So I hope everyone liked the first chapter. Once again, here goes the second chapter, tell me what you think.
Chapter 2: Office
"What was Saturday all about?"
"What do you mean?" I asked looking at my brother. Today was Monday and I had come with him to work as usual. Now, I sat down in my brother's office going over papers with him when his secretary Kaho walked in.
"Toya-san?"
"Yes?" I laughed at the two. Kaho was my sister-in-law and while everyone knew that, she acted so aloof at work that the workers constantly made fun of my brother. Said brother turned to glare at me. "Shut up kaijuu."
"Yes Sakura, I see no reason for your laughter. Anyway, I came to remind you that Syaoran Li will be arriving here shortly with his chairman to go over some aspects of the venture. Sakura has already agreed to take over for me during my absence."
"Absence?" Toya asked confused.
"Yes, I'm going to the doctors."
"Why?"
"I'm sick and I wish to go."
"You don't sound sick Kaho."
"Toya I'm going to a gynecologist."
"Why the hell are you going there?" Kaho sighed and massaged her forehead with her fingers, slightly wincing as she did so.
"You dense man who I have taken for a husband, you will not question my actions today. You will stay here, you will have a meeting with Syaoran Li, and you will let Sakura take care of my duties during my absence."
"And you will," Toya countered as he stood up from behind his desk and approached his wife, "tell me exactly why you need to go to."
"I don't know myself you dolt because that's the reason why I'm going there in the first place."
"Then go." Toya stated after a while. Kaho turned quickly and gave her husband and me a fast bye before leaving.
"So, they're coming in about an hour." I stated as I turned to follow Kaho's previous actions.
"You're not going anywhere Sakura. Where were you Saturday night?"
"Why do you need to know?"
"Sakura-" There was a knock on the door and I turned to greet the person who saved me.
"Yukito." I acknowledged.
"Hey Sakura. Toya- Li and Hiragizawa are here."
"Send them in." I held my breath as the men walked in. Syaoran, upon noticing me, gave me a smile.
"Hello Sakura."
"Hi Syaoran." Toya glared at me before responding.
"I see you've met my sister Li."
"Yes, Saturday night, she had some car trouble. So, what exactly was wrong with your car?"
"I don't know, something to do with the engine."
"Sorry." Syaoran turned to my brother. "It's nice to meet you in a business setting Kinomoto."
"You as well." Toya held out his hand and the animosity displayed by him resonated through the room as Syaoran shook his hand.
"I'll go now." I announced slipping away and sighing when I was free. Taking my allotted position at Kaho's desk, I noticed her note.
Do not tell him: I want to be assured and then I'll tell him.
I let out a slight grimace before continuing on the work Kaho had left me. It was simple accounting, something I prided myself at being an expert at. I finished in a half-hour as Toya beeped me on the intercom.
"Hello?"
"Kaijuu, get us some drinks."
"Why?"
"Cause you're currently my secretary."
"Okay." I made my way to the break room at the end of the hall and made tea for the four inside before making an extra cup for myself. Once done, I walked back into Toya's office as they went over some budget restrictions.
"I don't see why we have to combine these." Yukito questioned.
"It's easier with the budget crisis occurring now," Syaoran responded. He then turned to his friend, Hiragizawa I think, who spoke up.
"With my calculations if we allowed the teams to work together, they would get the same amount of work done, if not more, and the resources allocated wouldn't be doubled up often."
"I see but do they really need to move?" My brother asked taking his cup of tea.
"Well-" the other party seemed lost so I cleared my throat attracting attention.
"Is there something you need Sakura?" Syaoran asked.
"May I offer some quick insight?"
"Of course." Yukito answered.
"Well, obviously if the two teams are working together someone from the Amamiya team needs to move to Hong Kong and someone from the Li team needs to move here. It helps interaction, worker productivity, and eliminates cultural barriers."
"Wonderful!" The blue-haired man stated. "She's got a wonderful point."
"Yes but she has no idea what she's talking about." Toya replied.
"Huh?"
"Naoko and Rika are getting new jobs and they were the ones supposed to move. Grandpa found someone to replace them but I don't know if they'd be okay to moving."
"Who?" I asked. The company was as much my problem as Toya's.
"You and Tomoyo." I let the news sink in before squealing.
"You mean Tomoyo and I might move to Hong Kong?"
"Sakura-"
"Tell Grandpa I accept!"
"Well I don't!"
"Grandpa does so ha!" I walked out of the room feeling giddy and immediately called my friend.
"Hello?"
"Tomoyo, you know how you were planning on closing the store this week?"
"Sakura, it's closed and I'm emptying it right now."
"Well anyway, Grandpa found a job for you."
"Really?" She asked excited.
"Rika and Naoko are quitting, so that means two new jobs in accounting and you know Grandpa himself hires those higher-level jobs."
"So you mean?" Tomoyo asked understanding where this was going.
"Yes, and guess what?"
"What?"
"Accounting is the area that's hit really hard with the smaller budget so they're pooling resources together and some accounting people have to move and our jobs-"
"They require us to move?"
"Yes."
"Where?" I could hear Tomoyo's anxiety.
"To Hong Kong." I pulled the phone away from my ear as Tomoyo squealed.
"Sakura, this is amazing!" She stated after a while.
"I know."
"We are celebrating tonight."
"Okay."
"Well, I have to go, so see you tonight. I still can't believe it."
"Me neither. Hey Tomoyo, Grandpa's coming."
"Right. Bye Saks."
"Bye Moyo." I hung up the phone as I saw my grandpa walk down the hall. He finally looked up, smiling as he approached me.
