Chapter Seven:

I sit in my chair, doing the same thing over and over again as people come in through the front double doors and tell me that they have appointments. The first man who came in wasn't even on the schedule for today, and he made me check the schedules for a week prior and a week after today and search for his name, but it was nowhere. So, after he went on a rant and insulted me multiple times for my lack of knowledge, the man finally left. Now, though, I feel as if I should have asked him if he wanted to make a new appointment.

I wonder how many written complaints Sasuke Uchiha is going to get for you…

Inner Sakura has been making me feel like crap all day, as well, and she's worse than the real people who seem to delight in offending me. I've come to the conclusion that all people in the business world think that secretaries are supposed to know how to do everything and anything, and they should be kind and courteous no matter what happens.

The phone rings and I pick it up on the second ring, as Sasuke Uchiha told me to in the Subway. I'm surprised at how much I retained from what he told me. I'm more of a visual learner anyway.

"Hello. Mr. Uchiha's office. Thank you for calling. My name is Sakura Haruno. How can I help you today?"

I don't know how many times I've recited those lines in the past five hours. It feels like the phone never stops ringing. And I never figured out what this building was called, so that makes me feel like an even bigger idiot.

"Hello," a feminine voice says cheerfully on the other end of the line. I wish I could share in her cheerfulness. "My name is Anzuko and I would like to schedule an appointment with Sasuke as soon as possible."

Sasuke? Did this lady just call him by his first name? Does she know him on a personal level? Oh, no. Don't tell me he has a girlfriend? What if this lady is…?

I shake my head, ignoring my inner voice and focusing on the computer screen to my left. All day, no one has called him by his first name, though, and that makes me a little edgy. I don't want to talk to someone close to him, and especially not in that way.

"Please hold for a moment," I say, glancing over the schedule on the computer screen. Sasuke Uchiha has about ten minutes free between two meetings later on in the day. "Umm," I say into the phone, "How long do you think you'll need to see him for, because I might be able to squeeze you in for ten minutes at five twenty."

"Oh, yes, that will be fine. He's such a busy man, isn't he?"

I nervously laugh. "Yes, he is," I say. "Could I have your last name, please?"

"Of course. It's Hanazono."

"All right, Anzuko Hanazono," I repeat back to her as I type in her name in the empty slot in the schedule and hit save at the top of the screen. "And could you please tell me the purpose of your meeting with Mr. Uchiha?"

"Oh, honey, just tell him it's Anzuko and he'll understand."

I shake my head and frown. "No, I'm sorry. I need to know why you want to meet with him on such short notice and for only ten minutes."

"I need to talk to him about something. It's very important."

"I'm sorry, this is a business meeting, correct?"

"What's the difference?" the woman asks snottily, and I can hear her getting angry.

"Mr. Uchiha doesn't accept personal meetings while he's working unless he tells me himself. I can't schedule a time for you unless you have a proper reason for contacting him on company hours."

"Miss Haruno." Suddenly I hear his voice and I look around. Sasuke isn't in the large room. I cock an eyebrow. "Miss Haruno, the com. It's to your left," his voice says patiently, but I can almost hear him rolling his eyes at me.

I jump and look around. And to my surprise there is a speaker, a red button and a black switch on the edge of the desk on my left.

"Hold the red button when you speak," his voice says, and I hope I'm not annoying him. "I noticed you just added a woman by the name of Hanazono to my schedule."

"Excuse me? Are you still there?!" the woman on the line shouts and I have to pull the phone away from my ear.

"Yes, could you please hold for a moment? I'll be with you in a minute."

I lean to my left and press and hold the red button. "Yes, Mr. Uchiha, she just called. She's on the line with me right now. I asked her to hold." I release the red button.

"I thought I told you not to accept anything but business-related meetings. Why is she on my schedule? What does she want to talk about that has anything to do with my company?"

Uh, oh. He sounds angry.

"I-I was just trying to figure that out, Mr. Uchiha."

