My eyes fluttered open, and for a minute I was slightly unaware of where I was. A searing pain slashed through my skull, and I put my hand to my forehead. "What happened?" I muttered. And then everything flooded into my head again: the interview, those eyes…

I recognized the ceiling of my room and a small tear escaped from the corner of my eye. This room was too small to hold in all of the anxiety ready to burst out of this chest. I had already had a gut feeling in my stomach that the moment I forgot about Richard was the moment I was going to see him again.

I stopped sniffling and paused for a moment to listen to Raven's voice on the other side of the closed door. "Galfore, I assure you that she's fine…no, you don't need to fly here…okay, bye." I heard her hang up the phone and within a couple seconds she entered the room, her face calm and collected, although her eyes displayed her worry. She sat on the bed and tried to look at me. I avoided her gaze stubbornly.

"How did I get here?" I asked, still staring at a little blank spot on the wall.

"I'm only going to answer that when you tell me what happened with Richard first."

My alertness became clearer. "How did you know this had anything to do with Richard?"

"Isn't everything?" she said as if it meant nothing. But it did mean something. "I picked you up at the office."

I pursed my lips angrily, not knowing what to say. I sighed. There was a moment of silence between us, something that we were both comfortable with. Some people felt like they had to talk to keep a connection going. Raven and I were different. Silence was golden in times of trouble like this. "What am I supposed to do? I've worked so hard for that job. Quitting will just mean that I've wasted my all my time and effort."

A strange look came into her dark purple eyes, and she bolted from the room. She returned a few seconds later, carrying a vanilla envelope. "You can't quit…I just got this in the mail this afternoon."

She handed me a letter and I gave her a skeptical look. "It says that the rent was raised," she continued. "Even with my job, we still won't be able to pay it. You have to deal with Richard."

"I can't. You know I can't."

Raven gave me a long, hard stare. "You have to and I know you will, for the both of us."

"I can't listen to this anymore."

And with that I stumbled out of the bedroom and into the bathroom, slamming the door loudly as I trapped myself in there. I knew I was acting immature and spoiled- the very thing I refused to be. But pretending to be okay was not an option for me anymore. I switched on the faucets of the bathtub and sink until I knew that the pouring water was loud enough to drown out the sound of my tears falling.

------------------------------

Michael had called to postpone my first week of the job and apologized profusely, making it hard for me to forget about it, and soon I had to unplug my telephone cord because I was tired of being harassed by his "I'm Sorry"s.

Things seemed to lighten up the week I started my new job, in the oddest way imaginable. It felt like suddenly the whole world was trying to apologize to me. Michael greeted me every morning with a cup of warm coffee in his hand, ready to say sorry again, and the workers in the newspaper department took the time to step out of their offices to greet me when I passed by. Three different taxi drivers charged my rides to work free, insisting that the drive was too short to be paid for. It made me wonder if news of me fainting was broadcasted or something.

One person I didn't see the whole week was Richard, Mr. Vice President. The president of G&W was none other than Bruce Wayne himself. I had heard news of him wanting to step down as president and giving the position to Richard, who was in charge of picking the next vice president. For many of the girls at the office, I'm sure that it meant having to close to Richard as soon as possible…very close. But I had no interest in earning the position in that way; I was willing to work my ass off for it, the proper way.

Friday came by quickly though, much to my dismay. I kind of missed being treated like a princess- it seemed so long since I had last lived in a mansion, with maids and butlers to cater to my every whim. It was raining and humid, one of Gotham's usual summer storms, and the streets were practically empty, being that it was almost midnight.

Taking my usual route home (it was my first time walking from work without a taxi), I scurried down the sidewalk. I must have taken the wrong turn, because I began to see nothing but brick walls with garbage leaned against them and the back doors of buildings with graffiti. A small sound caught my ear. I stopped to listen. All I could hear the pitter-pattering of the rain against the concrete…and another set of footsteps. From the corner of my eye I saw a man, obviously drunk from the way he was staggering, running after me.

He whistled loudly. "Hey, baby!"

I turned around to see him pacing towards me, and soon another man, this one dressed in baggy clothes, joined him. I could feel my heart burning through my chest as I began to walk faster. But soon two turned into three, and then four. Until I saw five figures walking towards me, I realized that I had stupidly run myself into a gang.

My pumps clicked against the poorly paved road as I ran as fast as I could and the rain was leaking in through the dress under my trench coat. But I only ran into a dead end, with no doors to bang on for help, just solid brick walls surrounding me. I couldn't find the strength in myself to scream; the group was less than five feet away from me. I felt like I was trapped in a box as they cornered me.

"Help! Somebody help me, please!" I cried, begging. I felt their dirty hands on me, shoving me around for their own amusement.

"Hey Jay, man, let me have this one this time," one of the gang members said, struggling to hold me down. I fought back, I kicked, and I punched, but there were too many of them.

