When Ren pulled up in front of Lory Takarada's mansion, Ren got out of the car, handed the car keys to one of the valet boys, and helped Kyoko out of the car. Kyoko slipped her arms through Ren's and entered the mansion.
"Ren, my boy! You finally made it tonight!" A middle-aged man, wearing a costume that only ancient emperors in China would wear, shouted, giving Ren a hug.
"Of course, I wouldn't miss any of your events now after all you had done for me," Ren replied.
"And this is?" Lory asked, taking note of the fact that Ren was arms-in-arms with a lady. Lory smiled, musing over the fact that Ren had brought a date to his event when he had never done so before.
"This is Kyoko, my personal secretary" Ren introduced.
"How do you do, Lory-san?" Kyoko asked, extending her hand.
Kyoko? Oh, so this is her. Lory smiled, "Kyoko! I finally got to meet you! I have heard wonderful things about you!" Lory exclaimed, shaking her hand continuously, "I am so happy that you are now helping me spread all the love and beauty that this world has to offer!" Kyoko slightly chuckled. "Now if you will excuse me, I will greet other guests. Enjoy yourselves, you two!"
"Sorry, Lory can be a little eccentric." Ren apologized, leading Kyoko to the main hall.
"Its o-" Kyoko said but was interrupted by a loud shout.
"Reeeeeeennnn-sssaaammmmmmaaa!" A little girl with long wavy hair, dressed in a bell dress shouted as she ran towards Ren to hug him.
"Hi, Maria! You always give the warmest greetings as usual," Ren said holding Maria up in the air.
"It's because I haven't seen you in a while, Ren-sama!" Maria pouted. Kyoko was slightly taken back by the image of Ren holding and hugging a kid. So this must the rumored child that Chiori had told me about. "Who is this, Ren-sama?" Maria asked, looking and pointing at Kyoko.
Ren put Maria down, "this is Kyoko, and she's my personal secretary."
"Hello Maria, how do you do?" Kyoko asked, kneeling down to meet Maria's eye level.
"Hmph! Like I will be nice to any girls who only want to get close to Ren!" Maria said, crossing her arms.
"Maria, be nice to Kyoko, she's helping me with my work so I can do my work better," Ren interjected.
"Ahh, Ren! I haven't seen you for so long!" Said a man who looks like he is in his mid-30's walked over and greeted Ren.
"President Tora! Yes, I have been busy."
"Why don't we grab some drinks by the bar and talk about our branches?" President Tora asked.
"Sure, let's," Ren turned towards Kyoko, "I'll go talk to President Tora, he's one of the branch presidents of the company in Japan. You can take a look around and enjoy yourself, Kyoko. I will get you later." Kyoko nodded.
"Hah! Now that Ren has left you alone, don't do anything that will shame Ren or I will tell grandfather to fire you!" Maria said to Kyoko.
"Is that a threat?" Kyoko asked Maria.
"Yup, you do know that grandfather is the largest shareholder of Love Me Enterprises, so one word from me-ow! Ow! Ow!" Maria cried out as Kyoko pinched her cheeks.
"Don't think that your grandfather will listen to you forever, you cheeky little girl!" Kyoko said to Maria. Maria teared up, "you can drop the crying act, don't think that every time you cry, people will come to save you."
"Wow, Kyoko neechan, how did you know I was fake crying?" Maria asked, wiping away her fake tears.
Nee-chan? Since when did she think of me as a sister? Kyoko thought, of course, I knew those were fake tears, remembering how many times girls had cried so that Sho can notice them and comfort them. Now that I remembered, I was an idiot for falling for him in the first place. Now I am a little annoyed! "Tsk! I can't believe I remembered that!" Kyoko mumbled, clicking her tongue.
"Hey Kyoko nee-chan, let's go take a walk in the garden!" Maria suggested, noticing Kyoko's annoyed mood. She grabbed Kyoko's hand and led her to the backyard. "Isn't it nice out here?"
Kyoko closed her eyes and breathed in the night air, "you're right, Maria! Thanks for bringing me out here. I'm not used to going to these parties."
"Grandfather loves parties, he always has them! I sometimes go into the garden maze and hide from people." Maria said, pointing to the garden maze.
Kyoko looked at the direction to where she was pointing to, "that's pretty awesome, do you get lost in the maze?"
"Hmmm, once! I remembered I cried a lot! Come on, I'll lead you through it!" Maria was about the grab Kyoko's hand but was interrupted by a voice that Kyoko knows so well.
"Kyoko! So this is where you ran to!" Kyoko turned around and faced Sho, who had an angry expression on his face.
"Maria, I think I'm a little thirsty, can you get something to drink?" Kyoko asked Maria, not wanting Maria to see their confrontation.
"Okay!" Maria said, getting the hint that Kyoko wanted her to leave and started walking back to the mansion.
"Lory Takarada doesn't even invest in Queen Enterprises, so what are you doing here Sho?" Kyoko asked once Maria was out of their sight.
"I always get invited by him since our company supports his charities, it's all thanks to your advice. But what about you? You never come to these events and yet you had the nerve to run away from me and make a fool out of me?!" Sho said, inching closer.
"What do you mean I made a fool out of you? That should be you! You're the one that was playing around!" Kyoko said, backing away.
"So what?! You ran away on the day that I was going to introduce my fiancé to the world, but I had to cancel the interview! Did you know that everyone is saying that my fiancé ran away?" Sho is still walking towards her, Kyoko had never seen Sho this mad before. She felt like she needed to run away, but Sho grabbed her arm and started pulling her towards him, "Now that I have found you, you're not going anywhere anymore!"
"No! I don't want to go anywhere with you! Let me go!" Kyoko cried out, trying to break her arm free of Sho's hands, someone, please come help me! Kyoko cried internally.
"What are you doing with my personal secretary?" A voice asked angrily. Kyoko turned around and felt relieved it was him.
"Who are you? I have never seen you before! Who are you to tell me what I do with my fiancé?" Sho asked, eyeing him suspiciously.
"Fiancé? Don't you mean ex-fiancé?" Ren asked, grabbing Kyoko away from Sho, "Kyoko's my personal secretary, don't do anything to her otherwise I can't do my work. Let's go, Kyoko," Ren said, pulling Kyoko away from Sho.
"Kyoko, you still belong to me, you hear?!" Sho shouted.
"Don't look back!" Ren said, taking Kyoko to the front entrance, the valet boy pulled up with Ren's car. Ren got into the car after helping Kyoko into the car and started driving away.