"She calls here at least once a week, Miss Haruno. Please understand that I have no interest in her and should she call in the future, you are instructed to hang up on the woman immediately."

"Yes, sir," I quickly say.

Boy, this lady makes him irritable, doesn't she?

"Then do it now. You're plugging up the phone line."

I quickly hang up the phone and gulp. I hope that woman isn't angry with me, but then again, why should I care? I'm only following my boss's instructions. It's not like I have a personal vendetta against the woman. I don't even know her. But is still feels wrong to just hang up on her after I told her I was putting her on hold. I wonder how long she might be on the other end of the line, waiting.

I don't have much time to think about it when Sasuke Uchiha's voice comes in through the com again. I kind of like the feeling that I can talk to him just by pressing a button, but I shove the thought down and strangle it. This is my job. It's not for being social, and especially not with my boss.

"Miss Haruno, your lunch break will be from twelve to twelve-thirty from now on."

I look at the clock. It's quarter past twelve. I hit the red button.

"What do I do with the front desk?" I ask. There's a pause and I make sure I'm not still holding down the red button.

"What do you mean?" his voice finally asks.

"Isn't there a sign or something that says when I'll be back? I mean, this phone rings all day and people keep coming in here. I can't just leave." There's another pause.

"The break room is on the second floor, third door on the right, I believe. Someone should be there if you have any further questions. Enjoy your lunch, Miss Haruno."

And then he's gone. Well, I know that if I pressed the button again he would hear me, but his voice had a sense of finality to it. And that told me that he didn't want to hear from me again. I feel small and useless right about now. I don't just want to leave the desk.

Plus, he mentioned lunch, which I don't have, and I didn't even eat breakfast this morning. And as that sinks in, my stomach starts to hurt. I only expected it to growl and make funny noises, but I wasn't expecting it to hurt. I groan and stand just as another person walks through the front doors and strolls up to the front desk.

"Hello. Hisoka Junkori for a twelve fifteen appointment with Mr. Uchiha," he says, and I quickly look at the schedule. His name is on the list for the right time and the clock reads twelve-fourteen so I nod at him.

"Okay, you're all set. Go on up. It's the fourth floor, last room at the end of the hall." Then I realize that I'm supposed to be going to the second floor. "Oh, wait. I'll go with you, if you don't mind. I have to take the elevator, too." I run to catch up with the man, who smiles politely at me. But just as the door opens, the phone at the front desk rings and I pause. "Sorry," I say to the man. "You go ahead. I have to get that."

I run over to the front desk and pick up the phone.

"Hello. Mr. Uchiha's office. Thank you for calling. My name is Sakura Haruno. How can I help you today?"

"I know who you are, you little bitch! How dare you hang up on me!"

Uh, oh. The evil lady is back.

I purse my lips and curtly reply. "Mr. Uchiha does not accept personal calls or meetings Monday through Thursday, seven to four, Fridays, eight to five, and Saturdays, nine to one! Thank you!" I say loudly before slamming the phone down and hanging up on her.

"Wow…" a voice calls and I turn. It's a blonde woman in professional attire, with her short blonde hair in four puffy buns on the back of her head.

"Excuse me?" I ask.

"Oh, sorry. I forgot my manners. I'm Temari, another secretary," she rolls her eyes, "because this place has got plenty of desks that need to be managed. I'll be taking over for you when you go on break."

"Oh!" I quickly say. "I'm Sakura Haruno. It's very nice to meet you."

Now I understand why Sasuke Uchiha was annoyed when I asked about leaving the desk. I didn't know that someone was going to take my place.

"I know who you are," Temari says with a smile. "Mr. Uchiha informed all of us about your arrival this morning."

So I've heard…

"Oh, well, thank you for doing this," I say, and she laughs.

"Don't be silly, Sakura. This is part of my job. I did it for Rose, too. As long as I'm getting paid, I'll cover for anybody." She laughs.

"Oh…"

Way to sound like an idiot, Sakura.

