Hello, one and all! Here's another chapter! Just wanted to say that I thank you all for reviews, favorites, and alerts, and I'd like you all to try my other stories, cause they're great too. I'd be a liar if I didn't expect you people to like it because everyone likes YxU! It has absolutely nothing to do with my writing whatsoever! YxU owns the world and most importantly, it owns you, you must obey YxU, you will live for YxU, and let's stop the subliminal messaging for now and start the chapter.

Chapter 2: The First Day on the Job

"I can't believe you just scored a job as the secretary of possible the hottest—not to mention richest—bachelor in the entire world!" Sam exclaimed. "No, the solar system—no, the galaxy . . . THE UNIVERSE!"

"Okay, Sam, I get it." Yumi said as she nonchalantly flipped through the channels on the TV. "You're happy I have a job, you're even happier that I got a high position that can easily pay for this apartment ten times over, and you're in love with Ulrich who happens to be my boss." Yumi listed, yawning. There was nothing good on TV . . . not that there ever is.

"I wouldn't say I was in love." Sam replied. "Just," she stretched the word as she searched for the right words to say.

"Obsessed, maybe?" Aelita suggested. She was sprawled out on the couch, next to Yumi. Sam frowned at the pinkette.

"No, not obsessed. With pop culture and gossip yes, but not with Ulrich Stern."

"Why do you keep saying his full name?" Yumi asked with an eyebrow raised.

"It's got a certain edge to it. You can feel the power oozing out of it." Sam described.

"Yeah, kinda like your admiration for him oozes out of your mouth." Aelita mumbled.

"No, it's more like the stupidity that oozes out of her boyfriend's head." Yumi joked. Both girls laughed.

"Nice one." Aelita said as she gave Yumi a high-five.

Sam glared daggers at Yumi and Aelita. "Ha, ha, whatever."

"You're just jealous because I'm his secretary, and you're not." Yumi said in a childish manner.

"Like I wanna be someone's slave." Sam retorted.

"Yes, you do." Aelita said. She sat up and said in a dramatic voice, "Just imagine it, Sam—the secretary of the Ulrich Stern. After all, you know what businessmen do with secretaries. Yumi's probably the most hated woman in the world right now."

"If Ulrich expects me to be his little fling, he can shove that idea right up his—"

"Whoa, Yumi!" Sam interrupted. "Watch the language! That's no way to talk, especially about your boss! And that's Mr. Stern."

"I was going to say his perverted back door." Yumi said through gritted teeth.

Aelita giggled. "You have to call a guy who's a year younger than you Mr."

"Wait, he's a year younger than me?" Yumi asked.

"Yeah, he's Odd and Jeremie's age." Sam answered. "You didn't know that?"

"I don't keep up with how old people are. You're lucky I even know how old you guys are."

"Face it, Yumi, you may as well live in the sewer when it comes to celebrity gossip. You know nothing about the entertainment world." Aelita said.

"Yeah, sarcastic and a straight up serious stiffneck woman. That's you to a T." Sam agreed.

"I'm not stiffnecked!" Yumi denied.

"You blew a chance to go to the movies with us just to write a "thrilling" essay on the importance of grammar in the business world for our insanely boring English teacher, Mr. Wan. It was an optional, no extra credit assignment too."

"All for the chance to meet a secretary of a mom and pop grocery store, aka the owner's wife." Sam concluded.

"First, of all, he said it was phenomenal, second of all, the reward was a surprise. And third of all, I got a free steak, and neither of you complained when we dined like queens that night." Yumi said triumphantly.

"Wasn't the owner Mr. Wan's brother?" Sam said giggling at the thought.

"I'm still trying to find out why a Chinese immigrant was teaching English when he couldn't barely speak it himself." Aelita said.

"College. Glad that's over." Yumi said.

"Now you're making a hundred times as much as Mr. Wan, his brother, and his sister-in-law are making combined. All because Odd and Jeremie called a college buddy of theirs."

"And what a great college buddy too." Aelita added.

