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Dedicated to ari dark princess!!!

Mariah carefully added spice to the pan she had over the stove stirring them in carefully, turning she called "Have you picked a wine?"

"I got a nice red" Tala offered walking into the kitchen holding a bottle in one hand and staring at the label. "Cabernet Sauvignon alright?"

"Perfect" Mariah smiled at the redhead as he opened up the cutlery drawer and pulled out a corkscrew. She watched him as he opened the wine and poured the red liquid into one of the glasses she had taken from the cupboard. She was so busy watching him that she didn't notice the food begin to burn until the smell reached her nostrils "Oh! Damn it!"

Grabbing the pan off the heat Mariah looked down at the ruined food and sighed.

"So I guess I ought to call the pizza place?" Tala teased smiling at his girlfriends disgruntled face. He pulled her phone from the wall and dialled ordering their favourite pizza. After he had hung up he turned back to her smiling "Now I don't get a taste of your superior cooking skills!"

Glowering as she threw the ruined food into the bin Mariah turned back top face Tala "Shut up! This is all your fault anyway"

"How do you figure that?" he asked feeling insulted

"Well if you weren't so damn sexy" Mariah told him smiling seductively "I wouldn't have been watching you and got distracted thus ruining the dinner" she walked forward and Tala opened his arms so that she could walk into them.

"I am so sorry" Tala apologised "How can I make it up to you?"

"I'll think of something" she kissed him lightly on the lips then pulled away

"Hey we got at least thirty minutes till the pizza gets here!" Tala complained pulling her back into his arms.

Laughing Mariah allowed Tala to kiss her but she shook her head as he started to move to kiss her leg "Uh uh" she wriggled out of his grasp "I want a drink and I'm still making desert"

"Fine" Tala moaned "I was just looking forward to having a little desert before dinner"

"God you're cheesy sometimes" Mariah moved back to the stove where a summer fruits sauce was warming to simmering point. "Sometimes it's a no brainer why you and Kai stayed playboy bachelors for so long"

"Oh yeah about Kai" cheering up and taking a sip of wine Tala moved to sit on the kitchen counter, his eyes took on the glint of a girl with some good gossip.

"Don't sit there" Mariah nagged but didn't complain when he made no move "What about him?"

"I visited him last night and he was acting odd, the thing is Kai likes someone"

"That's all?" she asked surprised

"No I mean, he really likes someone!" Tala reiterated his point gesticulating with his hands in his attempt to get his point across

"Great, you pass it around the class I'll tell the girls in the playground!" Mariah laughed teasingly "Come on Tala what are we thirteen? So he likes someone? That's nothing"

"No you don't understand!" Tala muttered "You see Kai and I…well we used to… we just lusted after girls, we never really cared about the person"

"This makes me feel so good!" Mariah furrowed her brow

"No" Tala realised that he had said the wrong thing "No, No, No! You changed that for me, I liked you for you, you were the first girl that I didn't just think she's hot.…" Again Mariah gave him an annoyed look "No! I knew you were hot, you are hot! But you made me laugh and…I didn't just see you as a hot girl but someone I could sleep with... I mean spend time with" He realised that she was still looking a bit annoyed "I'm digging a hole and I don't think I'm getting out" the depressed man shook his head. "Should I just go or are you gonna hit me first?"

Mariah laughed "Tala I knew what you're reputation was, that's why I was cautious, but I liked you despite that and" walking forward she put a hand on his cheek "I understand what you were trying to say. You've never had a real relationship before have you?"

"No" the response was a mumble but it made Mariah smile

"So I get what you mean, I really like spending time with you too"

"Really?" Tala looked up happy to see her smiling at him

"Yes" she kissed him on the cheek before moving back to the stove "now what were you saying about Kai?"

"Well he hasn't had any dates recently, and when I told him he could bring a date to the opera he looked put out. As though I was forcing him to do something he didn't want to." Now I know Kai better than anyone…I know him better than he knows himself. There's someone he likes and he can't get her" Tala paused thinking for a moment "The thing is…I don't know how to help him with this."

"Maybe he can find an art gallery that she's going to and follow her there!" Mariah teased

"Yeah but he'd need me there to chat up her friend so he'd get her alone" Tala responded laughing. It had all come out how he'd chased her around but after a big argument the two of them had made up and Mariah had been able to forgive him and move on. The only problem with this situation was that now whenever Mariah wanted to tease him she had plenty of ammunition!

"So who's the girl?" Mariah asked interested as she returned to the stove stirring the sauce

"I don't know he didn't say, but then I didn't really ask…." Tala frowned "Kai doesn't like to give too much away, I didn't think it would be good to ask straight away"

"Well maybe you can find out and secretly invite her to the opera!"

"Good plan, how did I get a girl as smart as you to agree to go out with me?"

"Well you hired someone to find out all about me…TALA!!!" Mariah broke off into giggles as Tala tackled her from behind tickling her mercilessly.

