Out with the old; in with the new [Liz]

[youknowWHO;]

Attire

Nearly three weeks had passed since Coleen’s death and since Elio had served him the papers for a divorce. He wasn’t happy with either incidences but he should have seen them both coming. There had been some sort of rivalry between both Elio and his old secretary so it didn’t surprise him the night he had come back to the office after a trip to Tokyo to find Coleen dead. It shocked him his wife, er, ex-wife hadn’t disposed of the whiney mortal sooner.

Other than the death of Coleen, nothing had changed work wise. Kai was always in the office, working hard but his work area was a mess. Contracts and other various, important documents were strewed over his entire desktop blanketing an over sized calendar along with his planner and laptop. It wasn’t long until the clutter had gotten to him which pushed him to actually put an ad up about needing a secretary.

“HELP WANTED!
Personal Secretary needed for Yokan Enterprises.
Swing/Graveyard shifts, sometimes day shifts.
Great pay. Call office to set up an interview appointment.
*Bring resume*”

Kai was never good at putting ads or letters together. He had always depended on others to do that for him; on women. Thankfully, though, despite the fact that his ad was quite unprofessional and lacking of a lot of information, he had received a few emails and two or three calls. There was one woman though that had done both which instantly caught the vampire’s attention. Unlike the others, she had seemed the most eager to get the job. Now here he was, waiting for her to arrive and surprisingly, the girl was late. Five minutes late to be exact.

In an attempt to relax, he sat back in his seat as his autumn colored eyes drifted from the last e-mail he received over to the small clock seated at the corner of his desk. His eyes followed the second hand, listening to the soft ‘tick tick tick’ sound it made as it made its round. He was tempted to have the front desk secretary call the woman to see where the hell she was but decided against it. There had to be a reason why she was running late and for her sake it had better be a good one. Not that it really mattered to him anyways. There was another matter he still needed to take care of.

Standing from his seat, he reached past the woman who had propped herself over the edge of Kai’s desk and took hold of the phone. Bringing it up to his ear, he positioned himself so that he was standing directly in front of the girl, as she playfully wrapped a leg around his waist to pull him closer to her. He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth giving the mortal a ‘tsk’ as he attempted to page the front desk. In response to his little disapproval, the girl draped her arms loosely around his neck and began playfully nibbling at his exposed earlobe.

The vampire gritted his teeth in both annoyance and in pleasure as he blindly reached his free hand out to press the intercom button which paged the front lobby. A loud beeping sound came followed by the soft voice of the new front desk girl.

“Sarah, darling when that new secretary of mine comes will you bring her up to my office please and kind of show her around the off-” his sentence was cut off for a second as he groaned as the young girl began nibbling at the side of his neck now. “Just walk her up here but take the long way.” he demanded before hanging the phone up and turning his full attention to Emily.

With a smug grin, he placed his hands onto her sides before pulling her closer to the edge of the desk and even closer to him. He looked over her attire and couldn’t help but snicker in amusement. Just as always, she was dressed to impress but this time she had dressed as if she were one of his clients. Decked in a beige pencil skirt and black button up top, she looked as if she were here for a meeting or an interview herself rather than a ‘dinner date’.

Originally, he had planned for this to be a quick meal but the mortal was so damned stubborn and Kai couldn’t help but give into her incessant badgering about wanting to spend more time with him. But of course he only gave in under one condition… That she would offer him more blood than she normally did but he in turn promised not to kill her.

[/font][/blockquote]

[Elizabeth Blaine]

A member of the Blaine family as a secretary. She thought her parents would be a little bit more appreciative that she was actually get a decent job, and not devoting all of her time to her dream career, which was generating no income, at the moment. She thought they'd be happy for her getting some sort of job. Everyone has to start somewhere, right? And she's known a few secretaries that have went on to start their own very successful businesses. "But they're not a Blaine, are they?" She could remember the words so clearly, as if he was standing right in front of her and saying it again. Even though her father started off small and got big, he didn't want his children to waste time like that. A small scoff brushed through her lips at the thought. No, they're not a Blaine, daddy. "Thats right, Liz. They're not a ... hey, what are you doing in a store line? Aren't you supposed to be at the interview?"

