'I need your advice, Haruki.'

Sakura is flabbergasted. Not only is Sasuke's timing impeccable, but she fully expected to never hear from him again. She's so stunned that she just stares at the message with wide eyes and an open mouth for a long period of time. Only when a second text arrives does she snap out of her stupor.

'How do I prove to someone that I'm genuinely sorry?'

Tears well in the woman's eyes as she frowns. What does he think he's doing? Just when she finally accepted his rejections, he tries to communicate. The overwhelming emotions fuel her fingers as they move quickly across the screen, 'Do you get some kind of kick out of stringing me along like this?' She hits send and immediately regrets it but can't take it back.

Sasuke types for a while before a response comes. 'Open your door.'

Sakura's spine straightens, her head turning swiftly toward the apartment's entrance. He wouldn't…. Would he?

With trembling hands, the pinkette tries to soothe her messy hair and wipes at her damp cheeks before daring to crack open the door. There, in all his brooding glory, stands Sasuke Uchiha. His lips are in a firm line. His tired, dark eyes are guarded as he takes in the Haruno woman's bewildered face. He slides his phone into his pocket and gestures with a nod. Sakura is too confused and doesn't move to stop him from entering the premises.

The Uchiha clears his throat after a moment and she shuts the door, turning slowly to face him with a glare, "What do you want?"

Clearly, speaking face to face isn't nearly as comfortable for both as it was to text one another as strangers. Sasuke's teeth grit as he clenches and unclenches his hands, fumbling over his words, "I just wanted to…. I know I have to explain, I just…. I…."

Sakura crosses her arms while attempting to hide the fact that she's about to burst into tears again, "You what, Sasuke?" Normally, she's considerate of his social ineptitude, but he's hurt her feelings in a terrible way, so she has little empathy at the moment.

Dark eyes narrow into an irritated leer, but the man doesn't completely lose his composure. Instead, he seems to use his annoyance as fuel to say what needs to be said, "I was wrong for assuming you had ill intentions."

"And what about accusing me of cat-fishing you?" Sakura's chin quivers, but she holds his gaze firmly.

"That, too," Sasuke quietly says. They stare at one another for a silent moment before he lowers his eyes to the ground, the anger fading in his tone, "I should've thanked you for being a good friend, but I pushed you away because I was scared."

She can't believe her ears. Sasuke Uchiha just admitted, to her face, at that, that he was in the wrong and afraid. Her lips part as she tries to comprehend the unexpected situation, but he interrupts before she can.

"Once I realized what I'd done, I thought it'd be best to leave things as they are. Becoming involved with me will only lead to you getting hurt."

Sakura wipes angrily at the tears she can no longer hold back, "That's not your decision to make!"

"I know!" Sasuke barks with fire in his eyes. "I couldn't do it, obviously, or I wouldn't be here right now."

Where is he trying to go with this? Sakura's so confused. She wants to punch his pretty face as much as she wants to kiss it right now, but she still isn't sure what he hopes to achieve by coming over and apologizing like this. She doesn't allow her hopes to rise as they had before. That's what got her into this situation in the first place.

So, she takes a deep breath and shakes her head, steeling her features to not betray her emotions, "What do you want from me, Sasuke? Forgiveness? I can't-" "Don't quit."

Emerald green eyes dart to the man's hand as he reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out the phone she handed to him last night after the horrendous dinner with his family. Her brows furrow and she takes a step back. No words seem to accurately encapture her thoughts, so she simply searches his face in disbelief.

He steps closer, refusing to let her look away, "Come back to work."

That's it!

Tears flow down Sakura's cheeks as she half-heartedly shoves the man's chest. He lets her, listening silently as she all but yells at him, "After all we've been through, that's what you came here to say? You want to work with me again?!"

Sasuke grabs her hands in his with a serious expression, "I don't know what else to do right now." The room becomes deadly quiet as the pair searches one another's face. Hesitantly, the Uchiha man breaks the silence. His voice is much quieter than before, "We both know I'm an asshole, Sakura."

Feeling defeated, the woman pulls her wrists from his grasp, "Yes. We do." She knows she won't find a way to support herself financially in time to not be evicted from this apartment if she doesn't accept his invitation. She knows he knows that, too. So, she snatches the phone from Sasuke and straightens her posture, "Fine, but I don't want to work as your assistant anymore. Find me a different position."

He frowns but doesn't argue. No more words are spoken between the duo before he excuses himself with an air of uncertainty.

In the morning, Sakura nearly chickens out from going to the Uchiha Corp. building. Karin happens to see her and grabs her arm to lead the way inside, "You little sneak." The pinkette doesn't fight and allows herself to be pulled into the elevator. Her red-headed friend ignores the handful of gawking passengers as she smirks at Sakura, "You act all innocent and professional, but really you're a bigger player than the rest of us! How could you not tell me?"

"I don't want to talk about it," she replies, not doing nearly as well at ignoring the stares.

