The freshmen are back and done with the finals.
Rose is standing in front of the Undergraduate Real Estate Clubb (UREC) president Timothy Smith, short but a fit guy. He's in his senior year now. He takes the application from her hand and shrugs, tilting his head, "So, you had been the president of your high school business club? For two years? Also, literature and social clubs? That's impressive."
"Yes, I have been."
"That is awesome. But, I suppose, HBSA (HAAS Business School Association) would be a better option, they will have a better position for you in the advisory board. Have you applied yet?"
"I haven't. I'm thinking of it."
"Please don't think, I'm not rejecting you or anything. It's just that your CV looks great. We would like to welcome you here as well. But HBSA would be perfect for you. I am also an executive member there, I know how they work."
"Thank you. Will I be notified by email?" she asks, biting her lower lip.
"Yes. We will inform you."
She comes back to her class, sits beside Ann who is right now busy with painting her nails green. Ann asks without even looking, "So, how did it go?"
"Ann, tell me something." Rose shrugs ignoring her question.
"What is it, sweetie?"
"Is it too bad to have too much in your CV?"
"Oh honey, did you get rejected again?" Ann pats her head slightly.
"Soon to be, I'm afraid. But the president is super impressed."
"That is great then. Don't think negatively first. Why don't you try at HBSA?"
"He said the same. Wouldn't that be the same?"
"I don't think so. HBSA suits you. You should apply. I'm sure that they will have a position for you."
"I want to have a coffee, wanna come?" Rose asks, standing up and looking at her friend blowing at her nails, "Nevermind."
Rose is now at Chou Hall, it's fully packed during lunch time. It takes her 20 minutes to pass through the long line and get her coffee. She moves quickly between the people and walks to the Fisher Gate, she sits on the stair and sips in the coffee. She pulls out the book she has been reading since last night from her bag, The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides. She loves crime-fiction and cannot stop reading them even though Ruby is constantly telling her to move to the rom-com books. During the time at high school, Ruby once grabbed all the crime-fictions from her room and told their younger brother to hide them in the garage where Rose never goes. Rose cried for 4 days until Ruby gave them back to her. Ruby believes that crime-fiction makes her sister duller, introverted, quiet and not approachable. Rose promises Ruby that she would soon start buying the rom-com to keep her sister quiet.
Before leaving for Texas, Ruby piled up Rose's new bookshelf with rom-com books. Rose feels sad looking at them. She thinks it's just a waste of money. Sometimes she reads one or two pages and never looks at them again. Ruby says to her mother, "There must be something wrong with her. She watches K-dramas and smiles all the time but never reads rom-coms. These are basically the same, mom."
"Leave it, Ruby. She's not harming anyone. Why are you always at it?"
"Because I'm concerned for my little sister."
"Just 4 minutes younger, don't act like you are 4 years older, Ruby." Rose would reply from the dining room only to make her sister groaning in annoyance.
. . .
She returns to the class even though she has no class left for today because earlier, Ann called her to inform that HBSA's advisory committee would visit them. By the time she enters, the Association body is already there. Everyone looks at her like she has just made a huge disaster, she quietly says sorry. There is a guy who has been talking before she entered and now doesn't take his eyes off her until she sits down. Rose says sorry again and a girl from the board says, "It's okay. You are just too pretty to say sorry." Rose's face flushes with heat, she smiles embarrassedly while everyone is now looking at her with an adoring expression that was just too opposite from earlier. The girl speaks again, not to Rose, but the guy who was stopped by Rose, "Silas, please continue." Rose immediately looks up. He looks like someone straight out of manga. Ann snaps her fingers, getting her friend's attention, "Oh Silas! Look! Everyone is going crazy for him. I have heard even the guys fell in love with him." Ann speaks quietly in her hushed voice.
"Yes. I guess." Rose replies, taking her eyes off him and looking down, "Anyway, what's his position?" she asks.
"Vice President of Sustainability."
"Cool."
A few minutes later the president of HBSA takes the stage and says, "I'm Ethan Christopher, you might have known already. As my members said everything you needed to know about the Association, I don't think I have anything more to add. So, I'll go straight forward to the Q&A session. If you have any questions, please raise your hand."
A guy in white tee, whose name Rose doesn't remember raises his hand, she barely knows people from her class. "Hi, I'm Liam."
"Hi, Liam." Ethan says, smiling.
"My question is whether I have to have a high range of experiences to get into HBSA and have a good position? Because I'm afraid that I don't have that much in my resume."
"Well, if you only think of getting an executive position in the Association I'm afraid it won't be the right place for you, your passion needs to be seen, Liam. HBSA is a family of every student in Haas, we work for all the students, staff and faculty. And to answer your question, it matters person to person, suppose you have a lot in your resume but we don't find or see your passion in leading, we won't take you. Again, even if your resume doesn't have any strong experience, we might take you in because of the confidence you want to show to lead your team, you got your answer?" Ethan winks.
"Yea, thank you."
"Anyone else?"
Before knowing what she was doing, Rose throws her hand in the air, which is very unlikely to happen in the normal world she's living in.