Chapter 10 – Threats
Chiyo got up early as usual but a bit more tired. She went downstairs to wake herself up with some tea but something caught her eye. She looked into the living room and found a bunch of items piled neatly together on the couch, armchair, and on the coffee table. All these things were the items that she was fawning over yesterday on her date with Kyoya.
She slowly walked up to touch all the different gifts. Kyoya must have called to have all these things sent over overnight. She wanted to run upstairs and wake him up to kiss him! But it was the weekend; he has no reason to get up so early. She quietly got ready and left their house to go jog.
Kyoya got up around noon. When he woke up, his room was still dark; Chiyo didn't come into his room and open his blinds. He sat up on his bed and groaned. His bed was so comfortable, he didn't want to get up but he had a couple of things to do today.
He slowly made his way to the bathroom and closet to get ready.
When he got downstairs, Chiyo flew to him and jumped up to hug him, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You didn't have to do that." He hugged her back but was confused because he was still not fully awake. He looked to the left and saw all the gifts in the living room. He almost forgot that he called to have those things brought in last night. He paid good money for the products and service. He stayed up to wait for these things to come in while he worked.
"You're welcome. Your friends are coming in today. We need to go pick up your friends from the airport at 2:30. Until then, I have someone coming in to bring in some samples of window shades and blinds to choose." He wrapped his arms around her waist and she kept hers around his neck.
"You sure don't waste any time." She smiled. He touched her forehead with his, "I want my privacy as much as you do." He let go of her and went into the kitchen and she followed him, "Another thing, I'm setting up your friends to stay elsewhere, not here." She crossed her arms and leaned against the wall to watch him make his own tea, "Why not?"
"Same reason, I want privacy. I can also set them up to finish their education in Ouran this year." She shrugged, "I guess that's fine."
The doorbell rang.
"That must be the window samples." Kyoya said. Chiyo went to open the door and let in the salesman. Because they haven't put away the gifts and the puzzle took over the family room table, they went upstairs to the business tea room.
"For the floor-to-ceiling windows all around the kitchen and dining room, I would like these dark wooden blinds. For the rest of the windows, I would like these reflective, black-out shades." Chiyo pointed to the different samples. Kyoya was in the office part of the room that was open next to them, listening to the decisions made while doing his own work. The salesman nodded and asked to go around the house to measure all the different windows sizes. Chiyo went around the house with him and even offered to help measure the windows.
"Thank you, Ms. Hamasaki. We will arrange for the shades and blinds to come in and be installed by tomorrow at this time."
"We won't be at home at this time tomorrow. Can you come in around 3:30?" Chiyo asked. He nodded, "We can rearrange our schedule. Good day, ma'am." He bowed and left. Chiyo went back upstairs and told Kyoya that the man of the scheduled installation.
"Perfect timing." Kyoya put his phone down and got up, "Your friend's plane has just landed. If we leave now, we'll get there right as they come out."
"Okay. I'm ready to go whenever you are."
Kyoya and Chiyo waited by the exit were the passengers come out from baggage claim. Chiyo held up the sign for her bridesmaids. It took a long time for her friends to come out so they had sat down. Chiyo held the sign upside down with one hand and the other rested on her knee and held her head. Kyoya sat next to her; he put his arm over her chair and used the other hand to work on his tablet.
"Chiyo!" Chiyo looked up to see 4 girls running towards her. Chiyo got up and ran towards them with open arms.
"Thank God, I missed you all!" Chiyo cried, hugging her friend Katelyn. She took turns hugging each of her friends.
"Oh my God, you're getting married!" Harmony exclaimed. Chiyo nodded with a small smile.
Kyoya came up from behind Chiyo and spoke in fluent English with a slight Japanese accent, "Welcome to Japan." Chiyo looked up to him, impressed. His fluency in English was a true marking of the privileged education he grew up with. The girls crossed their arms and stared down at Kyoya.
"So you're Kyoya?" Katelyn asked.
"Yes, I am." Katelyn looked at him from head to toe. He was tall, handsome, and she knew he was smart from Chiyo's letter and his fluency in English proved that. She looked at Chiyo. Chiyo looked comfortable with Kyoya, especially with their lack of personal space between each other but Chiyo was nervous of how her friends were going to treat this man.
Haylee was the first to uncross her arms and introduced herself, "I'm Haylee." She was shorter than Chiyo. She was the first to understand Chiyo's situation and was willing to help Chiyo bear the burden. Kyoya bowed his head.
"Harmony." Harmony was a confident lady. She stuck out her hand. Kyoya shook her hand and they exchanged firm handshakes to each other.
"I'm Katrina." Katrina introduced herself. She knew of the Ootori family because she was born in Japan, but she left to study in America for high school.
