Chapter 7
The man was absolutely infuriating. One moment he would ignore her for hours on end and suddenly, for no apparent reason, come down on her about every possible thing she could have done wrong. Over the last three days, Natria had been put through as many rigorous projects as all of the other employees, if not worse. She completed her assignments, made it to work on time, and even stayed late at night to finish whatever things needed to me done by the next day. Yet he still treated her like she was some inferior being who didn't know how to even squat in the bathroom. It was driving her mad, but Natria was not one to easily give in to intimidating and sexual discrimination. She was risking her place back in the slums, a very good guarantee for money, but Wufei didn't seem to care one bit. As far as he knew, she was a clerk in a downtown drugstore. He could have cared less.
At that very moment, Natria was sitting at her desk in her cubicle, typing away on one of the accounts that had been 'hummed' and 'haahed' over for the last week. She was very close to unscrambling the financial problem when suddenly, an entire stack of files were dropped rather loudly onto the desk. She nearly jumped right out of her skin. She looked up to find two amused eyes staring at her. She felt the instinct to growl up at this arrogant face in front of her.
"I've brought you some more files to sort through. I want them on my desk by tomorrow afternoon, three o'clock sharp." Wufei smiled at the displeasure he was causing her. He actually felt quite satisfied with this and turned, nearly on the verge of whistling. He had nearly made it to the door of the cubicle before Natria retaliated.
"You insensitive asshole," she growled under her voice. Wufei stopped in his tracks and looked over his shoulder at her. His eyes were still slightly amused.
"Do you have a problem, Miss De Lowen?" he asked innocently. Natria stood slowly, obviously trying to hold in her temper.
"I have slaved over the last set of files that you told me to sort for the past three days and I finally finished the last piece of crap that you threw at me. You're trying to kill me!" she hissed. Wufei turned around, obviously not amused any longer.
"If you can't handle the pressure this company puts on you, then why don't you resign?" Wufei felt his heart speed up.
Natria's eyes narrowed considerably. "That's just what you would want, isn't it?" Wufei almost let out an audible sigh of relief. He quickly quenched that by glaring down at her.
"Ever since the day I started working here you have tried every single thing possible to drive me out of my mind. So far, it's working!" By now several eyes were peaking out of their own cubicles to see who was causing the commotion. When they saw it was only Wufei and Natria, they only shrugged and returned back to work. They had always seemed to fight like an old couple. But it was known that Wufei was not interested in women, at least not after what happened to…
"I have told you already, you are a weak woman and if you can't get the work done, don't come complaining to me about all of it."
"I don't have to sit here and be discriminated against just because I was born with a pair of tits." That caught his attention. Natria had hit a cord. "What is it? These scare you," she said lowly, so hardly anyone could hear her. Was that sweat breaking out on his forehead? She had no pity for him. Natria immediately slipped into her street mode when a potential customer would stroll by. "Don't be afraid of something like these. They're harmless really, at least, these are, but the person who has them, you might want to watch out for her." Her voice had grown husky. She was enjoying the light blush that was now creeping up Wufei's neck. His jaw tightened as his eyes were trying desperately to stay above her neck.
"You are a disgrace to this company," he growled. Natria reacted as if she had been slapped. Her eyes at first were hurt by what he said, but what had she expected? A quick tumble right there in the cubicle? Of course not. Her eyes looked worn down, not really expecting anything out of life anymore. Slowly, she raised her head and gave a small, humorless smile. Wufei stepped back, almost regretfully and immediately turned away to walk back to his office. Natria was left standing there, staring at where he had been. What on Earth was she thinking? She actually thought she could get a regular job and become apart of society again instead of living in isolation in the slums. How could she have been so stupid? Sighing, she turned and stared at the massive pile of files. She only had on thing left to do then.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wufei sat at his desk, his head leaning on his folded hands, his elbows supporting him as the lights were all being turned off around the outer offices. He continued to sit, contemplating what had happened with Natria. He had never felt such emotions until she came into the company. After his wife died, he had gone into a deep depression, feeling hardly any emotions and giving none as well. Something about Natria stirred something deep inside of him and it was disturbing. He was content where he was, living his life like the walking dead. The only thing he did feel strongly against was women. If his wife had been strong, she could have made it out of the hospital instead of lying there, wasting away before his eyes. She had left him alone and there was nothing he could do. Stupid women, you could never trust them with your heart. Suddenly, there was a small tap on the door. Wufei was rudely brought back to his surroundings. Hoarsely, he called for the person to enter as he pulled out a file, to make it look as if he had been doing some work.
