A/N: Hello! I'm back again! I know this update is later than usual (I try once a week, Saturday to Sunday). I worked on a one-shot for another story that I wanted to try and write out. It worked, so yay! The weekend was rather busy too. Anyway, the biggest problem was that the original chapter 4 turned out to be over 4,000 words... and I thought that too long. So I figured out where to cut it off. Next: I want to thank you all for your support! Your reviews put smiles on my face :D! Thanks for the favs and follows too :)! Finally: Because I am a little late and I have the other chapter ready anyway, it's a double update :)! (So chapter 6 will probably be next week as well). Enjoy the read! Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko! Only my imagination:)!
Maybe she wasn't fully awake yet. Had she heard that correctly? She replayed the voicemail, but didn't make out any different words. The only question she wanted answered this very moment was: How did William find out about her being together with Ulrich? Actually, she was pretty mad that he left a voicemail like that. When she had listened again, she noticed that he was drunk. He hadn't spoken in a coherent way. Yumi called him, ready to demand answers.
"Hello," she heard his croaky voice say. Evidently, he had been woken up by the call.
"Hello William," Yumi responded, setting a harsh tone. It seemed to work. William sounded more energetic directly after.
"What's up?" He said. Yumi was astonished at his normal voice.
"Nothing much. I was trying to figure out your reason for calling me fifteen times when I was obviously asleep!" She stressed.
"Huh? I did?" He sounded truly confused. "I'm sorry, I must have been in some crazy mood. I drank a lot last night. I don't remember a thing," he explained, a tiredness to his voice.
"Are you serious?" Yumi was stunned.
"Yeah… how was yesterday? Did you have fun?" He asked softly.
She nodded, forgetting he couldn't see her. "Uhm, yes… I had a… great time," she hesitantly replied. Yumi instantly sensed William was lying. She had come to known him pretty well during the past years. William never forgot anything he did when he had been drunk. No one could understand how he did that, but it was his weird talent.
"Can we talk later? My mother is calling me. I'd better answer," he quickly said, sounding like he wanted to cut the conversation short. She thought it strange.
"Sure, maybe you should rest more after. You sound tired," Yumi hoped he wouldn't set this aside. She had a right to know the reason for his actions last night.
"Will do, thanks, bye," were the last words she heard before he hung up.
She threw her phone on her bed and let herself fall onto it as well. Somehow she still felt exhausted. So, she fell asleep again.
It was Yumi's turn to be awoken by a phone call. The screen displayed 'Ulrich Stern', but she didn't notice. "Hmm? This is Yumi," she mumbled. Laughter was heard on the other side. "You're asleep? Did you forget I was going to walk you through all tasks you're expected to handle starting after New Year's?" Ulrich asked. "Hmm? Ulrich? What's wrong?" Yumi's voice was so soft Ulrich had to concentrate hard to be able to hear it. "You are late," he stated. This time it got through to you the Japanese woman.
"WHAT?! What time is it?" She checked her clock, seeing 09:38AM. "I'm sorry, I'll be there as quickly as I can," Yumi affirmed.
"Don't worry, I won't tell on you," he teased. Yumi rolled her eyes. Of course, he wouldn't. He'd be telling himself. He was her boss after all.
"I'm hanging up, see you later," Yumi informed. She raced through her apartment and readied herself in fifteen minutes. She eyed her kitchen, contemplating whether she should make some sandwiches. "I'll buy something in the cafeteria," she decided.
She hastily walked inside and zoomed right past Kelly, but not without waving at the girl. It was her first week without Yumi there to help her, so hopefully her training had been enough.
Yumi knocked on the door to Ulrich's office. Technically it was their office, since she would be situated in the room next to Ulrich's. You'd have to go through Yumi's office to get to Ulrich. "Come in," was the response to her action.
"Good morning," she greeted him. He still looked great, but the first thing she noticed was that he was wearing the watch she had bought him the day before the concert. The strap and display background were pitch black, whereas the rim around the watch crystal had a golden colour. The numbers and dots were white (they would glow in the dark). Finally the clockwork's hands were his last Lyoko outfit's yellow colour. She thought the watch suited him better than she had imagined it would.
"Good morning," he replied, seeing she was looking at his wrist, "I stared at this while reprimanding you for your tardiness." He lifted his wrist a little, shaking it for dramatic effect earning a chuckle from her. "I'm glad you like it," she told him. "I liked the other one even more," Ulrich revealed. Yumi made a show of closing the door to hide her blush, again. Ulrich smiled at her when she turned around again. It only made the blush resurface. "Cute," he whispered, though she didn't hear.
"Okay, so here's what we'll do the next days. I'll be introducing you in every department as my secretary. That way, they know who they can turn to when I'm not around or not available. Though you'll most likely be speaking to the team leaders the most. You already know them, which speeds things up. And I want you to meet a few people, so we'll be visiting other companies too," he explained.
Yumi nodded in understanding. She took off her jacket and dropped it onto her chair together with her bag. Double checking whether her pass was around her neck, she took her phone and waited for Ulrich to lead her out.