Yes, she was, but she did have fifteen minutes until then, and although she would've rather been there fifteen minutes early than on time, or at the risk of being a few minutes late, this was not an opportunity she could pass up. Sales at Prada don't come around often, and with a little work done to them, this boots could fit her wardrobe perfectly. Her family would think that this was a terrible idea but to Elizabeth, finishing of a model of her one of her fashion designs was much more important than getting to this meeting on time.

But she really needed this job. You don't just belong to the Blaine family and are unemployed. It took her forever to find a decent job, and it said "Great pay" on the Help Wanted ad. Although, the add was written up very poorly, so the company was probably not that great, but it also clearly showed that whoever wrote it desperately needed a secretary. "Swing/Graveyard shifts, sometimes day shifts." Seriously? Elizabeth already knew that this was going to be one of those bosses that called you even when you were off the clock to do something.

Yokan Enterprises wasn't a company she was familiar with. Elizabeth meant to ask daddy if he had heard of it before, but after the lecture she got from telling them that she found a job ... as a secretary ... she really didn't feel like getting another lecture about how this company wasn't as good as her brother's or father's companies or some incredibly stupid topic like that. Nope, instead she would just not call him for a while, until they hopefully had forgotten about or at least put themselves in denial over this whole job thing, and then she would just never speak of it again.

The beauty of not living with your parents. If you're mad at them, you don't have to worry about reluctantly going home to them later.

Wow, this was taking longer than it was supposed to. How many items does the lady have in front of her, like 10? Ugh, what a pet peeve it was, to watch people over-indulge at sales like this. Nothing in the woman's hands even looked decent. Those gloves better not be worn with that shirt, or else Emily was going to have to just snatch both of those items and toss them back where they belonged. Oh my god .. and that hat was horrible. Even at 50 percent off, why would anyone buy that ridiculous hat. Well, I guess if she fixed up the edges of them .. maybe fold them back or took off that flower and decorate the hat with stripes instead . . .

FINALLY! She was DONE! She couldn't help but roll her eyes as the woman walked away with the hugest smile on her face. She just wasted five hundred dollars on horrible clothes, but she was carrying three bags that said Prada on them, so it was all okay for her. Smiling at the cashier, Emily placed down the only item she needed. Those boots.

"I knew you would come in here for those. I was even trying to guess how you would style them when you got home"

Cheryl knew her all too well. A favorite customer of Prada because of the amount of money she spends there and her reputation, it should come as no surprise that Elizabeth knew practically everyone that worked there, and often saw their boss' bosses at banquets other high profile occasions that she attended with her family.

Just a simple smile at Cheryl. "Here, keep the change. I need to get going." And before she could ask Liz where it was that she was in such a hurry to get to, she was gone.

Damnit! That stupid lady with horrible fashion sense made her five minutes late!! She practically tripped, but of course didn't as she hopped out of her car and rushed through the front doors of Yokon Enterprises. The secretary at the front desk got up immediately, making it pretty obvious that the rushing woman was the one that was late for an interview. "Good evening. Are you Miss ... Blaine?" she asked, almost doing a double take as she looked up from the paper .. and then back down again.

Yes, her last name was Blaine. Yes, she was the daughter of Dr. Cynthia Blaine and her infamous lawyer husband, Brandon Blaine. Yes, her brother was Michael Andrews Blaine, CEO and founder of M.A. PR Company. And, yes, for Christ's sake, she was now nine minutes and twenty-three seconds late to her interview with Mr. Kai Yurameki. Really, she can understand why the front desk girl didn't believe that the woman standing before her was related to some high-class, never late to anything, EVER, kind of family. but, really, Elizabeth didn't have time for this right now.

A quick smile and a nod to her question. "Yes, I am Miss Blaine. I apologize for my tardiness. Is Mr. Yurameki still willing to see me?" She had to ask, and she would understand if he was already unimpressed by her lateness and decided to not hire her at all. If this building represented her fashion industry, and any model was late to meet her, you can bet your life savings that Elizabeth wouldn't give them a second glance, and order her secretary to show that late model right ou of the door. Sorry, no photo shoot for you today. There are other places for Liz to go, and other thing for her to do. She wouldn't have time for late people running around in her business.

Her potential boss seemed to be a bit more laid back, though. "Yes, he will see you, still. I've been asked to take you up to his office." The petite girl walked from behind the counter and motioned Elizabeth to follow her. She didn't see too excited about taking Elizabeth there. "This way, please."

