Why don't you try and leave me?

Criminial Ambitions

Author Note: Bit late but this chapter is twice as long as the usual ;)

"Ah. Karuizawa-san. Thanks to your ideas, sales has skyrocketed in the past few months. It looks like your promotion may not be too far." Aoyama, senior manager of the sales division had nothing but praises for Kei.

"No. It is a result made possible by the whole team's efforts. It would be too arrogant of me to take credit for this." Kei smiled politely.

"You are too humble for your own good, Karuizawa-san." Aoyama commented. His smile mysteriously glittered with intentions of deviant nature.

Kei simply forced a smile in response. An even larger smile adorned her elegant face this time. Her pearly whites were distinctly showcased in all its glory, gleaming for all to see.

But Aoyama couldn't tell it apart from a real one.

"I will let you know when I have some good news to share." Aoyama laughingly hinted at the possibility of her promotion.

"I will be looking forward to it, Aoyama-san."

Uttering those words, Kei experienced something indescribable. Something akin to tremendous relief. Straining her facial muscles for half a year had finally begun to pay its dividends. 

Aoyama swiftly made an exit.

Her impenetrable mask became too unbearable to retain and crumbled as the curtains fell. Her face was reduced to an empty slate. It held such genuine indifference as though her blissful appearance moments ago was a beautiful lie.

It was truly a wonderful sight to behold.

Cruel ice was etched onto her stone-cold facade. The harsh cold had seeped deep into her veins, rendering her ocean blue eyes frozen in time. Her features were remarkably sharp and smooth, befitting that of the beautiful young woman she had transformed into in the past several years. Her lips held a hint of sarcastic smirk in the face of the whole wide world.

Kei made her way towards the door at the other end of the conference room. As fate would have it, feminine whispers of resentment followed closely on her trail.

"That bitch is so fake."

"Her eyes are so dead. I don't know how men think she is an angel when all she does is fake smile and flatter the manager."

"I bet she stole all the ideas from someone else. Look at her, so cunning. I have never seen her work overtime."

"She is so suspicious. For real."

Kei carried on like she was a deaf woman. Well she was indeed truly deaf to the opinions of those who surrounded her, guarded by the sturdiness of the iron that fenced the outskirts of her heart. 

The black veil of her tainted past was ever-present, looming over her, ensuring that she wouldn't ever dare to forget. Nor forgive.

Neither the most wonderful intentions nor the most criminal intentions were powerful enough to reach within striking distance of her heavily fortified heart.

While it was simply hilarious that her co-workers had made her up to be some devilishly immoral thief who preyed on others' ideas in their silly imaginations, she couldn't care less about what others thought of her.

People were fickle. People were always so quick to jump to horrible conclusions about anybody even though they didn't know the first thing about them. Yet similar to a flock of birds, they move on to another target right after, not caring about the subtleties of individual identity. 

Fragile creatures of a mindless crowd.

But that's what mindlessly bored people do, right? Find something to nitpick. Or someone.