Chapter 19
Lukewarm Day
"Kaoru-chan! Wake up," says Aoshi, shaking my shoulders gently.
"I don't wanna!" I whined into the pillow, burying my head deeper into it.
"MOU! Aoshi!" Aoshi said, propping me up by my shoulders. "You're going to be late for work if you don't move now. Go and wash your face, then come down for breakfast, okay?"
I took my own sweet time washing my face, took a quick shower, got dressed and slid down the banisters into the waiting arms of Soujiro, ever since the time I slammed into the wall, he watched out for me.
"You know, Kaoru, you shouldn't do that so often. You might get hurt… again," says Soujiro, ruffling my hair fondly.
"Nope, I won't. You'll always catch me at the bottom of the stairs!" I say, grinning up at him.
"That's because I can predict you're going to do something dangerous like that. What if one day I totally forget, what will happen to you? You'll fly down the banister and hit, smack, against the wall. You'll end up with a very squashed nose, you know. Would you like that to happen to you?" asks Soujiro, raising an eyebrow at me, a smile playing on his lips.
"You will never forget something like that, Soujiro," I say, wrinkling my nose.
"How would you know?"
"Because you care so much about her that you'll make sure she doesn't get hurt any way. Sliding down banisters included," says Aoshi, leaning against the doorframe that led to the kitchen, grinning at the both of us.
"There is your answer, Sou-chan!" I say, giving Aoshi a hug.
"Morning, Aoshi," says Danny. "Where's Akira?"
"Out running."
"RUNNING?" yelled Soujiro and I at the same time. "Since when did Akira jog?"
"He claims he was getting fat, but I'm pretty sure he's trying to impress someone," says Aoshi with a secretive smile.
"Oooooh…who is it?" I say, jumping up and down in excitement.
"I would tell you if I knew…but, unfortunately, I don't. Akira's been a secretive cow lately," says Aoshi, ushering us into the kitchen. "Eat up, Kaoru-chan, or else you'll be late."
"Who's going to send me to work?" I ask, munching on a piece of toast.
"The guy waiting outside our house," Akira said, entering the kitchen, still clad in his jogging outfit.
"WHO?" chorused the three of us in unison.
"Well, didn't you know that there's someone waiting outside our gates?" asks Akira, taking out a quart of milk from the refrigerator. "A certain, special someone who drives a sleek silver sports car," winks Akira, while looking over at me.
"Are you sure?" I ask, getting out of my seat.
"Yeah, exactly. Why would anyone want to wait for an ugly looking raccoon like her?" asks Soujiro, furrowing his eyebrows as though in deep concentration and pointing at me.
"MOU!" I said, pulling out a bokku out of no where and smacked him on the head.
"Well, it could have been any one of your friends. It doesn't necessarily have to be Kenshin," I say.
"Umm, Kao-chan…why would a guy want to wait for either one of us outside our gates?" asks Aoshi, gesturing to both him and Akira.
"Maybe because he thought you guys were gay!" says Soujiro, snapping his fingers with a smile. "I mean, you guys haven't been dating for quite some time now, and…who knows? You might have given them the wrong impression or something."
"Wait," I say, holding up a finger. "You guys are straight aren't you?" I ask, glancing suspiciously at the both of them.
"KAORU!" they both yelled out simultaneously, while I exchanged a high-five with Soujiro.
"Well, aren't you going out to meet your boyfriend?" asks Soujiro, nudging me in the sides.
"You don't have to sound so anxious to get rid of me, Sou-chan," I say, slinging my bag over my shoulders.
"Alright, guys, gotta run!"
"I'll see you later for dinner, okay?" asks Akira, walking me to the door.
"Sure thing," I say, kissing him on the cheek. "Bye Aoshi! Bye Akira, bye Sou-chan!" I yell.
"BYE!" came their reply and I smiled to myself, shaking my head slightly.
I found Kenshin leaning against his car, one hand in his pocket, and the other, twirling his spectacles.
"Kenshin!" I say, running over to him. "What are you doing here?"
"Waiting for you," he says, straightening himself and pocketing his spectacles.
"Why? Did something happen?" I ask, frowning a little.
"No, nothing happened. I just thought I'd send you to work, since you don't have a car and everything…" he trailed off, smiling down at me.
"Oh, you didn't have to go through so much trouble. One of the guys could just drop me off at work."
"Are they your boyfriend, or am I your boyfriend?" he asks, tucking my hair behind my ears. "Come on, get in," he says, opening the passenger door for me.