She followed her across the lobby, and they appeared as though they were headed straight toward an elevator. This would probably be a bad time to make a demand, with her already being late and everything, but if there was any way possible for Elizabeth to take the stairs, instead, she would extremely appreciate that. But, just as Elizabeth's mouth opened to request taking a different route to Mr. Yurameki's office, the secretary made a sharp left, and practically slammed open the doors to the stairwell. "I'm really sorry..." She confessed, "...but Mr. Yurameki has asked me to take you to the office THIS way." Her tone seemed to be grave, as though the man asked her to kill of Elizabeth or something. Surely, the stairs couldn't have been that bad. Her head bent back as she looked up to see the many flights of stairs. "That's alright." she reassured the secretary. "I can take it from here. ... What floor is his office on?"

Oh, ... floor number Thirty-Two.

Well, then. Elizabeth better get started on climbing these stairs, huh?

The secretary glanced down at her feet, "You might want to take those boots, off first."

[/size]

[youknowWHO;]

Warm hands snaked their way under the now unbuttoned vest and untucked dress shirt, causing the vampire to sigh softly in pleasure. Already he had forgotten that he was supposed to be expecting someone; his supposed new secretary that was five minutes late. Or was it ten now? He wasn’t sure. He didn’t care too much about it anymore all thanks to Emily. Damn this woman.

[/color]

His hands remained placed gently on the girl’s sides as she worked her magic, grazing her fingertips against his torso and up to his chest. It was her little way of relaxing him and he of course, loved it. The entire day was spent going to meeting after meeting so Kai was quite stressed to say the least. Other than that, he was starving. He had gone the entire day without meeting any of the women on his little “meal list” so the burning in his throat was becoming unbearable.

“Did you have a rough day darling? You’re so tense.[/color]” the girl cooed before latching her lips onto the side of Kai’s neck. Playfully, she suckled at his cold skin while her hands snaked around his sides and to his back, drawing little circles over his skin as she did so. Despite the fact that this woman annoyed Kai to the point where he wanted to simply kill her, she did know how to get his mind off things.

“I guess you could say-”, pauses to groan, “that…”
[/font][/size][/blockquote]

[Elizabeth Blaine]

She should take off her boots. HA, please. Despite the fact that she was born in tall heels, Elizabeth was a London city girl raised around rushing businessmen and women. Racing around the entire town in heels became more of a hobby than a burden; her feet were accustomed to it by now. Given a choice, anyways, Elizabeth would've very much loved to take the stairs over the elevator any day. There weren't too many things that this strong woman was afraid of, but closed, crowded spaces was one of her biggest fears. Damn claustrophobia.

So, Mr. Yurameki, her potential boss, was most likely wanting her to take this route as some sort of punishment for her tardiness, but Elizabeth was more than grateful to climb up the thirty-two sets of stairs in her five inch prada shoes. Besides, it was a fantastic way to lose weight for the summer.

Nineteenth floor ... and she was showing less gratitude about these stairs than before. It was fine up until about the seventeenth. That's when the burn in her legs started to become irritating and her ankles reminded her that these boots were actually a half size too small for her. All black, pointy-toed, and Gucci. They only came out with 150 pairs, and it was either a size too small or two sizes too big. Her swollen feet are a very small sacrifice for such an incredible fashion piece, and although they were slightly too small, she did make her boots look absolutely amazing.

Ten more minutes had gone by, and she was on the Twenty-fifth floor. Plus the additional five minutes that made her late for this interview in the first place, that made her fifteen minutes late so far. Mr. Yurameki hopefully had time to wait for her to reach his floor, otherwise she was going up there just to be sent right back down again after hearing that she wouldn't be hired due to her tardiness. Oh, god. Would her potential boss really send her up so many flights of stairs if he was just going to send her back down again?

She wasn't too sure, because she didn't know much about Mr. Yurameki. Google had explained that he was an aggressive businessman and not someone you'd want to disappoint or cross with. After she had read that statement, it only took her two seconds to think about whether or not she wanted to work for the boss of a multi-millionaire company who was like that; the answer being, of course, YES YES YES!!

But if he did make her walk all the way up here just to tell her she wasn't hired, she wouldn't hate him for it. If a model had been late a second to a photo shoot, Elizabeth would've done the same thing. Lateness was not acceptable, no matter what the excuse was.

