Faceless Desire

Unintentional Progress

It doesn't take long for Sakura to forget about the awkwardness between her and Sasuke. There's simply too much work to do. For the first half of the day, the duo works in silence to keep up with the mountain of paperwork, emails, and phone calls needing processing. They just fall into their old routine, the one they had when Karin was on vacation.

The time comes, around noon, that it's time to visit a few of the company's locations.

Sakura follows her stoic boss downstairs, to the employee garage, and into his car. That's when she begins to feel the tension resurface. Heat threatens to flood her cheeks as she steals a glance at the Uchiha man driving. He looks godly, as usual. She bites the inside of her cheek to prevent herself from sighing and averts her gaze out the window. As far as appearances are concerned, Sasuke looks exactly like he did when they first met: straightfaced and unconcerned with her presence.

Self-irritation churns the woman's stomach as her mood falls. Is it just her that can't stop thinking about how close they are in this enclosed space? It'd take little energy to reach over and touch him.

But Sakura can't do that, and even if she could, she wouldn't. As strong as her affection is for the man, she can't just pretend he didn't treat her improperly. If she just ups and forgives him without forcing him to reflect on his actions, she'll not only be disrespecting herself, but also their relationship because it'd have started off sourly and never been fixed.

Sakura shakes her head when they arrive at their first stop. Then, she follows Sasuke out of the car and through the shopping mall with her tablet at the ready to notate anything necessary. It's the same location where the opening party had been, the beauty-based mall. Ino's face is on a lot of the posters and window displays for various stores, like makeup, shoes, salons, and more.

Soon, they approach a perfumery. It's the only of it's kind in Konoha because most shops sell perfumes and colognes, just not as their sole product. The CEO, Fugaku Uchiha, wasn't entirely on board with putting such a place into one of his malls, but his two sons provided substantial evidence that it'll do well. As a result, Sasuke is checking in on it today to verify how things have gone with his own two eyes rather than relying on reports emailed to him by the staff.

Before they can enter the shop, Sakura notices Sasuke pull on a ballcap and a pair of glasses to alter his appearance. If they were on better terms, she'd have laughed at his disguise. He doesn't need to explain what needs to be done because they've done this a few times in locations that underperform. If the Director of Operations shows up, of course the stores' staff will be on their very best behavior. If they aren't aware of his identity, though, he'll get a sincere experience. Usually, Karin is the one to go with Sasuke on these little secret missions, so this is the pinkette's first time.

Since it's part of her job, she doesn't argue and simply takes a deep breath before sticking the tablet into her purse and walking into the perfumery while trying to tone down her professional aura. A soft, pleasant scent is in the air. It isn't overbearing or headache-inducing. Sakura temporarily forgets about what she's doing as she looks around in awe. It's a beautiful shop. She finds it odd that she's thinking such a thing because she's never found a store pretty before. Elegant lavender and pastel pink lights hang from the ceiling, which casts a gorgeous, mood-setting light over the dozens of crystal perfume bottles on display.

There's a thin, feminine woman behind the counter in a form-fitting dress that smiles, "Welcome!"

Sakura returns the smile, only to jump when a man suddenly appears before her. He's tall and in shape, wearing a dark blue business suit that makes his similarly-colored eyes pop. The man offers a blinding smile while taking Sakura's hand in his own, "Thank you for stopping in today. My name is Mino. May I help you find the perfect scent?"