"Yeah, but you probably won't have a fiery love relationship with Ulrich." Sam said as she gave Yumi a sorrowful smile. "He's got a girlfriend of two years already."

"Yeah, but he might be in a cheating mood." Aelita said.

"Not, Ulrich. He's very clean in the eyes of the paparazzi. He's not some spoiled rich kid, like Paris Hilton. His mom and dad made him work for practically everything he ever got. He's been riding around in a used 1987 since he bought it with his hard earned cashier money in his Senior year of high school."

"That sounds like, you Yumi." Aelita said.

"I can't help it if my parents weren't at rich as either one of your parents were." Yumi said. "But that would suck to know your parents could easily buy a car in full value in go, but you have to earn it yourself."

"His parents think that the greater things in life should come with a little bit of hard work." Sam said.

"What's the hard work in handing over a billion-dollar enterprise?" Yumi asked.

"I guess they had to give him one spoilt rich kid moment." Sam said.

That next day, Yumi came in bright and early. When she looked at the office building, she thought she had died, and now she had to climb the stairway to Heaven. The build was huge in height and width. "I work here?" she wandered out loud. Still staring at the building she walked through the front door. She reached the front desk and waited for the clerk to speak to her.

The clerk glanced at her and went right back to filing her nails and reading the new edition of People. Yumi cleared her throat. The clerk completely ignored her. Big. Mistake.

"Excuse me." Yumi said with anger drenching her words.

The clerk who seemed to be about Yumi's age glared at Yumi and said, "What."

"I need to get to my office, but I need you to do your job and let me through the staff door." Yumi said impatiently.

"Who are you?" the clerk said.

Yumi glared menacingly at the clerk. "I'm the woman who nailed a job makes a six figure salary compared to your sorry 40,000 a year paycheck!"

The clerk snorted. "You expect me to believe that?"

"Yes, I do. I'm the new secretary to the head of the business."

The clerk was dumbfounded. "Y-You're Ms. Isiyama?"

Yumi smiled triumphantly. "So you've heard of me?"

"Why you!" the clerk growled. "Out of all the—he picked this trashy—,"

"Who are you calling trashy?" Yumi yelled. "How are you even working here? You're filing your nails and reading celebrity trash!"

"Oh shut up!" the clerk said. "I can't believe he'd pick you, some common, low-class wannabe!"

"I'm not the one whose jealous and whining over the job I didn't get, now am I?"

The clerk was on her feet by this point, and both girls had drawn a rather large crowd of people. It was rare for business people to engage into what could turn into an ugly fight. The clerk was about to give Yumi another insult when she was interrupted by the owner himself.

"Sissi!" barked an angry voice. The clerk named Sissi turned to the voice and completely shriveled up.

"U-U-Ulrich!" she shrieked in fear. Yumi turned around to see the tall brunette standing before her.

Ulrich looked at the crowd of people, and said, "Don't you people have work to attend to?" Ulrich barked. The crowd quickly dispersed as some mumbled about the need to copy a few papers or an important client to talk to.

"Ulrich Dear!" Sissi squealed. "It's so good to see y—"

"Quiet!" Ulrich yelled. Sissi shrunk. "Look, my father may have gave you this job just to amuse your father, but don't think for a second that that means you can't be easily fired.

"You need my father's support!" Sissi yelled.

"Your father would be nothing without this company. My father gave you a job because your father is an old friend of his and to shut your whining mouth! If you can't learn to be polite to my employees, I'll find someone else to work the front desk." Ulrich threatened.

Sissi hung her head, and said, "Yes, sir."

Yumi smiled at Sissi's embarrassment, but her smile went away when Ulrich turned towards her. "What are you so happy about?" Ulrich asked. Yumi was silent. "Well?"

"Oh, I'm just glad to be here!" Yumi said.

"You should be. I could easily fire you too." Ulrich said. Yumi's anger was growing again, and she was about to reply until Ulrich continued in a more quiet tone. "Do you know what risk I'm taking for even hiring you? Everyone doesn't think I'm cut out for this, and they're already disrespecting me. They think I'm making a big mistake hiring a inexperience woman like yourself. I gave you this job out of pure faith, so don't make regret it. Believe it or not, but any slip ups on you reflect back on me." Ulrich said. "So let's give it our best, okay!" Ulrich said, quickly changing into a happy was completely taken aback. She slowly nodded her head.