Thirtieth floor, and Elizabeth had already made plans for when this interview was over with. She was going to call Destination, her gym, and demand a refund for her membership, because all of those days she spent working out on that step machine had proven that they had done absolutely nothing for her. NOTHING! After that, she was going to call daddy, Brandon Blaine, and let him know that the entire gym is a false advertisement and demand them to be sued. Okay, maybe she wasn't going to do that, but she really wanted to at this point.

A deep sigh as she finally saw a door with big black, bold numbers on it: 32. Floor thirty-two, she had finally arrived. Checking her watch, she was twenty minutes late to his office, now. Her eyes closed and another sigh of disappointment came out. She was a Blaine, and she knew so much better than to be late for anything, especially over another pair of boots. Despite the fact that those boots were important to her main goal of becoming a known fashion designer, she was going to get no where quick if she didn't get this job because she was late, and people found out about it.

Taking another quick second to straighten out her black dress and make sure her hair looked alright, she opened the door to the thirty-second floor standing tall and straight, which was really hard to do when your feet and legs ached so bad, and walked in, ready to finally meet this Mr. Yurameki.

[youknowWHO;]

Every now and then his autumn colored eyes drifted from Emily’s face over to the small clock which sat on the corner of his desk right behind her. At first the girl was only five minutes late but soon enough five had magically turned into ten. Okay, so he had instructed Catherine to take the long way to his office which meant the stairs rather than the elevator but did it honestly have to take them this long to climb thirty-two flights of stairs? Of course it did. They were mere mortals. They couldn’t bolt up numerous flights of stairs in a matter of seconds like he could. He often looked over the fact that he was much faster than humans were.

Giving off a sigh, he reluctantly returned his attention to Emily who had whimpered the moment she realized he was looking away. “Here, turn around.” she offered, placing her dainty hands onto his broad shoulders. He did as he was told, and turned away from her, now facing the large windows that were behind them. Other than the light that illuminated the secretarial section and waiting room, the only light that lit his office were the ones from the city outside. It was rare for any of the lamps to actually be used in his office, even when there were important clients coming by. They had never questioned him as to why he liked to sit in the dark, no matter who it was, they had always simply accepted it.

With her slender legs now unwrapped from his waist, Emily allowed them to dangle over the edge of the desk at each of Kai’s sides as she moved her hands up along his back up to his shoulders. Rolling his eyes slightly, he gave in, leaning back against her touch, allowing her to squeeze and kneed them in her little attempt to help him relax. It was in fact helping but not as much as it should have. Though Kai would never admit it to anyone, Emily was a poor masseuse and it didn’t take long for him to turn right back around to face her.

“I like facing you better.” he cooed seductively, leaning himself forward to get closer to her. Just as he was about to press his icy lips up against her warm ones, he heard the click from the main door being opened. Finally.

[/color] he thought as he pulled his head back. His hands were gently placed on top of the girl’s lap as he tilted his head over a bit to peek out of his office doors. Instantly, he noticed the sweet scent of expensive perfume as the ‘new secretary’ stepped into his office. That was a surprise. He was half expecting to put up with the disgusting smell of cheap perfume or worse, just deodorant. Ick[/color].

Looking over to Emily, he gave her a reassuring wink and patted the top of her thighs lightly but kept her seated atop his desk. “Come on in.” he instructed, standing his ground right in front of Emily with her lithe legs dangling at his sides. Silently, he went over the possible ‘smart-ass’ remarks he could throw at the poor girl about her being so late. Giving people beneath him a hard time could be quite entertaining but only to a certain extent. “We’ll have to see if this one can handle the pressure.” he whispered jokingly to Emily with a smile.[/size][/font][/blockquote]

[Elizabeth Blaine]

Her eyes skimmed around the huge office that took up an entire floor. Elizabeth felt immediate familiarity with it. The walls were missing bookshelves, that were filled with thick law books from one end to the other, and the wall coloring and carpet were a lot lighter, but the layout was almost exactly like her father's law office, except his office extended to where the kitchen stood in this one.

"Come on in."[/i][/center]

The male voice came from the only place that appeared as if no one was there. Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at the main office's door for a moment, debating if that was indeed where the voice had come from. There was some sort of misshapen, odd-looking figure that she could make out in the shadows, so her torturous boots stepped closer, and she made her way into the dark room.

