Chapter 2

The moment Sebastian said that, the smile on Jordan's face stiffened.

Aelia furrowed her brow.

The others' expressions soured as well, but a moment later, someone let out a scornful laugh. "Well, well, Sebastian. I didn't expect you'd actually find someone willing to play along with your little act."

"This is hilarious. What kind of education do you even have? What kind of status? And you have the nerve to sit here pretending to be an interviewer? Do you think we're idiots?"

"Exactly! You think you can fool us with a cheap trick like that? Typical uneducated laborer, too stupid to know any better."

"How dare you talk to him like that?" The staff member could no longer stand by in silence. "This man is your interviewer today. With an attitude like that, you could all lose your eligibility for the interview..."

His warning only drew louder laughter.

"Oh, look. The actor's getting worked up now."

"Disqualify us from the interview? Do you two even have that kind of authority? And you've got the nerve to yell at us."

The staff member's face turned livid. "You... You..."

Jordan seized the opportunity and looked at Sebastian with a faint smirk. "All right, all right. Instead of wasting everyone's time, why not have the department head, Mr. Clarkson, confirm Bastian's identity? That way, everyone can be satisfied."

The moment he said it, everyone else chimed in.

"Exactly! If you've got the nerve, show us some proof!"

"Right! Didn't Sebastian invoke Mr. Clarkson's name a minute ago? If he's really the interviewer, he'd definitely have Mr. Clarkson's number."

Jordan took the opening and spoke again with a smile. "Why not call Mr. Clarkson right now and ask him to come over?"

Sebastian caught the mocking, provocative gleam in Jordan's eyes, and his own gaze narrowed slightly.

"Exactly! Sebastian, what are you waiting for? If you're really the interviewer, call Mr. Clarkson and have him confirm your identity!"

"If you ask me, he's been so busy pretending that he probably doesn't even know who Mr. Clarkson is..."

The group had worked themselves into a frenzy over a few carefully chosen words from Jordan, and Sebastian found the whole spectacle almost laughable.

'Clowns, the lot of them,' he thought.

He pulled out his phone, scrolled through his contacts until he found his friend Jarvis Clarkson's number, and pressed the call button. Then he switched the phone to speaker.

The room fell silent at once. Only the sharp, clear ringing of the phone broke the quiet.

But a second before the call connected, a slender hand shot out, gripped Sebastian's wrist, and snatched the phone from his hand.

A sharp click cut through the dead silence as the call ended.

Everyone in the room froze, their eyes wide with shock.

No one had expected Aelia, who had watched coldly from the sidelines until now, to suddenly intervene and stop the call.

Before anyone could react, Aelia grabbed Sebastian by the arm and strode away.

"Let go of me!" Sebastian tried to pull free, but Aelia's grip was like iron.

She did not stop until they reached the far end of a quiet hallway, where she finally released his wrist.

Sebastian yanked his hand back. "Aelia, what exactly are you trying to do?"

Aelia lowered her eyes and studied him. An unreadable emotion flickered in her gaze. "There's no one else here. You don't have to keep up the act."

Sebastian's brow tightened. "What do you mean?"

"The moment they started questioning you, I had someone check the company's internal structure and the official list of interviewers for this round."

Aelia paused. The coldness in her eyes deepened. "Your name isn't on that list. It's not there anywhere.

"Sebastian, you're not the interviewer. If you keep this act up, you'll only humiliate yourself further. I stopped you because I didn't want to stand there and watch you bring that humiliation on yourself."