4:00 a.m. in the morning

Even in New York, the city that never sleeps, few people can be found on the streets.
Some taxi drivers who either greeted their end of work happily or who were less happy to get into the taxis and thus to face a long work day with many routes that they had to cope with with the yellow car and one or the other not exactly friendly passenger.
One of these thousand drivers was a young man in his early twenties with long black hair and calm eyes without pupils.
His name was as exotic as the rest of his demeanor ... Neji Hyuga.
He had a rather calm and reserved personality.
But he wasn't the shy, calm kind, no more of the cool, calm kind.
And it was precisely this fact, this mysterious, cool and calm manner combined with his pretty good looks that made him so irresistible for the women from his neighborhood.

At the moment he was standing at a small kiosk that was literally squeezed in by the huge commercial buildings on both sides.Otherwise the kiosk didn't make a very good impression either. Only a few spots of the once dark green color of the wood paneling could be seen, and the tiled roof no longer seemed to be completely airtight.
From the rusted newspaper racks hung slightly yellowed newspapers which, according to the headlines, had to be several days old.
Neji had a hard time finding today's newspaper, he had to rummage for a while before he found the right one

December 3, 2006

Neji read the date through his mind. He had just noticed that winter had already arrived. At least the calendar winter.
The metrological was still a long time coming. It had gotten colder, but otherwise not very much had happened.
He and the other taxi drivers could only hope that this Christmas there won't be such a chaos of weather as there was last year. All roads had been icy and the heavy snowfall had combined with hail and storm.If this were to happen again this year, many or even all trips would be canceled and he would be left without work.
It was quite nice to spend Christmas with Tenten and Lee, his roommates, but the money would still be gone and money was in short supply these days.

Neji read on. But after a few minutes he closed the newspaper again in frustration.
Nothing but bad news. All over the world war, economic problems and violence.
As if his low income and the fact that his flat-share was soon thrown out of his apartment because of severe financial problems weren't bad enough.

"Do you want to slowly pay for the newspaper or just look at it?"

Neji looked around. The man who had just snapped at him from the side was what it looked like the kiosk owner.
The man had a smoky voice, pushed a rather large beer belly in front of him, had short black curls, a round, greasy pug face and wore a white apron that was smeared so much with fat, mustard and ketchup that one no longer recognized it ."Yes what is now either pay or disappear"

"Yes, I'll take it," Neji replied tersely.

He stepped forward to the small window in which the cash register was.
The seller looked briefly at the newspaper and finally said "1.20 $"
Neji rummaged in his pocket for the purse. When he found it and opened it, it didn't exactly improve his mood. Lots of change but nothing really big.
With great difficulty he collected the 1. 20 and gave them to the owner.
He let every single penny slip through his thick sausage fingers before he said in an exasperated tone "Little did it go? Actually, I should add $ 3 for the stupid thing to do."
He opened the till by hitting it hard once.
After it had opened with a loud noise, he let the money fall into it so that half fell to the ground.
Cursing, he bent down for the money.

Neji turned around. Although he still had time before he had to start his shift, he didn't want to stay a second longer with this man, which he couldn't be blamed for either.He had just got dressed to go when an older man with a wrinkled face, small eyes that had been greatly enlarged by the round glasses and an old suit that had been patched in some places, stood in front of him.
The old man was at least two heads shorter than him and looked frail and weak.
But his posture was upright even if his back was a little hunched. His thin hands, covered with brown age spots, were trussed against his hips and he was looking Neji up and down.

"You're the young man who drove me home last Tuesday, aren't you?"
Asked the old man in a cracked and rasping voice.

