Chapter One: Meeting Mr Varrick
It was a beautiful, bright and sunny day in Republic City, and Zhu Li wasn't able to enjoy one bit of it. She couldn't, not with her job requiring her to wake up before the crack of dawn. By the time the sun had started to rise above the horizon, she had already washed and dressed herself, left her small apartment in the Badger Mole Borough and was on the train for her daily commute into the downtown core. As she sat in silence, watching the world go by, the young woman had time to think - her only chance during the day to do so. Every day, she sat on the train, watching the statue of Fire Lord Zuko grow closer and closer.
When the train finally stopped, Zhu Li slowly picked herself up off the rather uncomfortable seat. She joined the crowds of people leaving the train, and it was only when she took a moment to pause one final time before the hectic part of her day that she noticed the large clock above the platforms.
"Oh, no..." she breathed to herself, starting to walk briskly towards the exit of the station. Somehow, her train was late, and now she had even less time than usual to finish getting everything set up in time for her eccentric boss to arrive at work. Zhu Li was nothing if not prepared, however, and she had been setting plans in motion in the event something like this happened ever since she had first discovered how specific her boss could be.
Her first stop was the cafe just outside the train station, where thanks to years of ordering the exact same order at the exact same time from the exact same barista, her order was ready before she even walked into the building. Amid groans and complaints, she walked up to the counter, took the tray of two identical drinks and left some yuans. "Thank you," she breathed, turning and walking out of the cafe. Next she had to stop and pick up a copy of the paper, since her boss had decided that somehow buying the paper from a cart every day was less expensive than getting a subscription delivered to the office. Her final stop before work was a small bakery where she picked up her boss' favourite pastry for his mid morning break, and a sandwich for his lunch - both were pre-ordered, of course.
Finally, as the clocks hit 8am, Zhu Li finally walked into the office building. From the relieved expressions on the other employees' faces, Mr Varrick had not arrived yet. He was probably busy dreaming up new inventions on the street corner, she thought as she walked briskly across the floor and unlocked her boss's personal office. All around her, other employees were murmuring, chatting about their nights, wondering why Zhu Li was late, discussing the weather… just another typical work morning. They had only a few moments of solace before the infamous businessman would walk through the doors. She hid her own coffee out of sight and drew a breath.
As the assistant took her position, standing in front of the oaken desk, a silence fell over the floor that would be strange to anyone who didn't work there. Every employee collectively held their breath as the door opened and their boss came strolling in, his eyes darting around and watching all of them closely. No one spoke to Mr Varrick, and Mr Varrick spoke to no one until he reached his office.
"Your coffee, sir," Zhu Li said in her most monotone voice, holding out the cup to him. Mr Varrick grinned widely at her.
"Thank you, Zhu Li," he took a sip, "ah, perfect as always. I don't know how you do it!" he exclaimed, and Zhu Li relaxed. Everything had worked out the way she needed it to, and now her day could properly start. She had just turned to pull out the paperwork she knew he would be asking for when Mr Varrick said her name. She turned back.
"Yes, sir?" she asked, wondering what he needed. This was unusual, even for him.
"Did you get my pastry this morning? I need it before I go to the, uh, the thing. You know," Mr Varrick replied, gesturing towards his planner. She immediately nodded in understanding. He had a meeting in an hour with the head of Future Industries to discuss working together on a major upcoming project, and Asami Sato was notoriously difficult to crack since she had almost lost her business after taking over from her father. She bent down without a word, pulling the packaged treat out of her bag and handing it over to him. Mr Varrick unwrapped it and took a slow bite, chewing almost thoughtfully. Zhu Li knew it was all for show, though. Her stomach rumbled, and she prayed her boss hadn't heard. Luck was on her side, and she relaxed, sneaking a sip of her own coffee while the man was enjoying his snack.
His phone rang, and Mr Varrick quickly told Zhu Li to answer it. Glancing at him as he licked powdered sugar off his fingers, Zhu Li picked up the phone.
"Varrick Global Industries, Mr Varrick's office," she answered.
