Chapter Seven
Sakura throw herself on her bed, exhausted. She just worked a double shift and she still need to write a paper. She figured a nap would do wonders but was afraid she'd sleep too long and wouldn't have time to finish her paper.
She looked at her laptop willing it to write the paper itself. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath before rising. She trudged to the desk and fired up the offensive machine. While she waited for it to load all its programs, Sakura went in her mini fridge for a drink. Soon enough she was typing away.
About an hour went by when she heard her phone go off. She didn't recognize the number.
"Hello?"
"Hello, Sakura."
She froze then tried to hold in a groan. "What do you want, Sasuke? And how did you get this number?"
"I have my ways. Anyways, do you want to get together?"
"What do I have to do to get you to leave me alone?" She asked pinching the bridge of her nose.
"I have a few ideas."
"You're disguising. I'm busy. Good bye." She hit the end button then glared at her phone. She tried to go back to her paper but realized the last paragraph was completely off topic. I looked more like a rant.
"Forget it." It was almost 10 o'cock on Tuesday night. She could just go to sleep but she was too worked up with Sasuke just randomly calling her.
So, she text Ino. "What are you doing?"
Ding. "I'm in bed with Shika. Why? What's going on?"
"Sasuke somehow got my new number."
Ding. "Oh, I'm sorry. Do you want to go out for a drink?"
"No. It's late. Besides, we have class in the morning."
Ding. "Fine. Have no fun."
"I'm too tired to have fun, Ino."
Ding. "When is your interview, anyways?"
"Thursday."
Ding. "You'll do fine. I'm going to bed if you don't want to go out. See you in the morning."
Sakura placed her phone on her nightstand before second guessing it. She smiled and went to give one more text before calling it a night.
"I hope your day went better than mine. Hope we can get together soon. Good night, Neji."
She changed in her pjs and climbed in her bed. She was all comfortable and feeling herself about to drift off before she heard her phone ding.
Ding. "My night just got better from hearing from you. But no, my day wasn't great. I had a bunch of meetings. I want to see you after your interview Thursday. We can do lunch. Let me know in the morning. Good night."
Sakura fell asleep with a smile on her face.
Sakura sat at the hospital's human recourses office waiting for her turn to be interviewed. She played with the hem of her dress while she went over her speech. Ino helped her the night before with a mock interview. She kept throwing different questions at her, some personal.
"Miss Haruno, Ms. Thann will see you now."
She stood and walked in the office she was instructed to enter.
"Miss Haruno, so nice to meet you. Please sit down." Ms. Thann said shaking Sakura's hand before sitting down behind her desk. The woman couldn't be any older than 40.
"Thank you for having me."
"Well I've looked over your resume. You are currently enrolled in pre-med and from your transcript you have almost perfect grades. What inspired you to become a doctor?"
Sakura mentally sighed before answering. "When I was seven my cousin got very ill. No one figure out what was wrong with her. They did many tests but still couldn't find anything. One day she got so sick she had to be hospitalized. About two months later, after returning home, she almost died. I was sitting with her while my mother and aunt stepped outside to talk to the doctor. I felt helpless. She and I were so close in age. When she did die, they found out it all happened because she came in contact with a plant she was allergic too. They didn't figure it out because the plant has never been known to cause death. It was one of those ultra-rare cases. After that, I decided I wanted to help children."
"Do you feel like you could have changed anything?"
"Now that I know an infection or an allergy can happen over anything, maybe. I feel like I can try to rule out any possibilities."
Ms. Thann jotted down some notes before questioning, "what are your goals?"
"I want to be a pediatric doctor. I feel like children sometimes develop more illnesses."
"Such as?"
"From the minute they are born, children are vulnerable. The smallest cut can get infected and make the child very sick. You spend the first two years to help build their immune system to help them have a better life."
"If you want to work with children, why apply for the hospital?"
"Children grow up. I want to help anyone that needs it. I just prefer to work with children later."
Ms. Thann placed her elbows on her desk, laced her fingers together before looking at Sakura over them. "If you have someone come in saying they don't want work with a young doctor, what would say or do?"
"I'd agree that I am young but perfectly capable to do the job. I'd ask them to give me a shot before completely turning me away."
Sakura noticed she couldn't guess what Ms. Thann was thinking. It made her nervous not being able to gage how the interview was going.
"One more thing. We have an excellent children's ward; would you be willing to deal with multiple rooms in need?"
"I wouldn't have a choice. My job would be to take care of the children. I would gage which child is in more serious need before going down the list. Though I'm not saying not all of them aren't in here for other than serious needs but some would need my attention more than another."
"Give me an example."
"Say a child is here because of cancer compared to one that is here because their liver levels are high. I would judge both cases and whichever needs my attention first would be seen first."
"Nicely worded but what if both are in trouble?"
"I would ask my second to help one while I helped the other. I'm only one-person part of a larger team. I don't want to do this to become some super doctor. I want to become a doctor to help others."
Ms. Thann smiled. "Thank you for coming in. I have a few more interviews but we will call you to let you know if you got the job or not. We are looking for three new doctors."
"Thank you for your time." Sakura stood, bowed to Ms. Thann's and walked out.
Once outside, Sakura took may deep breaths. She fished out her phone to check the time. It was only just past one. She went through her list and called Neji.
"Hello Sakura. Is your interview over already?" Neji asked coolly.
"Yes. I just got out."
"Do you still want to do lunch?"
"Sure."
"Excellent. Why don't you come by my office? We can order something in."
