{{{ Chapter Three }}}

'I can't believe he's here.  Did he come for work, or to cause me some more pain?' she thought angrily.   Sighing to herself Serena noted that she had no idea why he was at her work, or what was happeing outside her office door.  'And I don't care one little bit.  Sure you don't.  Ohhh you shut up.  Me, why do I…argh, I can't believe I'm arguing with myself, see what he does to me…'  "Deep breath Serena, and clam down."

BING

'Ohh good he's gone.'

BING

'That's not him back again is it?' She thought as she went to the door and listened quielty.  "Look, I don't know who you are, or what you have to do with Serena.  But Lita says you're the reason why Serena's so upset and that's enough for me.."  'Wow, you go Raye.  I didn't know she cared that much.  No, that's not true, I know she cares…'

"Darien, I really don't think now is a good time…"  'There never is a good time for these things, but now is as good a time as ever.'  Looking into a small mirror on the wall, Serena quickly did what she could to fix her hair and rubbed at her eyes a few times.  'I should have put make-up on this morning, I really need it at the moment.  Oh well, here goes.  Be calm.'

Grabbing the papers she had spent her morning working on she quietly opened the office door.  'At least I got some work done this morning.'  Plastering a huge smile on her face she walked out and closed the door softly behind her.

"I know that you're her friend, but for all the years you knew me, will you at least…"  Halting his speech, Darien looked away from Lita quickly as he felt Serena enter the room.  'Well my Serena-rader still works.  I could always feel when she walked into the room.'  Looking towards what appeared to be her office door he saw her quielty closing her door.

Walking smoothly towards the others, Serena vowed to herslf not to loose her cool.  "Morning Setsuna-san, I have those papers on the Summer Collection finished for you."

"Already?" asked Setsuna in disbelief.

"Yup," replied an overly cheerful Serena.  "I got into work early this morning and worked on them.  And so I don't have any work to do now, do you mind if I take an early lunch break?"  'Please say yes, I can't keep this act up much longer with Darien only four feet away'.

"Are… yes of course Serena, take a nice long lunch break," answered Setsuna carefully.

"Thanks" exclaimed Serena.  "So, Lita" she began turning to the brunette, "I think I will take you up on the lunch offer, lets go."  Linking her arm through Lita's she headed to the elevator.  With a wave over her shouder she called, "Goodbye girls" as they stepped into the elevator.

"Darien dear, I think you should close your mouth now," mentioned Setsuna before saying to the other 'girls', "well that was something wasn't it.  I was kind of hoping to see who would win out of Darien and Lita, I was worried for Lita when Darien squared his jaw… but it seems that Serena won.  And she did it while completely ignoring Darien."  Turning back to Darien, she found him staring blankly at the elevator doors.  "Darien, is there anything else I can help you with while you're here?"

"What, oh, no thanks, I'm fine."

"You don't look fine."

"No, no, I'm fine Setsuna thanks," he said with an empty smile.  "I should be getting back to the office anyway.  I'll see all you ladies later."

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"Well that was something wasn't it.  I have no idea whats going on, but I intend to find out.  I can't afford to have two of my best workers unhappy.  Even if it means they work harder than normal," commented Setsuna with a quick look at the folder in her hand.

"You know Setsuna-san," said Sara, one of the other girls in the office.  "They both looked happy to me."

"Never have I seen either of them look worse than they have in the last two days.  Those fake smiles they both keep putting on don't convince me."

"Lita knows what's happening," vetured Mina.  "Unfortunately she just went with Serena."

"Yeh," replied Raye, "she said something about him being 'her worst enemy…' "

" 'And her greatest and only true love'… " finished Mina.  "I wonder what she meant by that.  Of all the times to be criptic."

"Are you doing anything right now Raye?"  Asked Setsuna quickly, as a thought hit her.

"No…"

"Good, go down stairs and grab one of the company cars then go to our offices on 12 Avenue, Darien's office is on the 12th floor."

"Why do I want to go see Darien at his office?"  Questioned Raye.

"You don't, besides, I doubt if he'll go right there anyway.  I want you to grab his PA, I'll call her and she'll be ready when you get there.  Her name is Lizzy."

"But…"

"I'll explain later, just go.  All you need to know is that she has apparently known both Serena and Darien for some time.  She knows what happened."

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"Hi, you must be Raye," said a bubbly young brunette.

'Reminds me of Serena, except with brown hair.'  "I take it you're Lizzy," answered Raye with a smile.

"Well, lets go, Setsuna was in a hurry, she threatened me not to take to long.  I guess this has something to do with Darien?"

"Yeh, you could say that," replied Raye with a shrug as she started the car again.

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"Everyone – Lizzy, Lizzy – everyone."  Introduced Raye after they arrived at the tower and made their up towards where everyone else was waiting.

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