Chapter 2: Your New Fiance

It was a clean small office. An obese man in his mid forties sat behind a desk littered with trays of paper. His bald forehead shone with beats of sweat as he concentrated on the three computer screens glowing in front him. His fat fingers fumbled at the keyboards. Suddenly the typing noise was interrupted by soft tinkling sounds. It was the third time the door bell had jingled. He glanced up once to watch the petite woman walk in through the door. Then he resumed his typing; his tiny yellow eyes seemingly disinterested.

"Excuse me sir," the woman passed a folded up letter to him. "I was told to wait here for a Mr…?" She bit her lip. "Mr Anonymous it says."

The fat man silently examined the letter, and resumed typing. The woman stood there, waiting silently, her eyes focused directly on the receptionists' bald head as if her brown eyes could bore into his head and force him to say something.

"Mrs Haruhi Fujioka is it?" the man finally said slowly while tapping his cigarette in the ash tray.

"Yes."

"Mr A has passed on the message: Please wait for me."

"Thank you."

The woman took the seat by the far right. The receptionist watched from the corner of his eyes. She was an attractive woman with dreamy brown eyes and beautiful skin. Her eyes were a little sharp however. They looked at everything in the office – from the pristine white walls to the glass doors and gold framed desks and to the famous painting hung up on the left wall. She did not touch the women's fashion and beauty magazines piled up on the waiting office's table.

The clock ticked.

Haruhi sat unmoving on her seat. I can't believe I'm doing this. She wanted to walk out the door straight away and not participate in this phony research project where fiancés were swapped. Only last week had she and her fiancé Kairi been bribed by money to do this unexpected project for a week. However money was scarce for the law student in her final year. Although she had been a waiter around the place, the money earned was barely enough. Yes, she thought, I'm doing this purely for the money. Sad but true.

The minute hand of the intricate gold encased clock ticked again.

Haruhi refrained from showing annoyance on her face. She mentally battered the image of ten thousand yen to herself again and again. It didn't hurt to wait for her new fiancé. In fact if she could earn ten thousand yen by just doing nothing, well then that was a bargain wasn't it?

Haruhi wondered who her new fiancé for a week was. No, she reformed her thoughts, she didn't care at all about her new fiancé. He was simply a man she was going to live for a week and then never see again for the rest of her life. Even if her new fiancé was that obese receptionist, she wouldn't mind a bit. The man she was going to marry at the end of it all was Kairi right?

The clock ticked again.

Haruhi twitched her eyebrows. Who was this guy who was making her wait for so long? The letter she had received was from her new fiancé himself. He had told her to come to this ridiculously ornated and rich working office to meet him. However his receptionist had told her to wait. Haruhi glanced at her own simple watch. She had been waiting for twenty minutes already. The mystery man who had the nerve to call himself Mr Anonymous was no where to be seen.

"Excuse me," Haruhi approached the receptionist again. "But when will this Mr A arrive?"

The man raised his eyebrows. "I have no idea."

Haruhi twitched her eyebrows again. "Is it possible for you to contact him then?"

The receptionist stifled a laugh. "Do you not know who Mr A is? He is an extremely unpredictable man and it is impossible to contact him."

"Oh yes I certainly do know who Mr Anonymous is," Haruhi replied, her tone dripping with sarcasm. "But if Mr A is not going to arrive within 40min or something, I would like to go do some grocery shopping in the meantime."

"Hmm?" the receptionist finally removed his eyes from the computer screen to look at the woman he was talking to. "This building is the base of the clothing company owned by the Hitachiins." He tapped at the logo on the stack of business cards in front of Haruhi. The man's eyes narrowed at the blank look on her face. He continued. "The Hitachiin twins' are extremely famous for their looks, wealth and fame in the fashion world."

Haruhi wrinkled her nose. "I'm sorry but what does this have to do with when Mr A will come to meet me?"

The receptionists evaluated her like a hawk watching a mouse. "It is common knowledge. One of the twins is already married. The other acquired a fiancé a month ago. Everyone else working in the office are men like me or women. Do you know who your new fiancé for the research project is by now?"

"One of the twins?" Haruhi frowned. "But why can't you just call your boss then?"

The receptionist snorted impatiently. "I said he was hard to find."

"Well then," Haruhi made up her mind. "I'm just going to shop for some things and I'll be back."

The door bell jingled again. But before the door closed –

"I'm surprised you don't know anything about the Hitachiins."

"Huh?" Haruhi turned back. The receptionist guy irked her. "Why would I?"

"Don't you want to know more about your new fiancé? I can tell you several things about him."

"No," Haruhi turned around and smiled at the old man receptionist. "Thank you anyway, but if you will excuse me I will take about ten minutes to do some grocery shopping." She turned to press her fingers against the cold glass door.

