Requiem Part 3

Haru's lungs swelled to their greatest capacity before she screamed into her cell phone loud enough for her neighbors to hear. "Then I quit!"

"What?! You can't-" was cut off as her thumb ended the call and immediately blocked the number.

Then she froze. "Oh dear," she whispered in horror.

It finally happened. After five years of pushing Haru's buttons, her boss had finally found her big red trigger.

"Smooth," she groaned before collapsing on her couch. Tears threatened to form in her eyes, since the actual work she did was fun, but this was a bridge firmly burned.

Feeling like a child that was about to get caught, Haru couldn't help wishing that Baron was at an easy stopping point in his work as she tapped on his number.

He only let it ring once. "Is everything all right?" he asked worriedly, since she usually avoided calling him during work hours.

"I quit my job!" Haru let out as tears flowed, hoping that she was controlling her volume enough not to deafen him. "Yami wouldn't approve the vacation time and didn't believe me when I tried to explain about Hashi, we fought and then I quit!"

"Oh my. Please excuse me, gentlemen," Baron addressed as sounds indicated he was standing up from a seat and making a swift retreat from a room.

"Sorry, I should have waited," Haru apologized as she reached across the couch for her tissue box.

"Nonsense, this proves how upset you are." He hummed a bit in thought as his voice seemed to echo slightly, like he was in a hallway. "What would you say to coming and working for me?"

Haru blew her nose and dried her eyes. "What kind of work?"

"My personal assistant. I've been going without one since the first month of my promotion, remember?"

Haru realized he had told her about his 'professional' struggles on their first date. "I remember. Not sure if it's worth renouncing my flirting privileges for eight or so hours a day."

"With how much my colleagues have been enduring my talk of you, I promise you'll need to do no such thing, even if my willpower was strong enough to resist," he purred into her ear, making her giggle that even now, he couldn't keep from flirting. "Does twice your current salary sound interesting?"

Haru took a few deep breaths. "You won't mind if I calm down and we discuss it tonight?"

"Not in the least. However," he added like it had just occurred to him. "I didn't mention this before to avoid scaring you, but I work for Hashi."

Haru blinked. "Yeah, I'd definitely remember being told that."

"When one of us tells him you're going on my payroll, the first thing he'll do is reassign me, and you as well, back to the home base. I'm sure you want to think over needing to move before deciding."

Haru lay down across the couch like she was about to start talking about her childhood. "This is all happening a bit fast," she confessed.

"I thought it would. Take a long bath, enjoy some music and dumplings I'll be sending you in an hour. We can talk over the details when I get off, all right?"

"You're amazing," she swooned.

"Well, I have to measure up to you somehow. See you soon, my love," he bade her before going back to the meeting.

Haru held the silent phone to her heart with a dreamy smile. "How did I get so lucky?" she asked with all the stunned bewilderment she'd been feeling since their first date.

Hashi would want to be told as soon as possible. His reaction would probably be as predictable as Baron felt, but Haru had no intention of hurting her cousin now that she had one.

Hashi, my boss refused the time off. I quit, and Baron will be talking me into being his assistant as soon as he gets off work.

What delightful news. I think Baron will be due for a promotion about five minutes after he starts talking.

You've definitely argued with him before. Should I just save time and buy some moving boxes?

Don't be silly. I'm shipping some to you right now.