Chapter One

To say that Kurosaki Hoshi would be missed was an understatement. She had been Kyoya's dedicated secretary since he had begun his corporate ladder climb five years prior upon his graduation from university. She was skilled, knowledgeable, well-organized, and above all else an asset to the company, not to mention to Kyoya's career.

But the woman had gotten married two years after they had begun working together, and in the three years since they'd decided to start a family. And for Hoshi that meant "taking a few years off to devote to her family."

What good was a family if it distracted from one's goals?

Regardless of whether or not he understood or condoned such choices, Kyoya was going to miss her professional skills and he was going to be hard pressed to find an even half way suitable replacement. Or so he'd thought.

Apparently, even though he'd promoted Kyoya to CEO of the family business and given him his own building to run and oversee in downtown Tokyo with the phrase, "You're ready, now I see that," he hadn't meant, "You're ready to decide who you'll hire as your secretary." He now recalled that Hoshi had been hired by his father. So it shouldn't have been a surprise that his father had insisted on hiring his new secretary. Because obviously Kyoya had proven himself enough to be made a CEO, but clearly he wasn't ready to hire his own damn secretary to do the job and meet his professional requirements.

Nothing his father did to belittle him should have surprised him at this point. As he stood in the elevator on his way up to his office on the one hundredth floor, partly scrutinizing his reflection in the window overlooking the city that was the back wall of the elevator, partly gazing past it to subconsciously judge the world he saw beyond as he rose ever higher above it, he felt ashamed he had let himself think he'd earned his father's trust. How foolish. Trust, especially when it came to his father, was not earned. It had to be demanded and taken by force.

Straightening his tie one last time right as the elevator lurched to a stop, Kyoya was ready to step off and discover what manner of corporate croney his father had hired for him as soon as the doors opened. What his eyes were met with when those doors finally opened was not quite what he had expected.

To be fair he wasn't really sure what to expect. The young woman who greeted him by appearance was extremely average. From her long brown hair secured by bobby pins in a loose bun with random strands poking out awkwardly, to her drab gray blazer that matched her business suit pencil skirt, to her black flats, slightly scuffed on the toes from excessive wear, she was the picture of your average, ho-hum secretary. Though her face was quite lovely she wasn't wearing hardly any make-up at all, and the white blouse she wore under he blazer had a faint stain just above her bosom, not doubt a dribble of coffee from breakfast.

But if her resume was any indication she was far from average. Excepting in appearance and social class, that is.

"Miss- Davis, was it?" Kyoya asked, flashing her his businessman smile. This wasn't a natural smile. It was rehearsed, learned during his time in the host club and perfected in the years since. This was the smile that kept everyone happy while he ceremoniously got what he wanted.

"Good morning, Mr. Ootori. Yes, that's right, Phoebe Davis," she said with a polite bow, though it wasn't as low as it might should have been. She was after all -American?- or so it seemed by her complexion, hair, and accent. "I've taken the liberty of typing up a brief review for each of your meetings today. It's laying on your desk. Would you like me to bring you anything while you look them over?"

She certainly seemed to live up to her resume so far. "No, thank you," he said as he passed by her desk, heading for his office. "And hold any phone calls this morning. I'll need complete peace while I prepare for this mornings board meeting."

"Very well, Mr. Ootori. I'll take all calls," she said as she bowed again.

"Thank you!" he called back as he turned to shut the doors to his office behind him, flashing her another business smile.

As soon as the latch clicked the smile was gone quicker than it had come. With purpose he made his way to be seated behind his desk. But instead of picking up the very thoroughly typed out and compiled list of clients and meetings he was going to be taking part in, he swiveled his chair around to gaze out the window, typing furiously on his phone.

His fingers flawlessly moved without much thought required on his part as he answered several e-mails, replied to text messages from his sister and Tamaki, and forwarded conference dates to a client. All the while he was mulling over why his father had hired this girl?

Out of all the young professionals with two to three years of experience that he could have hired, why this girl? Was she really the most qualified? Or did he pick her for another reason? Perhaps he was paying her to be a spy for him, to report everything Kyoya did and said to him. He always had hidden certain information from his father until absolutely necessary to disclose it to him for no other reason than to frustrate and anger him. If he hired a woman who was being paid or blackmailed in to being his father's spy then he wouldn't be able to continue his little games. And what else would she be looking to report?

