Sorry... I forgot I still had another story after I finished International Affairs. Oops...

Anyways. I'm totally feeling Misaki. I get no sleep and have never ending homework...

Chapter 18: Newbie Downsides

"Misaki, I've got something going on, could you take care of this for me?" the manager asked with a smile. He slapped down a thick pile of work.

Misaki felt her eye twitch. "That's the managers job, not mine."

Misaki was willing to do work that was part of her job but this was unreasonable. If she wasn't a manager, she shouldn't have to do a manager's workload.

Fre smirked. "Well, you see...I'm planning on working overseas soon meaning my position will be open. I kind of thought...you could possibly take my place."

Misaki stood a little straighter. "Really?!" she asked. A manager's position! Oh, that would be the best.

He nodded. "But I don't know if you can handle the tasks. They're not too hard but still require perfection. Can you do it?"

"Leave it to me," Misaki said, taking the work.

She marched out of his office and it started immediately. Working overtime was going to be worth it! Even if it did mean working overtime again… Misaki drove home late that night. She turned on the lights and locked the door.

"I'm home!" she called into the empty house.

Her phone buzzed. Misaki answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hey honey," Takumi said. "You're still up?"

Misaki looked at the clock...it was 11 pm.

"Just about to sleep," Misaki lied.

"Okay, what did you eat for dinner?"

Misaki blinked a few times and opened the fridge.

"Uh..." Misaki said, looking at the containers.

"Did you eat...?"

"Yes!" Misaki mentally kicked herself. She needed to stop lying. "It's just that...I got takeout! I was in a Chinese mood. Sorry, I promise to eat your food tomorrow."

Takumi chuckled. "Do anything you like, my love."

"How's England?" Misaki asked.

"Boring," Takumi said. "I have to socialize and go out every night."

Misaki laughed. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"See you in a week!" Takumi said.

"Yeah," Misaki said, leaning against the counter.

"Get to bed, sweetheart," Takumi said, gently.

"You too," Misaki said.

"Bye, I love you,"

"Me too," Misaki whispered and hung up.

She went upstairs and took a hot shower. Afterwards, Misaki crunched on an apple and worked on her laptop. She leaned her head against the headboard of the bed and typed away.

12 pm...

1 am...

2 am...

3 am...

Misaki's head drooped as she fell asleep with the laptop on the nightstand.

"Damn..." Misaki thought as she woke up the next morning. She wasn't use to pulling all nighters anymore. They use to be child's play to her but now it was harder.

Misaki whipped up a thermos of coffee and grabbed a banana on the go. Misaki drove to work and was faced with even more work.

"How long did you stay last night?" Mira asked.

"Not that long," Misaki said, filing the papers into the correct cabinets.

"You look refreshed though," Mira noted.

Misaki smiled. At least super expensive makeup had a positive side... The radiant glow on her face came from a fancy bottle. In reality, she looked like a zombie this morning. Under all the foundation was heavy dark circles.

"Don't let Fre overwork you," Mira added. "He's just lazy."

Misaki nodded. "I'll keep it in mind."

"You coming for lunch?"

Misaki shook her head. "Too much work. I want to leave on time today."

Mira gave her a sympathetic look and left her to work.

Misaki sucked on a mint as she typed away on her computer. She didn't really have much time to eat these days. She either had too much work or was too exhausted to eat.

Her line beeped.

"Miss Ayuzawa? Is that file complete done? I need it ASAP!"

Misaki pressed the button. "Almost done, Mr. Fre," she sighed.

"Almost done isn't good enough! Put down your other work and work on that."

"Yes, Mr. Fre," Misaki sighed.

She coughed into her sleeve. Her throat felt a little sore, must have been sleeping bad last night. Misaki gulped down her now lukewarm coffee and pushed on.

"You sick?" Julian asked when Misaki was getting more caffeine.

"No," Misaki croaked.

"Right..." Julian said, not believing her. "You should go home and take some meds."

"I'm fine," Misaki reassured him. "Just a little cold."

Julian seemed to believe her and went back to work.

Misaki gulped down some hot coffee and told herself to suck it up. This was nothing compared to her university years.

That night Misaki wasn't sure how she was going to make it through the phone call. She didn't want Takumi to know that she was sick or else he'd fly right back to Japan before Misaki could even explain it was a little cold. She took some medicine in their cabinet in hope of sounding better but it didn't help much.