The door creaked open and Natria stepped inside. Wufei hesitated as he caught sight of her, but continued to pull the file out, pulling himself together for the façade he was to display for her.
"What do you want?" he asked gruffly. Natria hardly even showed any emotion as she dropped the files on his desk. They were all completely organized and had been examined. Wufei stared at the pile for a long moment.
"What's this?" he said, knowing full well, what was in front of him, he was more interested in why she had done it so quickly. Natria shrugged nonchalantly.
"Those are the files you wanted."
"Well, I can see that, why…"
"Because I'm resigning. You asked me earlier today to resign, so here it is," she handed over a slip of paper. Wufei did not reach for it at first. He hardly even glanced at it as he set it on his desk.
"You have a contract," he said quickly.
"It can also be terminated if the head supervisor, that's you, approves the early resignation. All you have to do is sign this paper."
Wufei once again didn't look at what she was pointing at. He found himself breaking out in a sweat. His teeth were gritting. She wasn't supposed to do this. She was too stubborn to give into his mockery of her.
"I will not sign this," he said in a low voice. Natria's eyes widened in outrage.
"What?" she cried. "You have to. You said yourself that you wanted me gone, more than once I might add." Wufei stood up and began collecting his papers and putting them in his briefcase.
"You will fulfill this contract to its full term." Natria's fists were clenching as he turned to get his coat. He came out from behind his desk to only nod at her and make his way towards the door. Natria hadn't moved, her teeth grinding against one another.
"You bastard," she said under her breath. He kept going. "I'm not, Meilan." He froze, not moving at all, not even breathing. She dared to bring his wife's name into this. She dared to even compare herself to his wife? He turned slowly, stiffly towards her.
"Excuse me?" he said hardly able to speak.
"You heard me," Natria turned around to face him, her face stoic. "I'm not Meilan, so stop acting as if I've wronged you. It's no secret why you don't like women." Wufei's coat and briefcase dropped with a thud as he turned and swung around, grabbing a hold of her arm in a painful vice.
"Don't you ever presume that you are anything like my wife."
"No, I'm not like your wife because she doesn't have to deal with such a selfish and sad little man. I don't presume to be like her, I envy her. While she is enjoying herself wherever she is, I have to sit and deal with you!" The last comment sent Wufei over the edge. He quickly shoved her back so she hit the table behind her, causing it to fall over, spilling everything. She landed hard on the ground. She looked up with determination.
"You want to take something out on me? Go ahead, I'm right here," she growled, getting up into a fighting position. She silently thanked herself for wearing pants that day. Wufei's eyes narrowed as he shot forward, pushing her against the wall, she struggled violently to get loose, but he held her there firmly. Natria's eyes connected with Wufei's and for a brief moment, he hesitated. Suddenly, Natria came to the realization that in a very sick and twisted way, Wufei was lonely. Her eyes softened slightly. Wufei saw the sudden change and immediately let her go, backing away quickly. She had seen something in him that no one else had. He backed up a few more steps. Natria stood tall, staring at him in a saddened kind of way.
"I don't need pity," he whispered as he turned away.
"How long has it been since you've been with someone?" she asked quietly. Natria waited with her breath caught in her throat for his reply. He stopped.
