Ritsu kept her head down as she entered the Emerald Department. No one has come in today, which was a good thing for her because she needs some alone time to finish the last pages of the manuscript before the deadline. The sooner she finishes, the sooner she can transfer to the Literature Department.

"Onodera."

Ritsu looked up to see Takano at the entrance staring at her. Not wanting to be rude, she nodded her head in greeting, "Good morning, Takano-san." she said before going back to her work, staying focused in order to try and be ahead of schedule.

Masamune kept his eyes on her from the entryway, still wondering what she was doing outside of his apartment yesterday. Moving to stand behind her, he looked over her shoulders to see her work on her storyboards with the vengeance, completely ignoring him.

Not being one to pass up the opportunity to have some alone time with his Ritsu, he laid his large hands on her shoulders and proceeded to give her a rub, finding knots that should not be present, "You slept on the floor again, didn't you, Ritsu?" Masamune guessed, massaging the knots out of Ritsu's muscles, making the woman groan in relief as the tension started to leave her body.

Ritsu chose to ignore his hands as she worked, "This time, it was against the wall. Now leave me alone while I finish my work, it's too early for you to be doing this right now." she said, trying to sound pissed off, but his hands were doing wonders to her aching shoulders.

Masamune wrapped his arms around Ritsu's front, making her gasp as he settled his head on her shoulder, close to her neck. Ritsu blushed at their proximity and turned her head to glare at her boss, "Do you need hearing aides as well, I told you to leave me alone."

Masamune didn't respond, instead, he nuzzled the tender spot on her neck that always drove her nuts. She gasped, gripping her pencil as Masamune began to kiss her neck, "Takano-san, we're at work, now is not the time. Let me do my job please." Ritsu protested as Masamune began to nibble on her ear and blew in it, making her gasp again.

"Does that mean we can do this when we get home?" He whispered in her ear teasingly.

Ritsu went red in the cheeks, "That's not what I meant." she exclaimed, trying to pull his arms away from her, "Someone might walk in."

Masamune smiled into her neck, "It's an hour until everyone arrives. This is the earliest I've seen you come here." he said, enjoying the feeling of her against his body.

Ritsu gritted her teeth, not wanting to give in to him, "Yeah, well, some of us would like to take our job seriously. So if you don't mind, I would be happy if I finish this immediately before the deadline." she growled, which in Masamune's opinion, made her sound sexy, but chose not to comment.

His hands traveled down her front, creeping into her shirt to caress her skin, "Don't rush things, just take your time to process and work things through." he said, rubbing her belly sensually and tenderly.

The moment he started rubbing her belly, Ritsu snapped out of it. With surprising speed and strength, she pulled his arms off of her, stood up from her chair and slapped him as she turned around. The sound of her hand coming in contact with his cheek echoed off the walls and made him turn his head to the right from the force.

Ritsu gasped and covered her mouth when she realized what she had just done. Masamune touched the part that stung from Ritsu's hand before staring at her in shock, not expecting her to slap him with such force.

Ritsu took a step back at the look of hurt in her ex's eyes before sprinting off to the restroom, not wanting to be in the same area as him.

Slamming the door and locking it behind her, she panted as she leaned over the sink, not really understanding why she did what she did. Tears came to her eyes once more as her hormones began to take hold of her again. Splashing water on her face, she washed away any upcoming tears that wished to come out of her eyes as she sniffled.

Looking into the mirror above the sink, she saw more bags under her eyes than was normal. Ritsu looks and feels excessively tired now with her pregnancy combined with the stress of work. Stepping away from the sink, she turned to the side and lifted the bottom of her shirt to touch her belly, noticing the subtle changes in her body, but not enough to draw attention...yet.

She also noticed that her breasts got a little bigger due to her pregnancy and cursed feeling how sore they are. 'Great, just great. This will really be fun.' she thought sarcastically, already dreading the cravings, bad smells from one of her favorite foods, aching feet, and losing her ability to sleep on her stomach in the next few months.

She let out a breath as she pulled her shirt down to hide her belly before splashing more water on her face to cool her heated face as she stared at herself in the mirror, "You can do this Ritsu. You can get through this." she took a deep breath, "Just one soon-to-be swollen foot in front of the other." she said as she made her way to the door before unlocking it.

She cracked it open, keeping an eye out for her boss. When she saw that it was clear, she silently made her way back to her department. Arriving at her department, she saw Masamune working at his spot, his cheek still bright red. The moment he looked up, she turned her face down as she sat in her chair to continue working, not wanting to meet his eyes.

Soon enough, the floor was filled editors, but that didn't ease her nerves at all when she felt Masamune's eyes searing holes into her head. Every time someone asked about what happened to his cheek, she would go red with embarrassment when he said a cute girl got mad at him. Oh how she wanted to beat him to a bloody pulp just now.

