365 Hours with Rufus Shinra (FFVII: Rufus x OC)

ch4. would you, please, stop making me want to enjoy this f*cking contract?

HANNAH SINCLAIR wasn't one to back off easily. Her stubbornness was indeed all that helped her establish a company from the ground up. She never backed down in her life, and she wasn't going to back down now. She walked out of her room and proceeded downstairs. She hadn't taken the time to memorise the endless maze of halls and corridors of the building, and she didn't really care to do so. She knew she was going to be spending most of her time in her room since eating wasn't really a necessity.

No matter how much her stomach growled, she was just used to being hungry. Being hungry was a lesson she had learned in the harshest of ways when she was little. She chuckled bitterly and shot the thought away. She had been through so much, much worse than this. Giving her body to a man such as Rufus Shinra had started sounding less than a curse and more like a fortunate outcome of this entire ordeal.

She had given her body to much, much worse people.

But these days were long gone, and her pride was restored when she opened her company. Maybe that company was all that she owned, and that's why she was so desperate to keep it. She had fought so hard trying to keep it.

Hannah stared at the contract once more, before she proceeded to walk out of her room. She had a dinner to attend and as much as she hated it, she was going to pass out if she didn't eat at least something for today. But she stared at the contract and all she thought about was her company. The importance of keeping it working outweighed all other intentions. Sure, she -more than adored- the idea of torturing that desperate man, but her company was more important than a silly game. It was more important than her self-esteem, self-respect, her values.

She chuckled mockingly on the last one. Values? She never had the luxury of having values. Both herself and her brother were stripped of their values when they were abandoned in the streets of Wall Market.

She let another bitter chuckle as she thought of those long-gone, childhood days. Her hand reached for her temple as she sat back down on the edge of her bed. She hadn't realised her hand was shaking as she rubbed the ache that had started gathering on her temple. It was either a side-effect of her starvation or just the memories that crept back to her.

She gritted her teeth. No. These days were long gone and she was a different person now. She had a place in this wretched world and that was her company, and she couldn't lose it. No matter the cost. She sighed exasperatedly as she grabbed a pen and did what she knew she was inevitably going to regret.

She signed the paper and carried it with her downstairs. She navigated herself within the Vice President's residence, till she found the dining room where she found him waiting. She wasn't expecting herself to remember where that was, but she always had a good memory.

As expected, he was sitting on his side on the table. He hadn't touched the food yet, instead he had a book in his hands. A title that she didn't quite catch. It looked old, wrapped in black leather. He was wearing a white shirt. His sleeves were slightly rolled up over his elbows. He was wearing a black, loosened tie, and two, or three buttons of his shirt were unbuttoned. He wore black pants, with a pair of glasses that rested at the tip of his nose. A focused expression laid across his face as he read, dedicated to the contents of the book that he held.

She didn't know he wore glasses to read, but -oh boy- they suited him. His bright blue eyes stared behind the lenses. It was obvious that he had noticed her standing there. Though the food was served, he hadn't started eating. Not yet. He was waiting for her.

Her stomach growled at the smell of the freshly roasted, garnished steak that was served on her plate. A plate filled with green salad rested in the middle, and a bottle of red wine rested on the side. She made her way towards the table that stood in the middle of the grand veranda. There was a soft night breeze that slipped past her clothes, as she approached the Vice President and handed him the contract.