So many ways to avoid the Devil

"Wait! What about buying me lunch, y...you buy me lunch everyday" I grabbed his hand, then immediately let go when I remembered 'I had honked my boss's dick.'

"Your fridge was empty, and I have never seen you eat lunch. I don't want an employee working under me to faint while on the job, it would look bad for the company." He turned towards the giant metal doors, slid his card and disappeared from sight.

"I think I'm going to throw up." I grabbed my stomach and bent over, knowing full well that I had fucked up.

----------

I

Don't

Know

How

To

Exist

Around

My

Boss

After what occurred on the balcony, I've been avoiding Park Daisuke for the past month. I even tried to jump off the balcony that day but Eiichi stopped what was a perfectly rational reaction to total fuckery. It's been hell walking eggshells around Park Daisuke. I've been extra careful to fly below his radar. I pretend to be sick, so I never have to present during meetings, and I submit all my work while he's out of the office.

I come to work at 6 am so I can submit outstanding assignments before he can ask me for them. It was as if he was the black plague, and I had an autoimmune disease; I dared not breathe the same air as him. How could I face him after I...honked...his...dsnjfhak!

"Eiichi, I can't do this anymore." I walked circles around Eiichi's bench.

"Cha-cha, you said the same thing last week and the week before that. Relax, he will get over it, it's not a big deal..." I paused, placed my hands on his shoulders and looked him squarely in the face. He blushed and looked away.

"See, you can't even look at me, and I did nothing to you." I threw my hands up, exasperated.

"I...I looked away for a different reason. So don't worry." He patted my cheeks. I swatted him.

"How can I not worry? I'm never going to get promoted if I can't even be around my boss, and if I don't get promoted, I can't see the CEO. What is the point of still being here?" I slumped into the seat beside him. "I should go and work on a farm or try doing advertisements." I fisted my hair for the millionth time.

"You need to pull yourself together Ho Mizuki." He sounded annoyed when he gently untangled my hands from my hair. I had never heard Eiichi say my full name like that, it made my chest squirmish and tight. "You'll go bald if you continue pulling your hair." He smoothed out my hair as he chuckled.

"Then maybe Park Daisuke won't recognize me, I could change my name to Baldziko, no?" We both laughed.

"I doubt that. You're pretty unforgettable." He pulled my cheek softly.

"I am?" I looked up at him, confused, but his eyes darted around.

"I meant, being bald doesn't change facial features, Daisuke would still recognize you." He elbowed me softly and chuckled slowly. I looked at my hands resting on my thighs. "How about we do something to take your mind off things?" I looked up at Eiichi's beaming face.

"If it isn't plastic surgery to give me a new identity. I don't want to talk." He pulled me to my feet and pulled me into a hug.

"Who would dare ruin such a masterpiece." I poked his back, he was always dishing empty compliments like this. "First time I saw this face, I was like...." I shoved him away before he could finish.

"Yeah, yeah… you were like 'damn did you fall from the sky because you must be an angel.' Right?" I imitated his deep voice. He laughed and flicked my nose.

"No. When I first saw your face, I looked for a signature because every masterpiece has one" He jumped up laughing, and I crouched over laughing. My tummy hurt so much from giggling.

"How do you come up with this shit?" I punched his sides.

"It's an app I picked up." He showed me the icon on his phone screen. "It's filled with crazy pick up lines."

"That you never get to use, so you are testing them on me." I pushed my hair out of my face.

"Is it working?" Eiichi wiggled his brows, and a charming smile spread across his handsome face.

"No, but it's distracting me from my shitty life." I fisted my head again, after swaying left and right very quickly. I had forgotten for a brief moment, but now all I could think about was 'honking.'

Ugh.

Eiichi picked up my hands and wrapped it around his waist. "You need to stop doing this, people will get the wrong idea," I muttered as I rested my face on his chest.

"It's fine, just humour me." We started doing this after the devastating revelation that left me speechless and comedically suicidal. He would wrap me in a hug, and I'll breathe in his nice-calming scent.

"What perfume are you wearing today?" I asked, rubbing my face on his sweater and deepening the hug.

"You're going to enter me if you squeeze that hard Cha-cha. But today I'm wearing Tobacco Vanille by Tom Ford I believe." He rested his chin on the top of my head.

"Isn't that expensive, did you steal it from Park Daisuke?" I pulled away to stare at his perplexed face. He sighed and then pulled me back into his embrace.

"It was a gift. I'm not a thief." He finally let go, and I missed the calming scent. "Have you calmed down." I nodded and yawned.

"Next time wear the other one." He laughed.

"That one was discontinued, but I'll look into getting it for you if you like it so much." I blinked slowly. If it's discontinued, how would he get it for me? But then again, anything is possible with Eiichi. I patted my chin as I let out a silent yawn. "You aren't sleeping properly." I fisted my hands and stifled my next yawn.

"Yes...I...am." I sat back down. "It's just waking up and getting to work at 6 is taking a toll on me."

"Why are you getting up so early?"

"So I don't have to see Park Daisuke. It's awkward between us, you know."

"Then, just come to work late, or do your work at home." He cocked his head like he didn't understand why I would even come to work at all.

"I don't know what a driver's schedule entails, but we employees can't just clock in whenever we want. We have to be at work bright and early, or we get fired." He laughed for a good minute and then dabbed the tears from his eyes.

"What! Who said that? Did you not read your employee contract?" I stood up in protest.

"Park Daisuke said..." He continued to laugh.

"Daisuke-chan does what is convenient for him. I would think you should know this by now, he is all bark and no bite. He threatens to fire people but he has never fired anyone in the history of this company." He laughed and fell on the floor. I felt like an idiot and sat back down.

"I read...I read the contract." Dammit, I didn't read anything. I was so excited I got accepted that I signed it and never looked back. "But refresh my memory on what I'm supposed to remember."

"Well if you didn't know, all submittable work at Sunnies Reach can be remotely done, you just have to request so. The building is frankly just for show and tell, and for tax filings… I've been told." Eiichi rested his head on my thighs, smiling like a fool at me. I shot up quickly.

"What!" I screamed at the top of my lungs and attracted the unsavoury stares of passersby.