirror.


    “Oh my god, what have I done?” She yelled out.


    Francis pinched her cheeks lightly and said, “You’re such azy girl, aren’t you? Didn’t you go to bed at, like, ninest night? Didn’t you get enough sleep? Howe you’re not able to get up this morning?”


    “Well, I did go to bed at nine, but I was on my phone till reallyte….” She murmured, squeezing toothpaste onto her brush slowly.


    Last night, on ount of another one of his conference calls, Francis had only gotten back home past 2 am. So, he didn’t know what Scarlett had been up to in the earlier hours of the night.


    “Don’t you know how bad screen time before bed is for your sleep? You should know better, Scarlett!” Francis reprimanded her sharply.


    Scarlett didn’t contradict him then, but she didn’t take what he said too seriously either.


    When they finished their breakfast, they went out together. On the way to school, Scarlett had her head down and was typing excitedly on her phone. She was looking at all her notifications on Instagram and Twitter, reviewing the lives of celebrities and friends alike.


    It was rare for the two of them to step out of the house simultaneously, so Francis was relishing his alone time with Scarlett. As a result, he had decided to let the chauffeur go home to drive himself and spend some rare moments of quality time. When he noticed that Scarlett was all too busy on her own, he felt disappointed and hurt to see that she had eyes only for social media.


    “Hey, I’m right here, a real person! You can talk to me! Instead of hundreds of people on the Inte…” His feelings were obviously hurt.


    A whileter, Francis saw there were no responses from her, so he just snatched the phone from her and threw it in the back. Scarlett was about to reach out and grab her phone, but Francis just sneered, “Don’t do that, or you will regret it.”


    Because of that, Scarlett took her hand back in embarrassment and twirled her hair around in her fingers. “I’m sorry… I apologize, I didn’t mean to just ignore you like that… I just got distracted.”


    And then Scarlett suddenly thought of something she had meant to ask Francis. She stered a pleasant smile onto her face and said, “Francis, I heard that yourpany is still recruiting workers. Is that true? What department are you looking to hire people in?”


    “Why do you care about that? Do you want to apply for a job or something? Don’t you have a degree to finish up?” He said, his voice dripping with contempt.


    “Oh, it’s not that I’m asking for myself! But I have this friend at school, and she’s looking for a steady gig. She was actually a star student worker at the Public Rtions department at school… What do you think? I have a feeling she would be a great fit for the job, especially if you’re looking to recruit someone in themunications and marketing branch. Would you consider her?” Scarlett said brightly.


    “Well, if she is as great as you describe, she can send her resume to apply for that position!” He said as he turned the steering wheel and drove down the highway.ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    “Well, here’s the problem. She missed the interview!” She said sweetly.


    “Ourpany won’t hire a person who has no sense of time!” He red at Scarlett and said, obviously hinting at the whole debacle that very morning.


    “Wow, that’s exactly what the interviewer said to her. I’m really impressed by the impact you have on your workers.”


    “It’s the basic rule. If she couldn’t be punctual, I really doubt her abilities in other aspects.”


    “It’s very difficult to find a job these days… you know that, with the gig economy and all that. How about giving her a second chance? She really wants to work in yourpany.”


    “Then why did she still gette? She obviously wasn’t too concerned. At least that’s my impression based on what you’re telling me.”


    “No, it’s not like that, okay? She had an emergencye up. It was totally unexpected, and there’s nothing she could have done.” Scarlett was trying to exin the situation.


    “Well, if her emergency is more important than the interview, I’ll understand…”


    “So, are you willing to give her a second chance?” Scarlett’s eyes lit up.


    “I’ll understand, but I won’t forgive her.” He said.


    “Hey, can’t you just do me a favor?” She said angrily.


    “Look, Scarlett, I can’t y favorites in this business. Even if you were the one who managed to miss the interview because of some sort of emergency, I can’t say for certain that I would be able to offer you a second chance. I can’t just bend the rules. Not like that. Not even if I’m the one setting the rules, to begin with. You can’t do business like that. Or at least not sessfully…” Francis said seriously.


    ***


    Hearing Francis’s frosty responses, Scarlett was full of disappointment. She had hoped that Francis would have thepassion to understand a friend’s situation, but it turned out she had been wrong.


    “So if I apply for yourpany and gette for the interview, you won’t give me the job?” She asked in disbelief.


    Francis turned his head to smile at her and said, “Of course, but that won’t happen. After all, you have already had a steady position in ourpany. You’re the boss’s wife.”


    Scarlett was speechless. She could do nothing but stay silent. A momentter, they finally arrived at the gates of the college, so Scarlett got out of the car in a rush and scurried away to get to her ssroom.


    After the meeting with the professor was over, Scarlett felt very sleepy. She took a quick nap on the desk, but it didn’tst long. A few minutes in, Bell kicked her seat to wake her up.


    “Hey, be quick and give me Dan’s phone number!” Bell shouted.