Coexistence

Chapter 5

It was Friday, the last workday before her four-day break. Hitoka had completed her projects for the day and was packing up to head home. She had every intension of taking a relaxing bubble bath and cozying up with one of her new books when her department supervisor reminded everyone that the company mixer was tonight at 7 pm.

It had completely slipped her mind that she had already signed up to go. The blonde wished she could skip out on it, because her body was strangely feeling drained all day. But office culture made it impossible to do that without it making her look bad.

It was just her luck that her friends Yūki and Runa weren't going to attend the party. They were, coincidentally, both going to leave town later that evening for their own vacations. Yūki said him and some of his college friends had rented out a cabin and were going to go skiing up north during the break. While Runa said she was going back to her hometown to spend time with family for a couple days.

Knowing that they weren't going to be there left her disheartened, but she would stick it out and drop by. Even if she was only going to be there for a little bit, she would make sure she was dressed to impress. After all, the young woman heard that this party would involve outside companies, and that it would be a good opportunity to network.

So, she went home and got ready.

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Hitoka had arrived at the work social location at 7 pm sharp, and was currently outside taking in the structure that would hold the event. Since this was to be an end of year party as well as a mixer, it was a big one with a couple companies renting out a two-story restaurant.

Taking a deep breath, she started making her way towards the building. The petite woman had the intention to only stay for a while. She wanted to network, but she also wanted to go home and rest.

She was wearing high rise black ankle dress pants with matching black blazer, which she left unbuttoned so that her burgundy turtleneck shirt was visible. On her feet she wore nude pumps. Her long blonde hair was out of its usual ponytail and was curled into soft waves. She wore very little makeup. Only putting on some eyeliner, mascara, and tinted lip balm. With her she carried a small burgundy purse that held her essentials.

Stepping into the establishment Hitoka looked around to see if she knew anyone. She didn't see any familiar faces, so she made her way to the unoccupied bar and sat down on an empty stool a bit away from a small group of men conversing at one end. There was smooth jazz instrumental music playing from the speakers overhead.

The blonde ordered orange juice from the bar. She would have had an alcoholic drink if she wasn't feeling so sluggish. Doing so now would lower her inhibitions and be reckless in her current pre-heat state.

It was twenty minutes into the event and more people had shown up. The bar was now almost full, and everyone was busy networking.

Hitoka hadn't noticed when it happened, but the seat to her right was now occupied by a man while the chair to her left was still empty. The man beside her had dark hair, and was wearing a dark navy suit, white dress shirt and dark maroon tie. He was casually drinking a vertigo cocktail.

She could tell the man was an alpha because she was able to smell him from her seat, meaning he was producing more pheromones than the others around her. He smelled like saffron, a mix of sweet and bitter as well as earthy and smoky.

Hitoka was now on her second round of orange juice and was debating on whether or not to leave the party. She had started feeling drowsy and didn't want to fall asleep in the middle of the event. Should her superiors see her nodding off then she would get a harsh scolding.