They visited all departments and Yumi roughly got an overview in her head of what the most important goals of each department were and how they were expected to uphold those. She never failed to notice the scrutinizing stares of employees or the way some whispered behind her back while clearly looking at her. She wouldn't let it faze her, but her thoughts flowed around nevertheless. "Rumours sure travel fast. It's actually plain stupid. Why can't they just leave me alone? Do they think I'm not capable enough?"Yumi recalled all the times when she was handed paperwork to copy. She had taken her time to do so and read through all the work. Why wouldn't she? She had claimed to herself it was merely to investigate the company she worked for, getting to know it inside out. She had spotted countless of careless faults. Weird ideas. Bad lay-outs. Half-hearted work. And these people had the nerve to judge her? At least she was always giving it her all.
When they arrived at their last stop of the day, she had to admit she was feeling a little tired. More mentally than physically. The only place left was ground floor's main office. Ulrich gathered the team leaders together and when he was their centre of attention he spoke up. "Today I've been formally introducing Yumi Ishiyama as my secretary. As you all must have heard, she will officially start after New Year's. This week I'll be preparing her for the job. Also, I have heard some rumours going around. So I want to draw a clear line, which you may relay to your respective teams. Nor did Yumi Ishiyama receive any preferential treatment, nor did I help her get to this position. It was a decision based entirely on her excellent posture when she executed her tasks. In a calm and proper manner. If any of you wish to speak their minds, feel free to schedule an appointment with the director to ask for reasons. That's up to you. I don't want to hear a single complaint about who got which job and who didn't, from now on. Are we clear?" Ulrich finished his speech. The rhetorical question hung in the air, although mumbles of "yes, sir" were heard here and there.
Yumi had not moved from her position next to him. But she hadn't dared to look at the team leaders in front of her either. Somehow, this was on a higher scale than the other workers. These people were friends with ex-candidates for her position. It was a totally different issue. She had been very surprised Ulrich had addressed the matter at hand. However, she knew they would take it as "only another speech of some manager". It didn't erase her worries. She was taken out of her thought spiral once again when Ulrich asked her to introduce herself.
"I will do my best to help you all out. I'm always eager to learn something new. So I look forward to working with each of you," she kept it short. After some closing words from Ulrich, they headed for their office. When she closed the door, she heard them starting to talk about her. She tried her best not to pay attention.
"Are you okay?" Ulrich asked her when they returned. He had noticed her constant frowns and deep-in-thought expressions during every mini break in between departments. "Yes, no problem at all, sir," she joked. "Don't say that," he warned her. "I wanted to show you a good place to get your lunch, it's close to the company. But I told the director I'd give him a status update around 01:00 PM and we're already over time," he saw it was fifteen minutes later. "It's fine, we'll go another day. I'll go to the cafeteria today," Yumi said, thinking about stopping by Kelly afterwards. "Okay, see you later," he gave a small wave and left. She closed the door behind her and left as well.
"The cafeteria is currently under maintenance. We will be closed for two days. Our apologies for any inconveniences" read the text on the door when Yumi reached the cafeteria. "Great." Her stomach kept rumbling. "No choice, I'll go out then," she sighed. Remembering to stop by Kelly, she greeted the bubbly girl again. "Welcome, how may I help you?" She asked, grinning when she saw it was her former 'boss'. "You look happy, any special reason?" Yumi asked her friend. "Nothing, I'm just a little giddy because Odd planned out a special date. I don't know what got into him, usually he does things on the spur of the moment. He's keeping it a secret though," she told her. Yumi had to smile seeing her friend so happy, but felt another sting when Odd was mentioned. Maybe she should tell Kelly that she knew Odd after all.
"You know, Kelly, I have to tell you something," Yumi began, taking a deep breath. "Hey Yumi!" She heard a voice say. When she turned around, William was standing there, dressed casually in black sneakers, a pair of jeans and a blue jacket over a black shirt. His hair was a complete mess. "William! What are you doing here?" She asked him, more surprise in her voice about the fact that he should be at his parents' place than the fact that he was here. "Not happy to see me?" He faked sadness. "That's not it," she shook her head, "I thought you were still with your family," she said. "I escaped," he said, making it sound like the most logical thing anyone would do. Yumi rose one eyebrow and William went on the defensive. "My mother said she was grateful I spent Christmas with the family but thought that my girlfriend must be feeling lonely and she allowed me to go back. So I gladly went with that option," he said.
"Kelly, I'll talk to you again, okay?" The girl nodded. "I haven't had lunch yet. Since you desperately wanted to spent time with me, you can buy me lunch," she commanded. "Yes ma'am," he suavely agreed and led the way. She laughed. Yumi had to admit that she had missed William a little. He always had such a laid back attitude that it diverted her attention away from her daily stress. But as the two of them walked outside, somewhere in the back of her mind she thought about how she hadn't been lonely all the time this weekend. Besides that, she was sure she would enjoy her work again as much as she had when she trained Kelly.
A/N: I know the next chapter is up, but please put your small thoughts about this chapter in a little review :)!
