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

ch10. can you, please, stop being such a f*cking asshole?

HER GLASSES STOOD neatly on top of her nose as she stared at the screen of her computer and listened carefully to what her assistants had to say. Her scientists had indeed come up with an idea. They called it tidal power. They were using the wind to create electric energy. And it was brilliant. In fact, it was so brilliant that she had immediately asked for the cost of gil it would require to fund this programme.

And then came the number that she knew she could never afford. Two billion gil. She could not afford that and her economical manager let her know right away. Her entire company didn't cost that much. She knew now that she couldn't rely on anything else but her and Rufus's deal. There was no other way. Their deposits of coal were ending more and more every single day. It was only a matter of time now before her company would crash.

"I don't see any other way out, boss, I'm sorry," The sound of her assistant's voice came from her laptop, drawing Hannah's attention back on the screen.

Hannah shook her head. "I'm not giving up so easily, Patricia, you know that,"

"What are you going to do?"

Hannah sighed heavily. She wasn't really sure if she should tell her or just keep her current state a secret. Well, she didn't really have anything else to lose. "I'm making a deal with Shinra's Vice President that might as well save this company. He's not on best terms with the President. Everybody knows that,"

"Are you sure you can trust a Shinra? He's a businessman, boss. You know better than anybody that men like him care about nothing but themselves and their companies. What if he's fooling you? What if it doesn't work?"

Hannah was expecting to hear this. Her assistant was right. What if he was fooling her? Sure, he couldn't be trusted. Not yet, at least. And then she scolded at herself for making that thought. Was she really considering trusting this man? How dare she make such a naïve thought? She was no longer that fourteen-year-old helpless little girl that she once was. She had been through a lot and if he was fooling her, she wouldn't be surprised. He was being far too good to her to be real.

Hannah let out a heavy sigh and she looked back at the screen of her laptop. "Then you should prepare yourself and the other employees for getting fired," The words tasted bitter on her tongue. She was regretting every bit of that sentence. A sentence that she thought she would ever speak out.

She was beaten. Once again, she was beaten.

Patricia nodded "I will," Her tone, serious, accompanied by a sigh before they finished the call, and thus, another day of work had gone by. She just had paperwork to take care of but she didn't feel like doing it at the moment.

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She didn't really have anything else to do for the day, and she knew Rufus wouldn't be back from his business meetings until afternoon. It was such a shame. It would go to waste to be there, in such good weather and by such a wonderful beach, without getting a swim to have a taste of the renowned Costa del Sol waters.

She knew that Rufus would definitely object, but fuck him, am I right? She just needed to take a swim and he never really clarified whether she could leave their room. She grabbed the bikini that she had brought with her and she put it on. She wore a light blue gown on top and grabbed her hat and sunglasses. The beach wasn't far and many people had caught a few of the deckchairs that spread across the beach.

She settled on one. The sea was at ease, and most of the hotel's clients and staff were at the hotel's main pool. Thus, the beach was nearly empty and -honestly- she preferred it that way. She took off her gown and her hat and she dived in. The water was cold at first, but it didn't take long till her body got accustomed to the temperature.