After a long day, she faxed her edited manuscript to Mutou two days earlier before the deadline. This in turn earned her a few days off by Isaka who was very impressed with her effort and dedication. Ritsu almost jumped for joy when she was allowed to leave early. After picking up a transfer request application, she was inside the elevator ready to go home and fill out the application and figure out a place to live.

Pressing the first floor button, the doors started to close, "Hold that elevator!" Masamune exclaimed stopped the doors from closing with his hands before stepping inside. He stood beside Ritsu who nodded in acknowledgement before ignoring him, hoping that he would keep to himself this time.

"Onodera, I've been meaning to ask, what were you doing outside my apartment last night?" Masamune asked, turning his head in Ritsu's direction.

Ritsu blushed and clutched her bag tightly, "I don't know what you're talking about." she denied, refusing to look at him.

"You're a terrible liar." Masamune said, smirking lightly.

Her blush deepened as she turned her head to the side, away from Masamune, "Whether you believe me or not is your problem." she said, feeling foolish about last night, wishing she didn't approach his door.

Masamune merely stared at her, never did he take his eyes off her all day, noticing how her hands shook as she did her work and how pale she looked lately. Stepping towards her, he turned her around and placed his hand on her forehead, "What the hell are you doing?" Ritsu said, slapping his hand away from her forehead and taking a step back, keeping her eye on Masamune.

Masamune remained stoic as he stared at Ritsu, "You're sick, aren't you?" He asked watching Ritsu's reaction that turned from confusion to shock, "Wha-What are you talking about?" she asked, feeling caught.

Masamune narrowed his eyes at her, "Don't play dumb, something happened before you came home yesterday, didn't it?" he asked, backing her against the wall of the elevator.

Ritsu stared up at Masamune nervously, feeling cornered, again. "I don't see how it's any of your business what I do in my private life." she said, looking away from him, choosing to stay firm and not give in.

Masamune took her chin and forced her to look at him, "It is my business when it involves you. If someone's bothering you, I have to know." Masamune said, not very happy with the possibility of someone touching what was his.

Ritsu pushed his hand away and glared up at him, "No one is bothering me, aside from you. So don't play the hero, I don't have time for this." she said before trying to move around him, but he caged her in with his arms on each side of her on the wall.

"Damit Takano-san." She said glaring at the taller man who had her trapped as she tried to push his arms away.

Masamune remained unmoving, "Tell me what's going on, and I'll let you go."

Ritsu glared at him for awhile before letting out an exasperated breath, "Fine. I've been thinking long and hard about this, and I've decided to transfer to the Literature Department." Masamune's eyes widened, "It's not healthy for me to work in the same area as my ex who doesn't have a clue what personal space is and constantly trying to get into my pants. While I appreciated the opportunity to learn new things in publishing, I have to say that I must resign from Emerald and pursue my career in publishing literature." Ritsu said, feeling like she was swallowing acid.

Masamune could've sworn that his heart was being torn out of his chest as he listened to her explanation. This was just like before, only this time, they'll still be in the same building, except he won't be watching her from now on.

He slid his hands from the wall to her elbows, holding her as he stared down at her, "So you're gonna leave, just like that." he asked, an underline of emotions creeping in his voice.

Ritsu swallowed the lump in her throat at the sound of Masamune's voice, "Not immediately, I'm going to finish publishing Mutou-sensei's book. But after that, I'm gone. She did fine before I came here, so she's in good hands." she said, trying to keep her voice even and her emotions under control as she stared up at Masamune.

His grip on her arms tightened slightly, "Last night?" he asked, referring to her standing outside his apartment.

Ritsu felt like she was breaking apart, but she refused to show any form of weakness in front of him, "It was a lapse of judgement on my part, I thought of informing you of my decision last night, but then I figured that it was never your concern in the first place. I'm sorry if I disturbed you last night, but my decision is final." she said, trying to remain impassive, even as she trembled under his gaze.

Masamune stayed silent, feeling sick to his stomach at her words. Not being able to control himself, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her, pouring all his emotions into that kiss to prevent himself from crying out loud.

Ritsu was at first shocked by the ferocious kiss before remembering where they were as she struggled to push him away. Her eyes averted to which floor the elevator is and saw that they were rapidly approaching the first floor. Masamune pulled away and took a step away from her just as the elevator dinged before the doors opened and she was out the doors.

She speed walked to the front door entrance, not wanting to draw attention to herself, but also not wanting her boss to catch up to her. As soon as she was outside the building, she clutched her chest in an attempt to calm her heart that wanted to jump out of her chest and run. She calmed somewhat before walking to the train station in order to get home and figure out where she has to move, trying to ignore the aching feeling in her chest.

Masamune can't catch a break, can he. I hope you liked this chapter. Thank you to those who reviewed and followed this story, it has made me happy.