As we pulled up outside Himura Corporations, I hurriedly stepped out of his car after he had cut off the engine, slamming the door behind me. My eyes darted around, checking to see if any one who worked in the office was nearby. I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized that there were none.
"Thanks for the ride, Kenshin. I'll catch you later," I say, walking past him.
"Whoa, wait. Hold it right there. Why the sudden rush?" he asks, locking his car and turning to face me.
"I…just don't want to be late!" I say, putting on an innocent look.
"We're fifteen minutes early! I know you're not telling me something and unless you do so, there's no way you're going to enter the office," he says, catching hold of my wrist.
"Kenshin!" I say, pouting.
"Feminine wiles aren't going to work on me. So tell me, what's bothering you?" he asks, grinning broadly.
"It's nothing, really," I say, trying to release my hand from his grasp.
"Tell me. I want to know," he says.
"Umm…I just don't think it's a good idea for us to be seen together in the office."
"Why not?" he asks, frowning a little.
"Well…you're the President of Himura's Corporations, and I'm your hired hand. Don't you see something wrong with the whole picture?"
"…no."
"Okay, let's put it this way. New workers don't exactly go out with their bosses after starting work for only a month."
"What's wrong with that?"
"Kenshin! Everyone's going to think I'm a…" I trailed off. I wanted to say the word slut , but I held myself back, biting the insides of my cheek.
"They'll only think what I tell them to think," he says, taking me by the shoulders and bending low so that he could look straight into my eyes. "And if anyone says anything bad about you, I'll have them thrown out of here before they can take a second breath."
"No, don't do that. Let's just see how things go first, okay?" I replied quickly.
"If you insist," he says, smiling down at me, then drawing me close so that he could place a gentle kiss on my forehead.
"I'll see you after work," I say, smiling.
"You promise?" he asks, gazing intently at me.
"I promise." As soon as I had taken about two steps towards the entrance of the building, I immediately turned around and walked back to where Kenshin stood.
"What's wrong?" he asks, concerned.
I glanced around, making sure that we were alone, then stood up on tiptoes and kissed him lightly on the cheek, all the while blushing furiously. I caught sight of his shocked expression and burst into small giggles.
"What are you laughing at?" he asks, grinning.
"That's for me to know, and for you to keep your nose out of! Bye, Kenshin!"
"Got your points ready?" asks Yahiko, coming to stand next to me.
"Yup!" I grinned, patting my file. "It's in here."
"All ready to do the presentation?" asks Yahiko.
"I guess," I say. "Misao! Stop pacing so much! You're going to wear out the carpet!"
"I can't help it!" she cries, flinging her arms wildly. "I'm too nervous!"
"It's only a presentation, Misao," says Omasu, tapping a pencil against her cheek.
"Yeah, but it's a presentation with the board of directors of Makoto Corporations! Makoto Corporations!"
"Stop worrying, Misao. I've met Mr. Makoto before and he's really nice. I'm sure his board his of directors aren't that bad either. Just be yourself! His son, Shishio isn't that mean once you get to know him, and he used to be my hair dresser until recently who decided to take over the corporation. So…I think they'll both be here today." I say, trying to calm her down.
"Okay, everyone!" says Tomoe, interrupting our little conversation. "It's time to head over to the conference room. The Makotos will be here any minute."
"Where are you going, Kaoru?" asks Kaoru, gathering all the things that she would need for the presentation into her arms.
"I just need to go to the ladies to freshen up a little bit. You guys go ahead without me. I'll meet you there,"
I say, heading towards the restrooms.
Tomoe waited patiently for everyone to file out of the office. Then, she made her way over to Kaoru's table and fingered the pink file that Kaoru had so carelessly left behind, craning her neck a little to check that no one was re-entering the office. In one swift motion, she took out every single sheet of paper containing important notes and figures that Kaoru had so carefully and meticulously typed out. Her eyes scanned through the papers quickly, then, smiling maliciously, she proceeded to rip them up into small pieces, dumping them into a trashcan on her way out.
"I'm sorry," I say, bowing slightly as I hurriedly sat down in my seat.
"It's all right, Miss Kamiya," says a familiar voice.
I raised my head in surprise. "Shishio-san!" I say, smiling. "I wasn't expecting you to be here."
"Yeah, well, me neither," he says, chuckling softly. "I'm here for a few days to check up on things and when I heard about this little meeting, I thought I might as well come. Good to see you again, Miss Kamiya."
