If that wasn't surprising enough, he was also an accomplished concert pianist (that explained his beautiful hands) and had been accepted to Julliard in America. He'd declined, opting to go to business school in Tokyo, instead.
"So…" she said, winding down to a close. "That's your boss. Amazing, isn't he?"
I laughed and reached for our shared cup of soda. "No, you're amazing. How did you come up with all that?"
A sudden, hard bash to my shoulder lurched me forward, spilling the cup of pomegranate soda all over the table and onto my lunch.
Most of it had ended up on my white, boat-collar knit sweater.
"Oh, no!"
A hand latched onto my shoulder from behind, squeezing hard.
"I'm so sorry!" the basher said. "Someone pushed me and I just reacted. Gosh, I'm just so clumsy."
Still frozen, the empty cup dangling from my fingertips, I blinked as the entire situation dawned on me.
I had just gotten pranked.
And this was no elementary school prank, either.
This was as bad as getting locked in a bathroom stall and having a dirty mop shoved in my face.
Ayaka rushed to her feet, spots of red splattered across her pale gray shirt.
Her face was pink in rage. "What the hell, Haru? You did that on purpose! I saw the whole damn thing!"
The soda soaked through my bra as I stared, horrified, at the perpetrator.
Haru Mitani loomed over me in mile high stilettos, looking like a hot mess in a black shirt, top two buttons unbuttoned and tucked into a slate-gray skirt that hugged her voluptuous hips. A group of her fan girls flanked her, looking pleased with themselves.
She pushed a hunk of dyed caramel brown hair back from her powdered face and pouted with lips that must've seen Botox work. "Come on, Ayaka, that's not fair. I totally didn't see Rika there, did I, girls?"
Haru was infamous. Known as a man-eater, she worked in the design department and accumulated broken hearts like people collect Zippo lighters. Some said she was sleeping her way to the top, but I didn't believe it. She was too proud, too confident in her quality of work to do something as easy as exchange sex for promotions.
I put the cup down with exaggerated care and dabbed at my sweater with a fistful of napkins.
Damn. And I'd only worn this twice.
Ayaka was shaking in rage. "Haru, you are such a bitch, you know that?"
I sighed and gave up, dropping the tissues with a wet plop on the sticky table. "Ayaka, let it go."
She whirled around on me, snarling. "What? Are you crazy? She did that on purpose. You want me to just let her walk away without an apology?"
Haru pouted her luscious lips while I cringed in my seat, once again the center of attention.
"Come on, Ayaka. Didn't you hear me? I said I was sorry. What's the big deal?" she asked.
I thought Ayaka would punch Haru. "You didn't mean that apology."
"Oh, please," said Haru, laughing.
Ayaka glared at me. "Well? What are you going to do? Just sit there like a lump on a log and not even stand up for yourself?"
Haru's pack of fan girls snickered in unison.
I shook my head. "What should I do? Should I get some more soda and throw it on her? Would you feel better if I did?"
I hated how shaky I sounded.
"Yes, I would," fumed Ayaka. "I should throw the damned thing on her."
Haru's fake lashes trembled as she took a step back. "I said I was sorry!"
Ayaka put her hands on her hips. "Don't pull that wounded act on me, you two-faced slut."
If looks killed, Haru would've been halfway to the hospital in a body bag.
"Slut? How dare you?" shrieked Haru.
I wanted to crawl under the table and wait for the storm to pass.
Why was this happening?
I touched Ayaka's arm, her muscles jumping under my grip. Jesus, she was pissed. "Hey, it's okay. Forget it. It's just a shirt. So what? It didn't hurt me."
"What about me?" asked Ayaka harshly. "It hurts to watch you take this kind of abuse from her."
Haru froze for a moment and then whipped her hair over one shoulder. "Go fuck yourself."
Ayaka drew herself up, eyes flashing. "What?"
"You heard me."
Her voice lowered. "You really want to go there?"
Haru looked at her quietly and then pulled out her wallet from the clutch purse underneath her left arm. "I don't have time for this shit."
She slapped a thousand yen bill on the table.
"Here," she spat out. "That's for the dry cleaning. I don't owe you anything now."
