third person's POV
In the afternoon, Melinda got an interview notice from a company under the M Group.
She dressed up carefully and walked into the company in high heels.
The interviewer looked at her resume and asked, "I see you were a graduate student at Wolf International School of Finance?"
Melinda said with a bit of smugness, "Yes."
"So young and already passed the exam, that's really not easy." The interviewer looked impressed.
Melinda felt even more special—after all, she got into Wolf International Finance School on her own, and this grad school spot was something she earned through hard work.
The interviewer said, "We did have an internship here, but it wasn't for vice general manager."
"Not the deputy general manager?" Melinda frowned.
She had expected that she wouldn't get that position easily, so she said, "My minimum requirement is team leader in the finance department, or the accounting department..."
"No no no, you got me wrong."
The interviewer interrupted her, "Even though you're from Wolf International Finance School, our company has always had high standards for interns. The new interns all came back from studying abroad, have master's degrees, and have won quite a few awards both at home and abroad. Have you won any awards in China or overseas? Can you tell us about them?"
Melinda's smile froze on her face.
She didn't have money to go abroad before, just kept her head down studying, barely joined any clubs, let alone won any big prizes at home or abroad—at most, she only got a few small awards at school.
According to what Cliff promised before, she was supposed to be abroad by now, but she was afraid Cliff would be taken by Vanya, so she insisted on staying and became a grad student at Wolf International Finance School.
The interviewer saw she wasn't saying anything and asked again, "Looks like Miss Coleman hasn't been abroad and hasn't won any awards. But that's okay, our company still values talent. How's your French?"
Talking about her strengths, Melinda said, "I passed the French Public Level 4 exam with a high score."
"What about the DELF B2?"
"I..."
"Or DALF C1?"
Melinda gradually couldn't speak.
She did plan to take the DELF, but she'd been busy sticking with Cliff lately and didn't really prepare.
The interviewer asked again, "What about your spoken English?"
"My spoken English..." Melinda was about to show off when a female staff member walked in from outside, speaking fluent French—so perfect that Melinda thought she was a native Frenchwoman.
Right after that, the interviewer responded in fluent French too, speaking really fast but clearly. Their conversation was mixed with technical terms, and Melinda didn't catch on right away.
After the female employee left, the interviewer finally smiled at Melinda and said, "Miss Coleman, how would you say your spoken English was?"
Melinda nervously clenched her fists and forced herself to say, "I studied finance, and I had no problem talking with French people."
"How about this, after considering everything, the company could let you intern for a month, but the position was just an intern, and the monthly salary was four thousand. You could think about it."
Melinda's face fell: "Four thousand?"
What could four thousand yuan do?
In a place like Los Angeles, four thousand a month just wasn't enough to live on!
"Miss Coleman, don't rush to say no. I'll give you a day to think about it. Let me know your answer tomorrow." The interviewer smiled and handed the resume back to Melinda.
Melinda's face turned pale. She stomped her foot and left the company.
It was just a newly listed company, not even half as good as the Todd family, but they set the bar so high?
She didn't believe it and quickly contacted a few other companies, but without exception, those companies had all gotten Vanya's instructions and turned down her job requests.
Even if she lowered her standards, the other side was only willing to offer a three-thousand-yuan monthly salary.
Melinda slumped on the street, couldn't believe that as a grad student from Wolf International Finance School, no company actually wanted her.
At that moment, the phone rang.
She thought it was an HR from some company calling back, but when she picked up, she realized it was her teacher: "Melinda, you left the Thompson family business?"
Melinda bit her lip. "I felt that company wasn't right for me, so I quit on my own."
"But how come I heard it was the Thompson family business that fired you?"
"It really was me who quit on my own. If you don't believe me..."
"None of that mattered. What mattered was you had to find a new internship right away. There was less than a month left. By this time next month, I had to get your internship paper and the company stamp!" The teacher finished talking and hung up.
Melinda looked even worse, but there was no time to think about anything else. She had to find a job first.
Finally, she hesitated and dialed the number of a company under M Group, feeling a wave of humiliation: "Hello, this is Melinda, I agree to intern here, I can start work today!"
"Then just come over directly, I'll have someone get your desk ready in a bit." The interviewer's attitude wasn't exactly good, but it was much better than the last few places.
Melinda carried her bag—so what if the pay was low and the benefits were bad?
If I made it to graduation, I could still find a good job.
What she didn't know was, Los Angeles already didn't have any room left for her to grow.
Over here, Vanya got a call from the branch office: "Okay, got it."
She hung up the phone and was sitting in the president's office chair at M Group. From the window, she could clearly see Melinda looking all defeated and messy.
In the end, Melinda still chose M Group—but her days at M Group weren't as easy as she thought they'd be.