"Hello? I am representing Miss Asami Sato of Future Industries. Miss Sato was supposed to meet with Mr Varrick today, but unfortunately that will not happen. Miss Sato is not interested in doing business with Mr Varrick anymore," a small, timid voice on the other end of the line said. Zhu Li kept her expression neutral.
"That is a shame. Thank you for letting us know," she replied, hanging up. She looked up towards Mr Varrick.
"Sato, hm?" he asked. She nodded. "Well, that's just horrible! We needed this business deal. I'll bet someone leaked my big plan to buy out Future Industries," he continued on. Zhu Li fought to keep a neutral expression still. No one had known about that, except for her. If he kept talking about it, though…
Mr Varrick flopped down in the large chair behind his desk. "Bring in Lu. And while you're at it, ask him why his name isn't Lee," he said, waving his hand absently towards the door. Zhu Li nodded, walking out. All heads in the office turned to watch her walk along the edge of the room to Lu's office, and she could hear murmurs. She ignored them, of course.
"Mr Varrick would like to see you," she said simply, after knocking on Lu's door. The young Marketing Committee chair looked up, confused.
"Okay?" he replied, standing up and following Zhu Li back to Mr Varrick's office only to find that their boss was gone. Lu arched an eyebrow at Zhu Li, who glanced at the closest intern to the door, Masaka. She shrugged and pointed over her shoulder.
"He slipped out right behind you and went that way," she replied. Lu nudged Zhu Li's foot with her own and she looked up to see Mr Varrick walking back towards them, holding a piece of paper in his hand.
"Lu! You're fired."
All heads in the room turned sharply upon hearing their boss. Lu looked shocked, and Zhu Li was speechless.
"Mr Varrick, sir, I-" Lu started, before being cut off.
"I have reason to believe that you tipped off the owner of Future Industries about my ultimate business plans, which then caused said plans to be cancelled by said owner. Also, you're terrible at your job. Zhu Li does a better job at your job than you do and she's only my assistant!" Mr Varrick said, waving the piece of paper at Lu. "I signed this, you sign it now, and you leave and never come back. And if you don't leave, Zhu Li here will do the thing and make sure you can't get another job," he continued. Zhu Li was starting to feel very uncomfortable, even as Mr Varrick walked past the two of them and snapped his fingers, the sign for her to follow. She did, giving Lu a sympathetic glance.
"Just wait a moment!"
Mr Varrick paused, turning around slowly without lifting his feet. Zhu Li sidestepped neatly, now standing against the wall as Lu continued.
"You can't do this to me! I'll go and tell everyone in Republic City what you did," he said, glancing around the office. Every single intern was frozen, their eyes darting between their boss and the newly fired man. Zhu Li closed her eyes as Varrick let out a low sigh.
"I have every right to do this. I want you out of this building before Zhu Li here can take my coffee to Chit Sing and get it reheated," he said, all trace of his usual whimsical nature gone as he gazed at the other man. Lu looked down, shaking his head.
"Fine," he muttered, turning around and walking quickly out of the office. The air was tense as the interns tried not to look at Mr Varrick.
"Do your things," he said dismissively, turning and walking into his office. Masaka started to relax but at a sharp glance from Zhu Li, she snapped back to attention just in time for Mr Varrick to poke his head out the door, holding out his coffee cup.
"And Zhu Li, do the thing," he said. She took it from him.
"Yes, sir."
Author's Note: Welcome to Felix Culpa, the multichapter Zhurrick AU I've been working on! This AU is based off of one of my absolute favourite movies, The Proposal starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. This also doubles as my final entry to Zhurrick Week, based on the prompt 'food'. I'm hoping to update every Sunday, and at the moment I can't say how long it's going to be, nor how closely it will follow the plot of The Proposal. This is also my first extended work of fanfiction in a very long time, so I hope you enjoy it! Leave a review and let me know what you think :) I know Varrick seemed a little off in this chapter, but worry not, I'm simply setting the stage for him as the "Maggie" figure in this story.
Disclaimer: I do not own The Legend of Korra or its characters, nor do I own The Proposal. I am not looking to make a profit off of this.