Then she sauntered away with her fan girls, all of them shooting dirty looks over their shoulders at me.
"Hey!" shouted Ayaka. "This isn't over! You hear me, Haru?"
Haru only waved her hand and left the cafeteria.
There was a moment of utter silence before the cafeteria erupted in noise.
"A thousand yen?" muttered Ayaka as she fell back in her seat, a disgruntled frown marring her face. "You've got to be kidding me. The cleaning fee will cost at least twice as much. What a cheap skank."
I tugged at the wool, but it stuck unpleasantly to my skin. "I should've never left my desk."
Ayaka's face darkened. "She meant to do it. I saw her and her stupid fan club standing by the drink vending machines, looking over here and laughing to themselves. The nerve."
I tried to mop up the soda, but I was just moving the puddle around. "Why didn't you say something?"
"Everyone else was looking at us, too," she grumbled, moving our lunch plates to the side. "If I told you about everyone, we'd be here all day and I'd get fired."
Abruptly, a dimple appeared, digging deep into her left cheek. "I adore you, Rika, but not enough to lose my job, you know?"
A smile tugged at my lips. "Same here. And I don't want you to lose your job. Lunch would be boring without you."
"Pssh, yeah right. You'd just read."
I shrugged. "Yeah, guess so."
"Hey, you two!"
A tall, lean man sauntered by, his hair casually windswept, although I knew he took more than an hour to get such a movie-star air about him. At least, that's what I'd heard from the never-resting office gossips.
"Oh, God," muttered Ayaka, looking down. "It's him."
She hated men, called them useless pieces of skin.
If that was the case, I didn't know what Tadashi Murai was.
"Wow," he said, shaking his head. "The minx strikes again. You know she made a girl in HR quit a few weeks ago, right? If that bitch is going after you, well, I dunno, Rika. I like you, but if there was a betting pool in the office, I'd put my money on Haru. She's a killer and you're…well…" He laughed. "You're not. No offense."
I didn't take it to heart. Tadashi was always out for number one, and as long as I didn't forget that, he was a good guy. "Thanks. Now, go away."
He ignored me and put a hand on Ayaka's shoulder.
She jumped.
"Hi, Ayaka," he said, giving her his trademark Tadashi smile, or, as we girls call it, the Hurricane Grin, because it swept the recipient away. "You're looking lovely today."
Her cheeks turned a delicate pink. "Tha—thank you."
I never understood how Ayaka turned into putty around a playboy like Tadashi. Reportedly, he'd gone after every attractive female employee in the building. That he'd never made a move on me was depressing.
"Tadashi, what do you want?" I asked, stowing my half-empty lunch box away.
He bit the corner of his lip in a vaguely sensual manner.
Ayaka sighed.
Tadashi rubbed his chin. "Why do you hate me so much, Rika?"
"I don't hate you," I said. "I'm just not sure why you're here. You said Haru put me on her shit list. You don't want to be on it."
He snorted. "Are you joking? I eat women like her for breakfast."
Helpless, I laughed. "You are so full of yourself."
His sm
ile faded. "You know why she's doing this, don't you?"
"Because she's a bitch?"
An impeccably groomed eyebrow went up. "Well, that's a given, but that's only part of the reason she's bullying you."
Oh boy.
"Then?"
He sighed. "She's doing it because of your boss."
I blinked. I wouldn't have put the two together. "My…boss?"
He squeezed Ayaka's shoulder, and she squeaked, eliciting another one of Tadashi's Hurricane Grins. He was enjoying his effect on the company's indisputable Ice Queen. What an incorrigible flirt.
"Is your friend always this dense?"
"Are you talking to me or her?" I asked tartly.
He rolled his eyes up. "You, you idiot."
I looked at Ayaka, but she didn't seem to have enough sense to reply, choosing to gaze up at Tadashi with something close to adoration in her eyes.
Ayaka was my best friend, but there was no accounting for taste.
"I think she's a little preoccupied," I said. "Think you can dial the charm down a notch?"
The Hurricane Grin flickered back on. "I need to remember this day. The day I brought the Ice Queen to her knees."