"You should be taking your lunch breaks in room twenty-five. It's on the second floor, third room on the right. I think Karin's there right now, so you'll be fine."

"Okay, thank you," I say, and head for the elevator.

"And don't let old Hanazono scare you!" Temari calls and I turn. "She's got a thing for Mr. Uchiha and somehow she got this number. Ever since then, she hasn't stopped calling and asking to see him. Crazy bitch, that one. Something happened between the two of them and she doesn't want to leave him alone."

Wait, what? Something happened between them? Like what? A relationship?

I laugh and nod before stepping into the elevator. It goes up to the second floor and I step out, looking around. It's just one long hallway with multiple doors on either end and one at the end. I wonder if every floor looks the same as the top one, where Sasuke is. This one does, at least.

I notice red-haired Karin as she walks out of one of the room and I smile inwardly. Thankfully, there's a face that I know.

"Hey," I call, waving to her and walking down the hall.

"Oh, hi, Sakura. I thought you weren't coming. It's almost twelve twenty."

"I didn't know when my break started until Mr. Uchiha told me a few minutes ago," I say, and Karin laughs.

"Yeah, well, try not to be a bother for the big man. He's gets all moody when he has to work these long days," she says, and I nod. "So…," she continues as we enter the third room on the left. I notice that it looks almost like a kitchen, but it's bigger than my entire dorm, including the bedroom and the bathroom. There's a large table in the middle and along the walls are counters, a microwave, oven, sink and a refrigerator.

"So?" I say when Karin doesn't continue past that word.

"Oh, come on. Don't you know?" she asks, pulling her lunch out of the refrigerator and shoving something in the microwave.

"Know what?" I ask warily. She seems like the gossiping type, and I already decided that I wanted to avoid drama in Sasuke Uchiha's building.

"Sa-su-ke."

She says his name in a sing-songy voice and I lift an eyebrow. "Don't you just love working for that man? He's so hot, isn't he? I tell you, that's the only reason I work here."

I choke up. That was the last thing I expected her to say to me.

Competition?

I tell Inner Sakura to put a sock in it.

"Oh, come on, Sakura. You can tell me. We're both young women with normal female hormones. You'd do him, wouldn't you?"

I instantly cough, choking on my own saliva and oxygen. "W-What?" I breathe.

"What's the matter?" she suddenly asks, as if not understanding that her question took me off-guard. I mentally roll my eyes.

And so much for no drama. That's not gonna happen with little miss redhead over here spouting this kind of talk.

"Well, I never really thought about it," I lie.

"Really?" Karin's eyes widen and she looks at me like a lost kitten. "How did you get this job? Didn't you talk to him?"

"Yeah," I say, "I had an interview with him and that's how I got the job."

"I heard he fired Rose for you. That sounds to me like he wanted you."

"I guess so…" I murmur, feeling like Karin was talking about something totally different. When she laughs and then covers her mouth with both hands, I'm convinced.

And this woman is Sasuke's personal secretary? What the hell? So I guess that means she was the woman on the phone the first time I called?

"What about you?" I suddenly ask, and I hate where my mind just took this conversation.

"What about me?"

Do you want to fuck Sasuke, you little whore? Is that why you love your job so much? Do you spy on him in your leisure time? Do you like being close to him? Do you finger yourself to a picture of him at night when you're all alone?

I don't know why I'm having these thoughts. Am I jealous? Why should I be jealous, anyway? Because Karin is his personal secretary? I'm part of his secretary, too, and I've been working my ass off all freaking day. What would I want more work for? She probably has to do a bunch of paperwork all day, and deal with even more people.

But she probably spends a lot of time talking to Sasuke, even if it is about work…

And that's probably what's making feel jealous. And I hate it. I hate feeling jealous because then I have to admit that I care what Sasuke thinks of me and I'm attracted to him, and everything that I need to suppress to keep this job running smoothly will suddenly explode.

"Do you like him?" I ask harmlessly. "Do you like Mr. Uchiha?"

