Chapter Text
Daniel Howell sat alone in his office, a scowl firmly set on his face as he typed on his noisy keyboard. He let out a long sigh as he sent off yet another email, immediately opening up the next one he needed to reply to. Being the owner of a huge, worldwide computer company, ‘Howell Ltd.’, meant Dan couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a break, other than to sleep or eat.
He had missed four deadlines set by his clients over the past week; all of this due to his assistant, Max, quitting the job the week before. Though he would deny it, Dan didn’t treat Max well at all. He was always yelling at him and taking his stress out on the poor man. Though this was probably due to the two of them being stuck in his office all day long, this wasn’t an excuse. After Dan threw hours of Max’s work into the paper shredder, telling him he was useless, Max had snapped and left, not even bothering to ask for a reference on his way out.
Though Dan liked to think he could manage the workload that Howell Ltd gave him without help, he couldn’t. He needed an assistant there to keep his schedule for him, organise his large but full office, and fetch him lunch and coffee. He’d be interviewing the candidates for the job later on that day.
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A short distance away was a man was in a similar state of stress, fiddling with the handle of his briefcase as he impatiently waited for his bus to stop. He slid his fingers through his jet-black hair and checked his watch: the job interview he was heading to would start in just ten minutes. When the bus finally stopped he rushed out of the vehicle, adjusting his tie before immediately entering the grand building entrance in front of him. The spacious and bright interior halted him in his tracks for a moment, but he took a breath and sped over to the longest reception desk he’d ever seen.
Janet, the kind-looking red-haired lady sitting behind the desk, lowered her glasses to smile up at Phil as he approached. “Hello, I’m Phil Lester, I have a job interview at ten”. Janet smiled and stood up, holding her hand out to shake Phil’s, “Lovely to meet you. I’ll take you up to Mr. Howell now”. Phil nodded and followed Janet’s lead to the beautiful, wooden lift, lined with gold, stepping inside and smiling shortly at the man in a dark blue suit already standing in there.
This man stood casually, his hands resting in his pockets. “Did I hear that you have an interview with Mr. Howell?” He questioned Phil, who smiled again nervously, replying, “Yes. For being his assistant”. Phil raised his eyebrows when the man simply laughed at him, smirking, “good luck”. Though the words weren’t unkind, they sounded like something Phil should take as a warning. Phil looked at Janet questioningly, but she just shook her head, “Pay no attention to him”.
Phil had no choice but to shake it off, watching Janet reach over to the panel of buttons on the lift wall; he raised his eyebrows when he saw that the top floor is the tenth floor – he hadn’t noticed how impressively tall the building was before he had rushed inside. When the lift door finally opened, Phil was met by an empty room, lined with nothing but a single door and two houseplants.
“Let me show you in”, Janet gestures to the door in front of them and knocks, motioning for Phil to stay outside for a moment as she opened it. “This is Philip Lester for your first interview”, Janet said loudly, as if getting her boss’s attention wasn’t easily done.
Dan looked up from his work with a scowl, annoyed that he’d been interrupted but switching his screen off with a sigh; he knew he needed this new assistant as soon as possible. “Okay, Janet, send him in and get out”, Dan said; Janet was used to Dan’s tone, but Phil certainly wasn’t.
Phil took a moment before stepping into the room, holding back a frown, still surprised to hear this man address one of his employees in such a way. He wondered if this ‘Daniel Howell’ was someone he’d even want to work for. But Phil was desperate for a job – in fact, just as desperate as Dan was for a new assistant. The huge, brightly lit room had two walls completely lined with glass windows, showing the busy London streets far down below. Phil gawped at the size of Mr. Howell’s office; he didn’t understand why one person required such a large office, or even two people.
“Hello, I’m Philip Lester, nice to meet you”. Phil held his hand out once he reached Dan’s desk, still shocked at how young Dan looked. When applying for this job, Phil was very impressed by how successful Dan has managed to become despite being so young. This was surely a good sign though; it should be easier to get on with someone of his own age.
Dan stopped slouching in his seat when he laid eyes on Phil. He reluctantly stood up, hardly focusing on the man in front of him as he shook his hand, simply grunting in reply. He was in a rush to get this interview over with so he could get back to his emails. “Sit down, I don’t have much time”, Dan began, pulling open his top drawer whilst gesturing to the seat on the other side of his desk, “Let me find your CV”. Phil nodded and took the seat gratefully, watching with interest as Dan fished through his papers – Phil could see clearly now why Dan needed an assistant. His desk was cluttered with loose papers and files, his drawer was in an awful state, and when Phil looked properly around the room, he noticed boxes full of paper were lining the wall, without a label in sight.
Phil flinched when Dan suddenly slammed his drawer shut, huffing and looking Phil in the eyes for the first time, “I can’t find it. Let me just ask you some questions”. Phil felt slightly panicked by this – would this mean he’d be at a disadvantage to the other candidates? Should he have brought his own copy? However, Phil didn’t have any time to panic when Dan immediately questioned, “So, why would you be good at this job?”
“I’m very well organised, and I have experience as an office assistant already so I’ll know most of what I’m doing”. Phil stopped talking and Dan didn’t reply, just watching him with disinterested eyes, tapping a slow rhythm on the table with his pen. Phil continued, deciding to try flattering Dan, “I’d love to get this job because it would be motivating to work for someone who’s come so far at a young age, like you”. Dan smirked at this, very visibly smug, and finally spoke again, “It would be very hard work though. And very busy. Can you handle that?” Phil opened his mouth to answer the question but Dan added in an impatient snap, “If you can’t handle this job, I can’t waste my time on you”.
Phil took a breath and tried his hardest not to frown at how very rude Mr. Howell was being to him – he really, really didn’t want to work for this man, but he needs a job. “I can handle it”, Phil said shortly, forcing a small smile and relaxing slightly when Dan hummed in approval, abruptly changing his tone to a less intense one, “How old are you?”
“I’m twenty-eight”, Phil replied, nodding when Mr. Howell added, “That’s two years older than me then”. Phil was surprised when Dan reached for his computer screen, beginning to type and giving Phil no attention once again, “My receptionist will be in contact with you”. Phil gawped as he stood up – that job interview had lasted barely three minutes, was Dan so unimpressed with him that he didn’t want to waste more of his time asking questions?
Little did Phil know, though, Dan had already made his decision on who to give the new assistant role to.