Chapter Text
People say it's not a good idea to have such close relationships in a workplace, and you could clearly see why now.
Sasuke Uchiha was one of the head managers in the Uchiha Corporation with his father and brother, Fugaku and Itachi respectively. Being one of the heads meant that your boyfriend since college was extremely busy on most days and even on weekends sometimes.
He always managed to be a good boyfriend to you, despite being so busy even back in college when he was working on his business thesis for graduate school. He would shower you with flowers and affection when you guys first started dating. Then when the both of you were out of school, he of course went to work under his father and brother in the family company, one of the most successful in the entire country. It was actually him that got you a position as a secretary in his company, just so he could see you more often.
Over time, though he still remained sweet to you, you began to see less and less of him with each passing month, even though you guys worked in the same office building. Dates or just spending casual time together became less and less frequent as well in the past few years.
For example, last year on his birthday, you had planned to take him to a theater show, one of his favorites ones too. It took months for you to score those hard to find tickets. At the last minute, he called to tell you somberly that he had to stay for an extremely important business meeting. You remembered how apologetic he sounded, and you kept trying to tell him not to feel bad since you understood that his job was important. When you went into work the next day, Itachi came up to you to apologize on Sasuke's behalf since he felt so bad for needing his brother to working overtime. Fugaku even apologized as well when he saw you passing in the hallways, before inviting you over for dinner with the family.
You adored his family.
Itachi treated you like a younger sister since college, taking you out once in a while for some casual lunch or dinner to catch up with you.
Mikoto, their mother, was literally one of the sweet cinnamon rolls in the world. She loved having you over at their large estate, and would pamper you and shower you with food and gifts whenever you came over, despite your protests.
Fugaku, the patriarch and the Vice President of the company, was also a kind enough individual, despite being the most serious one. Every now and then when he saw you around the office building, he would stop to talk with you to make sure everything was going alright.
Even Madara Uchiha, Sasuke's grandfather and the President of the Uchiha Corporation actually remembered and knew you from the few business parties you attended with Sasuke as his date. Though you were intimidated, meeting the president of the company that you worked at, you quickly found that he was actually a pretty chill individual with come light humor.
Things seemed really good and all, especially since you were well liked by Sasuke's entire family. You also got to work in the same place as your boyfriend (well, you were just one of the floor secretaries while he worked in the main management floor).
That just made what you were about to do extremely difficult, however.
After careful deliberation and planning in the last few months, you sat at your kitchen table in your apartment, proof reading your resignation letter carefully. In the corner, your stuff and belongings were all packed nice and neatly in boxes and suitcase.
See, working at the Uchiha Corporation gave you great benefits and pay, which included the company taking care of your living expenses. Since you would be quitting your job with them, you would have to move out and find somewhere else to live. In the meanwhile, you already planned with living your friend, Temari, whom lived in another city.
So why on earth were you giving all this up?
Because you were going to break up with Sasuke.
Knock. Knock.
"Come in," Itachi said, looking up from his desk. He smiled when he saw it was you. "Oh, hello (Y/n). How are you today?"
You gave a nervous, slightly trembling smile as you let yourself inside. "Fine," you said, only managing to give a one worded answer.
The raven observed you carefully, blinking a few times. He knew you extremely well.
"(Y/n), what's the matter?" he said, putting down his pen now as he gave you his full, undivided attention. Typical Itachi, setting everything aside for a moment, just for you. It only made the lump in your throat bigger.
"Um....so, I-", you began fiddling with your sleeve a little, not being able to meet his eye. "Listen Itachi, I-"
"Maybe you should sit down and take a deep breath first. You look like you're about to pass out," he frowned a little in concern, getting up and going to close his office door to give you guys some privacy. He went back to his desk. "(Y/n), is everything alright? You can tell me anything, you know."
Fearing that you would start to cry, you bit your lips and shakingly handed him a paper. He took it from your hand, reading over it quickly. His eyes widened slowly as he reread the lines again to make sure that he wasn't misreading it.
"(Y/n), this-"
"I apologize for this sudden notice. However, my desk mate Karin said that she would be willing to take care of my work until you guys hire a replacement-"
"This is an extremely abrupt notice," Itachi got up from his side, walking over to you now. He gripped the paper in his hands tightly as he stood in front of you, looking over you carefully. "Has anyone been bothering you, lately?"
"I-It's not that-"
"Threatening? Blackmailing? (Y/n), you better tell me right now."
"It's none of those."
".....is it because of Sasuke?" he deduced quietly.