"Mr. Uchiha?" she snickers. "You're so innocent, aren't you? There're no cameras or anything in this room, you know. You can call him Sasuke. The rest of us do, anyway." She smiles.

Sasuke.

Sure, the thought of calling him by his first name to his face is very appealing, because then we'd be close… but we're not. And pretending to be by calling him by his first name to other people just sounds cheap to me.

"Well?" I press, not sure why I'm so eager for this information. "Do you like him or not?"

"Are you kidding me? I'm practically in love with the man! Sure, he's my boss and everything, but… well, who isn't in love with him, right? He's got money and power and he's smoking hot! Any girl would kill just to touch him," she says with a laugh again. "But you and I don't have to do anything. We can touch him whenever we want. All we have to do is go upstairs and he's ours for the taking." She laughs again and I realize that her laugh is getting on my nerves.

"Would you ask him out?" I ask, my curiosity still getting the better of me.

"Are you kidding? You can't just ASK OUT Sasuke Uchiha. Boy, do you have a lot to learn, Sakura. But that's okay. I'll teach you everything I know."

Please, don't.

She pulls her lunch out of the microwave and looks at me, tilting her head.

"What? No food for you? Not hungry?"

"Not really," I say, realizing that my stomach pain is coming back. I should have eaten breakfast, even if it was only something small.

I'm absorbed in my own thoughts and Karin is absorbed in her lunch, so we don't talk for the rest of the break. And I'm actually glad that she finally decided to keep her mouth shut.

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The rest of the work day runs smoothly and finally I look up and the large round clock above the double doors says that it's four o'clock. I shut down the two computers in front of me and place the business card with the passwords back in my handbag. I pick it up and stand, looking around.

Sasuke Uchiha said that I should be leaving around four-thirty, but if the building closes at four, then what am I supposed to do until four-thirty? I assume that he thought I would have been smart enough to bring a lunch, and then I would have to go to the second floor to get my things and clean up in the break room. But since I didn't bring anything, I just assume that I'm allowed to leave and I head for the door.

But then I feel awkward. Should I wait for someone else to leave before me? What if someone shows up late for a meeting that they missed, because there were a couple people who just never came in for their appointments? What if the phone rings again and I'm not here? What if Sasuke Uchiha comes downstairs and sees that I'm not there and thinks that I skipped out and left work early? I haven't spoken with him since that time before break over the com. He didn't leave the building for the entire day, otherwise I would have seen him go out the front doors.

Then I hear the elevator door open and I turn. I realize I'm in the middle of the large marble floor with just my handbag, and I'm just standing there. And I feel even more like an idiot when Sasuke steps out of the elevator and looks up at me, a bit surprised.

I'm about to smile at him when I notice Karin stepping out of the elevator behind him. I gape when I see her staring at his ass and smirking, but I fix my expression before Sasuke sees it.

All right! Fine! I'll admit that that redheaded girl ticks me off! Okay! Are you happy now? I don't want her ogling Sasuke Uchiha like that! And I hate that such a floosy girl gets to work so closely with him while I'm stuck behind the front desk, where I never even get to see him!

I mentally sigh, happy that that's finally off my back.

"How was your day?" Sasuke asks and I look up, not expecting a question from him right away.

"Fine, thank you" I involuntarily reply.

"I wanted to apologize for Miss Hanazono earlier, but I was busy. She can be a handful."

"Why don't you just have her number blocked?" I ask, happy that I can think rationally about something while speaking with him. Maybe an entire day of pretending to be nice and happy made me care less about how I look in front of Sasuke Uchiha at the moment.

"We can't," he replies, "We're a public office. If someone needs to contact my company, we can't have blocked numbers. First of all, unwanted callers will usually just use different numbers, like home numbers of friends or even payphones on the street, and we can't just block random numbers in case someone needs to get in contact with us for whatever reason. It's like a hospital blocking numbers. It would only cause more harm than good in the end."

