Except that her finger crossing did not work. Well, actually she decided not to make it work, on her side at least. All she can think about that weekend is not the kiss (kiss? What kiss?), but that juicy confession that he did. It was Saturday afternoon when her hangover subsided that she finally had the strength to remove all the memory of what happened later the night last night, and focused on what happened earlier (selective memory). She watched the video she secretly took, and man, she can't stop laughing.

Karma! He really did say he likes Karma. Maybe that's why the two had been competing with each other since high school, well scratch that, since middle school (or can be the other way around). She pondered what will she do with the video. There's no way she can get fired for that. If anything, Asano is a fair person. It's unjust to fire someone who's doing well at work just because she caught you drinking because you had an unwanted feelings for a guy who's taken (and you're a guy too, take note). For goodness sake, she even helped him when it's not even her responsibility. So, getting fired is not a consequence for keeping that funny video.

And because getting fired is not an option, she did what she thought is best: make copies in her laptop and flash drive.

Monday morning. For many reasons she can point out one by one, Rio was nervous. Seeing Asano, her boss, again would be extremely awkward. Will he approach her first and thank her for getting him home? Or will he even remember drinking with her? She thought that threatening him with the video out of the blue is unreasonable. The guy just poured his feelings out and feelings is one thing she does not want to play with. If he just acted like nothing happened, then she can live with that and keep anything to herself, but she can never promise not to hold back a laugh whenever he and Karma is together. However, if he would act like a jerk because of that, then she can always use her secret weapon, aka the video to threaten him. Come what may. She took a deep breath and drove to her work place.

"Good morning, Nakamura-san!" Some of her workmates greeted as she pass by them at the hall way.

"Good morning!" she replied. Her eyes were restless, she was looking out for that tall, strawberry blonde guy. She doesn't want to bump into him first thing in the morning.

"Hey." Her soul almost jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. It's difficult to be anxious. She turned her head and saw the famous red head, who is the 'unwanted love interest' of the one she was careful not to bump into. She snorted at the thought.

"Hey, good morning, Akabane-kun." She tried her best not to laugh.

He smirked and gave her a ridiculed look. "Morning. You seem to be lively today." He took a sip of the coffee he was holding.

"Yeah, the weather's nice, don't you think? It's a good day," she tried to avoid any conversation while she placed her bag on her table. She can't stop herself from internally laughing.

"Well, I'm sorry to ruin your day but," he took another sip, "Asano wanted to see you in his office."

"What?" She choked.

"See? Your beautiful day is short lived, sorry about that," he laughed sarcastically. "He told me to tell you to report to him first thing in the morning. He said there's a lot of work to do, so good luck."

She sighed. Uh oh. Way to go her plans of forgetting stuffs. Time to be professional. She sighed again dramatically. "Short lived, indeed. I'll drop by now, thank you for that."

"Sure, have a nice day," he mocked. She rolled her eyes at him, he laughed. She headed to the office she dreaded even before that Friday happened. Seeing Asano in the morning means doing a lot of work for the whole day. It was bad before, but it's worse now since it's not only that he's about to give her two day's worth of work in a day, there's also possibility that it's more than that. She knocked on the door twice before carefully opening it.

"Good morning, Boss," she started nervously. She can hear him typing something on his laptop.

"Good morning. Take a seat," he replied casually. She followed, taking the seat in front of his table. At any rate, her heart might stop working for thumping too fast.

"Let me finish this first." It was awkward hearing his voice again, to say the least. Professional! She scolded herself internally for having thoughts in that kind of moment. He stopped typing and placed his laptop on the side.

Dare she say, he looked horrible. For his level, at least. His eyes were puffy, with under eye circles, he was pale and he looked like he's sick. He took a pile of folders from his drawer and placed it on the table between them.

"I want you to check on these files. That's the list of our associate companies overseas. The marked names will be visiting us here tomorrow and the day after, so I hope you already know what to do," he instructed, without even looking at her, as he signed some papers. He must be avoiding eye contact, which she definitely understood. He probably resolved to forget everything. She was all thankful for that.

She nodded and took the folders from his table. "Copy that, sir. Is there anything else–"

"Sir, excuse me. Your meeting shall start in five minutes." Rio was interrupted when Asano's secretary barged in. He placed the paper he signed inside an envelope, stood up and wore his coat. The secretary glanced at Rio and mouthed good morning, in which she responded with a smile and a bow.

"That's all, Nakamura-san," Asano faced her. This time he met her eyes and gave her the envelope. She took it and bowed. The secretary opened the door for him, and for Rio as well. They all vacated the room.

She silently made her way to her table. Well, that was quick. Awkward, yes, but not as disturbing as she thought it would be. She opened her laptop and started doing her work. She noticed that all the necessary files were on the pile of folders. So what was the envelope for? She checked it out and found only one sheet of paper inside. Her heart almost dropped when she read the content. It wasn't a business document, it was a handwritten letter. Or it was more like a death threat.

"Nakamura–

Wait for me at the parking lot after shift."

Thank you so much for reading this and leaving reviews! I'm planning to continue this because I want our English Gal to receive more love. Thanks again and have a nice day! ^_^