Elegant eyeliner, perfectly done brows, and enough lipstick for every woman in the room. Yep, it was definitely my mother sneering at me. The crowd had begun to dissipate into swirling couples as my parents came closer to us. Unconsciously I started to tighten my grip of the King's arm and inch closer to him. It's sad that I feel safer in the hands of the man who bought me than I do in the clutches of my parents.

"Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. Hatayama. Thank you for coming out to enjoy the convention," Mr. Ichinomiya said smoothly, putting on a business like tone.

"Thank you, Mr. Ichinomiya, for the invite to such a prestigious event. Though I do have to wonder how certain figures have made it into your inner circles," Her sickly sweet voice rang in my ears. Her eyes fell on me as she continued to speak her thoughts to the King about how he should be more careful with who he invites. Of course she would want to understand how someone who was more or less kicked out of an ancient lineage found their way on the arm of one of the richest men in the world.

"Young miss, isn't it unseemly to be holding onto a man's arm in such a way when he is not your date? I would have thought your parents taught you better," My father threw his two cents in, obviously more concerned by my manners rather then who I was with.

I looked up towards the King as a smile grew on my face. This would probably be the only time I feel happy saying this, but without looking towards my parents I said seamlessly, "Eisuke Ichinomiya is my date tonight, in fact, he and I are a couple." This earned me a small smile from the King, making my heart soar.

Their faces showed only pure shock and then turned into outrage. "Eisuke, with all due respect, a man of your lineage and position should not be dating a common woman. Ancient family lines need to stay together and pure," My mother stated giving him a hard look. Her smile had long disappeared and my father just look exasperated.

I looked away, towards the ground. They were right about that. The King and I should never have met in the first place, as long as I no longer carried the Hatayama name. "Kai Gensi is my girlfriend. I chose and fell for her because she is a common woman, but composes herself with almost a royal upbringing. I care deeply for her, and if you disrespect us again, I will have to ask you to leave the convention. Now, pardon us, we have guest to mingle with." Looking up to his face was difficult, but his expression was stone cold. His voice was monotone and unreadable, but he did defend me without a second thought. Bowing to my parents, I turned and followed the King down to the auditorium for the auction.

The elevator ride down was silent and uncomfortable. I kept my eyes on the ground, waiting for him to berate me. As we descended, I finally managed to say what was burning in my mind. I ended up merely whispering the fact back to myself though, "You knew my full name." It came out hoarse, like I was afraid to use my voice, I sounded like a child being scolded.

Feeling his eyes bore into my very soul, he simply stated, "You're my fake girlfriend, of course I would figure out what you go by here at my hotel."

"And now that you know my original last name you're going to look it that as well." I mumbled to myself. How could the night go from wonderful to terrible in a matter of mere moments?

"You can't really believe I didn't already put two and two together. I understand that you're not the brightest, but I'm not like you. I didn't run from my upbringing," He snarked back at me, causing me to wince.

Even more quietly I responded, "You were never abused." Thankfully, he didn't hear me, or at least pretended not to. Those were the questions I was hoping to avoid. Hearing the loud noise signaling the fact we were now on our floor, I straightened up and headed straight for the penthouse box. I sat in my normal seat, towards the back of the box and just stared. The auction had yet to start, and the other guys weren't down here yet.

Placing my head in my hands, I tried to control my breathing. Knowing full well that the King wasn't in the box yet, I asked questions to myself. If he knew I was the disgraced Hatayama girl, why did he give my parents invitations? He must have known they would recognize me. Is this why he said one more I.V.C.? So my parents could track me down? I knew I needed to sort out my own feelings, I never knew how possible it was to feel like you're falling love with someone, then want to strangle them the next moment.

Out of all the emotions I was feeling, anger was the predominate one. Even though I could hear footsteps coming up towards the box, I got up quickly and attacked the wall with my fists. I only stopped when the man in the doorway spoke up. "I will still require you to go to work even if you break your hand."

"I'll keep that in mind," I grunted giving the wall one more punch. Sighing, I leaned my forehead against the wall. "Only two more days. I only have to see them for two more days. Then I can pack up and leave," turning towards the tall man standing in the doorway I gave him a hard look, "This is my verbal two weeks notice. I'll have a written one on your desk in the morning." Then turned my attention to the auction.