Her phone rang right on time and Misaki took a deep breath before picking it up.

"Hi!" she said in an enthusiastic voice. Her voice sounded a little higher than usual.

"Hello to you too," Takumi said. "You seem awful cheerful. What's up?"

"What?" Misaki asked, forcing that same voice. "I am just in a good mood."

"Why's that?"

"My manager's leaving and I might be able to replace him. I just have to make sure my performance is good," Misaki informed him.

"Oh, congrats," Takumi said. "I knew you could do it."

"Thanks," Misaki said. She held the phone away and coughed.

"You okay?" Takumi asked, hearing muffled sounds.

"Yeah fine," Misaki said, clearing her throat. "Just choked on my own spit."

"Beautiful..."

"Shut up, Takumi," Misaki said.

Misaki went upstairs and laid down in bed. She felt so tired.

"What have you been up to?" she asked.

"Business…" Takumi told her. "They want me back in the England branch but that's unnecessary. They just need to fix some problems."

"They want you to stay in England…?" Misaki asked.

"They want me to do a lot of things," Takumi joked. "But don't worry, sweetheart, we're staying in Japan. You wouldn't be use to the culture here anyways- It sucks…"

"Do you want to return to England?" Misaki asked.

"I want to be with you,"

"Well, I'd obviously come with you…"

"I would never ask that of you-"

"What do you ask of me then?!" Misaki froze. "Sorry," she quickly said. "I didn't mean to snap at you like that. I don't know what came over me…"

Misaki had been to England more than once. Takumi had gotten her the best English tutors making Misaki's english flawless, however, Misaki didn't like it in England. She didn't fit in at all. Also working was just a touchy subject for her at the moment…

"Its okay," Takumi said, gently. "I just ask that you stay my cute little Misa Chan," he said.

"Anything else?" Misaki asked.

"You just want me to say to do well at work," he accused.

"Mhmm…" Misaki said.

"Amaze everyone with your skills," Takumi said. "Make sure you eat and rest," he added. "See you soon, baby."

"Yeah..." Misaki said. "Bye."

Misaki hung up and rolled onto her back. Sleep deprivation really made her cranky. Misaki decided to sleep or else Takumi was going to sense that something was wrong…

The next day, Misaki felt feverish yet no one else seemed to notice- especially not her boss. He whistled as he dropped another load of work on her desk.

"I'll be leaving early today," Fre told her. "Just drop it off in my mailbox later."

"How early...?" Misaki demanded, looking at all this work that wasn't her's.

Fre shrugged. "I think I'll be taking the day off-"

"Wait... So I have to pick up all your slack?!" Misaki snapped.

Fre glared at her. "I deserve a little break after all this hard work," he said- despite Misaki doing all the work for the past week... "I am also your boss. I expect the utmost respect from you, Miss Ayuzawa. You should be lucky to get to do my work..."

Misaki felt disgusted but didn't get a chance to say anything. Fre stormed out of her cubicle and disappeared. Misaki never met anyone so stuck up and she knew a lot of stuck up people. Her manager actually believed people would fight over themselves to do his work. Misaki threw her notepad across the room which did little to make her feel better.

"You suck!" she huffed.

Misaki stalked out of her cubicle to have lunch. She wasn't in the mood to do someone else's work.

"What's wrong?" Mira asked.

Misaki angrily stabbed at her fruit salad as she told Mira what happened.

"Fre is a lazy pig," Mira agreed. "Everyone that's worked under him has quit."

"But I don't want to quit," Misaki said. "I wanted to work here so bad..."

Mira sighed. "I don't know what to tell you," she apologized. "Just don't wear yourself out trying to juggle both your work and his."

Misaki nodded. "I'll be fine..."

"Hey Misaki," Julian said, sitting at their table. He studied her face. "You don't look so good," he observed.

"I'm fine," Misaki said again. "I'm just flushed from being so angry at Fre."

Julian took a bite out of her sandwich. "Why don't you take it to the CEO?" he suggested.

"Oh no," Mira interrupted. "The others tried. Fre actually has a bit of status and he knows how to use it. The CEO won't touch him."

"Why don't you fight fire with fire," Julian suggested. "Get someone with even more status..."