Yumi's office was on the very top floor and was very open due to the fact that it was also used as a waiting room for clients for Ulrich to see whose office was behind Yumi's. When Yumi reached the office she stared around at the rich style of the office. She loved everything about it, including the great view.

"Like it?" Ulrich asked.

"Yeah, it's beautiful." Yumi nodded.

"It's all yours. My office is right through that door." Ulrich pointed to the door behind her desk that led to a more secluded office. "Let's do a good job, Yumi. My father told me that behind every great businessman is a great secretary, so I'm counting on you."

"No pressure." Yumi mumbled soliciting a laugh from Ulrich. "Oh! I was wondering." Yumi stated. "Are you sure about this?"

"Honestly," Ulrich said, leaning on her desk. "I'm not. I have no idea what I'm doing, but you don't either."

"So why, hire me?"

"Like I said, I feel like we could learn this together as we go along. We'll take it a step at a time. I don't think it's going to be easy at all, Yumi. I'd rather, my father have waited like twenty years before giving me this business. It's hard to start one, but it's even harder to keep it going." Ulrich explained. Yumi nodded. She was still unsure about all of this. He was asking her to be the backbone of a billion-dollar corporation. Ulrich, sensing her uncertainty put his hand her shoulder, and said, "Hey, we can do this. I need your sarcastic attitude to keep a stubborn idiot like myself in check. Besides, if you argue with Sissi like that every day, I'd keep you no matter what."

"So you'd rather have me run this business in the ground just to fight with that witch?" Yumi asked.

Ulrich looked up and thought for a moment. "Yeah, I would. This company may worth billions, but wiping that smug look on Sissi's face is priceless."

"Why does she call you Ulrich Dear?"

Ulrich gave Yumi a serious but worried expression. "Yumi, I think there's something wrong with that girl. I think she suffers from schizophrenia. She's actually convinced herself into thinking that I actually love her." Yumi laughed, she actually thought he was being serious for a second. "This is no laughing matter! Do you realize that I have a stalker worker for me? I can't stand it. She took one look at me during a business dinner, and she actually proposed to me!" Yumi couldn't contain herself. "It's not funny."

"I'm sorry, but that's hilarious." Yumi said. "She's worse than a fan girl!"

"Forget fan girls, she's worse than the paparazzi." Ulrich said.

When Yumi calmed down, she continued speaking. "So, she only has this job because her dad knows your dad?"

"Sort of. You see, no one wanted anything to do with Sissi as far as hiring her, and it was turning her into this giant Whining Godzilla. Her father is my father's lawyer, so they're pretty close. My dad wanted to thank him by giving Sissi a job. But get this, Mr. Delmas actually begged my father not to. My father insisted, and he said it's the one thing he's always regretted. He put her at the front desk just so she won't be able to ruin him.

"I don't know. She was reading People and filing her nails when I came up to her." Yumi said shaking her head.

"Yeah, she's far from perfect, but we tried giving her a low end job, but she wanted to deal with the clients, so now she geets to greet them." Ulrich said as he and Yumi laughed.

After the chat, both got right to work, and Yumi whole heartedly agreed with Ulrich. This was going to be tough. She had around fifty calls to make just to make appointments. She had to write business letters, organize events, set up Ulrich schedule were just a few of the tasks that Yumi had to do on a daily basis. There was no end to the paperwork that needed to be signed and the papers to type. And just what the heck did Ulrich do all day anyways? Yumi's thoughts were interrupted when the 50th fax of that day came printing out. She looked at it and realized it was a letter for Ulrich. She made her way over to Ulrich's office and knocked.

"What is it?" Ulrich called.

"It's a business letter about a new product." Yumi answered. She could here Ulrich grumble.