--

Kai was beginning to get restless, over the last two days he had been trying to get the beautiful brunette out of his head but to no avail! It wouldn't be so bad if he knew how to get hold of her but she hadn't exactly been forthcoming with her contact details.

The worst thing about all this though was the fact that he couldn't be as aggressive as he'd like to be in finding her. If he started going through the office and actively searching for her it would bring about a huge amount of suspicion and an office romance would cause problems among the staff. The annoying thing was that she had turned up twice without any rhyme or reason and now he wanted her to be here she hadn't appeared in over two days.

"Sir?"

"Hm?" Kai looked up to find his secretary standing before him "What was that Ms. Heyer?"

"I was just enquiring about the fundraiser?" Ms. Heyer (Kai wasn't sure if she had another name, everyone called her Ms. Heyer) was a hard working determined woman and when Kai had first started working here she had been the only one able to keep his mind on his job, she was only fifteen years older than Kai but she had a way of mothering him that he had at first found amusing and now when things were tough he found almost comforting. "Are you going to pay attention to me today?"

"Sorry, lets start again!"

"Right" she spoke slowly now as though addressing a small child "…the… fund…. raiser"

"Oh yes" Kai shook his head annoyed, every year his father had the company throw a large benefit for whatever charity happened to be popular at the time. It was an easy tax break and made his company look good so Kai was always willing to attend even though he didn't really care. "Who are we raising money for this time?"

"It's cancer research." she told him holding out a booklet "everything you need to know about the charity is in there. The guest list is here…" she handed over a file "I've added Tala's girlfriend Mariah to his invitation…. Are you sure they'll still be together? It's two weeks away."

"Yeah" Kai smirked, Tala's reputation was so bad even Kai's secretary doubted his staying power

"Ok…" The lady looked down at her notes "ah yes…it's a black and white ball so I've arranged for you to go get your tuxedo fitted the day after tomorrow... I know you already have a tux but your father is insisting that you get a new one. On that note… Both your parents will be attending…"

"Both?" Kai looked up surprised, it was rare that both of his parents were in the same country as each other never mind the same room "Are you sure about that?"

"Positive" she gave him a nervous smile "actually they'll be in town for a few days before and your father is determined that all three if you will be together for a few days"

"Hell no!" Kai shook his head, the last time his family had been together for more than a few hours it had resulted in a huge argument where a lot of family secrets that he didn't need to know came to light.

"I'm sorry sir but your father is insisting that you stay at the family home"

"Insisting? How can he insist that?"

"Well you either go or he…" she trailed off nervously, she really hated getting involved in the mess that was the Hiwatari family.

Kai felt sorry for the woman in front of him, she had worked for him for years, she had witnessed first hand some of the arguments that could happen and Kai could guess what his father had told her to say. Despite a slightly tough exterior Ms. Heyer was a sweet woman and she wouldn't want to say what she had to "Let me guess. Either I go or he cuts me out of his will?"

"I'm afraid so" Ms. Heyer nodded apologetically

"Fine, call him get the details of when I need to be there and then call my maid at the apartment tell her what's happening and when she'll need everything packed for. Oh and could you tell her that I won't be home again tonight? so if she could just lock up when she's done…"

"Is that wise? You've been here for three nights straight!"

"I'll be fine" Truth be told Kai was hanging around hoping that Hilary would appear again

"Very well" she nodded feeling resigned, looking back down at her notes she frowned "Oh yes there's an emergency meeting tomorrow lunch time with the accountancy department. They want to look into cutbacks, they need your approval." She handed over another file and her distaste was obvious, whatever the 'cutbacks' were Kai doubted they were pleasant "this covers all they want to discuss. And that's it for me, I'm going to go home, unless there's something else you want to know about?"

"Actually there is" Kai paused before asking "do you.... do you know any Hilarys working in these offices?"

"Hilarys?"

"Yes… you know… girls called Hilary?"

"Um... theres two that I know of"

"She's a brunette 21 looks younger though"

There was a short silence as the woman tried to think about his question but soon she was shaking her head "None that I know of, the only Hilary's know working here are older than that, I don't recognise the description either. Maybe she's a temp, we get quite a few temps in when we're organising the fundraiser, is there a problem?"

"No! No problem" Kai shook his head "Doesn't matter! Never mind, you get home"

Curious but tired Ms Heyer decided to let it go and she simply turned and headed for the door "Good night sir."

Left alone Kai decided that it would be best if he got on with some work, he sifted through the pile ion his desk. The fund-raiser stuff could wait so he chucked that into his brief case to be looked through next time he got home. He moved onto the file for tomorrows meeting, whatever was inside was obviously delicate information because it had enough 'private' labels on it to actually cover what colour the file usually was.

Opening it he soon realised why Ms Heyer had looked so annoyed as she had handed it over, the cutbacks consisted of budgeting where they need more expenditure, firing where they should be hiring and loss of overtime pay when they were asking people to do more hours.

It was going to be a long night!

Not much Hil here but she has lots to do in the next chapter so read that!!

Um…thanks to all my reviewers so far and please review again!!!