"Kaho's at the doctor's isn't she?"
"Yes."
"I always wondered when she and Toya would give me grandchildren."
"Well, you know now. But don't tell Toya, she's keeping it a secret until tonight." Grandpa nodded, motioning with his staff to the door.
"What's in there?"
"They're talking about budget cuts."
"Ah. Have they mentioned the accounting department yet?"
"Yes."
"So you know?"
"Yes. And I told Tomoyo."
"Hmm. I'll go inside then Sakura."
"Alright Grandpa." I pulled up more files that were marked with instructions and idly passed another hour away. Hence, I was frightened hearing Syaoran's voice right next to mine.
"Excuse me?" I asked, not having heard him the first time.
"I said, are you free on Friday?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Do you want to hang out? We could have dinner and watch a movie or something. You know as friends." I groaned inwardly as he tacked on the ending words. I thought about if for a moment before answering as Toya walked out.
"Sure."
"Great. So, what'd you do yesterday?"
"You pretty much-" I noticed Toya's presence so I quickly altered the story, "ran into me and my father yesterday so you know Syaoran." Syaoran nodded before looking at the time and back at me.
"What are you doing the rest of the day?"
"Kaho's going to be back soon, and then I'll have nothing to do."
"Do you want to join Eriol and I for lunch?"
"Sure." It was better than eating lunch by myself and having Toya's constant probing into my relationship.
"Let's go then." I nodded grabbing my things and following him to the elevators.
Toya stared at me as we ate dinner. Kaho had already broken the news to him and as much as he was happy at being a dad, he was still angry at me.
"How do you know him?" my brother interrogated.
"He helped me out Saturday when my car broke down."
"Sakura, what is your relationship with that man?"
"There is nothing going on between us."
"On the contrary Sakura-" Grandpa spoke up this time, "I'd like to know too." I sighed defeated. Gathering my courage, I took a deep breath and spoke.
"We had a one-night stand."
"You're too friendly for a one-night stand." I shot a desperate look at Kaho who responded with a curious look.
"Look, it was an accident, and as mature adults we both decided to move on, be friends, and pretend that it never happened." I stood up and left the dining room catching the remnants of the conversation.
"I wish she'd make better decisions." My grandfather stated with a sigh, "Especially when we're hoping for that."
"You know very well that I won't force Sakura into marriage with that Gaki!" Toya yelled. I listened curious as to the direction that the conversation was going in.
"Toya, Yelan and I could care less if the two married. We just know that a marriage between the two would make the venture easier to handle."
My eyes widened and I remained shocked at the news I'd just heard. I shouldn't have been surprised though, I'd finally stepped into the life of the elite: a life that included secret meetings that sealed someone's life away for good.
"So," Tomoyo stated as we ate lunch on the torpid Wednesday afternoon, "you two are hanging out Friday?"
"Yes."
"You know Sakura, I'd say that guy was into you." I sighed, taking another bite of my pasta: my comfort food.
"That's what I don't get. Are we friends? Or is he leading me on?"
"Why don't you ask him?"
"Are you crazy Tomoyo?" I hissed playing with my fork, "You can't just do that."
"I did and I landed myself a man Sakura. Seriously, you need to learn to take initiative." I nodded my head before shooing the conversation to a different topic.
"You have a man?"
"Eriol. You've met him haven't you?"
"Since when?" I asked disregarding her last statement.
"Same night as you and Syaoran, except we chose to stay." I groaned and looked away to catch the sight of Eriol.
"What's he doing here?"
"I invited him." I stood up leaving the remaining half of my pasta untouched. I wasn't really hungry anyway. "Where are you going Sakura?"
"Back to work." Tomoyo only nodded at me and I walked out, discreetly nodding to acknowledge Eriol's presence. He smiled back and I walked to the elevator.
I made my way to the new office that Grandfather had moved me too. It was cozy, but I was still personalizing it. I expected lunch to slip my mind but bad luck reared it's ugly head in my direction and I saw the object of the lunch conversation lounging outside my door.
"Hello." I stated moving aside and entering hoping he would take the cue to follow.
"Hello to you too." Syaoran followed me and took a seat in front of my desk as I stood behind it.
"Is there something you wanted to talk about?" I asked nervously reorganizing papers.
"Yeah. I wanted to know where you wanted to meet Friday. It's two days away so we could eat out at a restaurant. I could make reservations." I looked up and blurted out the thought plaguing me.
"Why do you want to hang out with me?"
"Well, Eriol's got a girlfriend, I'm bored, and we're friends. I figure why not?" I bit my lip and inwardly sighed, something I'd been doing quite often recently.
"Okay. I don't really care what we do Friday."
"Then how about we get together at your place? You've already been to mine and I've yet to see yours." I closed my eyes and seethed inwardly at Li. What was it about this man that made everything he say be taken out of context?
"Sure what time?" I asked, opening my eyes, now that I was calm.
"Seven okay with you? You could provide dinner, I'll bring dessert and a movie."
"Sure Syaoran." Said man stood up, walking out. Before he left, he turned back to me.
"See you Sakura." I nodded my head seeing him dissappear around the corner and then sank into my chair. Why couldn't he just leave me alone?
So what do you think? Sakura's infatuation shows itself, or at least to us readers. The dramatic irony shall continue into next chapter before Syaoran realizes something: whether it be Sakura's feelings or his own, I don't know. Anyway, tell me what you think.
Please review ^_^ (I'm shooting for ten or (more) if possible ^_^.)
Kaoruhana ^_^