October 9
"How'd the talk with your dad go?" Mary asked buffing out the last of the old pink nail polish off her fingernails, brushing the residue on Hanae's bedroom floor.
"Mary, stop being so nosy, and stop being so messy, this isn't your house!" The brown-haired girl frowned as she looked at her 'friend' strewn across the bed. "Hanae, tell her!"
"She doesn't care, Takara." Mary jerked her head over to look at Hanae, who was oddly sitting on her hammock chair instead of laying on the bed next to her, which she always did when Mary visited.
And to make matters worse Hanae didn't even look up from her phone to answer, "Takara's right, you're being gross."
"Oh, come on! You can talk to her, but you're ignoring me?" Mary whined sitting up from the bed so that her legs dangled off the edge, and she was about to continue complaining before she realized Hanae's slumped shoulders and her downturned eyes. "Hey... what's wrong, what happened?"
Hanae shook her head, "It's nothing... it's stupid."
Takara was the first to rush over to Hanae's side, "What happened?" She asked her brows wrinkling together.
Hanae could feel her nose begin to burn, but she closed her eyes to regain her thoughts for a moment, she refused to cry because there was no use, it's not like her tears were going to fix anything. After all, she knew this is how things were going to be... an uphill battle to say the very least.
Mary's gasp was the thing to break Hanae away from her thoughts, "You told your dad about Hideo?"
Hanae felt her heart drop but she quickly shook her head.
"No–no I was going to, but I got scared. I lied and said that you wanted to marry someone who was–well..."
"Poor?" Mary said.
"A good-for-nothing?" Takara added.
Hanae could feel the indignation begin to grow in her chest as she sat up on her chair, "You two are awful! Who cares if Hideo doesn't have as much money as us?"
"Your dad." Mary snorted.
"Mary!" Takara threw a pillow at the pink-haired girl before she turned back to Hanae. "Ignore her, what did your dad say about Mary getting married to... a commoner?"
Hanae shook her head as her father's words echoed in her ears.
"You guys should have heard him, he practically went on and on, about how he couldn't believe Mary would even consider marrying someone with no money... someone below us."
"Great, now your dad thinks I'm a dumbass." Mary sneered before she felt Takara elbow her in the stomach.
"You knew being with Hideo was going to be hard." Takara grabbed her friend's hands and tried to break the news as easily as she could. "Maybe it's time you consider breaking things off with him."
Hanae scoffed, "Breaking things off? We're engaged,"
"You've been engaged for half a year, and you haven't even had the guts to bring it up to your parents." Mary countered.
Hanae pushed herself off the chair to escape her friend's heated gazes.
They just didn't understand.
How could they understand?
The love she felt for that man was beyond even her own comprehension.
She was his, and he was hers.
Completely.
But then for whatever reason, Kyoya Ootori's face flashed in her mind for a fraction of a second.
Kyoya flipped through his files quickly trying to find the papers he needed, whilst he tried his best to drown out Tamaki's voice, as he kept rambling about the fact that the twins threw the 'absolute worst parties in the universe'.
He usually tried his best to listen to Tamaki as best he could, but he'd been forced to hear his friend talk during the entirety of their two-hour drive towards his country house, and quite frankly he was ready to slam his head in between the car's door by the time they arrived.
"Hey!" Tamaki pouted as he slammed both his hands on Kyoya's desk. "Are you even listening to me?"
"No." Kyoya frowned.
"I was asking you why you didn't send your assistant here to check the paperwork, the ride seems like such a hassle."
"Tamaki, you literally begged me to come so you could visit that horse... besides my foreman is quitting I've got to hire his replacement soon." Kyoya explained as he scanned the documents with his phone.
He was ready to ignore his friend for the remainder of their visit but Tamaki didn't seem convinced. For whatever reason Kyoya drove up to the glorified farm, two times a year and wasted his time doing accounting work when he was already busy running Ootori Medical, as well as several other businesses he had stakes in.
Tamaki pulled out a chair and slid it next to Kyoya, "I hope your insistence on coming to this place personally has nothing to do with that woman."
To anyone else looking in, it would've seemed as if the comment had rolled right off Kyoya's back, but Tamaki had known him too long, cared for him too much. He noticed the slight way Kyoya's hand froze at the mere mention of the girl.
"If you mean, Ren. I'll tell you for the last time, there's nothing between us." Kyoya paused as he tried to control the obvious scowl forming on his lips. "It's embarrassing that you would even think I'd let myself get involved with a maid."
The name Ren Asai didn't mean much to Kyoya.
Well, at least not anymore...
She was a twenty-two-year-old girl, whose family had been working for the Ootori Family for over fifty years now. She had practically been born into the position of housekeeper and she was obviously well trained for the job... That was of course aside from the obvious infatuation that she seemed to have for Kyoya, which Tamaki never failed to remind him of.
"You better not, I'm telling you–"
The instant those words fell from Tamaki's mouth there was a swift knock on the door, Kyoya told them to come in, and almost as if she'd been called by the devil himself the beautiful woman strolled into the room.
Her long hair was tied up into a neat ponytail, with only a couple of strands of her golden hair framing her slender face prettily.
Tamaki's lips formed a flat line as he saw his friend's entire attention become devoted to the girl standing in front of them, she had a hopeful look in her blue eyes, as she sat the plate of tea down on the table.
"What do you need, Ren?" Kyoya asked closing the files in front of him.
She smiled, "The girls told me you were back, I brought Mister Suoh some tea, and I brought you black coffee." Kyoya nodded and she handed both of them their drinks before turning back to Kyoya. "Should I get any rooms ready? Are you two spending the night?"
Tamaki answered. "No we're not–"
"Yes get the master and guest room ready." Kyoya answered cutting Tamaki off.
The blonde girl beamed, "I'll tell the girls to get right to it, I'm so glad you're staying longer this time, Kyoya."
She quickly ran out of the room to get everything ready, and again Tamaki noticed the almost undetectable smile on Kyoya's face.
"You still let her call you by your first name?" Tamaki frowned standing up, "And you never said anything about us spending the night!"
"Well guess what? I'm done, we can go ride the horses." Kyoya said quickly, trying to shut him up.
"Luna?" Tamaki asked, referring to his favorite white horse.
Kyoya nodded and before he could finish putting up his things, Tamaki had already flashed out of the room eager to play with the horse, and whilst he was gone the blonde woman took it as an opportunity to slide into the room.
"You never come by anymore." She whispered, her blue eyes landing on the ground.
There was a brief pause as Kyoya looked down at her, "I come by every six months."
"You know what I mean."
Of course, he knew what she meant, which is why he second-guessed himself before he reached into his pocket and pulled out a golden necklace with a yellow gem dangling down the middle.
Her eyes widened, "My birthstone, you remembered!"
Before he could stop her she threw herself onto him nearly toppling over.
"Thank you! Thank you! I always feel like you forget about me."
But how could Kyoya forget about her?
Especially after all they'd been through together.