"Kiyotaka...? Kiyotaka! We need you to focus! Don't embarrass us."
Kiyotaka's mother's voice was as harsh and unforgiving as it always was. Kiyotaka tried not to glare at her.
This time, at least, he hadn't been distracted by some embarrassing sexual fantasy (though he had had plenty of those while he'd slept, and another right after work). His distraction this time was much more tame, but still silly in a different kind of way. He had been imagining his dream job again.
There was no use thinking about such things, of course. He had to restore the family business, and he couldn't just start his whole life over because some insanely attractive trucker said he should. He had responsibilities and a duty to his parents to uphold.
...Right?
...Right.
"Sorry, mom. I just... want to impress her as much as I can."
His mother, Satsuki, gave an approving nod. Her cold expression didn't change. Like she approved of the idea, but not necessarily of him.
"As well you should. This one is the cream of the crop. Getting her attention... Well, it just might make your father and I forget all of your earlier failures."
Wow. Thanks, mom.
He chose to ignore her comment and straighten his tie. He didn't like wearing suits like this. They made him look almost exactly like his father. Takaaki was off conversing with the family head somewhere on the balcony, he was sure. The Neverminds (what kind of a name was that, anyway?) kept a lovely home. It dwarfed any other home that Kiyotaka had seen in person.
He was only able to study the decor for a moment before Satsuki thrust him into some side room. It was some kind of sitting room or foyer or something, with little else but a sofa and a table and an armchair. A blonde woman sat in the center of the sofa. She was studying an expensive-looking teacup, and not doing much of anything else. Waiting.
"Now is your best chance," Satsuki hissed. "Make good conversation. Don't mess this up."
"Right."
The girl looked up when she heard his voice, and heard him enter the room. Her eyes were a captivating shade of blue, and her hair glittered like fields of wheat. She was definitely pretty. It was shame that Kiyotaka wasn't attracted to women, really. The young lady stood and curtsied.
"I'm terribly sorry— I did not hear you enter. My name is Sonia Nevermind. You must be Kiyotaka." She giggled as she took in his features. "And I must say, you're far more handsome than your father said you would be!"
Kiyotaka frowned slightly, because that was both a compliment and an insult. Was his father running around town telling people that he had an ugly son, or what?
Thanks for the dazzling endorsement, dad.
"...Thank you? You're, uh... quite lovely yourself."
He sat down next to her, and they spent ten minutes forcing conversation. Satsuki poked her head in every once in a while to make sure that things were going well. Apparently, she couldn't sense the uncomfortable atmosphere.
Sonia suddenly slammed her teacup down.
"Would you like to see our garden, Kiyotaka?"
It wasn't a question. Kiyotaka could tell from her tone, and her smile was plastered on and kind of creepy as she asked. He glanced at his mother in the doorway, who gave an approving nod.
"S-Sure," he agreed. "I'm sure that the garden is beautiful!"
He stood, and instead of casually following Sonia's lead, she gripped his wrist and dragged him behind her like a dog on a leash. Down several corridors and a flight of stairs, then through two tall glass doors, and they found themselves in a lush garden with a fountain in the center and beautifully kept rose bushes everywhere. Sonia collapsed onto a wooden bench in front of the fountain.
"...It's lovely," Kiyotaka managed. His back was stiff and straight. Sonia was rubbing her temples. "I'm quite partial to roses—"
"Drop it." Sonia gave him a disapproving look. She looked like a different person when she was slumped over and frowning. "I do not mean to insult you, but you are not a very good actor. You clearly do not want to be here any more than I do. ...And that is okay. You do not have to impress anyone out here."
Kiyotaka stared at her for a moment, unsure if she was being serious or not. When her expression remained the same, he practically deflated.
"Oh, thank god."
He imitated her and fell onto the bench.
For a few minutes, neither one said anything. They silently lamented their fates and this terrible, boring dinner party. Then, when she'd recovered, Sonia turned to Kiyotaka and gave him a real smile, one that didn't look rehearsed.
"I hope I did not make you feel too poorly, it is just... My parents insist upon trying to force me into marrying a wealthy man in a high-paying field, or a 'smart' man, when they already know that I am in love."
"Why would they try to marry you off to me, then?" Kiyotaka laughed. "Everybody around here knows what my grandfather did. Our company went bankrupt. He went to jail."
"Still, your parents have become respectably wealthy on their own right and are heavily involved in city politics. And they are always going on and on about how you will someday restore the company to its former glory. My family can relate— we have an irresponsible uncle who cost us no small amount of money for a while. Also, you're making quite a bit, and you seem respectable and stable. They would much rather have me wed to someone like you than to the man I've fallen for."
"...Is he poor or something?" Kiyotaka asked carefully. Sonia looked sad talking about it. She shrugged.
"Not poor, but... He did come from poverty, and he no longer has a family. He runs a nonprofit animal rescue and shelter. He makes enough to live on, mostly because so many people want to advertise on his blog and buy the t-shirts, but he is not wealthy or an upperclassman by any stretch of the imagination. He lives in a little cabin out in the woods so he can be near his animals."
"An animal guy, huh...? He sounds nice."
Sonia giggled.
"He is very nice. Very strange, too, but he is somehow charming despite that." She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "...And what about you? You clearly have no interest in marrying. Has a lady already captured your fancy?"
"O-Oh, no, it's... nothing like that." Kiyotaka blushed and leaned in a little closer, just in case someone else was listening. "I'm just really gay."
Sonia blinked at him in surprise for a moment, and then she burst into a fit of girlish giggling. She squeezed one of his hands.
"Oh, you poor thing!" She took a moment to recover and wiped a tear from one of her eyes, and then gave him a sympathetic pat. "Do your parents not know, or do they simply not care?!"
"They know. I've told them. They just think that it's a phase, or that it's a weird preference that I'll have to learn to ignore."
"Twenty-four years is an awfully long time for a phase, isn't it?"
Kiyotaka chuckled knowingly.
"It... certainly is."
There was a quiet moment, this one peaceful. Kiyotaka thought that it was nice to meet someone in a similar boat. Sonia seemed to think something over for a while, and then she gave him a mischievous smile and retrieved a couple of items from her fancy little purse. She scribbled something on a piece of paper that she tore from a leather-bound address book and slid it across the wood of the bench and into his hand. He picked it up and studied it.
"Why give me your number? I just told you that I'm gay, didn't I?" He was clear, in his tone, that he was joking, even if he didn't yet understand what she was doing. She laughed and handed him the pen and a second sheet of paper.
"We will exchange numbers so that we can keep in touch. ...I like you. I do not want to marry you, of course, but I do like you, so... If you tell your parents that you and I hit it off, I will tell mine the very same thing. It will keep them off of our backs for a couple of months, at least, so long as we call one another and meet up every so often."
Kiyotaka's eyes widened, and he stared at the paper she had offered. He quickly scrawled his own cell phone number down and passed the note to her. She folded it and tucked it into her purse, and he put hers in his pocket.
"It's a deal." He offered her a handshake. "Are we partners in fake romance, then?"
She smiled as she returned the shake. Her grip was surprisingly firm for a such a delicate-looking young lady.
"Partners. I look forward to working with you."
She gave him a wink, and for the first time in a long time, Kiyotaka felt like things were beginning to look up.