009. Reassurance

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"Sonic," Amy said as she looked at herself in the mirror.

"Yeah?" Sonic walked out from the bathroom, adjusting the cuffs from his shirt.

She smiled at him. "Can you help me pull up the zipper from the back please?"

Feeling Sonic walking up to her, Amy blushed when he took his time coasting his fingers down her spine while his lips teasingly pressed feathery kisses along the line of her shoulder. "You sure you wanna go now? It's a little early..."

"I'm sure," Amy rolled her eyes before laughing softly, "You're hosting it, aren't you? The least you could do is show up on time."

Sonic finally zipped up her dress and spun her around so that they could face each other. "You're no fun," he whined and pouted, "And besides, it's just a celebration party for our merger with Niyaga Enterprises."

She raised an eye. "That's a pretty big deal. Considering Mariko Niyaga has been trying to chase you down."

He shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so. I just hope I don't bump into her as much, otherwise I wouldn't be able to escape from the woman."

Amy's smile faltered a little. "Yeah..."

Sonic quickly noticed her sudden mood change and tightened his hold around her. "She hasn't been giving you any trouble lately, has she?"

Biting the corner of her bottom lip gently, she swayed her head slightly. "Just the typical passive aggressiveness and glares. It's all right though, I haven't spoken a word to her."

"Ames," the blue hedgehog sighed and leaned in so that their foreheads touched, "You gotta let me know whenever she bothers you. Tell you what, I'll have a word with her when we're there."

"Don't bother," Amy shook her head before muttering out, "If you do, I'm sure she'll find a way to get into your pants even then."

She pulled away from him, feeling upset all of a sudden and sat down on the edge of the bed. When she looked back up at Sonic, who was frowning at her, she sighed and shook her head. "I'm sorry. She's just... not exactly the nicest person you want to be looked down upon."

Sonic sat beside her and smiled. "So I'm guessing you did try to talk to her."

Amy nodded sheepishly. "All I did was say hi because she kept staring at me. She gave me this dirty look and just walked off. So I'm just gonna confirm she literally hates me because I'm with you."

"You know, if she keeps doing that then I can easily replace her," he said and intertwined their hands together, "I technically own her company now and can get someone else to fill in her spot," Sonic kissed her knuckles, "You'll be wandering around the company building a lot when you're not in your work shift at the library. So you'd be bumping into her more times than you'd like which is something I don't want to happen if it means she'll harass you."

"That's sweet, Sonic," she blushed when he kissed her reassuringly, "But it's fine. If it ever gets too much, then I'll let you know."

"You promise?"

She nodded. "I promise."

Sonic held her gaze before grinning, gently pushing her down onto the bed so he was on top, trailing his hand up her upper thigh. "Then can we please leave a little later?"

Amy giggled and stopped his lips with her finger. "I'm going to be wearing stilettos and I would like to be able to walk in them throughout the party."

He rolled his eyes with a groan but leaned down to kiss her again before getting off her. "You so owe me," Sonic eyed down at her dress, "I swear to god, you're just gonna tempt me even more to drag you away from the party with that dress."

She blushed again and looked down at it. It wasn't much. Just a dark blue dress that reached her mid-thigh with the lace of it being wavy. She wanted it to match Sonic's colour because of the occasion. "Y-You like it?"

Sonic shot her another cheeky grin. "You look beautiful, Ames."

Smiling, she stood up and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Okay, no more compliments like that until the end of the party."

He gave her a knowing gaze. "What? Did that rile you up a bit?"

Amy rolled her eyes, pecking his lips. "Come on, let's get going. We're going to be late!"

"Ames, you're really no fun!"

...

"I'd like to thank everyone to has helped us with this merger with Niyaga Enterprises," Sonic spoke through the mic at the front, "Myself and my fellow colleagues hope we can carry out deals a lot more smoother now that we have acquired them under our company," he looked over to the female standing next to him and put out his hand, "Niyaga-san, welcome aboard and thank you for your hard work."

Amy watched, clapping her hands happily along with the rest of the guests as Sonic and Mariko shook hands. She saw Mariko subtly trying to keep their hands locked together but Sonic managed to slip pass without causing suspicion amongst the public. Amy sighed and shook her head, going off to the food platter to nibble on some of the pizza rolls. She then smiled as she saw Sonic talking to Tails and Knuckles.

Then from the corner of her eye, she saw Mariko walking up to him again but this time Amy managed to lock her gaze with hers. Mariko slowed down and stared back at her, the glare already forming on her face. Amy decided to stay calm but was pleasantly surprised when the woman began walking to her direction.

"Hello," Mariko greeted her bluntly.

Amy cleared her throat, feeling uncomfortable already. "Hi..."

One thing Amy had to admit, Mariko was absolutely beautiful. She was wearing green long dress that went down from one side of her leg to leave the other exposed. She wore silver heels and her hair was braided down neatly. Many men would always look at her with want in their eyes, even breaking their professionalism in the business to chat her up. If she wasn't such a problem to Amy, then maybe she could understand why they did.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

Really?

"I'm here for Sonic," the pink hedgehog simply said and then added, "I came with him."

Something flashed in Mariko's eyes but it went a split second later, not that Amy was fooled though. "I see," the other woman looked down at her dress carefully, "I am assuming that was why Sonic was late."

