THE CEO'S PERFECT MATCH

Daisy returned home late in the afternoon feeling so tired and used up. She dumped her bag on the cushion and slumped there for a while, being sad for herself.

She had just returned from a job hunt and it was obvious that the search for job didn't go well as planned. She was angry at herself for overreacting or acting up, when she would have been as quiet as a dove, which she really was. For so she thought.

She said loudly but to no one in particular. "I mean, how would I have known that the little man who was hopping up and down, showing off, how would I have known he was the interviewer. They don't behave so silly as he did. It's not my fault, yes, it's not my fault. I only told him the truth about himself, he should be grateful." She consoled herself, in a way not to feel guilty for flopping her interview.

She tried to cheer herself up by telling herself that, the man was only rude, while she, on the other hand was honest and straight forward, which was a good value every company should look out for in an employee.

But, as she thought about the interview, she felt worse and started hitting herself. She regretted ever acting the way she did. She could have gotten the job.

This was her fifteenth time going for a job hunt that month and all had proven abortive. She felt like giving up, getting herself all drunk and maybe, hit by a rich man who would take care of her afterwards.

Now deep in thought, she continued, "what if the rich man hits me and I loose all my memories and I can't even remember my name again? Huhh! she gasped, putting her left hand over her mouth.

"No no no no. I won't suffer from amnesia. I'm just too young to suffer that." She encouraged herself for sometime.

Daisy felt so bad knowing that she could have done better, not letting her temper get a hold of her.

Looking at her bag which was becoming so worn out, she sighed deeply, wishing it would all end. It had been a year and six months since she graduated from the University, with a second class upper, in business consultation. Yet, it had been very difficult to get a single job. She was tired of the whole thing and was slowly giving up.

She only stayed for about two months after graduating before venturing off in search of a job. She thought it was going to be an easy one, but it turned out that it was quite tougher than she thought or imagined it to be.

She was the second child of her parents, her elder sister had disappeared few months after her graduation and no one ever heard of her or knew her whereabouts. That was about five years ago. Now, she had three siblings to look out for, with her parents, though separated.

Her mother, Mrs. Kute has been disturbing her about getting a good job, so she can help fend for her younger siblings.

She tried working for an average restaurant for two months and was earning just enough to feed herself and a little to send home. But, when her mother found out the kind of job she was into, she scolded her and made her stop it without hesitation.

She went back into the mess she was once into. Carrying her files every single day in search of a white collar job, with a very nice office, a good computer, an air conditioner, good lunch for workers and a fairly weekly stipends from the manager or CEO as giveaways.

She drooled in her imagination as she fantasied herself in a well furnished office, enjoying her job as a new recruit and running little errands for her boss or bosses who definitely wouldn't give her trouble.

She could see herself dressed corporately, on a nice heels and bouncing hair, smiling at her colleagues and showing off her attractive dimples as she walks into her office, ready to start off the day's work.

That would be a dream come true if any of that eventually happens someday, she thought.

She needed to do something about her present situation as soon as possible, or she's likely to run back into her restaurant job without letting anyone find out about it. Her friend, Stacy had been helping her for the time being and it was high time she started doing something about bill payment in the house.

She wasn't paying for the rent, nor was she contributing to the house bills. She didn't spend money on food nor provisions either. She was more like a little unharmful begger who has no choice than to succumb to whatever she saw. Luckily for her, Stacy was a very easy-going person and let her have whatever she wanted. She knew the condition she was into, so she doesn't bother her at all about expenses.

She was grateful to have a friend that was that nice, or else, she might have been found sleeping on the streets.

She stared at the envelope containing her credentials for sometime and hissed loudly. She had the urge to throw the envelope into the waste bin in the backyard and perhaps, end it all.

The job search had been giving her a lot of headaches lately. None of the places she had been to that month had called her back. Most of them had about two days for that and she usually got a rejection email from all of them.

She wondered if she was cursed from getting a job, because she couldn't fathom what the problem was. Perhaps, she was getting it, but she was missing something.

"What could that be? She wondered deeply. "What could be the problem? Is there something I am missing? She murmured to herself.

She decided to wave it off and keep trying, till she gets what she wants. After all, she quotes,

"Not getting a job is like failing, and failing doesn't mean I'm a failure. So, I should keep trying but never give up, because that's the real definition of a failure." She said to herself, trying so much not to feel bad.

Finally summoning up courage to get over the incident of constant rejections she had been facing, she picked up her file from where she had tossed it and got up from the sofa, then she headed to the room.

She took a shower quickly and dressed into a soft, light cloth. Looking at herself in the mirror, she saw that her hair was really unkempt and bushy already, but then she had no money to change styles.

"Arghhhh! She screamed at herself in the mirror, holding out her hair and staring angrily. "How do I even get cash to make a new one." She murmured sadly and that made her face look squeezed and she became uglier than reality.

The more she thought about it the angrier it made her. All of a sudden, she remembered a quote she stumbled on one time, which said, "when you are so angry that you feel like you're going to explode, smile. Yes, smile, that will make you much better."

At the thought of that, she decided to change her approach towards what and the way she was feeling, and act like the quote said.

"Wait a minute? How am I gonna laugh when I'm actually very angry. That's insane, is that even gonna work? She asked herself, thinking deeply.

She recalled another quote by the same author, which was thus, "since you've been so angry at yourself, what good tidings has it yielded? If not negativity and low self esteem, so smile!

She decided that, she would actually try smiling when she was angry. Maybe, that would actually in a way change her perspective of how she views life.

First, she was going to force herself to smile, perhaps that would help her out. Thinking deeply about it, she realized that all her worrying and getting mad at herself for flopping at an interview have never yielded to anything, rather it made her lose hope in getting a job.

She stared intently at herself in the mirror and tried to force herself to smile. It didn't work out, she couldn't do it.

"Wow. How is it so difficult for me to smile? She wondered.

She let go of her hair, used her fingers to shape her lips do it looks like she was actually smiling.

"Good girl! You can do it."

She left the bathroom to the bedroom and picks up her phone. She scrolled to her music playlist and selected one of her favorite hip-hop songs. Connecting it to her bluetooth speaker and increasing the volume, she started dancing to the rhythm of the song.

The song was quite helpful as she danced and sang the lyrics with the singer.

She headed to the kitchen to make something she could eat as she was hungry. Getting to the kitchen, she realized that the stew remaining was quite small, so she decided to leave it for her friend, which she thought was the best idea.

She poured some cups of water into the pot, to prepare noodles, which was quite easy to make. As she was cooking, she was dancing. After a while, she was absorbed by the music and had totally forgotten her fate.

Daisy noticed that her phone had stopped playing the music she assigned it to. She frowned, wondering what put a stop to it.

She put down the fork she was using to eat on the plate, got up and headed to the room where her phone was. By this time, she could hear her phone ringing. "Who dares disturb my peace this early afternoon." She said, in a loud voice.

As she left the kitchen to the room to go check out the caller, she heard the doorbell ring.

"Oh damn it." She whispers, under her breath and moved to the sitting room instead.

"Hold on, hold on. I'll be right there. Please!" She yelled, hoping whoever was at the door would listen.

She got to the door, unlocked it forcefully and yanked it open.

"Ohh! Stacy." She said excitedly, now reducing her voice and acting so gentle and mild.

Stacy walked past her into the sitting room and sat down, looking so tired. "Serio