"Likewise, Shishio-san and Mr. Makoto." I turned towards his father with a slight bow
"Right, back to business," says Tomoe, clearing her throat a little. "We have done numerous researches in the past few weeks about how to get about promoting our latest products. The response that we got from our surveys shows us that this new product might be a big hit with the people. Kaoru?"
"This graph here shows us that…" I trailed off, opening my file. My eyes widened in shock and I had to blink a couple of times just to make sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me.
"Anything wrong, Miss Kamiya?" asks Mr. Makoto.
"No! No! Nothing is wrong," I replied, flustered. I closed my file almost immediately, not wanting anyone to see its empty contents. "Okay…um…basically, in our latest survey, about 2000 teenagers were questioned on…on…aspects of the new products. Unfortunately, the results were inconclusive."
"The figures, Kaoru?" asks Tomoe, calmly.
"Um…uh…about seventy-four percent of…uh…" I say, scrunching my face up, trying hard to remember.
"Why don't you check your notes?" asks Mr. Makoto, pleasantly.
I blushed a deep shade of red. "Uh…actually…"
"You did prepare for this meeting, didn't you?" snapped Tomoe sharply.
"I did! It's just…uh…the papers kind of…um…went missing," I say quietly, wincing a little.
"Oh…it's all right. It's no big deal. Let's proceed on to something else," Shishio said, smiling warmly at me, saving me from total embarrassment.
As Yahiko stood up to present his work, I excused myself from the table and it took me every ounce of my will power to refrain myself from bolting out the door.
Once outside, I closed my eyes and leaned my forehead against the cool surface of the wall. What exactly happened to my notes? I was sure that I had filed all my papers for the presentation. Was it possible that I had taken the wrong file? No, I thought, shaking my head furiously. There was only one file on my table. Just then, Misao stepped out of the room.
"You all right, Kaoru?" She asks, concern evident in her voice.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I say, straightening myself and giving her a small smile.
"Hey," she says, coming to put an arm around me. "Cheer up. Mr. Makoto was pretty understanding about the whole thing. I don't think you'll get into any trouble at all. Plus Shishio is your friend."
"Thankfully he saved me from making a complete idiot out of myself."
"Come on, Kaoru. Show me that bright smile of yours," she says, making funny faces at me. I burst out laughing at her childish actions. "There. See, you're so much prettier when you smile."
"Misao, you do know that I did my work, don't you?" I ask.
"I know you did. You've always been a responsible person," she says, giving my shoulder a light squeeze.
"Let's go back in, okay?"
"Okay," I say, nodding my head. Somehow, I had a gut feeling that Tomoe had done something with my papers, but I decided to keep my suspicions to myself. I'll ask her about it when the time comes.
After work, I decided to pop by Kenshin's office to see whether he was ready to leave.
"Kenshin?" I called out, pushing open his door and poking my head in. I gasped at the total chaos that his office was in. Papers and graphs of all sort covered almost every inch of his table. Books and files were littered all over his floor.
"Kaoru!" he says, getting up from his seat and making his way towards me.
"What happened in here?" I ask, closing the door behind me.
"Just doing a little work," he says, wrapping his arms around my waist, and resting his head on my shoulders.
"A little?" I ask, raising my eyebrows, surveying the room.
"Okay, then. Maybe more than a little," he says, tightening his arms around me.
"Are you tired, Kenshin?" I ask, caressing his back gently. He nodded his head against my shoulder.
"Why don't you let me help you with whatever you have to do?"
At this, he shook his head furiously. "Why not?" I ask, pouting.
"I don't want to tire you out," he says, putting his forehead against mine. "You've been working for 9 hours now. You deserve to rest. Which reminds me, I have to send you home, don't I? Just give me a few minutes to get ready, all right?" he says, pulling away.
"Kenshin," I begin. "Let me help. Please? I'm not tired at all. Honest!"
"Are you sure?" he asks, frowning a little.
"Yes, I am," I say, raising my hands to smooth out the creases between his eyebrows.
He looked at me for a while, his eyes searching my face. After a while, he broke into a smile. "All right then. But first, let's go out and have our dinner."
A/N: I went on vacation… sorry I had all my AP testings, then went on vacation and forgot about this, got back just uh… two days ago and jet lag so I took a long time. to make up for this I'll update twice a week for this month.
Next Chappie: KK fluff and relationship revealed to Sano. A night spent together gives... a lot of misinterreptations.