So since I'm stuck at home for being sick, I decided to be productive instead of lying in bed the whole night. It's 12 midnight now and I decided to update since I'm too busy at work to do any writing. To make up for the long absence, here's a long chapter for you guys!
Enjoy!
Xoxo Lexi1989
Previously:
"The board members will be coming in soon. They are just finishing a prior scheduled meeting."
"Thank you."
"Also, I was asked to bring you some refreshments." The woman handed over two coffees in to-go cups."
"Please send my thanks to the board members." Mikan said as she sipped the coffee that was provided to her.
It was a white choco-mocha with a hint of caramel sauce. Just the way she liked it.
CHAPTER 3: OPPORTUNITIES
THREE HOURS AGO (PRESENT TIME)
Natsume storms towards the office across from his, located on the penthouse floor of the building. His brows are furrowed and his anger was clear on his face as employees walking the hallway parted wordlessly like the the Red Sea to let him through.
He ignores the petite but stuttering secretary that tries in vain to stop him from entering the plush office suite.
"Hyuuga-sama! Sh-she t-told m-me not t-to let any—anyone in." He brushes past the secretary who looked as if she was close to tears. He feels a small twinge of guilt at the sight of the watery eyed secretary. His partner was notorious for being cold and harsh to her secretaries. He turned towards her and told her he would take care of his partner's wrath and she returned to her seat with a look of relief but still a small feeling of apprehension.
He opened the interior door, his angry momentum clearly lost with the short act of kindness to the secretary outside. The occupant of the office only briefly looked up from the neat desk where she was busy typing on a state of the art laptop and went back to her work.
"Hyuuga." Hotaru Imai's voice was calm and collected just like any other day. As if nothing out of the ordinary was happening today. And it was that, that pushed him to burst out like a ball of flame.
"Did you know about this?" He said in between clenched teeth.
"About what?" She took off her computer glasses and placed them gently in the designated case.
"Don't play dumb with me Imai."
"You asked me a dumb vague question. It's only fair I give you a 'dumb' answer." She said emotionlessly. He wondered how she could keep it together at a time like this. It was as if she didn't care at all. But then again, that was how she had always been back in the day.
"Did you know about Mikan coming here today?" Even just saying her name took a toll in him. He had not spoken about her for years now. But it did not mean he didn't think about her. Not that he ever told anyone.
"Yes." She locked the screen on her laptop and walked behind a small Japanese screen that acted as a partition for her small kitchen nook in her office suite. She detested the generic office coffee and felt like ordering her secretaries to purchase coffee from Starbucks would be a waste of their time and productivity. Instead she would purchase her preferred choice of coffee beans and brewed them up in her office. She poured herself a cup of her favorite coffee and offered him a cup which he declined.
"And you didn't think that would be an important fact to tell me?" He was clenching his fist and fighting to control his voice. She sat down on a plush sofa she had on the other side of the office and sipped her coffee before answering, prolonging his anguish.
"By the way you're reacting to this certain piece of news, my decision to not tell you personally justifies it. And I did mention it on the report that Shizune put on your desk last night."
"When I wasn't here to read it." He physically face palmed himself and started pacing the office.
"It's not my fault your fiancée wants you to eat every meal of the day with her." She rolled her eyes and continued sipping on her coffee as he paced. It had been awhile since she had seen him shook up like this and she secretly enjoyed watching him suffer for a little bit. When she'd had enough of his pacing, she cleared her throat and gave him the information that he missed by going out to dinner with Sumire last night.
"Li Enterprises informed me of this matter two weeks ago. Sakura Kinomoto personally video-called and informed me she would be sending her best team to us in her place. She had some personal matters to attend to and by that I think proves the rumors from Hong Kong that the heir of Li Enterprises, Li Syaoran was planning to elope with her. I personally think they are well suited for each other. Such a headstrong, young, business minded couple… " She was laughing inside at Natsume's outburst cutting her off.
"I don't care for gossip from the business tabloids, Imai. Why is she here?" She maintained her stoic composure throughout the conversation despite the glee she felt inside at seeing him squirm.
"Well if you haven't figured it out by now. Mikan has been in Hong Kong all these years. I've heard Kinomoto mentioning her assistant's name a few times during our random calls. When I asked her about it two months ago, she told me Mikan's story." She paused to look up at him as if waiting for a cue to continue. When he didn't complain, she proceeded.
"Mikan started off as an intern in their company, eventually becoming her assistant in a span of three years. She's Kinomoto's right hand and part of the research and marketing team that put up this proposal. And now she's here to present this business proposal to us. She's here on business. She's not haunting your past. And besides, you're engaged to be married. Her presence shouldn't be an issue to this meeting." She placed her empty coffee cup on the coffee table in front of the sofa and studied his reaction.