Amy remained calm. "Sonic likes to waffle around a lot before getting ready," she answered and shrugged, "This dress was a bit of a chore to zip up correctly so he helped me."

If Mariko was annoyed, then she was very good at hiding it. At the very most, Amy noticed the woman's jaw clenching ever so slightly. "I see."

Sighing, Amy just decided that enough was enough because she was getting tired of it. "Look, if you're here to bother me about Sonic then don't. I'm sorry he isn't reciprocating your feelings for him but you need to deal with the fact that he's with me."

That sparked something in Mariko's expression. Finally. "I had my eyes set on him for years until you suddenly decided to show up, with no background or knowledge of a running business like this," she took a bold step towards her, "It's embarrassing to see that you're only with him for the money."

Amy knew blowing her temper would just get a kick out of her but she was steadily becoming upset. Her chest became heavier, with her breathing quickening. However, she did manage to muster up a glare at her. "You don't know anything about me."

"I would like to think I do."

"Well, you don't."

"Then tell me," Mariko provoked her again, "What does he see in you that I don't have?"

Amy stalled at the other woman's question all of a sudden.

Right. What did he see in her, exactly? She never asked him that question before.

"Well for one thing, she's the most gorgeous woman I've ever laid my eyes upon."

The two women jumped and looked over to Sonic, who was the least most impressed at what he just heard. Amy blinked when he shot her a grin, walking closer to her and took her hand before kissing it. "She's also smart, intelligent and a bit feisty," he teased before glancing over to Mariko, "I bumped into her at the Starbucks she previously worked in and went there every morning just to see her before going into the office. Then I finally had the guts to ask her out for a dinner date and things pretty much kicked off from there," Sonic smiled again before settling a light hard stare at the grey hedgehog in front of them, "If you keep this up Mariko, then I'll have your brother replacing you. Shinji isn't the type of guy to cause silly problems like this and I think he'd be perfect for the job."

"He wouldn't be," Mariko seethed through her teeth.

"He would. At least he knows what personal space is."

Mariko suddenly looked flustered, not being able to come up with a response. Her lips thinned as she took a step back, bowing apologetically. "I apologise for my behaviour," she forced out before casting a look at Amy. She huffed lightly and walked off, stomping her heels louder than usual.

Sonic shook his head and turned back to her. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Amy breathed out, "I'm fine. Thank you."

"I'm sorry, Ames. Whatever she said, don't let it get to you. All right?"

She nodded, her lips curling into a smile as a blush made its way to her cheeks. "All right."

He smiled back at her and lead her further down in the ball room. Music started to play and so he wrapped his arms around her. Amy laughed and complied, her arms slithering around his neck.

"I meant what I said about replacing her," Sonic started off, "One more problem and she's out."

"You honestly don't have to do it," Amy said with a sigh, "I can handle her jabs."

"Stop lying. You looked like you were about to cry before I intervened," he said sternly, "Seriously Amy, if there's anything more I don't want then it's for her to make you feel like this."

The pink hedgehog bit the corner of her lip. "It'll cause drama, Sonic..."

"So what if it does? She's not someone I would like to keep under my eye for too long. That'd be so stressful!"

She pouted. "So would dealing with the media about it!"

Sonic looked at her carefully and sighed again. "This is the part where I don't listen to you."

Amy pressed her lips together and buried her face against his chest. "You're so annoying sometimes."

She heard him chuckle and lift her chin up so that they could look at each other again. "I'm doing it for you. I don't care if Mariko is the world's most successful business woman in the Orient. It's my company and I can do whatever I want to make sure my employees and my girlfriend are safe from her comments."

"My knight and shining armour," she said dryly but still managed to giggle, rubbing their noses together, "But all right."

He grinned at her, sneaking a quick kiss on her lips before they continued to slow dance to the music. Later on, a few people did come up to Sonic and congratulate him as well as have a conversation with him. While Amy did want to leave him to it, Sonic held her hand throughout the whole thing as he spoke to his business partners. They even noticed her and gave her a respectful nod and greeting to which she responded back the same.

Mariko kept her space. While the woman would catch them from a distance, she also had people talking to her as well so she was heavily occupied answering questions and holding conversations. Thankfully. So Amy managed to relax herself throughout the rest of the party.

She shared a drink with Sonic as the two of them sat alone outside, the guests slowly leaving the ballroom as the party nearly came to a finish. Amy let out a small yawn, feeling tired already. Even though she had nothing to with Sonic's work, that still didn't stop people from crowding around her so that they could talk to her. It was... overwhelming. She didn't know how Sonic did it and how he was such a natural with it. It was when Tails came by her side and diverted them away somewhere else that Amy never felt more relieved and thanked the younger executive with a bright smile.

"I'm exhausted," Amy whined softly, leaning sideways against Sonic as she rested her head onto his shoulder, "Can we go home now?"

"You don't have to ask me twice," Sonic chuckled out as they stood up, "Can you walk?"

She lifted her arms up with a small pout. "Carry me."

He playfully rolled his eyes and picked her up, bridal style, "As you wish, princess," as Sonic began walking, he pressed his lips against her ear and teased, "Hope you're not too tired for the rest of the night."

Amy huffed, a heavy blush forming on her cheeks but stifled a giggle anyway as she kissed his cheek. "You're so annoying, Sonic..."

"Only for you, Ames."