He was in the middle of setting a reminder to check into Phoebe's background to see if she had any secrets his father could be exploiting to manipulate her into tattling on Kyoya when his phone rang. On the display screen Kyoya was greeted with a picture of Tamaki's stupid grin as he gave the peace sign with one hand, the other one clasping Haruhi's hand and twisting it around so her engagement ring was visible. Haruhi was smiling despite the most likely uncomfortable angle her wrist was held in.

Tamaki had taken the picture months prior, right after he'd purposed and Haruhi said 'yes', and sent it to everybody, Kyoya being top on that list. Then, when next he'd seen Kyoya, Tamaki swiped his phone and made the picture the wallpaper. Kyoya immediately removed it, but he had saved the picture, making it Tamaki's contact photo.

He smiled despite himself as he raised the phone to his ear. "I'm at work, you idiot. What do you want?" he berated, though Tamaki knew the subtle tones in his inflection that betrayed he was actually glad to hear from his friend and didn't really care he'd been called at work.

"Kyoya! You're coming tonight, right?" Tamaki asked enthusastically.

"For the tenth time, yes, Tamaki, I'm coming to your engagement party slash wedding shower slash dinner slash party slash- whatever else ridiculously long name you gave it," he sighed. The corners of his mouth were turned upward slightly though.

"I just wanted to make sure you remembered it was tonight! At seven o'clock sharp. At my-

"-Family mansion," Kyoya interrupted. "Yes, I know. You've told me everyday this week and at least once a week leading up to it."

"The main mansion! Not the secondary one," Tamaki exclaimed.

Kyoya smiled for his friends victory. Since his grandmother had passed away the previous year, his father had lifted all of her ridiculous stipulations, one of which being her banishment of Tamaki from the main Suoh mansion. "Ah, yes, the main mansion. Thank you for reminding me, I might have forgotten," he said sarcastically.

Faintly, in the background he heard Haruhi ask, "Is that Kyoya-sempai? He's at work, Tama-sempai!" Tama-sempai was the nickname she'd given him when they graduated high school. She claimed she couldn't bring herself to call him anything but 'sempai' because it felt 'weird', which, since they were dating, devastated Tamaki. So she'd come up with the nickname, thrilling Tamaki beyond reason. "My very own boyfriend-nickname!" he gasped with glee.

"I know, I know, he doesn't care," Tamaki shot back. He wasn't wrong.

"Are you asking him if he's coming tonight again?" she asked, her tone critical. Kyoya could see her expression in his mind. She probably had her arms crossed, too.

"I want to make sure he remembered," Tamaki replied in his 'puppy-dog-eye' voice. Haruhi couldn't refuse that look or tone much these days it seemed.

"Oh, hey! Ask him-" she lowered her voice too much for him to hear what she wanted, but that didn't matter as Tamaki was quick to repeat:

"Are you bringing Noriko?"

Honda Noriko was Kyoya's girlfriend. His very rich, influential, prestigious, daughter-of-a-politician girlfriend. Kyoya had started dating her because of her family's reputation and status, with significant insistence and approval from his father about the match. His father's great interest in their match made him seriously considered breaking it off, but since he'd started the relationship on his own accord before his father even realized it was a thing, he decided to keep her around. For now at least. After all, she had ties and connections in the political scene, and her family name complimented the Ootori family name.

However, none of his friends particularly cared for her demeanor, especially Haruhi. "Yes, I am," Kyoya replied. "How would it look if I didn't?"

"Like you're sparing your friends from that woman's harsh company!" Haruhi shouted into the phone, no doubt standing up on her tip toes to get her mouth closer to it.

"Ah, Haruhi! That's my ear you're yelling into!" Tamaki pleaded.

"I'm sorry, Haruhi. I've already asked her, otherwise I'd come solo," he apologized genuinely.

"It's fine," he could hear the pouting disappointment in her voice. "There will be enough people there. I'll just- not be where she is."

Kyoya chuckled. "I'll try to keep her otherwise occupied so she's not inclined to talk to you," he promised.

"You're the best!" Haruhi said.

"So we'll see you there?" Tamaki confirmed one last time before hanging up.

Kyoya smiled, a heart-felt, genuine smile. "You couldn't convince me to be anywhere else."