I didn't sleep at all that night. Between the panic attacks and flash backs of my childhood, the best I could manage was to not get any water marks on the official form of leave. I was upset that I would have to leave this job, I had made so many wonderful friends that slowly became family. I love what I do, but not enough to stay were my parents knew where I was. It was five o'clock in the morning when I left my desk to shower and get ready for the day. After getting ready, I headed to the King's personal office, ignoring the fact he was lounging of the couch.

"You know the hotel has some of the finest security. No one will be able to harass you," He said, not looking up from his paper. I answered by opening the door to his office and placing the document squarely on his desk, as not to be missed.

"Is there any specific time I need to be back up here today?" I asked, grabbing myself a cup of coffee. Seeing the mug in my hands forcing me to acknowledge the fact my knuckles were still a dark red from last night. Shaking my head, I knew I was going to have to find some excuse in case someone asked. Maybe I could get away with saying I was mugged?

"Come up at the start of your lunch break," he said coldly. His voice was so hard and unforgiving I thought it would physically cut into me. Nodding, I washed my mug and left for work.

The meeting was dull, and I was incredibly spacey while Sakiko bombarded me with questions as to where I've been and what happened to my hands. When I finally finished my first floor and was preparing to flee up to my next one, in hopes of evading any other maids, I ran smack into a broad chest.

"Hey there, pretty lady, what's the rush?" Oh thank goodness, it's just Baba. Straightening up and stepping back, I noticed that he was dressed in a maid's uniform.

"I have work to do on other floors. Mr. Baba, why are you dressed as if you were a maid?" I asked, pointing to his strange choice in outfit.

"I decided to play housekeeper in hopes of spending the day with you, my princess." He said his as if it was the most natural thing in the world, even giving me a wink.

Laughing, I shook my head, "Now Mr. Baba, we can't have guests seeing one of the penthouse men dressed as a housekeeper. They might start to get ideas," I winked back at him, letting an easy smile cross my face.

"If they're all as beautiful as you, then I will gladly give them such ideas. But you possess the only mind I want to invade," His voice came out so smoothly, as he took a step closer to me.

Blushing, I looked away from the handsome older man standing far too close to me. Clearing my throat, I answered shyly, "Well, you're going to have to get to work on that. I leave in two weeks."

As his mouth twisted into a frown, he answered back quietly as to not draw any attention, "Is that why your hands look like they might start bleeding any second? Something happened last night before the auction, right?" He sounded just like an older brother would when comforting a much young sister. It was so relieving to hear that tone, like he truly cared.

"May I come to your room tonight, Mr. Baba? I would really appreciate someone to talk to about everything, but obviously I can't just go tell my friends. Would you be alright with that, sir?" I asked trying my hardest not to cry. Tears had already started welling up in my eyes, and I felt one slip out as I looked into his light brown eyes.

Wiping it away gently with his thumb, he smiled reassuringly to me. "Of course, I'm always open to you." Patting me gently on the head, he turned and made his way to the stairs. Before leaving, he turned back to me with a large grin on his face and shouted back, "And I can say I had the beautiful Kai stay over in my room!"

Laughing I rubbed the tears out of my eyes. It was strange, I honestly felt as though Baba was my older brother, always looking out for me even when I don't realize it. With a slight skip in my step, and a large grin on my face I got back to work.

After I clocked out for my lunch break, I was stopped by my manager Mr. Kenzaki, "Hello, sir. How may I help you?"

"This is Mr. Ichinomya's mail for today, please bring it to him as soon as possible," He said, handing me a large stack of envelopes. It this is what is physical mail is like, I don't want to see his e-mail inbox. I bowed and turned to make my way up to the penthouse.

During the elevator ride up, I noticed how some envelopes were pinks and purples. Taking a closer look at those letters I realized that his fangirls have been sending him gifts in the mail. Laughing to myself about how absurd that was, I put them back into the pile, but not before I noticed the handwriting on one.

A letter from my father's office.