"Are you sure you want to have lunch there?" Sakura was in a bit worried.
"Sure. We're dating now. I don't see why we can't have lunch together here."
"Lunch is not what I'm worried about."
She heard him chuckle. "Are you afraid of my office?"
"No." She stated. "It's more about what your uncle would saying having your girlfriend in your office." The word still felt weird to her.
"And as my girlfriend he's bound to meet you. I'll be waiting. I'll give your name to the front desk."
"Alright. I'll see you soon." Sakura hung up then in search for a taxi. The cab dropped her off in front of Byakugan Industries. Sakura walked up the front desk.
"May I help you?" The red head behind the desk questioned.
"My name is Sakura Haruno. Mr. Neji Hyuuga is expecting me."
"Ah yes. He said to send you right up. 15th floor."
"Thank you." Sakura made her way to the elevators, pressed fifteen and waited for it to reach the top floor. As the elevator went up, she was starting to question herself. Neji Hyuuga was one of the most eligible bachelors in Konoha. Next to Sasuke's older brother, Itachi. He could literally have any girl he wanted but he wanted to be with her. Why?
When the doors opened, she made her way to another desk.
"May I help you, miss?"
"I'm here to see Mr. Hyuuga."
"Which one?"
"Neji."
"Name?"
"Sakura Haruno."
"One moment please." The brunette pushed a button on the phone. "Mr. Hyuuga, I have a Miss Sakura Haruno here to see you. Yes, sir." She turned her attention back to Sakura. "You can go on in, Miss Haruno. His office is the door to your right."
Sakura walked over to the door, knocked then pushed it open. "Neji?"
"Sakura, come on in." He was walking towards her. When he reached her, he kissed her before escorting her to one of the white leather couches. "I'm glad you made it here safely." He said sitting down next to her.
Sakura smiled at him. "I'm still nervous about being here."
"Don't be. So, are you hungry?"
Sakura didn't realize how hungry she was until he said something. "I am now."
Neji smiled at her. She was right, he was much more handsome with a smile on his face. "Anything in particular?"
"Whatever you want."
Neji walked over to his phone and punched a button. "Anko have two turkey clubs from June's shop brought in please. Thank you." He rejoined her. "You don't have to agree with everything I want."
"Oh no. If I don't like something, I'll let you know."
Neji started rubbing her knee. It sent shivers up her spine.
"I would like to see that spitfire I first met again."
"You want me to lash out at you?" She raised an eyebrow.
He smiled. "No but I know you wouldn't hold back if the situation rises."
Sakura leaned into him. He draped his arm around her shoulders. She liked the feeling of having him so close to her.
"This is nice." She said.
"It is." He kissed her temple. "What are you doing when vacation comes?"
"Hmm? Oh! I'm not sure. I think my parents want me to come back but it all depends on work. Why?"
"No real reason. I just hoped I could see you more. I know the school only gives you a week off so you don't burn out."
"You want to do more dates?"
"Yes. I actually have one in mind right now that I'm working on."
"Care to share?"
"No. It'll spoil the surprise." He held her tighter.
A knock came to the door. "That must be lunch." Neji went to answer the door. Only Sakura didn't think the person on the other side was the delivery boy. She recognized him was his uncle.
"I came to give you the final contract for the Tanaka job. Also, I need you to get ahold of Uchiha about the Yuni project."
"Very well, Uncle."
Oh crap! Sakura was terrified. She's heard stories about Hinata's father as well. She met him when she was over at Hinata's house the other day and he was intimidating then too.
She then noticed his attention turn to her. "I'm sorry. I didn't know you have company."
"Uncle, this is Sakura Haruno. She and Hinata share some classes. Sakura this is my uncle Hiashi Hyuuga."
Sakura stood and gave a small bow. "It's nice to see you again, sir."
"How is the studying going?"
"Very well, sir."
"I see." He turned his attention back to Neji. "The Tanaka file doesn't need to be finalized till tomorrow but call Uchiha today." He said walking out.
Neji went to put the file on his desk. "Sorry about that."
"No need." She didn't miss how he didn't introduce her as his girlfriend.
Before Neji could say anything, the same brunette from outside his office walked in with two bags in hand. "Is there anything else you need, Mr. Hyuuga?"
"No. Thank you, Anko."
When she left Neji started to open the boxes of food but now Sakura wasn't hungry.
"Is something wrong?"
"Why didn't you tell your uncle who I really am?" She asked looking away.
"You mean why didn't I introduce you as my girlfriend? Simple, this is his business. When he finds out who you are and I brought you here, he won't be happy. I didn't want to ruin our lunch."
"I'm not hungry anymore."
Neji angled himself to be almost in front of her. "Sakura. This has nothing to do with you. This is my job. I don't want to cause unnecessary tension. My uncle will know about you soon enough. Please don't be upset."
"Are you ashamed of me?"
"No! You are one of the most interesting people I've ever met. I'm going out of my comfort zone to go out on dates with you and to be with you in general."
Sakura closed her eyes. "You knew I had reservations coming here because of that reason."
"Sakura, I..."
"I think I should go."
"Why?"
"I understand this is a place of business. This is where you work and you work alongside your uncle but we've been dating for a few weeks now. I would have thought at some point you would have told your uncle about me."
"Sakura, my uncle isn't easy to please. I have to break things to him gently."
"That's fine but I don't want to be your secret." She stood and started for the door. "Thank you for inviting me over. I'll talk to you later."
Sakura left the building trying desperately not to allow her tears to fall.
