'What a week!' Kasanoda thought with a sigh as he walked down the crowded down town street, 'First I get rejected by Fujioka, all the girls at school think I'm gay since they don't know Fujioka's a girl, and then I get stuck in some arranged marriage! What next?'
As Kasanoda turned the corner he was suddenly knocked off his feet by a smaller body. He yelped as he fell back, landing on his butt. With a growl he looked up, glaring at the other person.
"Watch where you're go-" His eyes widened as he realized it was a girl.
"Oh! I'm sorry!" The girl said, blushing as she offered her hand to help him up, "Are you okay?"
She was a short girl with long black hair and bright hazel eyes. Kasanoda blushed as he took her hand.
"Y-yea," He said, "Are you okay? You were running pretty fast."
"Yea, I just-" She stopped as she looked over and saw three tall men in suits looking around.
She ducked behind the corner and motioned for Kasanoda to be quiet. Kasanoda raised an eye brow as he glanced over at the men then back to her. When he saw the men walking in their direction he casually walked over to the girl and stood next to her.
"Is it those men in suits you're running from?" He asked.
She nodded as she bit her bottom lip.
"Fallow me." He said as he took her hand and began to run.
He didn't know why those men were after her, but he wasn't going to leave her on her own with them. The girl blushed as she ran with him. She had never met someone who was so willing to help someone they didn't know before. The two teens ran until they came to a small park.
"I think we lost them." Kasanoda said as he tried to catch his breath.
"I think your right." The girl said, trying to catch her breath as well as she looked around. "Th-thank you for helping me."
"N-no problem." Kasanoda replied as he blushed.
After catching their breath, the two sat on the swings together in an awkward silence.
"So why were those guys chasing you?" Kasanoda asked, finally breaking the silence.
"They work for my grandfather." She said, rocking back on the swing, "It's kind of a long story, are you sure you want to hear about it?"
Kasanoda nodded.
"Well," The girl said with a sigh, "My mom's been in a coma for the last year, so I've lived with my grandfather while she's at the hospital. My grandfather... Well he's... Let's just say he's really old-fashioned."
"What do you mean?" Kasanoda asked.
"I mean, like, I don't get a say. In anything." She replied, "I have ideas for his business, good ideas, but he won't listen to me cause I'm a girl. I have opinions, but he won't listen, because I'm a girl. He acts like I'm some kinda item to be given away for the good of the 'family' but he won't listen when I try to argue. All because I'm a girl! There was one day a couple of months ago I tried to tell him that just because I'm not a boy doesn't mean he shouldn't listen to me. He told me to get out of his study and on my way out he whipped me!"
"He whipped you?!" Kasanoda asked in disbelief.
"Yea." She said as she looked down at the ground and kicked at the dirt, "It hurt so much I dropped to the floor. I was crying and when I looked up at him he just told me 'You're lucky you're my granddaughter or I wouldn't have held back' and then he slammed the door in my face."
Kasanoda stared at the girl in shock.
"And after what happened this afternoon," The girl continued, "it was the last straw. So I ran away."
"Wait, you're running away?" Kasanoda asked.
The girl nodded.
"Where are you going to stay? What are you going to do for food?" He asked, giving her a concerned look.
"I don't know." She sighed, "All I know is Grandfather wants me to marry some guy I don't know. I mean, who still does arranged marriages?"
"Arranged marriage?" Kasanoda said, his voice cracking.
'Oh god,' He thought, 'Is this the girl I'm supposed to meet tonight? She has to be, what are the chances of meeting a girl who's being set up for an arranged marriage too?!'
Before Kasanoda could say anything, a black car pulled up on the street in front of them. A tall, red-haired young woman quickly got out and began running towards them.
"Miss Corinthos!" The woman shouted as she ran to them, "Your grandfathers been worried about you!"
"Oh great." The girl sighed as she rolled her eyes, "That's his girlfriend."
"Huh?!" Kasanoda looked at the girl in shock before he looked at the woman.
"Sweetie if you come home I promise I'll convince you're grandfather to call all this off." The woman said when she reached the girl.
"How?" The girl said as she raised an eye brow at the woman, "Grandfather doesn't listen to women if you haven't noticed."
"He'll listen to me, I promise." The woman said with a smile. "So please come home, okay Maria?"
Maria frowned and sighed, "Fine."
"Oh that's great! Say good-bye to your friend and I'll go start the car." The woman said with a big smile as she ran back to the car.
"I'm sorry about today." Maria said as she got off the swing and gave Kasanoda a weak smile, "Thanks for listening to me though."
"Uh, y-yea." Kasanoda said as he stood up, "I-I actually think there's something I should tell yo-"
The woman honked the horn three times before shouting out the window, "Come on sweetie!"
Maria groaned as she looked back at the woman, "I'm really sorry, but she's going to keep doing that until I get over there."
She pulled a pen out of her pocket and took Kasanodas hand as the woman kept honking the horn. Maria wrote something on his hand before she ran off to the car.
"Thanks again for today!" Maria called over her shoulder.
Kasanoda looked down at his hand to see 'Call me tonight, Maria Corinthos' and her phone number written on his hand. 'She really is my fiancée.' Kasanoda thought to himself as he stared at the name. He couldn't help but wonder how she'd react when she would see him at the party tonight, if there was still a party.