･✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･

Sophie pulls into the parking garage of her job and finds a parking space. After she gets out of the car, she grabs her bag and places the strap on her shoulder, letting the bag hang. The woman locks her car and walks to the elevator and presses for 22 of the 30-floor building.

As Sophie is on the elevator, more people get on. So she pulls out a magazine she had in her bag and begins to read it. The elevator stops on level four and mostly everyone gets out, leaving Sophie and a short-haired woman alone on the elevator.

She looks up and notices she's not alone and turns to her right to see a woman beside her in the corner.

The woman senses Sophie's eyes on her, so she turns to look at her. Sophie quickly looks away. The doors to the elevator close and begin to ascend.

The mysterious woman turns to look at Sophie again, "Gage Bendix?"

"Excuse me?" Sophie asks turning to look at the tall fair-skinned woman.

"I couldn't help but notice we were both going to 22." She responds.

"Gage Bendix, yeah. I work there."

"Mm, I thought that you might."

Sophie smiles slightly and then looks away from her, "You have an appointment with us?"

"Why? Do I look like a client?" The woman asks looking back at Sophie.

Sophie turns to look at her too, "Actually, you do." She says giving the woman a friendly smile.

"Well, heh-- Well, I hate to shatter the illusion, but I'm a temp," She smiles back.

"You're a temp?"

"Girls gotta pay the rent." Sophie chuckles at that.

"I would have never guessed a temp." The short-haired woman chuckles and then accidentally dropped all the folders she has holding in her hands.

They both drop down to pick up all the papers, "Lemme help you out," Sophie says just above a whisper, "There you go." The brown-skinned woman hands her the folders. Their hands touched for a second and Sophie pulled back not paying it any mind.

When they stood up, the elevator doors opened, "Thanks, I owe you one."

They step off the elevator and walk into the office. As Sophie is walking to her personal office, she occasionally tells her co-workers 'good morning'. She looks behind her and sees the woman from the elevator following her. She turns towards the woman and they both stop walking.

"Are you following me?"

"No, I'm--I'm taking these files to Mrs. Moore's office," Sophie goes to walk away, but stops.

"Sophie Moore?"

"Yeah, I guess you probably know her?"

"Yeah, I know who she is and she's an asshole. She takes herself way too seriously, but don't tell her I said that, okay?"

"I could get you in trouble?" Sophie turns away from the woman with a small playful smirk on her face.

"Oh, yeah. Big trouble," Sophie confirms making her way to her office.

"My lips are sealed." The woman says.

Before Sophie can make it to her door, a body steps out in front of her, "Alice." Sophie says grabbing whatever the woman hands to her and continuing to her office.

"Good morning, Sophie. How's the new house?" Alice asks.

"Hey, Mary." The tall woman waves to the woman who's sitting at her desk on the far left side of her office door.

Mary gives her a kind smile.

Sophie stops and looks at the papers she was handed at Alice's desk, "The house is chaos, girl, chaos. I left out as soon as the movers showed up."

"Ry must have loved that."

"Yeah, if she calls mad, you tell her I'm in a meeting," Sophie says pointing at the blonde-haired woman.

"Hey. Remember who used to sit at this desk, hun? She'll know I'm lying." Sophie laughs and turns around walking into her office.

After Alice is done speaking, the woman from the elevator rounds the corner and then stops. Alice turns to look at her, "Can I help you?"

The woman smiles and looks at Sophie in her office, "That's Sophie Moore?" She says in a soft tone.

"Yes." The woman's smile widens as she fixes the stacks of folders in her arms.

"Better watch out, girl, she's married. And we all tend to not get on Ry's bad side." Mary says not looking away from her computer.

"The good ones are always married." She says smiling resting the folders on Alice's desk.

"Ahh, yes. The great Sophie Moore. The woman who came in and dominated this male dominated company. A couple weeks ago she just came back from one of our companies that's located in Gotham City. She was gone for about a year and a half, and she recently just got the promotion of a life-time."

"Alice you know if you were as invested in your work like you are invested in spreading other peoples business, you'd be the number 1 temp in the building." Mary says looking at the woman.

"Ha ha." Alice says to her sister.

"You guys are funny. I'll- I'll see y'all around." The woman takes one more look at Sophie then walks away.

･✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･

Sophie is in a small conference room with her boss, Joe, and best friend/ co-worker, Luke.

"Did you talk to our German friend, Herr Ganz?" Joe asks looking up from the papers in his hands.

"Actually, I just got off the phone with him." Sophie says standing behind her chair placing her blazer on the chair with Luke sitting on her right.

"And?"

"He doesn't like the way the stock market's gyrating," She says taking a seat, "Thinks the hedge-fund wave is about to crest."

Joe looks up at Sophie from across the table, "You think he's right?"

