May 18
"Hey!" Hanae raced down the stairs. "Emma! Emma!"
"Mrs.Ootori!"
"Emma," She tried to catch her breath. "Have–Have the guys gone out to buy everything they need already?"
"No, they're about to leave." The girl said quickly, before jerking her head to look behind her.
Hanae handed her a neatly folded paper, "Could you please give them this list of things I need them to buy?"
"Yes of course!" Emma beamed and grabbed the paper, but when she didn't move, Hanae gave her a questioning look.
"Is–Is something wrong?"
"Uh, no," She looked down at the floor. "I'm just glad, you're finally getting comfortable with us."
Time was going by faster than usual as Hanae ran back and forth to get things ready.
She knew that Kyoya was going to come back home that very day and she didn't want to miss this small window of opportunity she had, so she was forced to talk to Hinata so that she could help her set up a table and dinner in the balcony attached to his room.
Hanae learned that Kyoya had practically known the people here his entire life, and the reason he had grown so attached to them was because he would visit this estate with his family during the summer, and the employee's children were the only people his age around.
Hanae took this as an explanation as to why Kyoya was more fond of these employees compared to the ones back in the city, but that still didn't explain Kyoya and Ren's strange relationship.
Hinata and Ren were the same age, but Kyoya didn't treat her nearly as kindly as he treated Ren. But when Hanae brought it up again, Kyoya had assured her, that there was 'absolutely nothing' in between him and Ren.
When Hanae tried to bring it up to Hinata, the black-haired girl got so nervous that Hanae thought she would faint right in front of her.
This only made her more suspicious, but Hanae tried to shake those thoughts away as she set up the table with the bottle of champagne, she'd asked to be brought in, and the food she'd asked Hinata to make.
When Hanae heard Kyoya walk into his room, she was on her feet in an instant, and she'd hidden her gift behind her back.
"Hey, how–how was your trip?"
It took him a couple of seconds to answer as she looked up at her.
"It was fine... what are you doing in here?" He asked throwing his coat in the hamper,
"I wanted to spend time with you," She whispered, her eyes landing on the balcony.
"Since when?"
"Well..." She looked down at the floor. "I think we need to talk about us."
"There's an us?" He took his keys out of his pockets and she felt her heart leap out of her chest when she saw the little toy dangling from the ring.
His harsh words flew right past her head, "You–You kept it?"
He looked down at the keys and his face went red when he realized what she was talking about.
The small bear she'd made him months ago was dangling from his key ring.
Tamaki had made it into a keychain for him when he noticed Kyoya would only stuff it in his pocket.
"Hanae–"
"We... We were happy, weren't we? Back then, We can get that back."
"I think that ship has sailed for us,"
Hanae shook her head and swallowed her pride, "No, it hasn't. We need to move on Kyoya, we can make this work, I know we can."
He refused to meet her gaze as he sat down on his bed.
Hanae took a sharp breath as she kneeled down in between his thighs so that she could get a clear look at his face.
"Kyoya I never meant to hurt you, I care about you–"
"But you still love him," He couldn't meet her gaze. "Don't you?"
Hanae's stomach sank.
"You read that letter..." She paused and it took everything inside her to continue. "It's over, he's gone. I'm trying to move on, I want us to be happy," She struggled to find words that wouldn't hurt him as much.
But she clearly did not succeed.
"So you're settling for me?" He said, a weak smile on his lips.
Hanae narrowed her eyes and she let go of his hands as she stood up.
"Settling for you? You actually think I never cared about you, I–I wanted to be with you! That night when you proposed to me, I thought you were going to ask me to be your girlfriend, and–and I would've–" She cut herself off and looked down at the floor. "I would've said, yes."
"Stop lying to yourself,"
"I'm not lying!" She flailed her arms in desperation. "I would've said yes, because... because I liked you, I–I loved being around you. When everything happened, you were the only person I wanted to be around, you were the only person that made me forget about my problems, you were the only person that would make me forget about cigarettes, and weed, and coke."
She paused for a moment as she felt her stomach begging to burn with rage.
"But when I found out that you went and bought me, I was hurt, I was pissed, because you–the only person I could rely on–you bought me!"
When he looked up at her, she saw his eyes were cold, and his features were tight.
"The only reason I did that was because I saw you that day with Kasanoda, and I couldn't stand seeing him near you, I couldn't stand the idea of anyone else being with you!"