"My wife has been gone for over two years. I have not been with anyone since." It was strange, suddenly having a connection with someone again. Especially with Natria de Lowen, the representation of all he hated, yet missed with all his soul. Natria stepped forward purposefully and gazed into his eyes.
"Don't live life alone," she said with as much meaning as possible. "Being dead while you are still alive is the worst way to bring yourself closer to hell. Being alive is only if you are with people who are alive." Natria looked down, breaking the eye contact, she had only noticed then how close she had come to Wufei. Only a few inches from each other. She made a move towards the door only to find that Wufei had swung her around to face him. His eyes were smoldering black coals. He was baring his teeth, not in anger, but in pain. Small glimmers of tears were forming on the edges of his eyes. As if it pained him even more, he lowered his head and took her lips fiercely, as if he wanted to suck every last bit of life out of her. Natria stood stiffly, not sure how to react. Wufei pulled away slowly, not looking at her, keeping his face close to hers. Natria felt as if a lifeline had just been snapped. Her only reaction was to grab for him again. Their lips met with a crash. It took Natria a moment to realize what was happening. Her eyes widened as she felt that her heart was going to pound its way out of her chest. She had never felt this before, such need to be with someone. With that sudden realization came fear. Without giving any warning, she pulled away. Wufei watched with watery eyes as she turned her back to him and made her way towards the door.
"Don't…" She didn't turn, but she stopped just as she was reaching for the knob. Her eyes slowly looked over towards Wufei. They were filled with panic. "Don't leave me alone like this," he whispered. Natria's hand slowly lowered away from her exit, the only way of holding her feelings in tact.
"You don't want to do this." She barely was able to get her words out before Wufei took only two strides to reach her. He stared down at her, yet her face refused to look up at him. Gently, he forced her chin up with his hand. Her eyes were sad, a sadness long forgotten.
"Don't tell me what I want," he said barely audible as he lowered his head down to her lips. Natria almost sobbed right out. He would hate her in the end, just as he always had. It was only a matter of time though that she soon forgot why she was crying.
The man was absolutely infuriating. One moment he would ignore her for hours on end and suddenly, for no apparent reason, come down on her about every possible thing she could have done wrong. Over the last three days, Natria had been put through as many rigorous projects as all of the other employees, if not worse. She completed her assignments, made it to work on time, and even stayed late at night to finish whatever things needed to me done by the next day. Yet he still treated her like she was some inferior being who didn't know how to even squat in the bathroom. It was driving her mad, but Natria was not one to easily give in to intimidating and sexual discrimination. She was risking her place back in the slums, a very good guarantee for money, but Wufei didn't seem to care one bit. As far as he knew, she was a clerk in a downtown drugstore. He could have cared less.
At that very moment, Natria was sitting at her desk in her cubicle, typing away on one of the accounts that had been 'hummed' and 'haahed' over for the last week. She was very close to unscrambling the financial problem when suddenly, an entire stack of files were dropped rather loudly onto the desk. She nearly jumped right out of her skin. She looked up to find two amused eyes staring at her. She felt the instinct to growl up at this arrogant face in front of her.
"I've brought you some more files to sort through. I want them on my desk by tomorrow afternoon, three o'clock sharp." Wufei smiled at the displeasure he was causing her. He actually felt quite satisfied with this and turned, nearly on the verge of whistling. He had nearly made it to the door of the cubicle before Natria retaliated.
"You insensitive asshole," she growled under her voice. Wufei stopped in his tracks and looked over his shoulder at her. His eyes were still slightly amused.
"Do you have a problem, Miss De Lowen?" he asked innocently. Natria stood slowly, obviously trying to hold in her temper.
"I have slaved over the last set of files that you told me to sort for the past three days and I finally finished the last piece of crap that you threw at me. You're trying to kill me!" she hissed. Wufei turned around, obviously not amused any longer.
"If you can't handle the pressure this company puts on you, then why don't you resign?" Wufei felt his heart speed up.