She got closer, and the reason for the lights being off in that office slowly started to become clear. Oh, so that was why the figure in the dark looked so odd; it wasn't just one person in the office, who she assumed to be Mr. Yurameki, but there were two, and as she entered the room and her eyes adjusted to the darkness a bit more, she could make out that the other figure was a female, and she was sitting right in front of the allegedly Mr. Yurameki ... on his desk ... and he was standing just a little bit too close to her to just be "discussing" something, Elizabeth was sure of that.

"Oh, I'm sorry." She quickly apologized and glanced away, focusing on the furniture and everything in the office, instead. Like, the filing cabinet, and all of the messy folders on top of it. Or the couple of papers that were on the ground, because it didn't really look like the desk had room for any more, anyways.

"I must be on the wrong floor."

Because, obviously, if this was Mr. Yurameki's floor, she was sure of that. Her potential boss wouldn't busy himself in a "meeting" right now, when he expected Elizabeth's presence. That was a very big taboo, to do such scandalous things, like what was pictured in front of her at the moment, at work and not be too smart about hiding it. You can bet your ass that you would never catch any of this happening at B.B. LLP, her dad's law office, or M.A. PR Co., her brother's company. And her mother would immediately fire absolutely anyone that tried to sneak around and get too personal with anyone else at work. Her employees were there to save lives. They didn't have extra time to try and get laid at work. That was all meant for when they were off the clock.

She immediately turned around to leave the two workers in the dark office and walked back toward the stairs. The secretary at the front desk did say that Mr. Yurameki's office was on floor thirty-two right? Maybe Elizabeth misheard her. Oh, she hoped that she didn't have to climb ten more floors to reach his office. Oh, what if she said floor TWENTY-two? Great, this was going to make her even more late to her interview. Ugh, she let out another sigh and turned back around, heading back toward the dark room reluctantly. Really, seeing a scene like that put her off about this whole company, but I guess all employees are sneaky every now and then, right?

Tapping lightly on the door as a warning, she leaned into the room and asked, "Do you happen to know what floor I can find Mr. Yurameki's office?"[/blockquote][/color][/size]

[youknowWHO;]

The way she had uttered an apology so quickly didn’t surprise Kai. He knew it was coming. He had expected that or expected to see her walk right in only to turn right back around and go back to where she started. What did catch him off guard was the assumption she made about being on the wrong floor. From what he remembered, there was a name plate right beside the main doors with ‘K. Yurameki’ engraved into it. Poor thing. Not even a minute had passed and she was already flustered.

Hazel eyes followed her, seeing her every move clearly through the dimly lit room. He parted his lips to stop her but before words could even jump from the tip of his tongue, she was gone. Listening closely, he could hear her footfalls against the hardwood floor as she crossed the lobby like area, towards the elevators. Soon enough they stopped and he could hear them approaching his front door again. By this time Emily had climbed off of his desk and straightened out her skirt while Kai stepped back to give her some room.

With a light scoff, the tapping against his door caused him to lift his head up slightly to return his gaze back to Elizabeth after watching Emily attempt to regain her composure. Standing merely a foot away from Emily, he could hear her trying her best not to burst into laughter. He had to admit, the way the interviewee was handling the situation was quite amusing.

“Fortunately for you, I do know where his office is.” As he paused, his eyes drifted away from Liz only to return back to his ‘lover’ to give her some sort of a warning glance. He knew all too well that Emily, being the little elitist that she was, she would probably spit a nasty retort at the poor girl in a pathetic attempt to make herself look better or just to simply ‘start shit’. Before she could even say anything Kai beat her to the punch and spoke first. “You’re standing in it.” he finally said, offering Liz a crooked smirk. “Please, have a seat.”

There were two chairs set in front of his desk which were rarely used. During meetings or one on one discussions he liked sitting elsewhere; anywhere but his desk. This time though, was different. It was actually the first time he had interviewed anyone for a position. Well the first time in a long time.

“Well darling, since you have work I guess I’ll be going.

[/color]” It was a relief that the stubborn woman was actually leaving on her own without Kai having to plead. With a quick peck on the cheek, Emily gathered her purse from Kai’s oversized desk chair and walked out, nearly shouldering Elizabeth as she sauntered by.