"Of course not." Natsume composed himself and nodded. It was like a switch was flipped and his logical side took over. But he knew he could never fool Imai after that outburst he had let loose a while ago.
He turned to leave but paused as he heard her call out to her just as he was closing the door behind him.
"Hyuuga. Meeting is at 4pm. Don't be late."
He shut the door behind him and headed to his office and locked himself in there. He had a lot of thinking to do.
It's fifteen minutes before four o'clock in the afternoon. The research and marketing team from Li Enterprises are assembled and preparing their documents for the presentation. One of the newer interns places binders in front of the chair where the board members of HIN-TECH would be sitting in. The tech guy fires up the projector and an junior assistant goes through the order of the slides they would be showing. At ten minutes to four, everything is declared good to go except for one thing. The person leading their presentation was missing.
Mikan fought the urge to scream in the bathroom. She had slipped quietly out of the conference room minutes earlier. She felt like she needed some air but since she didn't have the time to go down forty floors to get to the building's garden, she'd settled for the bathroom. She thought she was prepared for any scenario but the cup of coffee (refer to chapter 2) shook her to the very core.
She splashed water on her face to cool down her blushing face then wiped it with a paper towel. She shook her head.
"Keep it together Mikan. Hotaru could have sent it down. She knows your favorites." She said to herself as she began to hurriedly reapply her make-up.
'But it could very well have been him.' A small voice in the back of her mind told her and she cursed under her breath as she accidentally messed up and smudged her eyeliner.
She grabbed a wet wipe from her purse and cleaned out the mess before fixing it.
'But he's getting married. He probably doesn't care about you anymore.' She hated this. That internal conflict that just wouldn't shut up and go away.
'To that noisy, permed green haired girl back in college.' She rolled her eyes involuntarily. She didn't hate Sumire Shouda but she had been an old nuisance back in the day when Natsume and Mikan were still dating.
'You ran away from him. You don't get a say on who he should marry. You had your chance. You blew it. Now you have to face him professionally. Once this meeting is done, you can go back to your nice flat in Hong Kong and your nice life and forget about him.' She took a deep breath and glanced at her watch. Five minutes to go.
She grabbed her clutch and walked confidently back the way she came, and stood at the head of the conference table where Ruka and Hotaru just arrived and were taking their seats. Ruka gave her a thumbs up gesture and Hotaru opted to ignore her.
Despite knowing ahead of time, Hotaru made no move to contact her directly even if she could have asked Miss Kinomoto for her number. She could have cited reasons associated to their business meeting but she decided that the things she had to say to Mikan would best be said in person and behind closed doors.
Mikan cringed inside when she saw how Hotaru acted as if she didn't know her from the past and glanced towards the only empty chair in the room. As the clock struck fifteen minutes past four, there was no sign of him coming and she breathed a heavy sigh of relief that did not go unnoticed by Hotaru nor Ruka.
"You can start." Hotaru said her business voice.
"Good afternoon Miss Imai, Mr. Nogi. On behalf of Li Enterprises - " Her introduction was cut-off as the door to the conference room opened and in came the person she dreaded seeing the most.
Natsume sauntered in without a care in the world that he was late. And on his arm was none other than his fiancée Sumire. Mikan fought hard not to visibly flinch as she saw how Sumire's arm was linked to Natsume's. She had perfected the art of coolness in times of crisis and this time though, it failed her. It was only a fraction of a second, but it did not escape the eagle eyed observation of her former best friend. Hotaru noted that interesting reaction and filed it in the back of her head for when the time came that she could ask Mikan questions. For now she simply kept quiet and watched the tension filled scenario before her unfold.
"Sorry we're late. We got stuck in traffic." Sumire said with a wave of her hand. The secretary filling in for Natsume quickly exited the room and came back with a chair for her.
"Not to worry Miss Shouda, I was just starting." Mikan said cooly and Sumire squinted at her, surprised that she knew her name.
"How do you know my name? Honey who is she?" Sumire turned towards Natsume who was about to answer when Hotaru interjected with a question of her own.
"Why is Shouda in this meeting, Hyuuga?" There was no hiding the obvious loathing in Hotaru's voice.
"She's a major stockholder, she wanted to sit in on the meeting today. Is that a problem Imai?" He retorted with a raised brow.
"Well if it's not a problem for Miss Sakura, it's fine with me. She is presiding this meeting after all."
