Dear Anastasia and Kai
I am very pleased at the progress reports I have been receiving from Anastasia regarding the upgrades being done to Dranzer. It seems the method of designing prototypes is working well, and I'm sure you're very close to a breakthrough. It might be worth meeting with me to discuss your plans for the future – as you know, Anastasia was only engaged to work for two months, after which an assessment report would conclude whether or not the time spent had been allocated wisely. I have no doubt that that is exactly what has happened, and would therefore be very willing to extend your contract to the estimated four months that was previously agreed upon.
Feel free to discuss it amongst yourselves and/or with me should you feel the need to.
Looking forward to seeing you soon
Regards,
Mr. Stanley Dickinson
Chairman, BBA Japan
Anastasia frowned at the email she had just opened. Of course, everything in it made sense: she had only been given two months to fix Kai's beyblade, after which Mr. Dickinson was supposed to review her progress and sign her on for any additional time she needed, which she had early on decided would be another two months. She was confident she would have something by then, but that wasn't what was confusing her. It was the fact that the email had been sent last night, and a quick scan of the read reports on it (she knew it wasn't exactly ethical to scan when and if someone had read her emails but she did it anyway) told her that Kai had read the email almost immediately after it had arrived, but hadn't responded to it.
Why hadn't he responded? Anastasia bit her lip as she absently tossed clothes out of the haphazardly packed suitcase she had taken to America. They had landed hours ago and Kai had dropped her home, after which she had crashed almost immediately for twelve hours. She had woken up to a setting sun, a messy room and a backlog of emails that needed to be read, but she hadn't made it past Mr. Dickinson's email yet.
Why hadn't Kai replied? Did he not want her to stay? Did he not think she was doing a good job? Anastasia's eyes widened as another, sickening thought hit her. Did he know? Did he know that she liked him, much more than a friend, and did he want to discourage it? He was always so dismissive about tabloid gossip, but he had been quick to offer a publicist who would make it all go away if she wanted after that last article. And she did want it, because if she was lucky enough to date Kai she would make sure there was no interference from anywhere, least of all the press.
But did that mean he thought she wasn't a professional? Admittedly, there was nothing professional about him flying halfway across the world just to hand-hold her through her parents' memorial service, but she certainly hadn't asked for that. It had all been on him, and he had been kind and sweet and so unlike the icy image of himself that he presented normally that she had found herself falling for him a little more with every passing moment, every gentle smile and every teasing word. But she hadn't asked for it, and she shouldn't be punished for it just because he had decided to be friends with her.
With every thought, Anastasia grew more and more annoyed. Did he really think he'd get a better technician than her, anyway? She was the best: they all knew it. She had been able to have him beyblading well enough to beat Tala and give Tyson a hearty challenge only a month into working with him, while Kenny had been struggling to even make a beyblade that Dranzer could come out of without shattering due to the force of her power. But Anastasia had done it, because she understood Kai and his beyblading techniques better than the others. And it wasn't because she was in love with him, it was because that's what she did and studied, and given a few more weeks she knew she could make a solid beyblade that would be everything he needed, and more. But in order to do that, she had to stay, and she had worked too hard to have someone else step in and take the credit for her effort, which they could easily do just because her data analysis was excellent and she could probably teach a give-year-old to build beyblades if she wanted to.
"Ouch," Anastasia swore as she cut her finger on a loose piece of paper, glaring at the offending document before tossing it in the trash. She sucked on her finger moodily and picked up her phone, checking to see if Kai had replied to the email in the last five minutes, by some miracle. He hadn't. She narrowed her eyes and dialed his number.
He picked up on the third ring. "Anna?" his voice was hoarse, and he sounded as though he had just woken up.
For a second, Anastasia faltered. "Oh no, I'm sorry. Were you asleep?"
"Yeah," it was sinful, really, the way he sounded right now. Anastasia could even imagine how he looked: tousled hair, bleary eyes, his hands rubbing his jaw as he squinted out the window to see what time it was because Kai Hiwatari didn't need a watch when he had the moon… Anastasia shut her eyes and took in a deep breath, channeling all her annoyance. "What is it?"
"Mr. Dickinson sent an email," she said, her tone clipped. Kai didn't respond, and she continued. "It's about me, staying on for a few more weeks to finish your beyblade."
"So?" Kai yawned.
Anastasia huffed. "I know you read it, Kai. Why didn't you reply? It was addressed to both of us."
"I had nothing to say," he sounded grumpy now. "How did you know I read it? Did you hack me again?"
"Doesn't matter," Anastasia said. She ignored the way her heart sank slightly at his words. "If you had nothing to say, this conversation is over. I'll send him an email telling him I should just go."
"Wait, what?" instantly, he sounded confused. "You want to leave? Why?"
"You just said –"
"Dammit, Anna," Kai grunted in frustration and she heard a door open and close at the other end – he had clearly left the room. "What the hell do you mean, you're leaving because of some stupid email?" he was talking louder now, much louder. Anastasia winced. "You can't finish the beyblade or is it something else?"
Anastasia blinked at his tone, her tirade of accusations about him thinking she wasn't good enough abruptly halting. "I don't want to leave!" she persisted. "I want to stay, and I know I can finish it! But you never replied to the email so I thought you didn't care either way."
Kai sighed. "Listen to me," he said impatiently. "Me not replying to an email shouldn't make you jump to conclusions. I read it when I was half asleep, and I wasn't going to reply anyway because I don't need to. You can set up a meeting, and I'll be there to back you up in case he decides to try and send you away, or we can ignore him and you can do what you need to do. I don't care either way, you're in charge here."
"Oh," Anastasia bit her lip to stop the smile from seeping into her voice. "Okay. So, you want me to stay, right?"
"Duh," Kai snorted. "What are you, twelve? You want me to spell it out for you? I want you to stay, and I want you to be the one to fix Dranzer. I thought you figured that out, Anna."
"Doesn't hurt to hear it."
"I'm not here to do that," said Kai bluntly. Anastasia smiled anyway. "You tell me if you've got a problem, you don't act weird and then yell at me for no reason."
"Sorry," Anastasia was sure he could hear her smiling now. "Will I see you tomorrow?"
"Bright and early," said Kai dryly. "If I wasn't jet-lagged out of my mind I would have driven over and strangled you for waking me up right now."
Anastasia winched. "I do feel bad about that part."
"You should be asleep too."
"I slept on the plane. I had an awesome pillow."
"You slept on my shoulder the whole time."
"And you didn't tell me to get off, which is how I know you didn't sleep during that time," snickering, she collapsed onto her bed and sighed. "Sorry I freaked on you. Text me when you're up again and we can get back to work, okay?"
"I will. Bye," he hung up without waiting for a goodbye, but Anastasia didn't care. Ignoring the mess in her room, she punched her pillow and settled in for another nap, a small smile lingering across her lips.