Kai waited until he heard the large front doors to be shut before he seated himself onto his chair, pulling himself closer to his desk by grabbing the edge of it. “Let’s see you’re…” his eyes moved to the small metal block clock set on the corner of his desk. “Almost thirty minutes late.” Again, his gaze was returned to her. “Care to explain why?” He did in fact think about sending her right back out the door but the thought of having to wait for another response to his little ad irritated him, causing him to think twice and give this girl a second chance. Might as well anyways. She was the only one out of three responses to actually come out for an interview.[/font][/size][/blockquote]

[Elizabeth Blaine]

Well, this was embarrassing, if it was, indeed, Mr. Yurameki's office.

She glanced around the office, again, an eyebrow quirking on her puzzled face. He had to be teasing her. Extremely unorganized, a little too small for the founder and owner of a company, the scandalous events that were assumed to have been taken place just moments before Liz's arrival. This was definitely not a suitable office for the aggressive, ambitious Kai Yurameki that she imagined before. But turning her head, she clearly saw the name plate that she probably should've read before. Kai Yurameki, and this was his office, on the thirty-second floor.

You're joking, right?

That is what she wanted to ask him. Her puzzled expression quickly turned into a look of disappointment. Tons of thoughts, none that were polite, swirled around in her head. For starters, this girl in his office was giving him such a bad image. What if an important client walked through the door, or lawyers, reporters, etc.. This was a horrible representation of his company. Some dirty business owners might be fond of visiting girlfriends or hookers during work, but that won't get Mr. Yurameki too far when he's ready to go multi-billionaire with the big companies.

Especially with a woman like that. Elizabeth leaned a bit to the side to allow the girl enough room to walk by ... as if there wasn't enough room to walk around Elizabeth, anyways. What a snob ... and an ugly one at that. Liz couldn't help but notice her attire ...

If you're going to risk your job with someone like that, at least make sure she's pretty. Ew, that skirt is terrible, especially with those shoes. The poor woman obviously can't make up her mind about being a business woman or a prostitute.

She better snap out of the rude thoughts, before an accidental slip occurs and she says something she isn't supposed to. It's happened before, despite how good she is at covering up her displeased thoughts with two-faced, kind actions. Her parents already disapproved of her getting this job, but the lectures would be endless if she DIDN'T get this job. Yeah, even after she's moved out of the house, she gets lectures as though she was still a teenager.

One more glance around the, again, too small, messy office ...

"My apologies, Mr. Yurameki..."

She couldn't hide the sudden let down in her voice as she made her way to one of the chairs, stopping to bend down and pick up those few papers that she had noticed earlier. Whatever feeling of embarrassment from before quickly dissolved away as she placed the papers on a huge unruly stack of more papers on his desk. More impolite thoughts ran through her head. How can this man possibly have good control over his company if he couldn't even file his papers right? This was a very pathetic excuse of a boss, which just goes to show that Google isn't a reliable source when it comes to doing research on people. That woman should've made more use of herself and cleaned up a little bit around her.

Let's see you're ... almost thirty minutes late. Care to explain why?

Explain why?
A smile spread across her face, despite the not-too-kind opinions she currently held about her potential boss. Explain why ... okay. Liz couldn't exactly tell him that the front desk girl told her about Mr. Yurameki's torture methods, also known as the stairs. So, she'll just make something up.

"Again, my apologies. There's no proper excuse for my tardiness..."

A quick glance down at her shoes. Thinking about it now, maybe it was a good thing Elizabeth went to the Prada sale. This interview wasn't looking hopeful, already, but at least she got a cute new pair of boots.

"I would've been here sooner, but ... there was a problem with the elevators?" A false puzzled face. "The woman that works at the front desk mentioned something about them not working properly. So, I had to take the stairs."

Let's not mention the fact that the stairs nearly killed her feet. He doesn't need the satisfaction that he obviously wanted from that.

"I have to admit that I'm surprised you didn't just send me back home. I would've." Reaching into her tote, she pulled out a resume, which was pretty much her lifesaver at this point. To be honest, she didn't care if she got this job or not, anymore, but once again, she was thinking about her family, her parents, and those god awful lectures. Avoiding that by getting this job with a disappointment of a boss would be worth it.