I could feel their grip on me loosening; I was slipping away. All of a sudden, a cold, hard hand swept across my right cheek. My body twisted in the air, and it was seconds later when I realized that I was out of the gang's grasp and lying down on the cold, wet pavement. Trying to prop myself up, my body no longer responded to me; I had lost all hope and my chances of escaping were gone.

The gruff male grabbed me by the neck and pushed me against the wall forcefully. His dirty, vile eyes ran over my body disgustingly. "Not so easy to get away anymore, is it-"

"Don't touch her," a strong, furious voice commanded from far away, and it was amazing how fast the choking fear lodged in my throat instantly vanished, amazing how the feeling of security suddenly began to power my confused brain.

A figure in dark red jumped from over the brick wall that I was cornered in. The man let me go hastily, leaving me to tumble to the ground from my surprise and his attempt to choke me, and the faint feeling of dizziness left me in a shocked state and unaware of where I was at the moment. My blurry vision began to subside, and I watched, frozen and stunned, as the mysterious cloaked figure fought quickly. Within seconds, all five of the men were down and completely blacked out.

The man's voice, deep and husky, made me melt in amazement. "Are you okay?"

I took a good look at his face when he took a step forward, letting him reveal himself in the dappled moonlight. His uniform, a solid colored dark maroon, outlined the muscles lying underneath. A small mask hid his eyes, and the shadow of the buildings darkened the color of his hair.

I stared stupidly at his extended hand. Eventually after a few moments, I took it, and he pulled me up, grabbing hold of my shoulders and setting me straight. I was still dizzy from the hit I received on my cheek, and I staggered.

"So you didn't answer my question," he said, his voice becoming seemingly familiar with each word he spoke, "Are you okay?"

"I…" I paused. My thoughts ran over everything that had gone wrong over the past two weeks. I nodded my head, even though it was a lie. "…I think I'll be fine eventually…"

His hands still rested on my shoulders, his grasp softening with more tenderness with each minute that passed. We seemed to be in trances with each other. I stared at his face- a stern, serious jaw line and a black mask that seemed to be holding in more than just his eyes, which were the most beautiful shade of a dark charcoal-like brown I had seen…now why would anyone want to hide eyes like those?

I shook out of my fantasy quickly. "I think I'm good now," I whispered softly.

"You sure?"

I nodded. "Thank you."

I gathered my coat on the wet ground, placed it over my shoulders, and started to walk out of the alley. I turned my head to my left slightly, and from the corner of my eye I saw that he had disappeared. I continued to walk.

------------------------------

Raven was standing in the doorway, her mouth open in aghast and her purple eyes wide. "What in Azarath just happened to you?"

I could feel her angry and at the same time worried gaze burning through my skin, waiting for an answer. I almost wanted to laugh; I knew exactly what I looked like. I was drenched from head to toe, my heels were leaking water, and my hair was mangled and unusually tussled. My cheeks were probably red and I had at least five bruises on my wrists. I was a mess.

As I rushed past her, I said, "I just, uh…I ran into a little trouble, that's all." Her eyes still had a hint of worry in them, but she only shrugged and went back to lie on the couch.

In a way, Raven had become almost…motherly towards me. After high school she began keeping her watchful eyes on my fragile spirit. She was still my best friend, but whenever she was walking beside me I felt like she was my bodyguard. If I had told her about the men in the alley way, she would probably chase after them and kick their asses herself.

I spent almost an hour washing my bruises and treating my wounds so that they went by Raven unnoticed. I was too lazy to untangle my hair, and dry my clothes. All night long all I could think of was my chestnut eyed, caped crusader. He was muscular, tall, and lean, just like Richard. But his eyes were brown…so it couldn't have been Richard in that suit. But then I remembered that Xavier's eyes had been that similar shade of brown.

I shivered.

The room suddenly felt too cold.

------------------------------

"Okay…anybody else got any ideas?"

The staff meeting, which took place every Monday, was today. Normally I would have been ecstatic, with this being my first meeting. I only shared one of the many ideas I had. I would have had my hand raised every five minutes and everything, but today I was too distracted.

Richard was sitting straight across from me. The one time I spoke out, I felt his eyes boring into my skin, like everybody else who wanted to hear from the new girl. Though everyone applauded me for my idea (especially our boss, Gene Parker), I felt awkward in that position. I didn't want to give Richard reason to stare at me…or anyone else for that matter. So I shut up for the next hour.

The one thing that did annoy me the most was Donna, that secretary at the front desk. She kept on coming in and out of the room. She walked like she was a supermodel, trying to flip her hair as she handed Richard his morning coffee, his newspaper, his watch, and the lamest things that gave her excuses to try catching Richard's eye. Surprisingly, he didn't even notice whose hand was giving him his coffee, or anything else. He stayed silent the entire meeting. I felt his eyes casting glances at me from the corner of his eyes. Donna seemed to notice this and when she left the room for the last time, she gave me a dirty look. I looked at her with shock, and I then I saw Richard trying to hide a smile that was about to break out any minute. I could feel the steam coming out from my ears. Luckily, the meeting was almost over.

