*Author pov *

Restless and tired, his back hit the swirling chair as he tried to get rid of the sweat on his forehead. Work stress had been overly precise all over his face. As he swirled around on the chair towards the window, he got up from the chair, making his way towards it. Placing a hand on the wall beside the window and standing cross-legged, he looked outside at the sight of minimal people walking out on the streets. I mean who would be out at this point of midnight? Sighing he walked back to his chair and sat down, facing the desk in front of him which was now filled with papers. Organising the papers a little bit to make it look tidy, he found his nameplate fallen. He picks it up and brushes off the dust on it and places it back to where it belonged. Brushing the nameplate with his feather like fingers, a smile formed on his lips.

"Light Yagami, Chief Executive Officer of Aćai ", it read. The reason behind that smile? Because he had officially become a person whom he wanted to be - respected and rich. Walking towards his shelfs, he opens them up to see his racks filled with trophies and medals and certificates and what not! Moving through the racks with his hands folded to his chest, he makes a keen observation on all the positions, making sure they looked perfect. After a while of adjusting and organising, he gets back to his seat and packs his stuff to make a leave from the office.

As he makes a move out of his cabin, he notices a girl who was still working. She slightly pushed herself away from her desk and put her neck back, sighing heavily. 'Aren't working hours for employees finished quite the time ago? Why is she still working at this point of 1 A.M?', he thought to himself. He makes his way towards her and faces her.

"Miss Kuniko. May I know what you are doing at this moment in the office?"

She immediately shot up and bowed to him. He returned the same, although was waiting for an answer from her.

"Umm sir, just some due sheets left. I'll finish it off soon----", before she could finish her sentence, he picked up the sheets and started to go through them.

"These aren't your due sheets Miss Kuniko. As far as I remember I had assigned these to Rose and Alex. May I know why you are the one doing their job?"

As he looked back at her, he found her head hung low. He seemed to understand what the problem was but decided not to ask her about it because she didn't seem overly comfortable about him asking.

"Well anyways, have you had any dinner Kuniko?"

"Huh? N-No Sir."

"Just put that aside for a while and join me for a meal. You have to eat in order to work so much."

"But sir, the cafeteria is closed and I don't have----"

"I have a spare box. Please don't refuse the offer and join me in my cabin."

She slightly nodded her head, accepting her defeat and made her way to his cabin.

"Please have a seat."

He said sounding concerned. She sat down and started observing his little space. It was probably her first time in his cabin for the last time she could remember coming in here was nothing of a memory. Glancing at all his achievements, she surely was awestruck by its appearance. There was everything in that seemingly small cabin- ranging from oldest to newest, small to big, cheap to expensive. Countless. The little artworks hanging in the room were beautifully placed on the wall, unless one of the paintings caught her attention. It was one of her paintings.

Light came back with a box filled with a traditional old Khaoniau Mamuang and Japchae and placed it front of her on the table.

"Oh thank you, sir", she said after noticing the food. After taking a look at that simple but devoured looking meal, her mouth slightly falls apart at the delicious sight in front of her.

"Start eating it already Kuniko. Don't have to drool over it", he said once again giving her a small smile as he sat across her. She immediately shut her mouth and picked up her pair of chopsticks and started digging into the food. She however took a glimpse of her painting once in a while which made Yagami question her about her behaviour.

"Anything wrong?" She turned to him and back at the painting.

"This painting....", she said giving him a confused look. He smiled again and replied.

"Well the exhibition which was conducted about 5 years back, to be precise, when the employees were asked to draw their heart out, remember that one?"

She scans his expression and recollects her time when she was painting that on her canvas. The time when she was newbie. The time when she was forced to join the company because of her financial crisis and had to give up on her art skills as her career. She turned her head to his and nodded slightly. He spoke again.

"Well this was my favourite of all of them. I later got to know it was yours. Tell me something Kuniko."

"Hmm?", she hummed questioning him about what to tell him.

"What made you think that becoming an artist would not help you financially?And on top of that, you're working for other employees in the company. If they are forcing you to work so hard, why couldn't you just come and tell me all this?"

She remained silent for a while but replied sooner.

"Nobody these days would want to see art Mr.Yagami. And I don't want to be a reason for others to feel uncomfortable with what they are doing. As in, since I missed out on my career, I don't want them to miss out on it too, given they have have a chance to redeem it."

"But do you know what Alex and Rose want to be. Their passion was to become a person like me. But they are far away from someone like me."

At loss of words, Kuniko remained silent unless her phone started to ring. Looking at the caller ID, it said 'Haruto🌌' . She picks up the call and placed the phone on her ear after excusing herself. Light tried to pay attention to the call, although it wasn't overly clear on the other side.

Kuniko: "Hello?"

Haruto: "Babe when are you even going to come home?"

Kuniko: "Haruto, I will be there soon. I'm just having dinner."

Haruto: "You lied to me again! For the millionth time, why don't you eat dinner on time? You'll fall sick like this-----"

Kuniko: "Stop overreacting babe. I'm fine."

Haruto: "Whatever, I'm on my way to your office. In the elevator right now, see you in 2 minutes."

Kuniko: "What? Babe not now----"

-Beep Beep Beep-

"Is it your boyfriend?"

"Yes sir. He's here to pick me up. Thank you so much for the meal sir. But I have to be leaving now", she replied as she picked up the empty box and disposed it in the trash can.

"Your welcome Kuniko. Please do not stress yourself out too much. Don't worry about Alex and Rose. I will do something about the both."

"But sir, you don't have to----"

"I say I have to. Now let me join you till the door. I'll be leaving too."

"As you say, Sir."

She then made her way out of the cabin and went to her desk, packing her things up. As he both of them made their way out of the office, the were faced by a furious looking Haruto.

"Oh Haruto."

Kuniko made her way towards him and stood beside him, turning herself to face Light once again.

"Thank you for the meal, Mr.Yagami", she said bowing down to Light. She slightly nudged her boyfriend Haruto, as a sign for him to bow down too. He copied the same, although anger was written all over his face.

After all as a loving boyfriend, he would be mad, for his girlfriend had been awake the whole night working and she was having a meal at midnight with her boss who looked extremely handsome. Laughing it off, Light bowed back.

"Your welcome Kuniko. And Kuniko's boyfriend, right? Umm Haruto. Please pick Kuniko up by 7:00 P.M tomorrow onwards."

"S-Sir?", she replied as the couple looked at him surprisingly.

"Yes you heard me right. Take good care of your girlfriend, Haruto. Understand?"

Though he was slightly taken aback, Haruto replied sooner.

"Yes sir. Thank you so much for understanding. Sorry about earlier. I must have not been in my senses."

"It's fine. Well, I'll see you tomorrow then Ms. Kuniko. Good night."

With happy smiles, the three of them leave the office, satisfied and elited, forgetting about how tired they were.

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