The Race Against Time

" F**k I am late." Vanessa cursed out loud. In haste, she picked up her bag and hurried downstairs, to save time, she booked an Uber ride as she hurried down and luckily for her, there was a driver very close by. So she immediately got out of the apartment and in less than a minute the ride arrived.

" Good afternoon," she greeted the driver while she was sorting her documents for the interview. Everything was in order, including her fitness and health certificate which she got earlier this month at her previous job to ensure that the food wouldn't be contaminated. The restaurant always pays for a thorough health check-up for all its kitchen and service staff periodically and the last one was beginning of the month.

" Please do you mind speeding up a bit, I am running late for my interview?" She urged the driver, whose pace seemed ordinary, but to Vanessa, it felt as slow as a snail, the driver replied saying, "I'm sorry, ma'am, I can't go any faster than this. I am already driving almost at the speed limit." The driver tried to explain to Vanessa who hadn't settled down since she got into the car, she kept checking her wristwatch every 5 seconds. It was obvious she was quite nervous already.

" Don't worry, we will almost be there in less than 10 minutes." The driver assured Vanessa to calm her down a bit, but she was still very nervous. Vanessa kept on cursing herself in her mind about why she got so carried away in playing dress up that she spent so much time, she hoped she wouldn't be disqualified because she wasn't punctual.

" We are already here, I would find a good spot to drop you off." The driver informed her as he was driving through the hotel gates. Vanessa who was already lost in her thoughts, was brought back to reality, so she immediately transferred the transportation fee to the driver's account before she alighted from the vehicle at the main entrance. The Sheraton Hotel was a grandiose building, with every inch of the building screaming luxury. It had very exquisite and modern architectural designs and decorations but unfortunately, Vanessa could not spare a glance at this magnificent view because she was already late. The time was 2:25 pm, 5 minutes to get to the interview venue.

In the main lobby on the first floor, she hurried over to the receptionist to ask for directions to the interview location. " Good afternoon, please I am here for an interview for a company called Family Fantasy, I was informed the Interview would be hosted here." She inquired from the receptionist.

The receptionist who was well-trained to be working in a fine establishment like this, quickly replied, " ok, Family Fantasy you say, please give me a moment, let me check our bookings for the afternoon." The receptionist swiftly started going through the bookings on her system so as not to waste any time, because she could observe the lady before her was already panicking. The receptionist, who was a young lady, then took out a piece of paper and wrote a note before handing it over to Vanessa.

" The interview for Family Fantasy scheduled for 2:30 is on the fourth-floor hall 416B I have already written the room number on the piece along with a brief description of the directions to help you get there. Good luck with your interview." The receptionist informed Vanessa as she wished her good luck. Vanessa was truly grateful for the receptionist's warm reception, so she acknowledged her kind wishes before hurrying to leave.

After leaving the receptionist counter, Vanessa facepalmed herself because she failed to ask for directions to the elevator, the note the receptionist gave to her only specified directions after she got off the elevator. " This a large establishment, where would I find the elevator." She said as she was searching around for someone to ask. She spotted a pretty young lady and hurried over to ask her. " Please excuse me, where I can find the elevator." She asked the lady politely.

The pretty lady who was dressed quite lavishly took just one look at Vanessa realizing her poor out-of-date attire and decided to ignore Vanessa. She angrily hissed and walked away from Vanessa. Despite feeling irritated, Vanessa prioritized more important matters over confronting an ill-mannered, wealthy, snobbish individual. Controlling her anger, she quickly turned to check whether she could see someone who would be ready to help. Luckily for her, she saw a waiter who readily told her how to find the elevator. " It isn't difficult to find, just walk down this hall and look to your right you will find it." The site waiter instructed. 

Vanessa was truly grateful for the assistance so she said her heartfelt thanks before hurrying to the elevator " Thank you for your assistance, I appreciate it," it was already 2:30 pm, the time for the interview. She was moving swiftly without paying attention to her surroundings. She didn't know she was walking straight towards someone until she bumped into the person's chest, which was as hard as a rock due to force, the impulse force pushed her backwards, tripping her on the ground and spilling all the contents of her bag.

" Can't you watch where you are going to, are you blind walking straight to someone?" Vanessa snapped at the person when she was the one at fault, she walked straight into the person. She didn't realize her fault because all her mind could reason at the moment was her interview. She didn't give the person any chance to retort because she immediately packed her things and left. Likewise, she was already in a bad mood after encountering that snobbish brat today.

Jayden, who was the unfortunate individual to have Vanessa's aggression, being poured on him, was shocked at how rude she acted. She was the one who walked straight into him. Instead of apologizing like a reasonable person, she was shouting at him and where the hell was she rushing to like a mad woman? He was not in the best of moods because he was here to have lunch with his mother and he was very sure he would be receiving a very long lecture from her.

He doesn't understand why he agreed to have lunch with her in the first place when he knew that he would be getting a long lecture from her. It is already 2:32 pm. Mrs. Ashford would already be waiting for him, he better not keep her waiting, as that would only make his lecture longer than intended. What was keeping his assistant Marcus from getting back to the hotel? He instructed Marcus to get a present, he got for his mother but left it in the car since it had been a long since he last saw his mum. Marcus better hurry or he might lose his job.

He would rather not stay here too long before more crazy people like the one who just bumped into him show up. Just thinking about the incident irks him the more, that lady had no idea who she had just spoken rudely to, and she just didn't care, throughout the entire ordeal, she didn't even spare him a glance she was just totally focused on gathering her things. Talking about her things, Jayden seemed to realize there was something left on the floor where her bag contents split.

It was a student ID card. Jayden picked it up and read the contents out loud" Venessa Clarkson, Faculty of Engineering, department of Software Engineering." Jayden also discovered it was the same university and faculty where he gave a presentation this morning, what a little world. Was she also at the seminar? He wondered while flipping the card between his fingers. " Sir, I have gotten the present from the car," Marcus informed Jayden drawing out his attention, when he got back holding a gift bag in his hand.

Jayden turned to look at Marcus, " What took you so long?" questioned Jayden. Marcus, with a respectful deposition, replied. "Sorry sir, I kept you waiting for so long, I was gone 10 minutes." Jayden was shocked to realize it had only been 10 minutes, it felt so long. He was never good at waiting. He then looked at the ID card in his hand, thinking if he should throw it in a trash bin or give it to the receptionist to hand it over to the owner.

After thinking for a while, he chose none of the options and decided to hold on to the card. So he kept it in one of his pockets in his suit. " Let's head to the restaurant my mother made reservations." He instructed Marcus.

Back to Vanessa after bumping into Jayden in the hallway, it didn't take long for her to get to the elevator, she pressed the open button multiple times for all the elevators quickly but it didn't open that was when she realized that none of the elevators were available on her floor as they were all on different floors. The time was already 2:35 pm.