Katelyn was the wild card. She was the most protective of Chiyo and she still couldn't believe the situation Chiyo's been put in. She had Katrina tell the group as much as she could about the Ootori's but there was only so much she could say about the company since she was not personally familiar with them. Harmony nudged her and Katelyn looked at the rest of her friends. They gave her the look that said, say hi!
Katelyn sighed but her arms are still crossed, "Hi."
"And who are you?" Chiyo hinted her to introduce herself. Katelyn rolled her eyes, "I'm Katelyn." Kyoya gave her a surprised and amused look, "Pleased to meet you all."
Katelyn dropped her luggage at Kyoya's feet, put her arm over Chiyo's shoulder and turned her away towards the exit, "So we have a lot to catch up on."
"Katelyn! You have to pick up your own bags!" Chiyo scolded her. She shrugged, "He's got it." Harmony and Katrina followed them and left Kyoya and Hayley standing there, looking at Katelyn's bags.
Is she expecting me to carry this? Kyoya's eye twitched with irritation. Haylee went to grab a cart and rolled it over to him. She gave him a weak smile. He sighed and helped Haylee put her bags put it on the cart before putting Katelyn's bags on top. Hayley took charge of the cart and rolled after her friends and Kyoya followed all of them.
They were taken to Chiyo's house. The first thing the group saw was the pile of gifts in the living room.
"So cute!" Katrina was the first to pick up the stuffed animals. Harmony and Hayley went into the living room after her to check out all the items as well.
"Kyoya got these things for me last night. We went to the Solamachi mall yesterday and he bought all the things I was interested in." Chiyo grinned and intertwined her fingers with Kyoya's. Harmony, Haylee, and Katrina aw'ed. Katelyn stared at their hands. She showed no expression as she stood there and looked at the gifts. She turned around to see the family room and saw the unfinished puzzle.
"Unfortunately, I cannot stay with you ladies, I have something to do. I will leave you ladies here." Kyoya looked at Chiyo, "If there's anything you need, call me." Chiyo smiled and nodded.
Kyoya left and Katelyn looked at Chiyo and pointed to the family room, "Sit." Chiyo rolled her eyes, "Don't order me. I'm going to sit because I choose to and because I need to talk to you. Please, sit." Chiyo and Katelyn sat straight on different couches in the family room and they both crossed their arms. Harmony, Hayley, and Katrina stood at the entrance of the family room and watched them stare down at each other in silence.
"I hope you're not planning to be so rude the entire time," Chiyo started out, "This is important to me."
"I don't like any of this. It's annoying to think that you're being pushed into something you don't want to be part of. You won't be ordered to sit by me, but you're okay being ordered around by your family and others to get married to a man you barely know?" she asked incredulously. The more Katelyn talked, the more worried she felt for Chiyo. Chiyo relaxed her expression and walked over to sit next to Katelyn.
"I'm doing better. I've been better with this since the letter." She put a reassuring hand on Katelyn's shoulder.
"Fine," Katelyn leaned back on the couch and put a foot on the table, over Kyoya's pieced face, "So what makes you more okay with this now?" Chiyo took her hand off Katelyn and lifted her leg off his face onto empty space on the table.
"Kyoya. I'm beginning to like him. We went on our first date yesterday. He was sweet and protective."
"Chiyo, you're too easy!" Katelyn exclaimed and threw her hands in the air and got up, "He got you a couple of gifts, he's playing host on all of us, he turned on the charm, and you're hooked?!" Chiyo glared and got up as well.
"He's been able to withstand all the things we're thrown at together. He's cared for me and helped solve the problems that come up with this situation. He's protected me and helped me through what we're going through, together; which is more than anyone else is doing for me right now!" Chiyo put her hands on her hips.
Katelyn was angry. Chiyo was her best friend and she felt that she wasn't helping her out. To be honest, she really wasn't. She just showed up! She has no idea what Chiyo had to put up with here. She was jealous of Kyoya and angry with herself. She was angry that she wasn't able to help her best friend even from across the ocean. If she was to make everything okay, she had to take it all back starting now. She was determined to be her best friend's maid of honor.
Katelyn grabbed Chiyo and hugged her petite friend, "I'm sorry, Chiyo. Tell us all about what you've had to put up with. What are your plans so far?" Everyone smiled, seeing that everything was going to be okay. They went all around the house to put up all the gifts from Kyoya while Chiyo told them all her ups and downs so far.
Kyoya sat across from the manager of The Extra Scoop, the magazine responsible for following and featuring Chiyo and their personal life the last few weeks. Kyoya was leaned back on his chair, his arms resting on both sides of his chair, and had his legs manly-crossed; he looked absolutely the type to be in authority. His cocky smirk made the manager nervous but irritated with Kyoya's air of confidence and authority.
