She's My Sleeping Pill

“Good afternoon,” the man greeted with a light bow of his head. He was tall, about the same height as Stefan and he has tan skin which looked sexy with his lean-muscled body. His eyes were golden brown and he had a strikingly handsome face. Kai even thought that this man was applying for the wrong work. He could obviously make more money in the entertainment industry. “My name is Zaire Dubrinskii.”

They finally looked at his portfolio and found that he was a half-Italian and half-Filipino who recently moved to City A in hopes of finding a job while looking for his father. He wasn’t really hoping to reconcile with the man who left him right after he was born but his mother wanted to know how the man was doing after all these years. He just wanted to know and tell her mother about him.

He was pondering over this thing when he came across the post that Jackson put in his account. Grabbing this opportunity was what brought him to this place.

“How long have you been taking videos and editing them?” Kai asked after recovering his senses. He was still regretful that this man came to become a videographer and editor instead of an actor or a model.

Zaire counted the time with his hand before looking up to meet the gazes of the people in front of him. “I started taking videos and pictures when I was young. I was hoping that my work would reach someone special and that became my driving force to do better every single day. I studied film and media arts when I got into college and I started taking videos and editing them professionally when I was 20 years old. I actually have a social media page. Would you like to check it as well?”

“That would be great,” Luiz answered cheerfully because, from the man’s portfolio, he was expecting something great already.

Zaire pulled out his laptop, searched for his account, and showed it to them. “It’s not much compared to other people but I am happy that everyone likes my work. I actually wanted to continue being a freelancer because it gives me more freedom but, society doesn’t allow me to have that chance. I need money to survive if I have to be honest about it.”

“Why didn’t you try working as a model?” Kai finally asked the question that he had been holding back. “You have the looks and the temperament. I think you will earn more as a model.”

.....

“I don’t like it. I am actually afraid of people backstabbing me and it is very common in the entertainment industry. I am sure sir Luiz had experienced that already.” Luiz nodded his head because what Zaire said was true. “I am comfortable working behind the camera.”

Erwin nodded his head in understanding and finally turned on his own laptop. “Can you give us a sample edit using the videos I have here? You can create something like a promotional video.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Don’t ‘sir’ me. I am actually younger than you. It feels odd to me. Just call me Erwin.”

Zaire scratched the back of his head as he nods but he didn’t say yes or no to Erwin’s statement. He just pulled out the laptop and started editing the videos that Erwin showed him. It was a video of Cayenne playing with the children at the orphanage. It was just a random video that would test the applicant’s skills. So far, only Zaire was able to make it to this part of the interview.

While he was doing that, Erwin went out to see if there were other applicants waiting outside. Seeing that there were more of them, he told the recruitment lady to bring Zaire to another room while they continue the interview. In this way, they could save time while checking out if someone out there was better than the man.

On the other hand, Riley was fuming inside the second room. Some women were terrible with their makeup skills and were very confident in applying. She wasn’t really mad at them but not only did they have terrible skills, they even have terrible attitudes.

One of them couldn’t differentiate primer from the foundation and others put too much foundation on the model’s face that you could hardly tell their original skin. They were told to make simple makeup that one could use daily for their work or to school but they presented sultry and provocative looks.

Cayenne won’t even have the chance to look like that because Stefan won’t allow her to. She’s married for god’s sake.

Aside from that, they were only looking for a makeup artist during Cayenne’s work. If Stefan wants her to look sultry and sexy, he could obviously do it himself. He was rather good at it. Yet, it wasn’t his work to do so, and he has other things to do than making her wife look seductive who distracts him all the time even without makeup on.

“We have few people left outside,” the staff said while looking worried at the models who were exhausted from being tested with different applicants who, not only wasted their makeup but angered one of the interviewers, too. David could only shake his head disappointingly.

“It doesn’t matter if we won’t find any gem from the applicants today. I am sure that Stefan would allow us to extend the hiring process for this position. He would never compromise his wife’s and children’s welfare just to hire someone as soon as we can. Let’s just take our time.”

The staff nodded his head at David’s words before coming out to call for the next group. Riley was already back to her usual amiable face when the next group came inside and not even a trace of her anger earlier could be seen. At her signal, the child started with his acting as well.

The little boy pressed his stomach and walked to one of the models and poked her arm with his finger. “Big sis. Big sis. When will you finish your work? I want to go home now. I am hungry. I want to eat!”

“Just give me a few more minutes. We should be done.” The model hissed angrily and even glared at the little boy. “I told you already that you can’t come. You should be thankful that they allowed me to bring you here. Stay there and behave.”

“But mama said you have to take care of me.”

“I am taking care of you,” the model retorted angrily, “I’m working, ain’t I?”

The child’s lips trembled and tears started pooling in his eyes. He was about to cry while pressing his hand harder on his stomach. “But I am hungry. The food they brought wasn’t enough. I want more.”

“I told you – ”

“But I am hungry! Why aren’t you understanding?! It’s all work! Work! Work!”

The model glared at the child before shifting her gaze to the applicant. “Don’t mind him. The interviewers already knew him since we’ve been working together for a long time. My brother can be a very handful at times. They won’t deduct your score just because he’s throwing a tantrum.”

“But miss, pardon me, won’t you at least find some ways for him to stop doing that? Letting your workmates adjust to his tantrum is spoiling him.”

Riley and David snickered and just continued to watch this batch of applicants. They haven’t even started the interview yet but they could tell that none of them really cared for the child. No one even spared him a look of concern. They all showed irritated expressions.

“Next batch please,” Riley said after a few minutes more of observation.