Impostor

Chapter 5

"Well, this sucks." He said while turning in a circle before facing me again. "This could be fun." I said with an excited smile. We were in a small room with white ply walls and a single glass door in front of us. Through the glass we could only see the hallway split in two, the rest was a mystery. The familiar black TV was mounted to the left of us just underneath the ceiling. The other team must've been in their own little room. We waited five minutes for the last team to join us. As soon as they were safely locked into their room, the TV flicked on and the familiar suit filled the screen.

"Those lunches looked divine. Congratulations to the top three teams to make it to round four of the interview. The previous rounds were to test your knowledge about the job. This round will test if you can manage to make good decisions under a large amount of pressure. Welcome to the maze. Only one team will be going through to the next round. The other two teams will be eliminated. I will show you a map of the entire maze and you have fifteen seconds to memorize it. Good luck." The suit on the screen was replaced by a large map and the seconds ticked down in the top right corner. I scanned the fastest route to the next door that was marked as a golden key on the map.

"Got it." I said and turned to Michael who was watching me. I furrowed my brows at him and pointed at the TV. "Aren't you going to memorize the map?" I ask incredulously. He smirked and turned towards the door as an electronic click sounded, indicating that we were free to start exploring the maze. "Nah, looks like you have this under control." He called out over his shoulder while slowly walking towards the 'T'. He paused and looked at me expectantly. "Left." I said and stomped over to walk in front of his lazy butt. He smiled when I passed him and that only angered me more.

We were in the maze for at least half an hour now and I was starting to panic. What if another team passed us? What if I fail to get this job? How am I going to make it another day without money? I was so frantically lost in my thoughts that I wasn't watching where I was going. "I think we're lost." Michael said and walked past me to stop near a painting hanging on one of the walls. "We've passed this painting twice now." He said with furrowed brows, pointing at the painting. It was a painted landscape with a river running through dark green pine trees. A little white bunny was holding a pine cone near the water.

"Oh, let's go left then." I said totally out of it. "We can't go left again. We have already gone left three times in a row now. Let's go right." He said taking the lead, walking at a brisk pace. He disappeared around the corner and a few seconds later, his head popped around the corner. "You coming, Goldilocks?" he asked and pointed to the way he had just disappeared to. I nodded my head and followed him quickly. "Are you okay?" he asked while we walked around another corner. "What if we're too late? You know, I could really do with a job right now. I desperately need this job." I nearly cried in front of him.

He side-hugged me and rubbed my shoulder. "Don't you worry, I know exactly where we are." He said with a soft gentleness shining in his brown eyes. I nearly fell apart right then and there. I wanted to just open up to him, but I couldn't. I looked at the floor, not able to hold his intense gaze. He lifted my chin with his thumb near my bottom lip. The butterflies started to go crazy and I really wanted him to kiss me again, but he didn't. He pointed to a door that looked like it was spray-painted gold. "We're here." He said huskily and moved at least two feet away from me. I was both disappointed and relieved at the same time.

I nearly pulled the door off its hinges. I was so excited that Michael and I made it to the last round of the interview. We stood in the middle of the final escape room and studied our surroundings. "Well, that was easy." I said and smiled at Michael with newfound hope and energy. "It must be like six 'o'clock. So much for, 'the one who gets the job buys lunch'." He said while adding the inverted commas with his fingers. My smile widened at how adorable he was when he moaned. He started walking around the room and looking for the key.

The room was decorated like a modern bedroom. The color scheme was black and red. The king-size bed had black silk sheets and a bright red rug was laid out at the foot of the bed. There were two black nightstands with a red lamp on each. A shining crystal chandelier adorned the ceiling, casting low orange light across the room. Across the room, to the right of the bed, was the next door. Next to the door, mounted to the wall, was one of those old landlines where you had to twist the dial to the number that you wanted. It was also black.

Michael jumped into the air and fell backward onto the bed, releasing a loud sigh. I smiled at the childish act. He looked at me with a toothy grin and patted the spot next to him. I ran and mirrored his jump. I let out a giggle and turned to look at him. He rolled over and pinned me to the bed before starting his attack. Loud laughter filled the room as he tickled the life out of me. I tried bucking him off, but he was stronger than he looked. He paused to let me catch my breath. The smile on his face slowly faded as he looked down at me. My breath caught in my throat at how intense his stare was. He slowly leaned down towards me and my mouth ran dry.

His eyes flicked down to my lips and paused there for a moment before looking back up to my eyes. He was just about to kiss me when the TV flicked on. The black suit appeared on the screen and the receptionist cleared her throat. "Congratulations on making it to the final round of the interview. You are the final two applicants to make it. This round will test what you think will lead to successfully working with Mr. Wulf. Good luck." Her voice faded along with the screen and we were left staring at each other again. He rolled over and got up, starting to scan the room again. I took a few calming breaths and also got up.

The only thing that caught my attention was the landline on the wall. I walked over to it and felt around the sides for a key. The only thing that I felt was the smooth surface of the polished landline. I let out a big breath of frustration and continued to look at the landline. "Try taking it off the hook." Michael said behind me. I turned to look at him and then turned my gaze back to the landline. I gently lifted the landline and a soft thud pulled my attention to the carpeted floor. Between my feet laid a golden key with a matching tag. "Communication is key." Michael said from behind me. He didn't even read the tag.

"You already knew where all the keys were." I said, testing to see if my theory was correct or not. "Of course I did. I am the one looking for a personal assistant." Michael, or should I say, Mr. Wulf, said. I felt betrayed. How did I not recognize him? I met him yesterday in the dark, but was it really that dark that I couldn't recognize him in the light of day? I felt incredibly stupid. I made out with my employer! The thought sent a shock wave through me. I started to fall for Michael. "Is Michael even your real name?" I asked taking a step farther away from him. "Yes, my name is Michael Wulf." He said sounding much more serious than the man I got to know throughout the interview. My heart made a little painful twist at how professional he sounded when talking to me, almost like everything that happened between us was just an act.

I nodded my head a little with understanding. He didn't have feelings for me and I must've misread things. That would have made sense if he had not kissed me first. He was just pretending to be someone he was most definitely not. He was an impostor. "You start first thing tomorrow morning. I'll send someone to get your things packed and moved to storage. Let's head home for now, it's getting late." He said casually and walked out the door with the confidence that I would follow.