Flashback

It was Tuesday and it was just before 11 p.m.
Neji had done one last lap and was about to count the money and drive to the headquarters when the old man had to whistle for him.
"Taxi over here please."
Neji rolled his eyes in exasperation. He just wanted to go home to his warm bed and recover from the strains of the day.The old man would just have to wait for another taxi.
As he drove slowly past the old man he saw how he looked after him with a disappointed and somewhat desperate expression on his face.
Neji, who watched the man's poor elevator and noticed his trembling body, was plagued by remorse.
It was a starry but very cold night. Even he, who wasn't really sensitive to the cold, had wrapped himself up thickly because his taxi had no heating.
The inside of the taxi was almost the same temperature as outside.
And Neji knew what it was like to stand helpless in the street and shiver in the cold.
So he took heart and drove back.
The old man's face beamed happily through the cold-misted window.
Neji slowly read the window pane down and asked calmly, as usual, "Where do you want to go?".
"Oh, I would love to go home in front of my fireplace and get out of this cold."
"Yes, who doesn't want that" added Neji and showed him with a simple wave of the hand that he could get in.Of course, the old man accepted this with thanks and opened the back door of the car and sat faster than Neji had expected on one of the leather seats.
As he slammed the car door, an icy wind swept into the taxi. Neji rubbed his hands together, shivering.
"Bad weather and snow and hail should also come, I hope it won't be as bad as last year."
Said the old man in a trembling voice.
"Yes, I hope so too. Where exactly is your house?"
"House that would be nice no, it's more of a tiny apartment on Seven Avenue, Block 3, House 4," said the man with a laugh.
"Well, not far from here," Neji said to himself rather than to the old man.
"Oh that all after work. I hope you don't mind driving my old rattle home?"
The old man asked in a somewhat guilty voice.
“No, that doesn't matter, it's my job after all.” Neji replied, still in the same calm tone.
"You know what, the next time we meet I'll give you one!" said the old man happily."That's nice of you, but I doubt we'll see each other again anytime soon. New York is big," Neji replied.
"Yes, that's true, but you meet everyone twice in life, right?"
"Might be"
And so the taxi started moving and drove through the cold night.

Flaschback end

"Oh it is you" said neji, still a little perplexed.
"Yes, I said you always meet everyone twice in life. And now I'll get you a warm coffee that you can use in this weather."
Said the man with a smile and hobbled past the few high tables in the kiosk to the cash register.
"No, wait, that's not necessary, I have to go right back ..." Neji called after him.
"I would like two coffees." Said the old man who leaned over to the owner behind the counter, who was still collecting money.
"Yeah my god don't you see that I'm busy old man you just have to wait."
"Hey Fred, I'll give you a tip, be a bit friendlier to your customers, otherwise even those who are left won't come at some point."The owner, also known as Fred, sat up cursing. "Well two?"
“Yes for me and the young man there.” The old man pointed to Neji, who was looking a bit dumbfounded inside.

The owner of this shabby kiosk, Fred and the old man knew each other. Maybe New York wasn't as big as he thought after all.
"What half the portion is still there? Well, the coffee is coming soon." Still grumbling, Fred disappeared around the corner of the kiosk.
A few minutes later he came back with two more or less white cups in hand.
"So that makes $ 5," he said, holding out the cups to the old man.
"I'll pay later and also $ 5 is a bit too much for this broth, isn't it? It doesn't taste good either way!"
"Hey don't scare my guests," said Fred with a sideways glance at Neji.
“No, no, Fred, you don't need to do that by yourself.” He laughed and went back to one of the bar tables with the two cups.
He slowly set it down on the cold metal plate.“The stuff tastes like oil, but it's good for warming your hands,” said the old man and immediately placed his hands on both sides of the cup.
Neji decided to do the same. He put the newspaper he had just bought on the table and picked up the cup. It was really a boon. His hands were thawed and his whole body seemed to do the same.
The old man seemed to have pinned something on the back of the newspaper. Neji looked down.
Immediately an advertisement jumped into his eye. It was almost half a page and was not black and white like the rest of the ads. It had a pink background and a border of gold stars. Neji read the headline, which was also gold and with a flourish:


Looking for capable receptionist

Capable receptionist?

Vivaldie fashion house is looking for a new receptionist.
Requirements:

- Understanding of fashion
- style
- courtesy
- Always up to date with the latest fashion trends- Good at using the PC
- Confident appearance
- Neat appearance

Interest? Report to the head office.

Avenue 3
Parkstrasse 7
Floor 12

Looking forward to your appearance:

Tsunade Head of Vivaldie fashion house.

Neji had to read the ad several times. Vivaldie the largest fashion house in New York or