Chapter 2: Her Life
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts II, though I wish I did.
Author's note: This chapter explains her life after Kingdom Hearts is complete. Her job and everything else. Hope you enjoy! R & R if you think it's good. Please, no flamers as it's my first shot at a fanfic.
"Rrrrrring!"
The young woman dragged the other side of her pillow and turned to the left, shielding her ears from the annoying shrill of the morning alarm. Her eyebrows were knitted in frustration as she tried to concentrate on the dream she was weaving.
"Rrrrring!"
It carried on with its relentless ringing. Relena, drowsy and with a clouded mind, snatched the wine glass up from her bedside table and threw it at the digital alarm clock, which amazingly reached its target and the clock fell to the carpeted ground, ringing quietly till its battery ran dead.
She tossed and turned around for the next few minutes, unable to get back to her dream after the alarm jerked her out of it. Cursing under her breath, she dragged herself out of bed and headed for the bathroom. Relena felt sick in her stomach, probably because she had a tad too much wine the previous night. She was having the worst hangover of her life. Grabbing at her rinsing mug near the sink, Relena gazed at her own reflection in the mirror with a blurry vision. With much effort, she managed to get past dressing up and getting to her workplace, which was none other than Apple, the world-famous company that produces and creates laptops, desktops and the most-wanted mp3 players, the iPod Series.
It was the peak hour for most to hurry off to work, and Japanese, those with the mindset of," I cannot be late," , would not stop for anything. Pushing through the crowd while feeling dizzy and nauseous was not fun for twenty-one year-old Relena. At times, she just felt like throwing up, but nothing came after that.
" ' Shouldn't have taken too much last night…" she grumbled, stumbling over someone's brown loafer without apologizing. Boy, was this one of the most horrible days ever.
"Swish."
The sliding doors slid open at the detection of movement near it. Relena entered, slipping the lanyard over her neck; there hung a tag which bore her name in Japanese, and in English. Her hair was tied up in a simple ponytail, to keep it from getting in her way while introducing products to customers. It was torture, to have to answer all of their questions and resolve their doubts, to eventually get them to purchase the Apple product. Relena was able to earn much, to make ends meet for her.
A dark-haired lady with the tag around her neck saying 'Sherilyn, Manager', stalked up to her with hands on her incredibly thick waist and wagged her index finger at Relena. She groaned to herself, knowing what was coming up next.
"Ah, you're here. You can start by arranging all the newest iPod Nanos up on the tables there neatly. Yes, fix them into the speakers and switch them on. Don't forget to connect the wires in to the power chord hidden at the bottom chamber of the tables. Then put these price tags and information into the slots-" she handed Relena a stack of A5 size papers," – for the customers. Help Ienzo switch the laptops and desktops on after that and switch them to the Administrator mode. Leave it at the main page so customers can browse through the computer, but lock all other pages except for the-"
"Okay, I get it. Now can I go?" Relena huffed irritably and hurried off to the back of the room, leaving a stunned Sherilyn standing outside with her finger still in the air. Her other employees sniggered, but continued with their work in discreet when the Manager shot them a death glare that meant nothing but the risk of their jobs.
Relena sighed and plopped down on a chair besides a lilac-haired man, who seemed to be tweaking with an Apple laptop with a screwdriver. His hair concealed half his face, therefore only revealing a single glaring eye that had the unique shade of grayish-blue, like the aftermath of a storm at sea. Dressed in the strict dress code of a black polo shirt and jeans, Ienzo, as he was called, had decided to rebel against the exasperating Sherilyn. Everyone in the Ginza District branch had hated her, just as much as he did.
"Instructions?" he murmured, not looking up from the laptop as he unscrewed the top to reveal the batteries that lay smoking with an acrid smell.
"Yeah. Hey, what's with that?" Relena questioned, gesturing to the batteries.
"The 'Fat Moron' got to us again. Took her anger out on us by smashing this piece of junk."
She burst out with laughter, as Ienzo glanced at her with slight casualness.
"What's so funny?
"It's just…You guys give her so many names! First it was 'Bowling Ball', and now it's 'Fat Moron."
Relena went over to the table and retrieved several batteries from it and tossed it over to Ienzo, who caught it with skill and plunged it into the laptop, screwing the top back on.
"Done. Let's bring these insignificant objects out of my sight before I die from their pure stupidity." He said sarcastically.
"You haven't changed since we got our hearts back, Ienzo." Relena commented, stacking four laptops in her arms and walking out of the room with them, coming back for more after she was done setting them up.
"Morning, welcome to the Apple Store!"
Relena greeted customers with a false cheeriness in her voice and a twisted smile. It had been some time since she smiled, and she was having difficulty trying to be natural at this. Larxene, always smirked, not smile. The customer nodded back in return, and went to take a look at the iPods, who seemed to have already drawn quite a crowd.
"Morning, welcome to-"
It was then Relena felt as if her heart stopped. There he was, Lea, the man of her dreams. It was him, that she fantasized about the previous night. He had taken her out on a date and nearly kissed her when her darn alarm clock rang.
"What a beautiful dream…" she recalled, nearly swooning as he cast a glance over at her. His auburn spiky hair hadn't changed since the day they first met in the Organization. But the tattoos had disappeared. He looked rather odd without them, but Relena could live with it. As long as he was hers, everything was going to be fine.
Even if the 'Fat Moron' came and….
"Relena! I did not pay you to daydream! Get on with your work!" the loud and snappy voice broke into her thoughts. Ienzo, who was in the middle of a conversation with a customer, gave her a look of sympathy.
Lea went off to look at the mp3 players, not paying much attention to her. Relena's heart sank. Why wouldn't he even talk to her? She got along well with him when they were still Nobodies. What was the problem between them? Did he like her or not?
She wanted an answer to her last question. And she wanted it right this very moment, but she knew that the answer would be a straight no. Sighing to herself, she continued with her work without any zest.