I winced. "If she wasn't so charmed by your stupid grin, she'd have your balls for dinner."
"Ooh, I don't know how I feel about that," he said, a mischievous tilt to his brows. "I kind of like it."
Ick. "Tadashi! You were saying something about Haru, remember?"
"Haru?"
I rubbed the deep furrow between my eyes. "Haru? My boss?"
"Your…boss…" he echoed and then snapped his fingers. "Oh. Yeah. That. Um, I heard Haru put out a red-alert on your boss. Guess she wants to be the first lady here to have a crack at him. Naturally, as his secretary, she's jealous of you."
"Jealous? Of me?" I refused to believe something so preposterous. "Jesus, why?"
"Because she's Haru," said Tadashi, tucking both hands in his pockets. I hoped Ayaka would come back to her senses now that contact between her and Mr. Suave Pants was broken. "He's the new guy in town, right? She wants to have the first chance with him and it doesn't sit well that you see the guy all the time. Sure, it's petty, but it is Haru we're talking about. And boy, does she do petty well."
"Well, she's welcome to him," I bit out. "They'd make the perfect couple. His sadistic attitude and her man-eating charm. They'd go together like tea and cake."
"Yes, I know that," he said and then shook his head. "Wait. Sadistic?"
I opened my mouth, but then closed it. As much as I disliked my boss, I didn't want to badmouth him, especially to Tadashi, whose mouth was as big as his smile. "You know. Typical boss. Out with the old, in with the old, right?"
His eyes narrowed. "Mm, you keeping something from me?"
I was twitching from the drying sugar on my skin. "Uh, why would I? Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get out of here and change before I have to pry this sweater off."
He shrugged. "I like you, Rika. I think Haru's going to bully the hell out of you, but you should know why she's messing with you. She's jealous and angry. You get to spend time with her next target and it's messing with her confidence. And if Haru doesn't have that, then what does she have? Get it?"
Sadly, I did.
A wave of anger rose in my chest. "Damn it, this is ridiculous. We're all adults. Why can't we be above this stupid bullying and jealousy crap?"
"See? You can be angry!" said Ayaka, momentarily forgetting about Tadashi. "Why didn't you act that way when she was here?"
"I didn't care enough," I muttered. "I thought she was being a bitch…you know, because she is one."
"No argument there," replied Tadashi.
"But now that I know she's being a bitch for a stupid reason, it pisses me off," I continued. "I mean, you can't fault a fox for acting like one, but this is just…" I shuddered, hands clenching on to the table edge. "She's jealous? That's why she's decided to pull this stupid pranks? Because she's jealous?"
With every passing word, my voice got louder, until I screamed loud enough to make Ayaka jump.
I scrambled off the chair, too angry to stay still.
"That's it!" My pulse raced as I glared around the cafeteria, at the people who were too afraid to tell Haru off. "She wants to fight? Fine! We'll fight!"
I snatched my purse from the table and stomped out of the lunchroom, thinking about the terrible and wonderful things I wanted to do to Haru.
Hold a lighter under her hair and light it.
Staple her feet to the floor while she sat at her desk.
Tell all the men in the building she had an incurable venereal disease.
In the middle of a great fantasy where I had thrown a bucket of honey over her and then released a cloud of bees, I heard someone calling my name.
"Miss Hasegawa! Miss Hasegawa, wait for me!"
It was probably the horrific leer on my face as I turned around that brought Sakurako Nii from HR to a sudden stop a few meters away.
"Yes?" I hissed, not happy to have Haru's imaginary torture interrupted.
She recovered her composure effortlessly. Just as one would expect from "Steady Saku", who was known for her unflappable smile and optimistic attitude.
"I was looking for you. Someone said you were in the cafeteria, but then Mr. Murai told me you left…" Spots of red appeared high on her cheekbones. Her face turned red as her gaze went down to my ruined sweater. "Oh, my god, what happened to your shirt?"
"Uh, just an accident," I blurted. "Nothing to worry about."
Haru was insufferable, but I wasn't a tattletale. If Saku found out who was responsible, it wouldn't be from me.
"Oh," she said, not looking very convinced. "Well, I think I have some promotional shirts in our office, if you'd like to change."