"Harper Incorporated, our only competitor that actually has a chance of rising up to our standards, is beginning to catch up with us. We need new stories fast; we need to find something that'll make them back down quick…or else this company will down quicker than we rise," concluded Gene.

He spent the next thirty minutes giving us our assignments. By the time he got to me, I was practically snoozing in my seat.

"Hmm…Kori Anders…what should I give you? I want you to interview…" his voice trailed off in thought. His eyes wandered over my face. After a few moments off dreadful silence, with everybody in the room burning their eyes into my face, he spoke. "…Him."

My eyes followed his pointed finger, which was pointing to something at the opposite side of the room. I almost screamed in horror when I realized that Gene's stupid finger was pointing to Richard. There was a murmur of surprise in the room, and I knew that this was going to be a topic of gossip after the meeting was over. Unlike everybody else in the room, I found this as uninteresting as a rock.

Gene wanted me to interview Richard? So they were going to make us talk to each other…I saw how it was. Richard and I stared dumbly at each other.

I stammered, my cheeks red with embarrassment. "B-but-"

"No 'buts', Anders," he said straightly. He gave me a stern look. "I want this due by Wednesday morning. That's two days counting today."

I sighed. I wished at that moment that I could crawl into a hole.

After we were dismissed, everybody went into work mode. Well, almost everybody. I was "lucky" enough to get a room right across from the front desk. Just minutes after I got back to my room, there were already two women leaning against the counter. Unaware as they were, I was in full listening distance from them.

"So, why do you think Gene let Anders get Richard Grayson? He never gives the new girls the interviews!" the short blonde one exclaimed.

"I would die if I could even get an inch closer to Richard Grayson. Did you see how ungrateful she was?" another said.

But then I saw Donna as her face came into full view. The blue eyes that I thought looked innocent were now filled with mischief, and a smirk was plastered against her face. She leaned against the counter dramatically, as the other two girls leaned in as well. "Do you guys even know why they aren't planning on talking?"

The two skinny girls nodded, dying for more. "No. Tell us," the silver-eyed one murmured. Three more joined into the circle.

"Well," Donna started, satisfied with the attention she was getting, "I heard that they ruined each other's lives. Everybody, especially the paparazzi, knows that they haven't talked to each other since like, their senior year of high school. Richard himself told me that he ran away from her because she was being too, um…clingy."

It was obvious that she made the last part up, because of her uncertainty. But did Richard really tell her that himself? I listened for more, anxious to see if she was correct about everything.

"They fell really hard for each other…"

True…well, at least for me.

"…And he saved her from crashing into another car and from drowning…" The girls gasped, dreamily wishing that they could've been in Richard's arms.

That was true as well.

The blonde's face spelled total confusion. "But, like, wait…if he did all those things for her, why did he ditch her?"

It was a question I had been asking myself everyday for the last four years too. I waited silently for her answer…

"He said he wasn't into her. He got what he wanted from her and didn't need her anymore. She was basically like trash he didn't need anymore."

My mouth quivered. My eyes began to water and I could feel my mental stability leaving me.

So I was like trash to him. That bastard. Part of me didn't want to believe a word Donna had just said, and another part of me was telling me something else. If everything Donna had said was true, then she must have been telling the truth about what Richard had told her. I was going to break.

Sweeping my hand across my face to wipe my tears away, I began to gather my things. Raven was wrong…for the first time, she was actually wrong. I couldn't work in a place where everyone knew my past. Especially when my "past" was just down the hall from me. I paced quickly past the front desk, where from a glance I saw a smirk on Donna's face.

"I think she heard us," I heard one girl murmur.

I started to walk faster down the hall. Everyone, the damn spectators, once again stepped out of their offices to look at me. The elevator's doors were nearing it's close. I stuck my hand in and squeezed myself through. There was another man standing in the corner, but my tears blurred my vision.

"I'm sorry," I apologized. I pressed the button for the first floor and waited as my vision subsided and I glanced to the side nonchalantly, wanting to see who was looking at my humiliating defeat. He had a light blue, flannel-collared shirt on, and black slacks sitting loosely on his waist.

"Kori? Are you okay?"

Oh, that voice. Just the person I was dying to get away from. Richard. In anger, I dropped all of my things and I swiveled to face his blue eyes, fighting to resist them. "No, I am not okay, and second, I-"

The elevator stopped abruptly. The lights went dark, and the music turned off. I paused, waiting for a miracle to happen. "Oh no…" Frantically I stumbled onto my feet and began pressing every button in front of me. "Work, you stupid thing!" I said, raising my voice. It was no use. The elevator had stopped moving, and I was stuck in it with Richard Grayson.

At least now I could get my interview done.