**The whole story is in Sasuke's POV
It's been four days now, and every time Hinata has shown up to work extremely tired to the point of taking 3-hour naps. Though she does look pretty cute when she sleeps, I'm starting to get worried about her. What could be making her so tired?
I drove into the parking lot, and parked at my assigned spot. Hinata's spot was 6 or 7 spots away, and when I stood out the door, I noticed her car was absent, nothing there but the silent concrete. This was very unusual, considering Hinata had never missed work.
I headed into the elevator, alone, hitting the button to my floor. I heard someone rudely shout for me to hold the elevator for them, but I didn't care to listen to their plea and let the elevator door close uninterrupted. I really only did something like that for Hinata. On the way up, I prayed Sakura would not appear through those doors. Of course, being the lucky man I am, she did and I had to endure my daily ten minutes of pure Hell.
Walking past the cubicles, employees stuck their head above their office area and asked things such as "Where's hime?" or "Why isn't Hina-chan with you, Uchiha-sama?". It was mostly men asking her whereabouts, which irritated me a bit. Hinata was quite the item of affection for a lot of the men here; they liked to think of her as the hime of the office.
I entered the office with a grunt, dropping my bag somewhere along the way to my desk. I sat down in the chair and logged in my computer like I usually did, glancing over to Hinata's empty desk with a frown. Indeed, I too had to wonder, where was hime?
In a few hours, I went to have a coffee break in the lounge. When I purchased my coffee and went to sit down, I saw Hinata's cousin Neji talking with someone, and thinking he had to know something about Hinata's disappearance, I went to sit somewhere near where I was in range of eavesdropping. "I don't like it when she's gone. The office just isn't as bright without her smile, you know?" The man beside Neji sighed. He was obviously one of Hinata's many admirers. Neji snorted. For some reason, he's never been on good terms with Hinata, but behind her back, he was a caring brotherly figure. He just never showed it. "You should take into consideration to think more of Hinata's well-being, rather than her being here to smile to your liking as a priority," he murmured. "Well, then where is hime?" the man glared. I listened closely. This was it.
"Her mother, my aunt, is gravely ill." Neji spoke nonchalantly taking a sip of his coffee. "She's been on the brink of death, and Hinata has been visiting her for many hours into the night, except today I suppose her absence means she's going to be with her mother upon her passing, which we've all been expecting would be pretty soon. I guess that's today. Hinata would never miss a minute of work otherwise." The man beside him opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish, his brown eyes wide. "Well," he spoke. "Why aren't you there?" Neji scoffed. "Well, it isn't my mother, now is it, Kiba? Why should I care?" The man called Kiba stood and cursed Neji under his breath, departing without another word.
So her mother was dying, I thought. She probably won't show up for another week. I know I didn't show up to school for a month after my mother died. My whole family was murdered, but my mother was genuinely the most important person to me.
I crumpled the empty coffee cup and skillfully tossed it into the garbage. I suppose I should go visit her tomorrow. My conscience wouldn't agree with me if I didn't.
The Next Day
I arrived before her apartment. The apartment complex she lived in was very up-scale that no ordinary middle-class salary could take care of. These were just about the size of the downstairs to a nice house. I jogged up the stairs and passed multiple apartments till I reached hers. And then my heart stopped. What was I doing here in the first place? I stepped away from the door a little bit. We were close, but not this close. I don't think I was close enough to show up to her place and be her shoulder to cry on when her mother passed away. Really, now. I was just her friendly… boss, I thought with a cringe. And isn't it a rule boss's can't have relationships with their employees? I really didn't like that rule. It made the idea of me being with Hinata sound nasty, like I was older than her or something. We were the same age exactly, her birthday only a few months away from mine. Suddenly, without my consent, my arm moved and the hand attached knocked on the door rather loudly. "What the hell?" I thought and glared at the limb. A few seconds later, the dark-wood door creaked open, and all that was visible was the pale hand gripping the side. "Wh… Who's th-the-ere?" I heard Hinata struggle to hiccup between sobs.
"Sasuke," I said, nervously waiting after I had said that for her reaction.
"Uchiha-san…" she replied sadly. "I am sorry I ha-have… not… sh-shown up to…to work…"
"It's okay," I quickly replied. "I came to see how you were doing. I am your friend after all."
"Oh." The door opened all the way, and I saw Hinata, her hair out of its neat ponytail, messy and knotted, tears streaming down her face. She was wearing but a white undershirt and some black shorts. I tried very hard to keep my composure and not jump on her right there when I noticed the white undershirt revealed her large chest, and the black bra showing through a little. "As you can see, Sasuke-kun, I'm quite a mess," she muttered and looked down to her feet. I suppose she began calling me Sasuke-kun (to my liking) when I began speaking to her as a friend and not a co-worker. That, I could get used to.
"Hinata-chan, can I come in?" I asked wearily. It would be perfectly fine if she said no.
"Sure, Sasuke-kun…" Hinata said and let me in, closing the door behind me. I walked beside her to the living room, where I saw a soap opera running and a little bowl of strawberry ice-cream on the coffee table before the TV. We sat down on the dark purple couch together, and as soon as she saw the soap opera a new flood of tears began when she remembered these were to keep her from thinking of her mother.
I really didn't know what to do. "Hinata-chan," I said breathlessly, hopelessly. Her palms covered her eyes and she tried to cry as quietly as she could in vain. This was too much for her. I grabbed both of her hands in my hands to get her to look at me. She sat there, her brows furred, biting her lip to stop her whimpers and eyes wide, staring at me. I leaned in a little bit. And then a little bit more. Her cheeks were growing pink out of my actions, and just as I was getting ready to purse my lips, she dove onto my chest and hugged tightly onto my body. I fell back onto the arm rest, Hinata crying into my shirt with my arms automatically circling around her.
We stayed like this for a while until Hinata stopped crying, but she held on for just a little bit longer, and I really hoped her ears weren't too close to my wildly beating heart. She let go slowly with her bangs covering her eyes. I really couldn't hold just being her boss any more. I used two of my fingers to lift up her chin, and with wide eyes she tried to say my name, but I hushed her with a chaste kiss.
End Chapter 2
I really got into this story and decided to make another chapter in the same day. Haha… whatever. And just to let everyone know, I repeat (from the story), Sasuke is NOT older than Hinata just because he is her boss. Well, technically he is, but only by a few months. Ok? It just felt kind of weird without saying that.
Mata atode !