Hanae shook her head, "That doesn't justify what you did!"
She paused momentarily to regain her thoughts but before she could speak he had gotten up to face her and he gave her a look that made her struggle to breathe.
"I know it doesn't," His warm hands went up to hold her face. "But I–I'd never felt that way about anyone else before, I didn't want to lose you."
She closed her eyes and let herself melt into his grasp, "We both made mistakes, huge ones... but I know that there's something between us, there always has been, let's fix this."
When Kyoya looked down at her, he could feel his mind begin to get cloudy. If anyone else had tried to pull the stunt she did, she would've gotten rid of them immediately.
He would've divorced them without a second thought.
But that wasn't the case here.
It'd been Hanae who betrayed him, but it was also Hanae who was standing in front of him begging him to make their relationship work.
Begging him to make their marriage work.
They stayed rooted in their places for what felt like an eternity before he spoke.
"Alright... let's try."
"I brought food," Mary yelled slamming the door behind her.
Kai was the first one to come running out of his room and into the kitchen where Mary dropped off the groceries, this had become a pattern, she came to drop off food for the two 'fugitives' every two weeks.
After all, she couldn't send a servant and risk them being found out, and she liked the peace of mind it gave her to make sure they were both still there, away from her best friend.
"Thanks, Mary. I was starving," He said rummaging through the grocery bags and pulling out a bag of spicy pork rinds.
"No problem... God you two are truffle pigs, you never leave a drop of food." She opened the empty fridge and began filling it with the groceries she'd brought.
Kai continued to bug her as he helped restock the cupboard and they were having a pleasant enough conversation until Hideo walked into the kitchen and he immediately turned the mood sour.
Mary's mouth went dry, and she quickly said goodbye, but Hideo stopped her.
"Mary," Hideo spoke slowly. "We've been here for almost two months, and you're telling me you still haven't found out where Hanae is?"
Mary froze, she was caught off guard by his question. She always tried to leave before Hideo got out of his room, he wasn't as much of a glutton as Kai, so it wasn't too hard to avoid him.
But now, here she was pinned down by his accusing stare.
"No, I haven't."
Of course, Mary was lying, she already knew where Hanae was. It had only taken a few phone calls to find out, but when Akise found out he convinced her not to tell them anything at all, and Mary agreed although she knew it wasn't fair, she also knew it was for the best.
Hanae deserved a better life than what Hideo could give her.
And she used to think her friend was smarter than trying to run away with a criminal on her wedding day... but she was wrong.
For some inexplicable reason, Hideo–fucking–Nanako seemed to be her friend's blind spot.
She was doing her duty as a friend, keeping this mess of a man away from her best friend.
Mary only broke out of her thoughts when Hideo took a step closer towards her.
"So you're telling me that you're filthy rich, but you can't find out where your best friend lives?"
She took a step backward. "Why would I lie to you?"
"Are you serious?"
"I already told you, I don't know where Hanae is," Mary sneered.
"Just tell me!" He raised his voice, and Mary's eyes widened as she took a step backward.
There were a few seconds of suffocating silence where they just stared at each other, no words had to be said, for him to understand what she was thinking.
She was the one to break the silence, her eyes staring at him with pure defiance.
"She deserves better than you."
In an instant, she was pinned against the wall.
"Get off me!" She yelled, trying her best to push him off of her.
"Listen, I'm tired of waiting around here like an idiot! Either you tell me where my girlfriend is or I'll–" He began, but she quickly cut him off.
"You'll what? You're a criminal, you're pathetic. You've never been good enough for her, and I'll be damned if I let you get anywhere near her."
Mary could see the shift in his eyes, he was still fuming, but now he was hurt. She knew she'd hit a nerve, she knew he probably repeated those words to himself every single night.
And although she was scared beyond compare, she forced a cruel smile on her lips.
The tension was only broken when Kai grabbed his shoulder. "Hey come on let's go,"
Hideo took a deep breath and closed his eyes, "Where are we supposed to go?"
"Would you rather stay here?" Kai gave Mary the dirtiest look she'd ever seen in her life. "With her?"
Without another word, Hideo pulled away and Mary ran a desperate hand through her hair as they walked away.
She grit her teeth and slammed the fridge door behind her.
What had she just done?