"Julian!" Misaki exclaimed. "I don't know anyone with status..." she said through her teeth. "Remember...?"

Julian blinked a few times.

"Right..." he said. "Sorry..." he mouthed when Mira wasn't looking.

Misaki sighed and nodded. Sure Takumi could easily get Fre fired but she really didn't want to have to rely on him... again. Misaki just wanted once in her life to do something right by herself.

Misaki ran her hands through her hair. She was so stressed. The agenda in front of her displayed all the things she had to do this week. All Misaki wanted was 30 hours in a day. 24 hours was nowhere near enough. So much work and so little time. Misaki hadn't done anything beside work this past week. She even turned off her phone so she could concentrate. Takumi sent her an email at their usually phone calling time but Misaki didn't reply.

"Sorry honey…" she said, reading the email of Takumi asking how she was. "I'll be fine after I finish all this work…" Misaki hoped.

Takumi checked his phone again. Misaki for some reason had turned off her phone. He sent her an email but she didn't reply either.

"What are you doing…?" he wondered as he leaned his elbow against the large glass window that led to a balcony.

He decided to give Misaki some space. She was probably busy. He could survive one day not hearing her voice…not really but what could he do? He was all the way in England right now.

Takumi tapped the screen on his phone and studied his screen saver. It was a picture of Misaki from their one year anniversary. Cheap plastic sunglasses were on her head and her baseball cap shadowed her bright eyes. Her adorable smile made him smile everytime he looked at the picture.

His finger traced her face. "I hope you're okay," he said, softly.

Takumi decided to send one last text message before going to bed.

I love you, Misaki.

Misaki woke up late the next morning because she couldn't sleep the night before. Even with all her work done, Misaki still felt stressed. She knew what was coming for her today and that made dragging herself up even harder.

Misaki glanced down at the clock, she didn't even have time for tea! Misaki sprinted from room to room and got ready. As soon as her shoes were on, she was out the door.

Misaki tried not to speed which resulted in her being 15 minutes late. Fre gave her a disappointed look and handed her a stack of work. She silently walked into her cubicle feeling his stares boring into her back.

Misaki collapsed into her chair and covered her face. Work was so stressful. Misaki had a tiny speck of doubt in her that she wasn't going to make it. She lost touch with the cutthroat world for so long. The difference between Misaki Walker's life and Misaki Ayuzawa's was polar opposites. Misaki Walker never had to worry about anything except what to do in her spare time. Misaki Ayuzawa got no sleep and was always working until she wanted to smash her computer.

Later that day, Misaki was forced yet again by Fre to skip lunch. He claimed that was the price she would pay for the hour of work she missed- Misaki came in 15 minutes late. In her mind, fifteen minutes and an hour were very far apart.

By the end of the day, Misaki was done. She refused to do anymore. She felt that if she had to look at the computer screen for another second, she'd throw up. Misaki might even call in sick tomorrow. Her feet hurt, her neck hurt, her eyes hurt, her hand hurt… This was too much.

Misaki grabbed her purse and signed out. Misaki felt a little light headed as she stumbled down the hall. She hadn't eaten anything since yesterday and her body was showing the signs of lack of energy. Misaki gripped the railing on the staircase. The hall was shifting a little in her vision and Misaki felt so nauseous. She gingerly walked down the stairs when someone yelled her name.

"WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!" Fre demanded.

Misaki was halfway down the stairs. "Home," she said in a shaky voice. "I did all my work."

Fre crossed his arms. "You still need to compile a master list for the company-"

"That's your job," Misaki reminded him.

"But I thought you wanted this job," he said, tapping his foot. "I think you're rather unfit if you can't handle the workload."

"Look, Mr. Fre," Misaki said, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice. "I don't feel good today. Next time?"

"Misaki Ayuzawa, I never pegged you as lazy. I good heartedly try to help you out but this is how you repay me? Fine, I wasn't going to give you the job anyways-"

"SHUT UP!" Misaki yelled. "WHY DO YOU KEEP DOING THIS TO ME?!"

Fre's face went from red to purple. "You ungrateful woman! I'll see you fired-"

Misaki didn't hear the end of his body went slack and her vision blackened. She didn't even feel the pain of hitting the hard stairs. She was completely numb...