Harvey woke up alone. Apparently his guest hadn't been up for round two. Fine by him. Perhaps he would actually show up for work on time today. That would shock Louis into a coma. The thought actually made him smile. He opened the coffee maker and stopped short. Inside the Keurig, Natsuki had left a tiny Post-it. He unfolded it. In shaky, unsure handwriting, as if she was not used to writing English, read the words:
Have a great day, Harvey!
Well. That was not expected. He crumpled up the note and threw it out. He opened the fridge to see that she had left the extra rice balls in a neat little dish, supposedly for breakfast this morning. Before he knew what he was doing, he had taken one out of the dish and bitten down.
It was delicious. Definitely not what he was used to, but delicious. He loved sushi, it wasn't too different and the rice was soft and sticky. He finished it, drank his coffee and slipped out of his room, trying to outrun his guilt.
"You're early," said Jessica, catching him in the hallway. "What's the occasion?"
"I'm not early, I'm on time, and I don't need an occasion to be good at my job. It's what I do every day," he said in a chastising tone with a smirk. He slapped some files onto Donna's desk and called Mike into his room to begin the day.
"Rule number one: is that you gotta have fun. But baby when you're done, you gotta be the first to run."
Natsuki cleaned the house exactly as she had the day before, blasting music on the television. She ate a small lunch from the food he had in the house, and then she decided to tackle his closet.
She organized his suits by make and model, noticing that if she stole just a single tiepin she could be out of the home within a few weeks. She polished them and slipped one into her pocket.
She tried to walk out of the room but she couldn't do it. She sighed and returned the tiepin carefully back where it belonged. True, Harvey probably wouldn't notice, and it would be easy to get away with, but her gut just wouldn't let her do something so dishonest.
She finished at around four o clock and went to the fridge to dump out what she had made the day earlier. She saw that one of the rice balls was gone. She blinked in surprise and then laughed. Those weren't for breakfast; they were a snack! But… perhaps Mr. Specter was not as heartless as she thought. Nonetheless, she didn't want a repeat of the night before, and she packed up her things and left at four o clock, leaving a bowl of steamed rice and miso soup in the fridge, along with freshly steamed greens. She wrote a note that he was almost out of coffee, and that she still needed a key of her own, and then she let herself out.
She had asked for subway fare that morning so she was able to ride in the underground hellhole for the first time in her life. She was sweating, she was so afraid of missing her stop, but she managed to get back to her little room without any mishaps.
She sat at her desk and started drafting ideas for what she had always wanted: her own tea room. She crumpled up paper after paper but kept drawing, doodling the logo, the front awning, the side of the building, what the inside would look like.
Without warning, Harvey was suddenly in her room. She stood up and knocked over her chair, and bowed.
"Hello, Mr. Specter," she said, head still bowed. "is something the matter?" she looked up cautiously.
"I decided to give you an advance on your first paycheck. This money is to put towards your own place, nothing else. Don't go spending it all on expensive clothes or drinking, got it?" she blinked in surprise and then took the check from him.
"Thank you," she said quietly.
"And here's the spare key you wanted," he said. He handed it to her. She looked up at him in confusion.
"You came all the way down here just for a spare key?" she asked. He made a face and then she understood – this was his way of apologizing. There was no way he would say the words. She realized in that moment that he wasn't the cold man she thought he was. He did care. She smiled brilliantly.
"Thank you," she repeated.
"Don't lose it. I don't want anyone breaking into my apartment." He said. He stepped out and then looked back at her. "Oh, and Natsuki?"
"Yes?"
"You can call me Harvey. Just… don't overdo it, alright?"
"Sure thing… Harvey."