"Just come in and leave it on my desk." Ulrich mumbled. She opened the door to find Ulrich typing a thousand words a minute on his computer. She also noticed that Ulrich was surrounded by hundreds of games that he had to check and approve before they could be shipped. He also had a few books that needed to read through before publishing them.

"How the heck do you do this?" Yumi asked.

"I can manage about a novel a day." Ulrich said nonchalantly. "As for the games, I play them when I get the chance and stamp my okay or my no on them as I go."

"What are you typing?" Yumi asked.

"My dad's a famous author. I love his books, and I want to try my hand at writing one. I figure I have to set an example for the employees. I'll need to show them that I can keep people entertained as much as they can." Ulrich explained.

"And I thought I had it bad." Yumi said.

"Yumi, it's going to get much worse from here on out. My father says that it starts off horrible, but once we've gone through everything we could possibly go through once, it's relatively easy from then on. It's just a matter of managing it all."

"You know, I could help you this stuff." Yumi offered. Ulrich looked at her as if she just offered to behead herself in front of him. She probably would do it too if she took on any more work. Even Yumi couldn't believe what she was doing, but her workload was nothing compared to Ulrich's. She felt sorry for him.

"You sure?" Ulrich asked. He had stopped typing and looked at her right in the eyes. She nodded. Ulrich stared at her for a minute and then said, "What you could do is proofread and review my novel when it's finally finished. And if you could take some of those games and play it with some friends, I'll truly appreciate it."

"Okay." What the heck was she thinking? Didn't she just get through complaining about all the work she had to do? But Ulrich grateful smile seemed to ease Yumi's own burdensome workload. There was something about his aura that made Yumi want to help him out as much as she could.

"Just do a game a day, and you can take your time with the novel. It'll be a while before it's finished anyways. I'd give you more work, but I don't want to kill you." Ulrich said.

Yumi breathed a sigh of relief. "I could read a few of the completed novels too." Stupid! Insane girl! What was she doing?

Ulrich chuckled. "Yumi, please. I don't need you doing everything around here. Save that energy for when I start working on my own ideas for reforming this company.

"Reforming?"

"Yeah, Stern Enterprises, is known for being an Entertainment Empire. I want to take it another step further. I want this company to cover all forms of entertainment, and I want it to reach people of all nations. This company has dominated the U.S., but I want to take it into South America, Europe, Asian, heck even Antarctica for crying out loud."

"The polar bears would love it." Yumi joked. Ulrich laughed.

"I'm sure they would. I'll need your help to make that happen though, Yumi."

"Right, I'll get started on finding out what polar bears like and dislike." Yumi said. Ulrich laughed again.

"You're hilarious. If this business does fall, you could always go into standup comedy." Ulrich joked.

When Lunch break came Yumi decided to make the best of her lunch break. She leaned back in her chair and breathed a sigh of relief when it finally came. Her peaceful moment was interrupted by a buzz, signaling a visitor. She pressed the button to the speaker and said, "Come in." the door was opened, revealing, a raven-haired girl wearing glasses who was Yumi's age.

Yumi knew the girl looked familiar but she didn't know where she saw her.

"Hello, you must be Ulrich's secretary." The woman said as she made her way over to Yumi. She stretched out her hand for Yumi to shake. "My name's Emily Leduc, I'm Ulrich girlfriend." It finally came back to Yumi, Sam was pointing to different pictures of Ulrich and one of them was with this woman, his girlfriend of two years.

"Hi, I'm Yumi Ishiyama." Yumi smiled and shook her hand. Her hand was warm and felt friendly. Yumi was very impressed with Emily. She was like the total opposite of Sissi. She admired her strength for allowing Ulrich to have Yumi as a secretary and not seeming the least bit upset about the entire arrangement, especially when considering the reputation secretaries were known for. "I'll get Ulrich for you." Yumi offered. She noticed Emily flinch when she said Ulrich. Oops, bad mistake. She had been calling him Ulrich all day, he even insisted in it.

