Angel woke up, stretching languidly, and looked around at the now-familiar surroundings of her dormitory in Tres Spades. A few weeks ago, she had arrived in Japan and easily secured a job as a maid for regular guests in the hotel. Getting up, she walked over to the lockers where she was met with a bright smile from her co-worker.

"Good morning." Angel said, swinging open the door to her locker.

"Morning Angel," Sakiko greeted her happily. Angel hadn't used a cover name, being certain that merely using her codename was protection enough.

These guys were amateurs; not potent enough to pose any real threat to her and certainly not skilled enough to uncover her real name. The name that she hadn't used in nearly five years.

"The VIP convention starts today! I'm so pumped!" Sakiko continued excitedly and it was all Angel could do to not roll her eyes at her.

Sakiko had been her first and only friend at Tres Spades and she did not want to compromise that friendship. Angel's mocha skin meant she stuck out like a sore thumb amidst the pale, ivory skinned girls that worked there, and although her Japanese was as fluent as any native's, she still felt a certain sense of exclusion and hence was grateful for Sakiko's company.

The influx of important visitors and the amount of international attention the hotel was getting had made the atmosphere very tense indeed. Everyone was rushing around, absorbed in the exponentially increasing amount of work. As they walked to the hotel lobby, Sakiko began chattering excitedly about the famous guests.

"Oh my god, Angel! Look who just got out of that limo!" She squealed pointing towards the door.

Angel turned her gaze towards where she was pointing to see a tall man walking along, surrounded by women on both sides. Having no interest in celebrity gossip, she wasn't sure who they were but she got the general gist that he was very important and surrounded by quite famous models.

"He's been living in the penthouse suite for quite some time now." Sakiko murmured, while scanning the crowd for another glimpse of the "King", as the maids in the hotel referred to him.

"What?!" Angel's eyes narrowed in surprise, "That costs hundreds of thousands of dollars!" Whoever he was, he must certainly be very, very rich…

As he began heading her way, Angel started to back away to make way for the mob of people surrounding him. Suddenly, she was slammed into by a wave of women running towards her and was got pushed out of the crowd. In her surprise, she lost her balance and began to fall- only to be caught up by this man that everyone called the King. He gripped her tightly protecting her, briefly, from the mob of excited women.

"How dare you touch him?" The mob of women hissed at her.

"I-I'm really very sorry" Angel began apologetically, when the man cut her off abruptly.

"Get out of the way." He said coldly.

"What?" Angel asked, taken aback by his sudden change in demeanour. The man suddenly pulled away, leaving her to fall back onto the cold hard ground.

"Ouch." she grimaced a little from the slight ache. Anger bubbled up inside her. How dare he treat her like that? If he had any idea who she was, he'd have thought twice before disrespecting her in such a manner. Nevertheless, Angel quickly pushed aside her hubris and hurt. She had to keep a low profile if she wanted to convince her boss that she'd learnt her lesson, and decking a very important guest on a covert mission was, perhaps, not the best way to go about it.

Sakiko helped her up and immediately began to bombard her with questions.

"The King caught you in his arms! I'm so jealous! Did he smell good?" She exclaimed with an excited smile.

"I don't know… I don't really remember." She replied, surprised by the odd question. As she brushed herself off and smoothed out her clothes, she heard the clickety-clack of high heels on the marble floor behind her.

'Just what were you thinking, making a fool of yourself in front of an important guest like that?"

"Erika…" Angel groaned inwardly in displeasure. The bitchy girl was flanked, as usual, by her two sycophants Rina and Kana. All three ladies had worked there for longer than Angel and made sure that she knew who her superiors were. Angel admired her own self control at not having knocked the annoying girl out already. Although, her patience was wearing a little thin. She didn't know how long she'd be able to keep this up: this whole place was getting on her nerves.

"I'm sorry, it was an accident." Angel replied softly, trying- with some difficulty- to keep up her charade as the innocent, soft-spoken maid. It was by no means an easy feat: if she could have her own way, this bully would have been taken down a peg or two by this point.

"It was your fault for not paying attention to what was going on around you!" She screeched, all the while pointing a perfectly manicured nail in Angel's face. Boy, this girl was really asking for it. "You're in charge of the regular guests anyway," she spat. "You have no business even being around the VIPs. Try getting promoted to VIP maid like me and then we'll talk!"

Her two mindless followers repeated her words: "Then we'll talk."

"Y-Yes Erika…" Angel murmured, controlling her anger, though she couldn't hide the fire burning in her eyes.

Suddenly, Erika's face lit up brightly as an idea occurred to her. "Go to every floor and drop off all the special gift boxes for the guests staying for the spa package." She commanded snarkily.

"All of them, by myself?" Angel questioned, eyes narrowing in disbelief and anger.

"Yes. You got a problem with that?" Despite her bossy words, Erika's voice faltered slightly at the menacing look that was playing across the other girl's eyes. She looked almost... dangerous?

"...No" Angel replied after a slight hesitation. This girl may be a total bully, but she certainly wasn't worth risking her job over. Besides, she only had to tolerate Erika until the IVC (International VIP Convention) was over and then she'd be free!

As Angel headed towards the elevator, she paused when she spied a man and woman who stood arguing a few feet away. The woman stormed away, crying and obviously furious, while the man merely picked up the masquerade mask she'd discarded and brushed it off. He sighed

"Now I don't have a date." As he looked up, their eyes met and before Angel had a chance to move he swooped in and took her wrist.

"You just saw the whole thing didn't you?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, a sheepish smile playing across his lips.

Angel apologised, shifting uncomfortably at the awkward situation. As she moved to leave, he pulled her inside the elevator by the wrist he was still holding,

"Aww come on, don't run away. I'll explain everything when we get there."

"Umm…" Before she knows it the elevator doors slide shut leaving her stuck inside with this man, who by the way still has not let go of her hand.

"Whew, I'm lucky I found you. There's no way I could go to the party without a beautiful woman on my hand." Angel blushed, unused to compliments and still a little uncomfortable with the situation. Wait, he didn't mean the IVC, did he?

"Party? You're not talking about the IVC are you?" she asked curiously.

"Isn't it obvious: look at me." He said coolly. Angel studied the man in the flashy expensive suit. Handsome. Arrogant. Rich. Womanizer. Yep, this guy was a guest alright. Suddenly, remembering her station as a mere maid in the hotel, Angel realised how rude her unimpressed expression must appear to the lavish man. Besides, there were rules about the maids fraternising with important guest. This was a five star hotel after all and people in Japan were a lot more formal than in the West.

"I'm really sorry sir, but I work at this hotel, so I can't go to the party with you. And besides, what about that other woman?" Angel asked, desperately trying to avoid the situation.

She was supposed to be keeping a low profile and that couldn't happen if she turned up at a party she wasn't allowed to go to. And, god forbid, if anyone recognized her, her cover would be blown!

"What are you talking about? You're just my type. This is destiny!" He responded closing in on her, peering into her eyes.

"Wow, this guy moves fast." she thought, "No wonder he got dumped so easily."

It took all her self-control not to push him away- she couldn't afford to offend a guest after what had happened that morning. Erika was already on her tail. Thankfully, the elevator doors opened with a ding before she could snap at him and the man pulled her out into the glittering ballroom before she could utter a protest.

AN: Constructive reviews are much appreciated