Knowing that my entire life was now illegal, I decided pocketing his letter was one of my least damaging actions. Entering the lounge, I walked briskly past the four men talking, noting that Mr. Ichinomiya was not one of them, and up the stairs to the top. Throwing his mail onto his desk and sitting in the living room, this floor was completely silent. I was alone.

Tearing into the letter I read it as fast as I could.

"Dear Mr. Eisuke Ichinomiya,

It has recently come to our attention that you have a relationship of romantic intent with our daughter, Kaiyo Hatayama (Kai Gensi). We wish to inform you that we will be sending a formal request for you break off all relations with Kaiyo tonight at the International VIP Convention. We believe it would be beneficial to both parties involved for communication to cease. This request will outline more fully the terms of the agreement should you decide to proceed with us. Though, to make you fully consider this request, we will use every power we have to destroy the Tres Spades Hotel and the Ichinomiya name should you decide to reject the offer given.

Thank you,

Dachi Hatayama"

I stood up only to fall back to the ground. They were going to blackmail him into ending the relationship with me? They could ruin everything for him. They have strong ties to the government and could tear the Ichinomiya clan apart if they wanted. Struggling to get my feet under me, I walked to the large window, pressing my weight against it. Looking down, I fully grasped how high up the penthouse really was from the ground. The glass wasn't as thick as I would have thought it to be, either.

As the panic fully took over, I rubbed my knuckles. Would a punch break the glass? Or was I not strong enough? The only thing I wanted to do it that moment was break something, just like life had broken me. Pulling back my fist I readied myself just as the King waked into the room and quickly grabbed my waist and pulled me into his chest.

Pushing away from him I tried to get away from the man that ruined my life, before I could continue to ruin his. Shaking my head I struggled to get free while tears rolled down my cheeks, I started to scream "Please, please, I have to go, I have to leave, for this hotel, for you."

Forcing me to sit on the couch beside him, he turned towards me, "What are you talking about? You gave your two weeks. I am expecting you to leave then, not break the window of my penthouse." His voice had no emotion in it at all.

"No, no you can't be seen with me again. They'll ruin you! Ruin your family! Ruin everything!" I screamed while shaking uncontrollably. Upon hearing my distressed screaming the other men ran into the living room. Questions came at me too fast and all I could do was shake my head and cover my ears. Everything started to go black as I hyperventilated. Eventually the King told them to be quiet, and Baba scooped me up into his arms.

"I'm taking her into her room. I'll calm her down, don't you worry Boss," He said calmly. We walked to my bed and he gently placed me down in a sitting position. "I'm not going to force you to tell me what happened, but I am going to ask you to stop covering your ears and listen to me."

Nodding, I slowly pulled my hands away from my hand. Looking at him all I managed to get was, "I destroy everything, Mr. Baba."

Taking my hands in his, Baba started telling me a story about the girl he left in Italy. About how when he left he thought it was in her best interest, but oh how he loved her. When he heard how heartbroken she became after him leaving, he vowed never to let a woman suffer if he could help. After he finished we sat in silence, my head on his shoulder.

"Mr. Baba, maybe you guys should have let Soryu drown me in the bay when you bought me," I whispered letting out a pitiful laugh.

"I would have never let that happen," a voice said firmly from the door. I didn't have to look up to know that it was the King. "I read the letter, and I'll make sure they cannot lay a finger on you."

"It's not me I'm worried about. I potentially just ended your career and tarnished your family name," I started, my voice choking again.

"If you think they could do anything, you underestimate me, woman." He walked over and turned towards Baba, "And I thought I told you not to flirt with her."

Shrugging, Baba got up with a laugh, "I can't help it Boss she is the most beautiful woman I've ever met." Winking at me, he turned and left the room.

"Now, it's time for you to wash up, and get ready for the party. Tonight is going to be interesting," Mr. Ichinomiya said with a sickening smirk playing on his lips.

Hi everyone, I would just like to say I AM SO SORRY. School has taken over my life and writing has been forced to the side. Hopefully I'll be able to get more chapters out in this coming month. Thank you for all the support you have given me, it means the world.