"Certainly not a problem. And before we begin, I'd like to introduce myself and my team. My name is Mikan Sakura, Senior Marketing Manager for Li Enterprises. This is the head of my research team …-"
"Can we skip the introductions please? Let's get right down to the business proposal." Everyone turned towards the source of the voice. It was Natsume. He was at the other end of the conference table and he was looking straight at Mikan. He took that as an opportunity to glance at the coffee cup near Mikan and feel a bit disappointed that it was still almost full. It looked untouched.
"Hon, that's rude." Sumire whispered in Natsume's ear but he paid no heed. He gave Mikan a once-over from head to foot.
Mikan who was no stranger to stubborn and hard-to-deal-with clients, only smiled confidently and nodded. It was as if the interruption didn't bother her as much as the other people aside from her team thought it would. Ruka glared at his best friend whilst Hotaru simply sat back while browsing through the binder provided by Mikan's team.
"Of course, Mr. Hyuuga. All the documentation is in the binder in front of you. But to summarize all that and spare you the long read, let me lay the cards down on the table." She said cooly.
Ruka, Hotaru and Natsume watched in silent awe as Mikan set the presentation in motion. She was clear and concise, not skipping any important components of the deal and yet not rambling about insignificant details either. It didn't surprise any of them though. Back in college she was headstrong and always a good speaker. She was averagely smart, unlike Natsume and Hotaru who were geniuses but perseverance and tenacity at her studies pushed her to graduate in the above average ranks in their class.
Hotaru tried knocking her off guard by throwing her a fairly difficult question related to her involvement in the deal.
"Your presentation definitely has the vibe we're going for and that we're considering, Mikan. But let me ask you this, if you were in my position and let's say we decided to sign on to this deal and allow Li Enterprises to spearhead the marketing for our products in the SouthEast Asian region, you would want the best of the best to lead this project, right?"
Mikan answered in the affirmative but she was confused as to why that had anything to do with the deal.
"So let me ask your team…" Hotaru scanned the room and pointed to one of the research team members.
"You, what is your name?" She asked as the young woman stood up.
"Misaki Harada." Said the woman with pinkish red hair and a graceful figure.
"Okay, Misaki, let's pretend that HIN-TECH decided to pursue this deal and we let Li Enterprises work our marketing, who would you say is the best person to lead this team?"
Mikan held her breath as she waited for the answer.
"Miss Kinomoto." Mikan let out the breath she was holding. She'd discussed this before with her boss and explicitly declined any involvement in the project. She was happy just staying in Hong Kong and referred her best team. It was a big sacrifice for her but if it guaranteed her distance from Natsume and HIN-TECH she was willing to go through the grueling task of training a new team.
"But you see, Miss Sakura Kinomoto is the Marketing Director of your company. We can't expect her to be on call from HongKong to Japan all the time. Who is the next person from your company you think is the best apart from Miss Kinomoto?" Ruka stifled a laugh as he understood what Hotaru was implying.
"Miss Sakura would be the next best leader ma'am." Misaki smiled as she looked towards her boss across the room, who was looking slightly pale at her answer.
Ruka looked towards his best friend who was oddly quiet with a scowl on his face. Sumire looked like she was bored. He didn't know what Hotaru was planning but he didn't dare defy or interrupt her.
"So, Miss Sakura.." Hotaru turned towards her and she could swear that a hint of a rare smile graced her lips.
"Yes, Miss Imai?"
"If we decide to sign on to this particular project, we are looking towards a two year probationary period. And once we get past that, we will sign on fully for a ten year contract with Li Enterprises."
"Well that is certainly good news. What will it take for us to convince you to sign on for the probationary period?" She feigned a smile, all the while unable to ignore the queasy feeling in her stomach, knowing deep inside what the answer was.
"We will have to deliberate first and see if we have any terms we would like to discuss. How long will you be staying in Japan?" Hotaru already had a plan going on her mind and Mikan could see it in her eyes. It was only a matter of time before she'd hear what she dreaded the most.
"My flight back is tomorrow."
"Leaving again so soon." Natsume's sudden statement reverberated across the room, leaving puzzled looks on Sumire and Mikan's research team's faces. Mikan visibly flinched at his words and he looked surprised that he had said them at all. It was a sudden thought that crossed his mind and he didn't mean to say it out loud.
"Well in that case, please join us for a late dinner tonight. It will take us the rest of this afternoon to deliberate and we may as well just come up with our terms." Hotaru said with a look that said 'do-it-or-else-there-is-hell-to-pay'.
"Of course. What time and where?" Mikan whipped up her phone and set up an appointment in her calendar.
"Leave us the name of your hotel and we will pick you up at 9. Casual dress is fine." Hotaru stood up and approached her.
