Faceless Desire

Chapter 3-An Unexpected Encounter

Mr. Uchiha's dark, calculating eyes look as stunned as Sakura feels as he examines her appearance. Carefully, he releases the woman and steps back as though fearing she may get the wrong idea if he lingers. Either that or he truly doesn't like her. Maybe both.

Never in her life has Sakura been this severely embarrassed. Her face feels hot as she bows, speaking desperately, "I-I am so sorry! I swear it wasn't on purpose!"

The man clears his throat. He sounds as professional as during their interview, if not a little tenser, "Stop bowing. Come with me." He steps around the woman and into the elevator.

Too mortified to come up with a response, Sakura nods and silently follows her new boss.

He comments coldly when the elevator doors close, "Care to explain why you're late on your first day?" He glances at her momentarily before glaring straight ahead again, "Or why you look so disorganized?"

Sakura speaks as calmly as possible, though she's still incredibly flustered. "There was traffic, and I got caught in the rain. I promise it won't happen again."

"All employees should plan ahead so these things don't affect their punctuality, especially new ones," Mr. Uchiha says as though reading from a handbook. His eyes close, then, and he pinches the space between his eyebrows.

Though she notices and is mildly curious if he's nursing a headache, her irritation is more powerful. Unlike during their last encounter, the woman tries to remain composed as she replies, "I agree. It's just that I was given less than an hour's notice to arrive, and I don't live in the city."

The man spares her another glance but says nothing.

She firmly repeats, effectively ending the conversation, "It won't happen again."

When he doesn't say anything further, the aura becomes awkward. Sakura anxiously looks around, anywhere but at the handsome man by her side. Her gaze lands on her forgotten hair tie. Gasping, she swiftly grabs it and begins putting her wavy locks into a loose braid. The silence makes her nervous, and she babbles when nervous, "It's only like this when it rains, I swear."

Mr. Uchiha immediately says, "I don't need to know that."

Jeez. Talk about grumpy. "...Right. Sorry." Asshole.

A few others enter the elevator on the way to the third floor, causing Sakura to step closer to her boss. It's so uncomfortable, but at least he smells like a dream. If he wasn't so cold-natured, things wouldn't be so awkward.

When it's time for them to leave, the man walks quickly through the halls. Well, it's likely his usual gait, but Sakura's much shorter than him, so she's moving briskly to keep up. The duo soon arrives in a small office.

A petite, cute woman with a brown bob and fringe bangs smiles from behind a cluttered yet still somehow organized desk, "Good morning, Sir! Everything is ready to go."

That's when Sakura notices another person present, someone familiar. When their eyes meet, Karin looks just as surprised and annoyed as the pink-haired woman probably does. Obviously, both women want to ask what's happening but hold their tongues to avoid appearing unprofessional.

"Sit, Miss Haruno," Mr. Uchiha curtly orders.

She quickly obliges, sitting beside Karin with a frown.

The last thing she wants to do is upset the man further, especially after leaving such poor first impressions on him. Honestly, she wonders why she was given a job offer at all. It's clear even to her that she's the least qualified of the four they interviewed. Applying was a sort of "Hail Mary" because the employment prospects were too good to not at least try.