You let out a slow nod, keeping your head down. You felt as he put a gentle hand on your shoulder for comforting.
"(Y/n), what did he do?" he kept pressing with the questions, his look of concern etched on his face as he tried to make you look at him. "Did he hurt you? Is he cheating? I swear to god, I will have a talk with him right now and straighten him out for you-"
"Itachi, I would like to keep this professional," you mumbled out loud, shaking his hand off of your shoulder. You tried to remain respectful in a way, seeing that he was not just one of your bosses but also a friend.
The long haired Uchiha shook his head, looking worriedly at you. "(Y/n), I want to talk to you about this as a friend, or even a family member. You are like family to me. Please tell me, is my younger brother hurting you in anyway?"
"Not physically of course....but I need to break up with him."
"Why?"
You let out a small sigh, looking up with guilt on your face. "Our relationship, Itachi, is dead. It's over."
"What do you mean? He loves you very much."
"Does he really?" you whispered out as you stared straight down at the ground. "I don't think so. And it's not that he's doing anything bad....but if I'm being honest, I've sort of fallen out of love with our relationship lately. I mean, we barely spend any time together, even though we are both in the same office building. We barely communicate with each other, let alone have a single conversation."
Itachi looked hard at you, as if still trying to process this in his head. He then went over to his desk, picking up his office phone and dialing an extension.
"We are going to get this sorted out right now," he said in a firm tone.
"Itachi, don't-"
"Hi, this is Itachi Uchiha calling for Sasuke's office extension, is he available to speak now?" he said into the phone.
There was a pause.
"...oh, I see," he said disappointed, hanging up.
"Look Itachi, Sasuke is a great guy. And I will always care for him, but I don't think I can continue this relationship if it's barely a relationship at all," you said in one breath. "And I understand that he's completely busy and stuff, and that's fine. But.....I don't think I can keep pretending to be happy in a relationship that has just fallen apart."
"But that is no reason to resign from the company completely. Take a week off, or even a month. I will get the vacation approved-"
"Thank you for being so kind Itachi," you said, giving him a bittersweet smile. "But I just need to sort of start new somewhere else, to take my mind off of this break up. I am so eternally grateful for everything this company and your family has done for me, and I'll never forget that."
"(Y/n), please rethink this," he said in a pleading voice. "How about you and Sasuke talk this out first-"
"Didn't you see that he was busy? Itachi, look at the date of when I actually wrote that resignation letter."
The raven looked down at the letter, checking the date. One month ago.
"I wanted to try and talk things out with him at first about three months ago, but he was always busy. Two months ago, I made the decision to break up with him and was still never able to talk in person properly, the way this should have gone. I wrote this letter one month ago because I gave up. I really tried everything I could to talk to him!" you confessed. "I really have been meaning to at least talk to him in person, and not over the phone or by email. But since that never happened, I had to just bite the bullet and give this to you at last. I'll send him a message before I leave."
You kept darting your eyes away from his, guiltily.
"My decision was not a spur of the moment. I really, really thought this through, Itachi," you said quietly.
"I never realized your guys' relationship was this damaged," he said guiltily as well, giving you a sad look. "Isn't there something I could do to make you stay? Father will not be happy to hear about this and I know that Sasuke will be heartbroken-"
"Thank Itachi," you gave him a small, sad smile as you started making your way to the door. "It's not your job to fix this.....but I'm going to miss you a lot."
"(Y/n), please wait-"
You quickly went out of the office, fast walking down the hallway as you barely made it into the elevator where the door was about to close. You could barely make out as Itachi rushed out of his office, looking in both directions for you. The elevator doors shut close just in time, taking you downstairs so that you could finally leave this company for good.
Breaking it off with Sasuke not only meant breaking off your connection with him, but with his family as well.
Once you made it to your car, which had all your stuff packed in the trunk and backseat, you closed your eyes once more as you held your phone to your ear.
'Maybe just one more chance.....'
You repeated those words so many time in the last few months that it practically lost its meaning. But this was the final chance, you decided. No more.
"The person you are trying to reach is busy on another line, if you would like to call-"
You hung up before the answering machine could begin. Going onto your emails, you finally pressed "SEND" to a somewhat lengthy email you have had saved in the "draft" folder for a while. Closing the phone and turning it off for the last time, you threw it somewhere in the back seat as you got out your new phone which had a new number.
"Hey Temari, I'm about to leave for your place. I'll probably not get there until late this afternoon, depending on the traffic....."