Mr Kingston

- 1 -

"Karen, did you send off that announcement to the HR department?" Mr Kingston asked through his doorway.

"Yes Sir, sent it out this morning, it should be up on the website by this evening and in the newspapers by tomorrow."

"Right. Thank you... and erm... Good Luck with the baby an all... you know, life and that." Karen nodded, picked up her bag and left the building for the final time. Karen had worked as the CEO's PA at 'Kingston and Sons' for 7 years now, and this was the first time she had experienced Mr Kingston being awkward. He was usually such a well-put-together man, genuinely kind and caring, very family-oriented, but always very professional - Mr Kingston knew what he wanted and he knew how to get it. God forbid anyone who got in his way.

Karen was due to leave her job at the Kingston company in order to have her baby, she was currently 7 months pregnant. Karen was 26 and this was her first child with her husband of 3 years, Jacob. She plans on becoming a stay at home mom, meaning she will not be returning after her allotted maternity leave. Now, you may be thinking, why is she leaving so soon? or why are they only just recruiting? Karen was due to work for at least another month, however, Mr Kingston had said she could work from home for the last month, just until he found someone to replace her. Though he thought she needed to rest so only planned to contact her when completely necessary. As I said, he's very family-oriented.

Mr Kingston returned to his office to check his emails before he began his short journey home. He noticed he had several applications emailed to him already. He briefly looked at each one.

Samuel Green:

29 years old

Degree in Business and Technology - 3rd Class Honors

Currently a PA at Paine and Co

Brittany Hilton:

32 years old

No qualifications

Unemployed

Sophia Alvarez:

23 years old

Briefly attended Harvard on a full scholarship - did not complete

Currently works at Five Guys

Mr Kingston sent an email to his security department to run a check on every application he received. This wasn't unusual behaviour for him nowadays, Mr Kingston liked to know who he was hiring; the check included simple things like family, criminal history, schooling etc. It also included their current work schedule (when applicable). Mr Kingston liked to visit his applicants in their place of work, without their knowledge of course; he believed that attitude towards others was important - people are always on their best behaviour at interviews, he liked to see what they were really like before offering them an interview with him. So far, this technique had worked wonders for him.

Mr Kingston looked at the small digital clock on his desk, it was now half-past seven in the evening, he packed up his belongings into his briefcase and left his office.

***

It was 7:45 am, Mr Kingston entered his office with his coffee from the break room - with Karen gone he would now have to fetch his own coffee. He placed his laptop onto the smooth white desk and turned it on. He first opened his emails, there were several from different departments in his different businesses, but they were not the ones he was looking for. Suddenly he saw it, Security. He opened the email. It included information about the 3 applicants from the previous night, as well as 4 more.

Samuel was out of the question, but Mr Kingston had already guessed this - he worked for Paine and Co, one of Kingston's biggest competitors, they were well known for trying to get spies into his company.

Brittany was also a no, she was very much a daddy's girl, had never worked a day in her life, until now due to her recent fall out with her bank (i.e. her father).

Sophia, now Sophia was interesting. She was born in Mexico, where she lived with her Mother, Father and younger siblings, they were fraternal twins, one boy and one girl. Sophia had got straight A's in her schooling and at the age of 18 moved to the USA to attend Harvard where she had got a scholarship to study Psychology. 2 months after starting, her father died suddenly; Sophia left Harvard to work so that she could send money back to her family. She remained in America as job prospects were better. At one point, Sophia had 4 part-time jobs in order to pay her own bills and send money back to her family. She now rents a one-bedroom apartment in a very shady part of town and works at Five Guys full-time as a Supervisor though she was initially hired as Crew. Mr Kingston assumed she had worked her way up in order to get a higher wage.

Mr Kingston looked at her work schedule, she was working tonight, 4 pm until 12 am, that was too late for a girl of her age to be working, he thought, even though she was only 2 years his junior. He decided that he would visit her place of work. To see whether she would suit his company, of course, well, that's what Mr Kingston was trying to convince himself.

The day went on, several meetings passed but Mr Kingston for some reason couldn't focus on his work like he usually would. This confused Mr Kingston no ends.

Between you and me, I think he was distracted by a certain little lady called Sophia.