Natria's eyes narrowed considerably. "That's just what you would want, isn't it?" Wufei almost let out an audible sigh of relief. He quickly quenched that by glaring down at her.
"Ever since the day I started working here you have tried every single thing possible to drive me out of my mind. So far, it's working!" By now several eyes were peaking out of their own cubicles to see who was causing the commotion. When they saw it was only Wufei and Natria, they only shrugged and returned back to work. They had always seemed to fight like an old couple. But it was known that Wufei was not interested in women, at least not after what happened to…
"I have told you already, you are a weak woman and if you can't get the work done, don't come complaining to me about all of it."
"I don't have to sit here and be discriminated against just because I was born with a pair of tits." That caught his attention. Natria had hit a cord. "What is it? These scare you," she said lowly, so hardly anyone could hear her. Was that sweat breaking out on his forehead? She had no pity for him. Natria immediately slipped into her street mode when a potential customer would stroll by. "Don't be afraid of something like these. They're harmless really, at least, these are, but the person who has them, you might want to watch out for her." Her voice had grown husky. She was enjoying the light blush that was now creeping up Wufei's neck. His jaw tightened as his eyes were trying desperately to stay above her neck.
"You are a disgrace to this company," he growled. Natria reacted as if she had been slapped. Her eyes at first were hurt by what he said, but what had she expected? A quick tumble right there in the cubicle? Of course not. Her eyes looked worn down, not really expecting anything out of life anymore. Slowly, she raised her head and gave a small, humorless smile. Wufei stepped back, almost regretfully and immediately turned away to walk back to his office. Natria was left standing there, staring at where he had been. What on Earth was she thinking? She actually thought she could get a regular job and become apart of society again instead of living in isolation in the slums. How could she have been so stupid? Sighing, she turned and stared at the massive pile of files. She only had on thing left to do then.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wufei sat at his desk, his head leaning on his folded hands, his elbows supporting him as the lights were all being turned off around the outer offices. He continued to sit, contemplating what had happened with Natria. He had never felt such emotions until she came into the company. After his wife died, he had gone into a deep depression, feeling hardly any emotions and giving none as well. Something about Natria stirred something deep inside of him and it was disturbing. He was content where he was, living his life like the walking dead. The only thing he did feel strongly against was women. If his wife had been strong, she could have made it out of the hospital instead of lying there, wasting away before his eyes. She had left him alone and there was nothing he could do. Stupid women, you could never trust them with your heart. Suddenly, there was a small tap on the door. Wufei was rudely brought back to his surroundings. Hoarsely, he called for the person to enter as he pulled out a file, to make it look as if he had been doing some work.
The door creaked open and Natria stepped inside. Wufei hesitated as he caught sight of her, but continued to pull the file out, pulling himself together for the façade he was to display for her.
"What do you want?" he asked gruffly. Natria hardly even showed any emotion as she dropped the files on his desk. They were all completely organized and had been examined. Wufei stared at the pile for a long moment.
"What's this?" he said, knowing full well, what was in front of him, he was more interested in why she had done it so quickly. Natria shrugged nonchalantly.
"Those are the files you wanted."
"Well, I can see that, why…"
"Because I'm resigning. You asked me earlier today to resign, so here it is," she handed over a slip of paper. Wufei did not reach for it at first. He hardly even glanced at it as he set it on his desk.
"You have a contract," he said quickly.
"It can also be terminated if the head supervisor, that's you, approves the early resignation. All you have to do is sign this paper."
Wufei once again didn't look at what she was pointing at. He found himself breaking out in a sweat. His teeth were gritting. She wasn't supposed to do this. She was too stubborn to give into his mockery of her.
"I will not sign this," he said in a low voice. Natria's eyes widened in outrage.
"What?" she cried. "You have to. You said yourself that you wanted me gone, more than once I might add." Wufei stood up and began collecting his papers and putting them in his briefcase.