"I just don't feel like I'm a Mister." He said when she questioned him. "Besides, from what I hear, I'm a year younger than you. That must feel degrading for you." She could hear the teasing from his voice; she decided to take pleasure in the informality of it. "Just call me Mr. Stern in front of everyone else."

Yumi buzzed Ulrich, and said. "Um, Mr. Stern, Ms. Leduc is here to see you." Ulrich opened the door right after Yumi finished speaking.

"Emily!" Ulrich said, obviously delighted to see her. They both kissed. Ulrich turned to Yumi and said, "Ms. Ishiyama, I'll be having lunch with Emily, I'll be back in an hour." With that, the couple left as Ulrich put his arm around Emily's waist.

Yumi scolded again for her error. It was bad enough that she called him Ulrich, but he didn't seem to have the slightest trouble in remembering to call her by her last name in front of others. She smiled to herself. She had to make sure to bring up how eager and excited Ulrich looked when he saw Emily. He'd be embarrassed for sure.

She wasn't expecting any surprises, but towards the end of lunch break, Sam and Aelita came in to visit her. "Well if it isn't working woman Yumi Ishiyama!" Sam declared.

"What are you guys, doing here?" Yumi asked.

"Fine. Next time we decide to see our dear friend, we'll remember how cold she was." Sam said.

"We wanted to know how things were going." Aelita answered.

"They're great, now what do you actually want?" Yumi asked.

"Really, Yumi we do wanna know how it feels to be the secretary of the great Ulrich Stern." Sam said.

"Oh, you're here to see Ulrich."

"Looks like someone needs a hearing aid." Sam said, in denial.

"I'm not stupid Sam, I know you."

"Fine, is he in?" Sam asked as she looked around for any sign of Ulrich.

"No, he stepped out for lunch with his girlfriend." Yumi said.

"Oh." Sam said in defeat.

"So, how is he? Is he rotten?" Aelita asked.

"No, he's a really funny guy, and you should see the workload he has." Yumi exclaimed.

"So It's not all rainbows and sunshine when it comes to running a business huh?" Sam asked.

"No, it's more of a partly cloudy day with a 90% chance of a tornado coming through and destroying everything." A manly voice said behind the three women. They all turned to see none other than Ulrich standing before them.

"Well speak of the devil!" Sam exclaimed.

"I'm the devil?" Ulrich said with a hurt expression. "Just what has she been telling you girls about me?" Ulrich asked pretending to be mad.

"I told them about how much of a taskmaster you are." Yumi joked.

"Just for that, I'm cutting your pay."

"You cut my pay, I cut you." Yumi threatened.

"Is she always this mean?" Ulrich asked the other two.

"She's actually worse, if you can believe it." Aelita said. "She's being nicer to you because you can fire her."

"Aelita!" Yumi said.

"You're lucky." Sam said. Ulrich laughed.

"You two must be Aelita and Sam, Jeremie and Odd's girlfriends." Ulrich guessed.

"Hey, you're good!" Sam said.

"Thanks, it also helps to see pictures of you guys."

"Just when I thought there was hope for you." Sam said.

"He did recognize me though." Yumi said.

"Well, I'd recognize that feisty attitude of yours anywhere." Ulrich teased.

"What d'you mean?" Aelita asked.

"She got in a fight with the woman at the front desk." Ulrich said.

"Yep, Hurricane Sissi." Yumi stated.

"Don't be surprised." Sam said. "She got into a fight with a man that was interviewing her."

"Wow, that's . . . stupid." Ulrich finally said. Yumi glared at him while Aelita and Sam laughed.

"Well both he and Sissi had it coming." Yumi defended.

"Yep, there's always a 100% chance of Hurricane Sissi striking." Ulrich agreed.

"She is a witch." Aelita said. "We had to practically force our way up here.

"That's what I called her." Yumi said.

"Yeah, but you guys shouldn't be up here." Ulrich said.

"But it's Yumi's lunch break." Sam said.

"Lunch break ended five minutes ago." Ulrich stated.

"Speaking of lunch how was your little lunch date with Emily?" Yumi cooed. Ulrich blushed as the other girls giggled.