"You steal my man and you don't even have anything to say to me?" Karin bites, releasing her arm and facing her with her hands on her hips.

Sakura's mouth moves before she can stop it. She bites, "He wasn't your man, first of all." Her face warms when the redhead's lips turn into a knowing smirk, but she tries to play it cool, "And secondly, there's no way you don't know things ended badly, so why the hell would I want to tell anyone about it?"

Karin laughs loudly, tilting her head and looking down her nose at her friend, "Here I thought you'd try to deny it at least once."

When the elevator reaches the correct floor, the duo steps out. The woman with glasses sighs almost wistfully, "How does it feel to have Sasuke Uchiha losing sleep over you? God, I'm jealous."

Sakura doesn't respond and keeps her gaze forward. She's in no mood to joke around and gossip. If her way of life wasn't at risk, she never would've come back to this place.

When the duo turns the next corner, they come face to face with Itachi and Sai. The latter smiles his usual, fake grin, and sarcastically plays stupid, "Oh, Sakura. How nice to see you back. I heard you weren't feeling well." He shares a look with Karin before returning his gaze to the pinkette, "The director was also away yesterday. What a coincidence."

He and the redhead snicker at Sakura's irritated face, but Itachi offers a knowing expression, "Come along, Sakura. You'll be working with me."

She does as told and follows the eldest Uchiha brother. This is all so humiliating. It's obvious everyone's figured out the truth. Karin splits from the group to report to Sasuke, leaving Sakura and Sai with Itachi.

They enter his office, which is nearly identical to the other brother's. The man gestures toward a beautiful mahogany desk near his, "I've had this prepared for you. Let Sai know if you need anything else." He shoots the assistant in question a firm glance before sitting at his desk and wordlessly getting to work.

Sakura hangs her purse and coat on the hooks near her new work station, eyes locking onto a beautiful bouquet of pastel pink roses sitting right by the keyboard. She glances at Itachi, who does little to stifle his smile but avoids making eye contact. Hesitantly, she walks around to sit at the desk, noticing a card in the elegant arrangement. The woman holds her breath as she turns it in her fingers to see a short sentiment written in dark gold cursive, the penmanship extremely familiar: "I really am sorry. -S".

…..

Sasuke's knee bounces as he glances at his assistant for the tenth time in less than a minute. He's supposed to be focusing on work right now, but all he can think about is Sakura. Somehow, he managed to convince her not to leave the company. It's evident she's still incredibly upset, though.

Following hours upon hours of contemplation, the Uchiha man finally came to the realization that he simply couldn't give her up, not even for Fugaku Uchiha's approval. She makes him feel appreciated and understood, something he's never experienced. He's selfish for using her situation against her, but he didn't know how else to keep her around.

After all but begging Itachi to let her act as his assistant while things are still tense, Sasuke was graced with some advice from his older brother. "There's only one way to win over a girl like Sakura when you've messed up as badly as you have. Send her gifts. Write her notes. Show her you're serious about her." Sasuke called his brother an idiot, but Karin confirmed the advice was sound when he begrudgingly asked.

So, Sasuke swallowed his pride and, with the help of Naruto, Ino, and Karin, came up with a list of gifts and plans on how to woo the Haruno woman. He ruined their first attempt at a relationship before it could even lift off the ground, so it's up to him to make things right. If it was anyone but Sakura, he'd refuse, but things are different when it comes to her. That much has become increasingly clear.

Sasuke can't stop picturing the gut wrenching hurt on her face when he yelled at her during the banquet, calling her a liar and refusing to listen when she tried to explain herself. The image of her leaving the building in tears that night isn't pleasant, either. All of that is his fault. It took many people and hours of self-reflection to come to the conclusion that his state of mind has been unbalanced.

Now that his eyes are open, Sasuke doesn't know how to act. He honestly feels like he's smack in the middle of an identity crisis because in the past he'd never say or do the things he is today. Buy a woman flowers? Get advice from those around him? No way. Here he is, though, and his biggest concern isn't what his father will think, like it usually is. Instead, the man only wants to know if Sakura's still hurting because of what he did, all he'd said.

Will she like the roses? What if she throws them away? What if- "Seeing you so anxious kind of makes you seem less hot, Sasuke," Karin breaks his focus with a sarcastic scoff. He shoots her a glare that she ultimately ignores while typing away at her computer across the room, "You're seriously this worked up over some silly little flowers? Appearances can be so deceiving these days…."

"Be quiet and do your job," he bites, annoyed and embarrassed.

They aren't just silly little flowers to him, and he's sure they aren't to Sakura, either. He can only imagine the wild emotions they must've stirred within the pinkette when she realized they're from him. His only hope is that they're of the positive variety and not complete and utter hatred.

Little bit shorter of a chapter, but I think it'll be exciting to see Sasuke have to do some pursuing! I promise to have a more exciting and longer chapter next week. Have a safe/happy weekend!