"Why?" the man asked her sharply.

"I don't really care what my new fiancé for a week is like," Haruhi replied, "after all I'm not going to marry him in the end. And besides," she continued on a softer note, "I'm sure I'll get to know Mr A by the end of this week. Now if you will excuse me, I need to do some grocery shopping."

The glass door shut firmly closed.

The receptionist stared after her. Then after a few minutes, he resumed his typing.


The door of the office jingled a fifth time. This time the petite woman walked in with three plastic bags in her hands.

"Has Mr A kindly arrived yet?" She asked the receptionist. The man did not look at her.

"No," was his blunt reply.

"Please tell Mr A that I am going home and if he still wishes to meet me, he can contact me. Good bye." Haruhi replied just as blunt.

"Wait," the receptionist picked up a piece of paper on his desk. "I have had a message from Mr Hitachiin."

Haruhi paused. "Really?"

"Yes," the man cleared his throat and unfolded the memento with fat fingers. "It says that Mr Hitachiin is late due to having to deal with massive monthly profit from his designs."

"How much money does he make a month?" Haruhi muttered more to herself.

"Millions," the receptionist replied quickly noting the look of shock pass through Haruhi's face. "He also says he had to spend some time with his real fiancé Renee Whittenbury-"

Haruhi frowned. "She's German not Japanese?"

"Yes," the receptionist smiled at the puzzled look on Haruhi's face. "But she speaks Japanese perfectly. She's a famous face in the modeling industry because of her unique beauty."

"What else does Mr Hitachiin have to say?"

The receptionists smiled in satisfaction at her annoyed tone of voice. "He says that after spending time with Renee, he no longer wants to participate in the research project. He has decided not to become the fiancé of a mere commoner for a week."

"Well then, that's just fine," Haruhi replied, her eyes flashing dangerously.

"There is more," The receptionist stood up from his chair and wobbled his way towards the woman. He straightened his silvering moustache. "Mr A is sorry for disrupting the program and has elected someone to take his place as your fiancé for a week."

"Who is it?"

"Myself."

Haruhi stared at the man before her. He was in his forties. His head was bald and he had a disconcerting moustache. His beer gut protruded from his suit. His smile was of satisfaction. His gleaming yellow eyes were full of mockery and anticipation.

Annoying old geezer who has terrible socializing skills and an awful personality. No wonder he isn't married. I wonder how he got this high paid job.

"Well," Haruhi finally spoke. "Let's go then, fiancé." She picked up her grocery bags, opened the door and walked out.

No footsteps followed her.

"Hey, are you coming or not?" Haruhi called out, annoyed.

Heavy footsteps followed her and then stopped. The receptionist was frowning. He looked annoyed himself. He grasped Haruhi's arm in a tight vice like grip.

"What are you doing!?" Haruhi gasped. "It hurts. Let go!"

"You were supposed to wait patiently for famous Hitachiin who just by your extraordinary luck was going to be your fiance for a week," he growled. "You were supposed to be distressed that he was so late. You were supposed to wait for him nevertheless like a desperate guppy. You were supposed to be utterly interested in learning about what the receptionist could offer about him. You were supposed to be angry and jealous towards Renee. You were supposed to be crushed and defeated when he dumped you in that memo. You were supposed to be destroyed when your fiancé was changed to an ugly old man!"

"What are you talking about?" Haruhi shouted. "Let me go!"

The man suddenly smiled. "But I suppose it isn't so bad."

Haruhi stared in shock. Instead of a gruff creaky voice, the voice coming out from the receptionist was completely different!

"I got myself an interesting woman," the young male voice laughed.

Fat fingers reached up to fumble at the receptionists' face. Haruhi felt a sense of dread envelope her. The man pulled his rubber face mask off to reveal vivid red hair and an impossibly handsome face. He peeled his body suit half off. He turned to look at her triumphantly with gleaming gold eyes. Haruhi's memory tittered. I-It's that rich arrogant man I saw on the streets the other day!

He grinned at her shocked expression. He tugged the grocery bags from her hands and chucked them straight into the bin.

"Wh!!"

"We don't need them," he replied smoothly. "Hey," he called out to his real receptionist. "Please book a table for us at that new restaurant."

"Yes Sir."

Haruhi watched stunned as an identical replica of the receptionist (the real one and not a plastic suit) walked off and picked up the telephone. Her new fiancé gripped her chin and forced her to look straight into his half closed gold eyes.

"Fujioka Haruhi, my new fiancé. My name is Hikaru Hitachiin. Pleased to meet you."


A/N: I felt really bad for not updating my fics, so I chose this afternoon to finally write some for this severly abandoned fic. I hoped you liked this chapter!