"I'm at the InterContinental ANA Tokyo Hotel."
"Okay, give me your local number so I can call you." Hotaru handed over her own phone and had Mikan save her number. After which, she took Mikan and everyone else in the room by surprise. She hugged Mikan.
"Welcome back to Japan, baka." She whispered so only Mikan could hear.
Mikan could only nod and blush, fighting the urge to tear up in front of Ruka, her team and worst of all Natsume and his future bride. It gave her immense relief that both Ruka and Hotaru had taken her reappearance very well despite the fact that she never initiated contact with them for years. She left when she was 21 and now they were all 26, grown up and mature, leading empires and making business deals. She used to be the love of his life, and now he was engaged to another woman. Yes. Everything had changed.
When Mikan's team left the building, only four people were left in the conference room. It was already 7pm. The initial meeting had lasted only an hour and their deliberations a couple of hours after that. They were almost to the point of signing. Only, Hotaru had one major term they were all arguing about.
Just as Mikan had left earlier, Sumire finally recognized her and was outraged. When she first saw the woman heading the presentation she had thought she seemed oddly familiar. But assuming that it was Sakura Kinomoto, she waved it off thinking she had seen her picture somewhere in the business magazines Natsume had lying around in their apartment.
During the deliberations, she was surprised to see and hear Natsume so vehemently argue with Hotaru on her terms for securing the deal. She wanted Mikan to head the project. And if they pushed through with that, Mikan would be working closely with them and need to relocate to Japan for the two year probationary period, given that Li Enterprises really wanted to secure this deal. She couldn't quite put a finger on it as to why Natsume didn't like the woman. A quick google search produced answers much quicker than if she had asked him. It was quite the contrary. He didn't like Mikan, he used to love her.
She remembered that day back freshman year when she was severely humiliated by Natsume's announcement that he decided Mikan was his girlfriend. And how happy she was when Mikan publicly turned him down. She remembered how heartbroken she was the next few weeks to find out that Mikan went back on her public declaration and began dating Natsume that she requested for her father to transfer her to a different school. She took a gap year instead of transferring, dropping out of her freshman year and reapplying to a different school the next year. She couldn't bear to see the two of them. Natsume was a childhood friend and she had loved him even way back in high school.
They saw each other again three years after Natsume graduated. She was running in the streets of the Akasaka district as she was late for a job interview. She literally bumped into him and at first she didn't recognize him. His hair was long but tied up neatly behind his back. He was wearing a business suit and had a briefcase in his hand. What surprised her the most was the dullness in his eyes. He looked dead in the eyes. She invited him out for coffee and was surprised that he agreed so easily. Needless to say, her job interview was forgotten.
There wasn't any spark to their relationship at first. And she first thought nothing would come out of that coffee date, if it was even a date to begin with. She was surprised to receive a call from him weeks later, asking if she was free. Then he began to hang out with her almost every other day. A year later, gone was the brooding, lifeless person she had bumped into on the street. She officially became his girlfriend and now she was his fiancée.
Sumire knew how big of a company Li Enterprises was and how effective their marketing strategy was so she was in a dilemma. She was a major stockholder in the company and knew they needed this to boost their profits for the fiscal year. But at the same time she was a bit hesitant to let Mikan back in to Natsume's good graces. She remained silent as Natsume and Hotaru continued to argue with Ruka playing the referee.
"Let's have a vote." Hotaru declared. It was getting late and they still had a dinner with Mikan to go to.
"Fine. No. That's my final word." Natsume said.
"I vote yes." Hotaru declared and they both turned towards Ruka who would be the deciding vote.
Sumire could see the look of discomfort in Ruka's face and decided to step in.
"I vote yes." She said.
"You're not part of the board members Shouda." Hotaru was quick to shoot her down.
"I'm not. But I'm a major stockholder and my fiancée is the CEO. You need me to change his mind." She turned towards Natsume and took his hand in hers.
"I'm telling you to do it. There's no reason for you not to. I know she's your ex-girlfriend but I believe that really won't be an issue. This is work. And I trust you. As long as she stays professional, we won't have a problem."
Natsume felt like Sumire had just pounded the final nail in his coffin. He had since then been sincerely happy with Sumire when he was with her. She had helped him move on from the loss of Mikan in his life. She knew very little about his relationship with Mikan because he refused to talk about it. He only told her he came from a breakup and that he got left by someone he really loved. She didn't pry further but became a dependable distraction from the pain.