"Thank you, that would be great," I said. "You said you needed me for something? Why didn't you call?"
"Well…" She pushed her thin-rimmed, black glasses up the bridge of her small nose. "I did, but you didn't pick up. I left a message on your office phone, but I wanted to make sure I got you in person."
"You called?" I blinked and then rifled through my purse. "Are you sure you have the right number? I didn't hear my phone ring. My number did change not too long ago, but I don't remember if I…"
I finally found my phone at the bottom of the messenger bag and checked it.
Oh, crap. "Oops. You called. Twice."
She smiled. Other people would have been annoyed, but not her. I was ashamed and embarrassed, like someone had caught me harassing a kitten. "Yes, I did. You were probably…occupied."
Yeah. I bet I was. Thinking of all the horrible things I wanted to do to Haru. "I'm sorry. Is something wrong?"
She shook her head, making her short, permed hair flit around her rounded chin. "No, no! I wanted you to know that tomorrow we'll send up a few people to interview for, um…" She blushed. "You know. Aimi's position. We asked if you wanted her job, but—"
"I don't want it," I blurted out. "I'm comfortable where I am now."
Comfortable? Yeah, right. I didn't want the extra work. I'd let another luckless woman do it and deal with Mr. Miyano. If they ended up interested in each other, hey, that would be great.
"We'll have several people coming in tomorrow to interview, so if you could get them settled before they meet with Mr. Miyano, we'd appreciate the cooperation." She blushed again. "As soon as we can find an assistant for Mr. Miyano, I'm sure your duties will be lighter…somewhat," she said with an encouraging smile.
Ah, Steady Saku. Was there anything at fault with her? I doubted it.
Mentally, I shuffled several less urgent tasks aside. "Um. Okay. Secretary interviews tomorrow. I can do that."
"We'll send them up tomorrow around one-ish, if that's okay with you?"
I nodded. "Sure, no problem."
"Thank you," she said with a blinding smile.
"No, thank you," I replied and then twitched. "Um, about the extra shirt…"
"I'll send one up to your office right away and I'll have a cleaning lady get you something to soak your sweater in." She patted my shoulder, although she had to stand on her tiptoes. "Anyways, good luck."
"You are super efficient, you know that?" I said in awe.
She smiled again and hastened back towards the cafeteria, her pink ballet flats silent on the marble floors.
I continued to the elevators, Haru gone from my mind.
A new secretary. Someone who would spend a lot of time with Mr. Miyano.
This was my chance to get back at him for embarrassing me.
If he enjoyed watching me squirm, then I'd do the same to him.
But this time, I'd get twice the enjoyment.
***
That night in bed, I thought about Rika's Plan of Revenge against Nobuki Miyano.
I could cull the applicants, letting the pretty ones through to his office, and hope that lightning struck twice. If everything worked out, by this time next week, I would hear banging against his wall in that unmistakable rhythmic beat.
A smile did not come easily to my lips.
He was a very attractive man.
Too damn sexy for his own good. With looks like that, things had to be easier for him than the rest of the boring, normal world.
"Of course, a good-looking man would be perfect with a beautiful woman," I whispered in the semi-darkness, watching the flashing of neon signs on the bedroom ceiling. "A good-looking man. A beautiful woman."
I made a note to bar anyone under a B-cup from Nobuki's office.
Men liked big bosoms, didn't they?
I traced a hand over my chest, touching the two pathetic lumps that constituted as breasts. The Hasegawa women had always been small in the boob department, but I had been especially unlucky.
I barely had A-cups and only wore bras to keep my nipples hidden. When I stripped, I looked like a middle school girl, or maybe even a boy.
Once, I made the mistake of telling Ayaka how inadequate I felt as a woman.
"Well, at least you don't have to worry about them sagging to your knees," she'd said, laughing raucously.
Would my life have been different had my breasts been any bigger?
For some stupid, crazy reason, I wondered what cup size Nobuki Miyano preferred. Was he a fan of big breasts, liked milky white flesh to spill over his hands? Or maybe he was into darker skin, like diver girls from Okinawa?
The Handsome Devil (Kissing the Boss Book 1) Page 3