"But you're a business. That's a little different than a hospital, isn't it?"

"You're right. The analogy wasn't a very good one, but the point is the same. We can't block numbers for many different reasons. We can stop certain people from entering the building, but that's all."

"Oh," I say. It's all I can think of. I have no knowledge or experience of business ordeals anyway.

Then I realize that Sasuke Uchiha is going home. All this time, I never even imagined that he would live somewhere nearby. I just stupidly assumed that he lived here, seeing as it is his building. I then realize that Karin is staring at me. I look back at her and lift an eyebrow in confusion. She looks away and I'm left puzzled by her actions.

"Are you going straight to your dorm now?" Sasuke asks.

"Yes."

There's a pause and I wonder if I've done something wrong.

"Drive safe," he finally says, and then heads for the door.

"Wait," I say, jogging to catch up with him and Karin. I don't know why she's staying by his side. It's not like they're going home together… is it? Sasuke turns. "Who's going to lock up?" I ask.

"Shikamaru and Suigetsu have the keys. One of them will do it. They stay later than us to clean the place up for the next day, and they lock the building when they leave."

"Oh," I say again.

You're just filled with logical responses to everything, aren't you, Sakura?

I lower my gaze. I do sound a bit like an idiot again, don't I? All I respond with is "oh" and "okay" and the occasional "yes" when I feel like using proper words when speaking to my boss. I need to stop doing that.

"Call me if you need anything," Sasuke says, and I look up suddenly, my lips parted. Even Karin's jaw drops a little and she stares at him for a minute in confusion. Then she looks at me again and there's an expression on her face that I don't quite grasp before she turns and walks out the door. Sasuke doesn't follow her and I inwardly smile.

Good. It doesn't look like he cares about her. Well, in that way.

"Are you all right?" he asks me and I nod. "Aren't you leaving now?" he says, and I nod again, walking towards the double doors. I don't know what he wants me to say to him after that.

Why would I call him if I needed something? I would call Ino, of course. And if it was an emergency, I would call my parents. I don't think I would have called him for anything, unless I got sick in the morning and couldn't go to work. But I doubt that's what he meant.

"Do you not like your job?" he asks when I walk past him. He turns and walks with me and I keep my head down.

"Yes—I mean, no. The job is fine." I feel the need to explain further. "I met Temari and Karin and they were both very nice. Some of the people can be rude, but that's life, right? I have to deal with people in college, too, so it's not like I really mind. I talked to many nice people today, as well, and some interesting things kept me entertained for the day, so it isn't like I was bored."

I groan when I feel my stomach ache coming back. I'm starving. I haven't eaten all day. I occasionally got up to get a drink from the water fountain near the restrooms on the bottom floor, but water wasn't what I needed.

"Was it stressful?" he asks, and I just shake my head. "I hope I didn't put too much pressure on you. I understand it's you first day, but there is a way I like things done."

"I understand that."

"I'll try to walk you through it when I can. As you can tell, my schedule is usually full, but when I have time, I'd be happy to talk to you about anything you may need help with."

"Thank you," I say. I'm pretty sure I'd rather ask Temari if I needed help with secretary stuff. It would be less stressful than talking with Sasuke Uchiha. That's for sure.

"If there's anything I can do to make you more comfortable here…" he trailed off and I realize that he's walking me to my car. It's the only one in this part of the lot, and I don't see his black Explorer anywhere. I hope it's not far away. I suddenly feel bad, but then I'm excited. He's walking me to my car! Everyone in college knows that that means the guy is interested. But I'm still not sure about it because he's my boss. Maybe I'll talk to Ino about it, but I can already guess what she's going to tell me.

"I think I just have to get adjusted on my own," I say, and then add, "I'll be fine."

When I'm safely in my car, I roll down my window.

"Thank you," I say to him. I'm not sure what I'm thanking him for, but I feel better after saying it. I start my car.

"Drive safe," he says again and I smile at him before heading back to the dorm.