"I want you to stop following my family and my fiancée and her family." Kyoya commanded. The manager, Jiro Akiyama, smirked and adjusted his glasses, "You don't waste any time, Mr. Ootori. Unfortunately you cannot order me to do so. There's freedom of press and the right to information. Especially since my magazine is focused in the entertainment circle." Jiro rested his head on his hands and looked at Kyoya with a smirk, challenging him with the law. He was surprised with Kyoya's sustained coolness after all he's said.
"Very well. There is the right to information." Kyoya got up. Jiro smirked to think that the high school student was easy to back off but he widened his eyes when Kyoya brought out disc and held it between his fingers.
"Then I believe that Japan also has the right to know that you've been using confidential information to buy stocks. In this disc, I have the videos, pictures, and documents to prove it." Jiro stiffened and stared at the disc and wondered of its contents.
"You're bluffing." Jiro tried to say with confidence but Kyoya could just smell the fear radiating off the man.
Kyoya smirked, "You can keep printing news about my fiancée and I and you will know whether I'm bluffing." Jiro gulped.
"Take this as a warning. I will not see even an icon sized picture of my fiancée and my personal life. Not until the day of our wedding and your contents is only about the day of our wedding. The moment I hear or see that your magazine and staff have targeted either of us before that, the contents of this disc will be leaked." Kyoya left and Jiro leaned back on his chair. He shakily pulled out his handkerchief and blotted the sweat off his face and neck. How the hell could a regular high school student threaten him like that and make him feel afraid and clammy?
So that is what Kyoya did all day; he traveled all over Tokyo and other nearby publishing firms that dealt with gossip and other entertainment medias and made threats to each of them; unsurprisingly, Japan's successful gossip columns and magazines are extremely corrupt. If there were no dirt, he'd resort to financial bribes. He failed Chiyo to prepare her, so this is his compensation to Chiyo, so to speak.
When he got home, the girls were all still here. They were watching a Disney movie that Katelyn brought over. It was Tangled, the Rapunzel one, and they were at the scene where Rapunzel and Flynn were watching the floating lanterns.
Chiyo clapped and jumped up and down excitedly on her seat, pointing at the TV, "I want that! I want that!" Katelyn put a hand on Chiyo's and slowly pushed it back down, "You can either have floating lanterns or lantern boats to release at the end." Chiyo pouted. Kyoya smiled and went over to the back of the couch to kiss the top of her head. He went upstairs to do some work.
He was doing his weekend accounting for the host club, adding and subtracting all the costs they had for the week. He leaned back and tapped his pen on his lips, thinking of a new host theme. Disney? Girls love Disney.
There was a knock on the door. He sat up and put his pen down.
"Come in." Katelyn came in. Kyoya tilted his head in curiosity.
"I came in to say sorry for acting really rude this afternoon. I'm just very protective about Chiyo. She's my best friend and I really don't want her to get hurt. I know it's not your fault and you've done well in protecting her so far, so thank you." Katelyn waited for Kyoya to say something.
"I understand," Kyoya nodded, "I know what it feels like to have someone who you feel like is your best friend, if not your only one." He thought about Tamaki. Tamaki was such a cheerful person who had a heart of gold, waiting to help out anyone who comes along the way; he even convinces everyone in the host club to do the same. He may be ignorant and egotistical, but when it comes down to it, he really knew how to look inside others and show them exactly what they needed. He would never admit this out loud, but he truly valued having Tamaki in his life.
"Thank you for understanding. Now in all seriousness," Katelyn put her hands on her hips, "I'm here now. I am her maid of honor and I will tend to her needs. I'm her best friend; I know what she wants and what she needs." Kyoya chuckled. She's like a mother, overprotective and unprepared to let go of her children. He wondered what she was like when Chiyo was dating.
"You can do whatever you want and help Chiyo out every way possible. In fact, I'm counting on you to do that. She needs her best friend/maid of honor and that's what you're supposed to do. But Chiyo is a big girl; she can count on whoever she wants. You do realize that we will be married. After that, everything will change. You will live in different hemispheres. Chiyo will be my responsibility after that I think you would want us to start that now rather than wait until marriage." Kyoya countered. He really didn't want to burst her bubble but she might as well figure it out sooner than later. This year was given to her as a chance to start letting this go.
Katelyn gritted her teeth, "I know that." She turned her heel and left the room, trying to slam the sliding door as hard as she could and when she couldn't make the same effect as a real door, she groaned and just left. Kyoya smiled. He was happy that Chiyo had a friend like that. Katelyn almost reminded him of himself, just more emotional.
A/N: hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know i did