"It was great." Ulrich said, trying to maintain his dignity. "Besides, there's nothing wrong with eating lunch with the one you love."

"Aww, he's so cute when he blushes." Sam teased.

"Okay, Ms. Ishiyama, back to work." Ulrich said in an official tone.

"So formal." Aelita said, feigning a shocked impression.

"Remember, Yumi, he's off limits. Don't get too friendly with him." Sam said.

"If you get a raise, we'll know why." Aelita warned her.

"Shut up." Yumi said. The two girls laughed and said there goodbyes as they left the office.

"Sorry about that." Yumi apologized.

"'S okay. You have great friends, by the way. It's good to know that Odd and Jeremie have great taste in women." Ulrich commented.

"Wish I could say the same about Sam and Aelita." Yumi said. Ulrich laughed.

"I could just keep you around for the laughs too, you know."

"Speaking of good taste, Emily's a very nice girl. Hang on to her."

"I intend to, Yumi." Ulrich said putting emphasis on her name.

"Oh she told you about my slip up?" Yumi asked. "I'm so sorry about that—"

"Hey, it's okay." Ulrich said. "Just don't do it again."

Ulrich and Yumi returned to work. Towards the end of the day, two more visitors stopped by: Mr. and Mrs. Stern. Yumi stood there speechless as they entered the room.

"Hi, you must be Ms. Ishiyama." Mr. Stern said.

"H-Hello Mr. and Mrs. Stern! It's an honor to meet you!" she said in excitement.

"Oh, please calm down, dear." Mrs. Stern said. "We didn't mean to get you all flustered." Yumi was touched by the woman's good natured spirit. She was reminded of her own mother and felt a twinge of sadness.

"We came to see if this place was still standing." Mr. Stern informed her. "It looks in order. He hasn't given you any trouble has he?"

"No sir, he's a pleasure to work for." Yumi answered. "I'll buzz him in, right away."

"Don't bother yourself over that, I'll get him myself." Mr. Stern said. He knocked on the door and said, "Ulrich, come on out, I know you can hear us in here."

Ulrich opened the door and upon seeing his father, he gave him handshake (one of those manly handshakes) and he kissed and hugged his mother. "Dad! Mom! What're you two doing here?"

"We wanted to see how your day has been, and to meet your wonderful secretary." Mrs. Stern answered.

"Thank you." Yumi said.

"Yes, Ms. Ishiyama is certainly reliable. Ulrich said.

"So you think you can handle it?" Mr. Stern asked.

"I'm confident." Ulrich stated. After a little more banter, the couple left and made sure they paid Yumi another round of compliments.

"We're counting on you to keep Ulrich in line." Mrs. Stern said as she and her husband left.

"They're nice people." Yumi commented.

Ulrich nodded. "They've been nothing but good to me."

"They remind me of my parents, their warm personalities." Yumi said.

Ulrich could tell from Yumi's longing expression that she hadn't seen them in a while. "Your parents don't live around here, do they?"

"No, they live all the way in Japan." Yumi said. "I only see them once a year for the New Year's.

"I'm sure they're proud of you, though." Ulrich said.

"Very, they were ecstatic when I told them I got a job as your secretary."

"Well, I'll make sure you don't do anything stupid to get yourself fired and make them disappointed in you." Ulrich said. Yumi frowned.

"I'm not that bad."

"Well, you got into a fight on the first day, you called me Ulrich in front of my girlfriend, you had company here when you weren't supposed to, and you've been teasing and insulting me all day." Ulrich listed.

"You started." Yumi retorted.

"Yumi, that is such a childish answer." Ulrich stated.

"I don't care." Yumi said in a child-like voice as she folded her arms and hunched her shoulders just like a little kid. Ulrich laughed.

"You've made this one first day of work I'll never forget." Ulrich remarked.

"Thanks you have too." Yumi said.

"Yumi, I think this the beautiful start of a partnership." Ulrich said as he looked at the setting sun.

"That is so cliché." Yumi said. Ulrich laughed again. Yumi couldn't have asked for a better first day on the job.