"You will fulfill this contract to its full term." Natria's fists were clenching as he turned to get his coat. He came out from behind his desk to only nod at her and make his way towards the door. Natria hadn't moved, her teeth grinding against one another.
"You bastard," she said under her breath. He kept going. "I'm not, Meilan." He froze, not moving at all, not even breathing. She dared to bring his wife's name into this. She dared to even compare herself to his wife? He turned slowly, stiffly towards her.
"Excuse me?" he said hardly able to speak.
"You heard me," Natria turned around to face him, her face stoic. "I'm not Meilan, so stop acting as if I've wronged you. It's no secret why you don't like women." Wufei's coat and briefcase dropped with a thud as he turned and swung around, grabbing a hold of her arm in a painful vice.
"Don't you ever presume that you are anything like my wife."
"No, I'm not like your wife because she doesn't have to deal with such a selfish and sad little man. I don't presume to be like her, I envy her. While she is enjoying herself wherever she is, I have to sit and deal with you!" The last comment sent Wufei over the edge. He quickly shoved her back so she hit the table behind her, causing it to fall over, spilling everything. She landed hard on the ground. She looked up with determination.
"You want to take something out on me? Go ahead, I'm right here," she growled, getting up into a fighting position. She silently thanked herself for wearing pants that day. Wufei's eyes narrowed as he shot forward, pushing her against the wall, she struggled violently to get loose, but he held her there firmly. Natria's eyes connected with Wufei's and for a brief moment, he hesitated. Suddenly, Natria came to the realization that in a very sick and twisted way, Wufei was lonely. Her eyes softened slightly. Wufei saw the sudden change and immediately let her go, backing away quickly. She had seen something in him that no one else had. He backed up a few more steps. Natria stood tall, staring at him in a saddened kind of way.
"I don't need pity," he whispered as he turned away.
"How long has it been since you've been with someone?" she asked quietly. Natria waited with her breath caught in her throat for his reply. He stopped.
"My wife has been gone for over two years. I have not been with anyone since." It was strange, suddenly having a connection with someone again. Especially with Natria de Lowen, the representation of all he hated, yet missed with all his soul. Natria stepped forward purposefully and gazed into his eyes.
"Don't live life alone," she said with as much meaning as possible. "Being dead while you are still alive is the worst way to bring yourself closer to hell. Being alive is only if you are with people who are alive." Natria looked down, breaking the eye contact, she had only noticed then how close she had come to Wufei. Only a few inches from each other. She made a move towards the door only to find that Wufei had swung her around to face him. His eyes were smoldering black coals. He was baring his teeth, not in anger, but in pain. Small glimmers of tears were forming on the edges of his eyes. As if it pained him even more, he lowered his head and took her lips fiercely, as if he wanted to suck every last bit of life out of her. Natria stood stiffly, not sure how to react. Wufei pulled away slowly, not looking at her, keeping his face close to hers. Natria felt as if a lifeline had just been snapped. Her only reaction was to grab for him again. Their lips met with a crash. It took Natria a moment to realize what was happening. Her eyes widened as she felt that her heart was going to pound its way out of her chest. She had never felt this before, such need to be with someone. With that sudden realization came fear. Without giving any warning, she pulled away. Wufei watched with watery eyes as she turned her back to him and made her way towards the door.
"Don't…" She didn't turn, but she stopped just as she was reaching for the knob. Her eyes slowly looked over towards Wufei. They were filled with panic. "Don't leave me alone like this," he whispered. Natria's hand slowly lowered away from her exit, the only way of holding her feelings in tact.
"You don't want to do this." She barely was able to get her words out before Wufei took only two strides to reach her. He stared down at her, yet her face refused to look up at him. Gently, he forced her chin up with his hand. Her eyes were sad, a sadness long forgotten.
"Don't tell me what I want," he said barely audible as he lowered his head down to her lips. Natria almost sobbed right out. He would hate her in the end, just as he always had. It was only a matter of time though that she soon forgot why she was crying.