Luke looks at his best friend, "No, no. I don't think he's right. I think he's wrong. You know Ganz." The woman says looking at Luke then back at Joe.

"He gets paranoid when anything goes mainstream, so he makes a lot of noise, but I managed to talk him into a private-equality portfolio instead...to the tune of 155 million." Sophie finishes and Joe and Luke look up at the woman with shocked faces. They all break out into laughter.

"Luke, I want you to throw Sophie all your support on this one." Joe says pointing at Luke with his pen.

"I am honored to exist in Sophie's--" Luke says, but was cut off by Joe.

"Whose legs are those?" Joe says looking out the room's window.

"I think she's a new temp." Sophie says looking away.

"I think you mean temptress." Luke responds.

"Alright now, don't make me tell Mary you in here lookin' at another female's legs." Sophie says playfully hitting the man on the arm.

"Don't make me tell your WIFE you lookin' too." Luke responds

"Now you know they're best friends. Put those two in the same room and it's a dangerous thing." Luke nods his head with a smile.

"Always nice to have a pretty girl around the office, isn't it guys?" Joe responds still looking at the woman from the elevator who's lifting her leg trying to fix her shoes.

"Sophie married the last eye candy we had, took her off the market." Joe says looking back down at his papers in front of him.

"No comment, I'm in a full relationship." The three-piece suit wearing man says writing in his journal.

"Hey, your talking like you had a chance, Joe. Ryan is gay as hell. Trust me I would know." Sophie says with a proud smile.

"Ha ha. You're so funny." Joe says with sarcasm in his voice.

"But gotta say. We miss us a little Ryan Wilder around here." Luke says with a small smile.

Sophie punches him in the arm, "That's Ryan MOORE, sir."

"Oww, I was just playin' damn. Ry is like my baby sister. I love her forever." He says laughing.

･✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･

Sophie grabs her things and walks out her office, "Alice, forward my calls, please."

"Will do," Alice says walking back to her desk.

"Good night, Mar. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye, Soph. Tell Ry to call me you know how she gets when she be having her head deep in them textbooks.

"I gotchu." The woman says as she continues to walk.

Sophie walks past Luke's office and the man steps out in front of her, "S, you cutting out early? I grabbed us a couple of tickets to the Lakers tonight." The man says holding up the tickets.

"Oh, you're killing me. I'm in the middle of moving. I gotta go home."

"So?" Sophie tries to walk away, but Luke stops her again.

"So do I look like a woman who wants to get a divorce?" She questions placing her hand on her chest.

"Why don't I call her and say we got a work emergency? Come on, she can have a girls night with Mary and Alice."

"No thanks, I'll stay married." She says walking away from him.

"Coward."

"Yeah, whatever. I'll see you later, buddy."

Sophie turns a corner and passes by someone sitting at a desk looking at a computer.

"Goodbye, Mrs. Moore."

Sophie turns around and sees the woman from the elevator. The woman turns away from the computer and smiles at Sophie.

The tall woman chuckles and points at her.

"You punked me."

"I'm sorry, but you set me up for it." Sophie replies.

"Don't worry. I'll get my revenge," The woman says causing Sophie to smile a little. "And by the way, you might like to know that everybody here strongly disagrees with you."

"About what?"

"About Sophie Moore being an asshole. They all say she's the nicest woman in the firm."

"Yeah, well, I've got them fooled."

"I'm Kate, by the way." She introduces herself as she holds out her hand.

"Hey, Kate-by-the-way, "Sophie shakes her hand, "Good luck at your next job." And with that, she walks away toward the elevator.

"Hold the door, please!"

Kate moves to look at Sophie, "Actually, they're keeping me on for a few more days, so I might see you Monday." She says mostly to herself as she watches Sophie step on the elevator.

Kate turns back to her computer and goes to the company's homepage and clicks on Sophie's name. Sophie's company bio pops up with a picture of her and a short description about her. Kate stares at her photo for a second then begins to read the bio.

"Hmm, so you got promoted to Executive Vice President," She smiles as she puts a gummy bear in her mouth while she continues to look at photo.

･✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･

𝐍𝐚𝐡 𝐜𝐮𝐳 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐉𝐚𝐜𝐨𝐛 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐉𝐨𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭, 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐉𝐚𝐜𝐨𝐛 𝐢𝐬 𝐊𝐚𝐭𝐞'𝐬 𝐝𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐁𝐚𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐊𝐚𝐭𝐞'𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐬. 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝'𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐬 𝐉𝐨𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐉𝐨𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐉𝐨𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐩𝐟𝐟𝐭.

𝐀𝐧𝐲𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐈 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐮𝐲𝐬 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐑𝐲𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐮𝐳 𝐲𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐚 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐡. 𝐖𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐋𝐮𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲'𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐀𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐨𝐛𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐥. 𝐊𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐥...𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭.

𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐮𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫. 𝐈 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤.