Feather Bound

Chapter 16

"Hi, you've reached Haruki. I'm unable to come to the phone right now, so please leave me a message, and I'll get back to you."

"Fucking shit!" Hawks cursed, finally losing his temper. He flung his phone at the wall in frustration, groaning as he stood up to pace his office. His phone hit the wall with a resounding thud, and he didn't even have to go over to look at it to know it was busted. He'd been trying to get ahold of Haruki for over an hour, but at some point, she seemed to have either blocked him or switched her phone off. What the hell was she thinking, going down there and talking to Y/N, especially after everything that had happened between them yesterday? That girl needed time and space to process everything before he even attempted to make things right. He was just about to grab his jacket and head to the coffee shop when his office door creaked open.

He turned his head sharply, frowning as Haruki stepped inside, carrying two cups of coffee. She quickly shut the door with her foot, meeting his gaze as she shifted, almost like she was uncertain about what awaited her. In all their years working together, he'd never seen her look so nervous when stepping into his office.

"I brought you a coffee," she said softly, and he crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes.

"Where the hell have you been? I've been trying to reach you."

"Have you?" She said, walking over to his desk and placing his coffee down before reaching into her pocket to pull out her phone. She frowned, tapping the screen a few times before looking back at him "Huh, Must've died. Sorry about that, boss." She shuffled her feet again before glancing over at his phone, lying busted across the office, and let out a long sigh.

"So that was the bang I heard?" She asked, shaking her head before looking back at him. "I'll get a replacement ordered—"

"Where have you been, Haruki?" he asked her again, not missing the guilty expression on her face. She sighed, reaching into her bag and pulling out a napkin. She handed it to him with a frown, and he swore he could see tears starting to glisten in her eyes. Jesus, had he actually made her cry? Never in all their years together had he seen Haruki cry; she just wasn't that type of person.

"I'm so sorry, sir," she said, sniffling before bowing her head. "I know you're mad, and you should be. I had no right to interfere, but I just wanted to talk to her. I, uh, wrote my resignation on a napkin at the cafe. I knew you were going to be mad, so—"

"Tear that shit up right fucking now!" he cried out, shoving the napkin back at her as his panic quickly overrode his anger. His chest felt tight as they stared at each other, his mind suddenly racing with the implications of what she had just said. She was trying to quit? She couldn't do that. She was the only person he had in this entire world. She had been with him and taken care of him since he was eighteen, since he had debuted and taken on this crazy role. She couldn't leave too; he wouldn't be able to stand it if she did. "Tear it up!" he said again, his words turning into a desperate whine without meaning to.

She looked at him, quickly tearing up the napkin as he sunk into his office chair, sucking in deep breaths. "Boss, hey, it's okay. I'm not leaving. I'm sorry I didn't mean to—"

"It's fine," he said, taking one last deep breath, his heart rate finally starting to slow. "I'm fine, just throw that damn thing out." She quickly did so, taking the shreds of the napkin and depositing it into the trash can next to his desk.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked, the concern in her voice obvious as she settled into her usual seat across from him.

"Absolutely not," he replied firmly before letting out a long sigh. "Why did you go down there to talk to her? Is she okay?"