TEKKEN 8

Chapter II: Josie and Leo

"Waaah! Thank you so much for hiring me! This is such a blessing!" Josie sobbed to her seemingly uncomfortable boss, shaking his hand profusely.

A blessing? Jin just stood there with Xiaoyu, Alisa, Lars, and Lee behind him. All of them, with the exception of Lee, looked as disturbed as the head. This job is far from a blessing.

In less than 24 hours, Josie accepted the invitation, and took the fastest route to the Mishima Zaibatsu to thank and greet her boss in person. She almost crashed her vehicle multiple times with her tear-blurred vision, but fortunately, she arrived unscathed.

Josie collapsed on the marble floor, continuing to cry her eyes out, much to the subtle annoyance of Kazama. He hated seeing women cry, not that he was any sort of a gentleman, but he wasn't used to seeing it, and avoided seeing it at all costs.

Lee sensed this and smirked at the opportunity. What can he say? It was an obvious second nature to him to woo attractive women. The flirty man decided to make his move. He cleared his throat, catching the attention of the emotional Josie.

"Beautiful girls like you shouldn't be crying." He pulled a rose out of thin air and placed it in her tear-damped hands. A gloved hand grabbed a handkerchief out of his coat and wiped her tears away, causing her to raise her head and stare at him with her glossy eyes.

This action made the model stop crying, and made the cursed man and the rebel leader want to shoot a bullet into their skulls. Lars and Alisa have seen this rehearsed act one too many times, especially when they were teaming together. Xiaoyu wanted to cringe at the sight. Wasn't this man forty-eight years old? But no one could disagree that Lee didn't look a day over Lars' age.

Josie thanked the man, wanting to cry again, but she restrained the tears this time, to Lee's delight.

"So, I heard you are a model--"

"Lee." The exhausted Jin said, not wanting to hear any of his half-uncle's flirty bullshit. The alter-egoed male raised his hands in surrender. "I was just asking what company in the Philippines did she model for." Josie lifted herself from the floor, still holding the rose.

"Why do I feel that there are ill intentions behind your reasoning?" Jin asked, more to himself, but Lee still answered with a dashing smile. "I assure you, there are not, no matter what angle you look at it from...I will just ask her a different question then."

Lee turned his attention back to the kickboxer. "So, Josie. You balance your jobs as a model and as a kickboxer. I'm sure you've made enough money for your family to be financial stable, correct?"

"No."

"Eh?" Lee gave her a funny look. "What do you mean? Do your employers not pay you enough money?" Josie looked as if she was going to cry again. "No, I thought my job as a model would help us make alot of money, but they don't take me seriously because I cry a lot. When I noticed they started paying me less and less, I confronted my boss. He threatened to fire me if I asked him about it again."

"I'm a very famous model at the Philippines, so I don't get it." She clutched her rose, feeling the tears pouring from her eyelids. "I trained extremely hard to become a kickboxer. I wanted to become one every since I was a small kid since Bruce Irvin was my role model. During my training, so many men told me I should stop trying, but that encouraged me to work harder. Although they never took me seriously, I still defeated all of my opponents."