She wasn't Mikan. But she loved him and he figured he could love her back. She was the perfect girlfriend to him. She never demanded, never asked for more than he could give. And he had begun to feel love for her which was why he asked her to marry him. It wasn't the same love he had felt with Mikan. That was a 'passionate head over heels in love' kind of love. With Sumire it was something else. A silent and dependable kind of love.
Mikan's reappearance stirred feelings he had buried deep inside him. Feelings he thought he had moved on from. Feelings he thought he would never get to feel again. And it scared him. He had seen the immense change in her. How calm and collected and sophisticated she was now. The first thought that popped into his head when he first saw her talking to Ruka when he was in the car this morning was how even more beautiful she had become. And disturbingly, he had wondered if she had replaced him. Now, with the inevitability of them working together, he wondered if he would finally get the answers to the questions that haunted him all these years.
At exactly 9pm sharp, Mikan stepped out into the lobby of the hotel she was staying in. She knew Hotaru hated tardiness and she wanted to make sure she didn't do anything to mess up the business proposal. This was one of the biggest projects endorsed to her by Miss Kinomoto even if she didn't want it in the first place.
A purple Lamborghini Aventador pulled up and she saw a casually dressed Hotaru roll down the window and gesture for her to climb in.
"Nice car." She said to Hotaru as she got in.
"Of course."
"So where are we headed to for dinner?"
"Koko's. He owns a successful chain of Ramen Karaoke Bars." Mikan's eyes went wide at the mention of their old classmate.
"For real?" Hotaru just nodded and let out a small chuckle at her former best friend's antics. It was as if she never left.
"Wow. I haven't had ramen in forever. Let's go." Mikan said excitedly.
"Still a glutton as ever, I see." Hotaru teased her.
"I am not a glutton. I just miss ramen…" Mikan's voice trailed off and Hotaru knew the waterworks would start soon.
"… and I missed you. All of you. I'm sorry Hotaru."
"If you get my custom covered seats wet with those tears I'm charging you." She said in her ever stoic voice.
Truth be told, she'd missed Mikan more than she ever dared to admit. But she always knew Mikan would come back. Now was only temporary. But with her plan well underway, she would make sure Mikan come back to Japan for good.
"Before we leave baka, I'm telling you the terms we agreed on. Off the record. We will sign, only if you spearhead the project. We don't want anyone else to lead this. If Li Enterprises decides to go through with this, you have a month to pack up in Hong Kong and move here. You will be provided board and lodging, a car, and the basics charged to us. An expense account billable to HIN-TECH will be provided as well, as long as purchases are within reason. Moving expenses will be covered as well. It's a deal they cannot refuse." Mikan was quiet. She had expected as much.
"And if I refuse?" She finally spoke up as Hotaru started the engine of her car.
"Then it's no deal." Hotaru looked her straight in the eye with a seriousness that unnerved her.
"Will you let me think about it?" She asked.
"Don't take too long. Opportunity doesn't knock twice."
END OF CHAPTER 3
Will Mikan agree to the terms? And will Natsume finally get the closure he needs?
Stay tuned for the next chapter!
newroz – as always thank you for being an awesome follower! Hope u liked this chappie! Chat with u soon!
lychiis – hey LP! ;) I'm glad u found my story interesting! Lol and the first chappie was a prologue thing and I guess I did kinda forget to label. Haha
Yla – And yes, they did meet again. And here's a little insight on how Sumire and Natsume started dating. XD the break up flashback will come soon enough so stay tuned.
Haruhi-chan131 – you'll have to wait for that part. I'll reveal that in due time ;)
lychiis (again) – haha in response to the review you left in chapter 3 LOL. You can rest assured I'm stretching this out as far as I can go. And yeah, I have a hyperactive imagination. Blame it on the too short manga (I want a Finding Hotaru arc) and the one season anime. Hahaha I'm glad you love how I portrayed them in the story. Thanks for reviewing and following ;*
Seiren Rindo – yes it was him. :D study first always and fanfics once the homework is done ;)
YoNaMe – It may be awhile before we reach that. I'm stretching this as long as I possibly can XD
Derp1Derp2 – The heartbreaking scene will come later. As for Sumire and Natsume's relationship, it's explained in this chappie ;)
So since I was typing this up with a slight headache and runny nose (ewww , I know) I realized I was supposed to be updating Fairie Tales first. But since I forgot, I'm swapping their positions on the story cycle just for this turn. Sorry, was a bit out of it and I already finished this (wow 5k words in 6 hours) lol.. sorry for taking awhile. Work has been a biatch.
STORY CYCLE
Fairie Tales - The Scam - Time After Time - Secrets - (back to Fairie Tales for the regular story cycle) - Starting Over Again
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Ja Ne!
xoxo Lexi1989