Just a reminder, I still don't own Ouran. Only the Quints and Kyle. Plus a few more OCs...

(Stephen POV)

"All right, all right I'll do it." I answer as I lazily lounge beside Raku. I finger a strand of her hair and ignore her blush as my manager continues to spit out what seems like a never-ending list of chores. "I said fine, and can't you email me the rest? I am still in school you know."

"Sorry Stephen. You just have a lot to do before these teams can have a claim to you. And you want it done in secret which is very strange to them." My manager chuckles under her breath. "They think you're good-looking and they are missing out on a chance to show you off."

"They'll have to cope." I also laugh and then smile at my girlfriend who shyly offers me one of her own before ducking her head. "And you will have to excuse me. I have class now."

"Of course, Mr. Stephen. Have a good day." And on that note she hangs up.

"Finally!" I announce with a sigh before grinning at Raku. "I thought she'd never leave us alone."

I can see from the blush spreading to her ears that she's embarrassed. "Stephen, please don't think you have to stop talking about business when I'm here."

"But I want to focus my full attention on you." I tell her with an earnest smile. "Besides dear I doubt you want to hear me discussing salaries or which benefits are the best. I don't even want to hear about it even if it's important."

She shrugs and cuddles into my arms. "I don't think it's that boring."

"Oh you don't, do you?" I question as my phone buzzes once again. This time I ignore it. "Then are our conversations boring?"

She laughs easily. "Why are you so interested in that now?"

"Because I want to make sure that I am not boring you. And because you seem down lately no matter what we're doing." I comment causally as if I was talking about the weather. She appears to be surprised, if her jumping up has anything to do about it.

Very bashfully, she scratches the fabric of her skirt. "It's nothing Stephen-san."

"Now I know you're lying, Raku-san. You never add formalities to my name unless you are nervous or stressed." I frown and let go of her so that I can see her better. "What is wrong?"

She puts her hands in her lap and looks down. "I- Nothing."

My frown gets deeper but I decide not to press her anymore. My phone starts to buzz again so I pick it up and apologize, "I'm going to take this."

Raku bites her bottom lip and nods, but says nothing.

So I stand up and answer my phone without looking at the caller ID. "Hello, yes?"

"Stephen, why don't you answer your phone?"

I groan and wipe my hand over my face, "Sara this is not a good time."

"It's never a good time, look I'm going to be late to dinner. And I'm not actually going to eat dinner with you."

Now she has my full attention. "What do you mean you're not going to eat dinner with us? Are you back in the hospital?"

"No, Ben I'm completely fine. I'm just eating out."

"I thought you were out with Kyoya-san?" As soon as I say that, I am able to connect the dots. "Are you eating out with him? Sara I am so proud of you!" There isn't any answer for a long while so I smile widely because she must be so annoyed with me right now. "I'll let everyone else know."

"Thank you Ben but I only need you to relay the news that I am not having dinner with you all. I should be home by the time you all finish eating." And then the line goes dead. I lower the phone and smile at it.

Well, this is progress. And according to Suzette's frantic text, she also smiled at him at some point today. I had spoken to her about being nicer to Kyoya because she may be alienating him and he could help in the future. She wasn't very open to being kinder to him, a little too eager to protest I thought.

Maybe I shouldn't have teased her so much.

Now I am feeling much better despite seeing Raku's obvious discomfort today. It's odd but she's been acting like this more and more. I hope this doesn't put a strain on our relationship.

(Sara POV)

I pick at the left-overs on my plate with a sort of sinking feeling now that Kyoya has called for the check. With the added information Kyle gave me, I think I may just have to change the documents if they say anything other than Suyuri/Soo Jin being my half-sister.

What if I ruined that girl's life?

"Sara-san." Otori calls over in a low voice. "Are you almost finished?"

Gently, so the fork in my hand doesn't clatter on the plate, I lower the utensil and I nod. With my gaze on the plate, the waiter to takes it away silently. I don't usually feel this nervous, but I keep thinking back to her younger sister.

What was her name?

Min Hee? It's highly likely that she is not my sister, but if the money stops for Soo Jin what will happen to her younger sister? Surely the low level job she has with our family is not enough to provide for her.

But my mind needs to be on other things so I dab my chin with the napkin on my lap and ask, "Are we leaving now?"

"Soon." He answers when another waiter takes his credit card.

"I could have paid for my own food." I tell him as I watch the waiter walk away. That was stupid of me to allow him to have the check without asking to see it. Shouldn't I know by now that I have to focus on full attention on him whenever we are together? Anything less with give him the upper hand and that is something I just cannot allow, especially now with all these changes.

"Did you enjoy the food?" He asks me, completely ignoring my statement. It's times like these that I find him so very infuriating. Why can't he just be content with giving me a straight answer?

I smooth my features so that I am not tempted to scowl at him. "Yes. It was a good as advertised."

"Then it was my pleasure to treat you." Kyoya meets my eyes and raises an eyebrow. "Or am I not allowed to do that per our arrangement?"

"It isn't as if you've followed it to the letter before." I remind him lightly, but I am still annoyed that he is paying for our meal. Am I going to owe him for this too? But then again, he did offer to take me here when he noticed I was anxious. And he was able to tell I was anxious.

Perhaps I'll let this go for once. It isn't worth ruining the limited sense of calm the meal has given me. "But thank you."

He appears to be surprised, but he quickly hides his expression under a cool mask. He coughs into his hand and then says, "We should leave soon. We need to start on our project."

"I'm ready to leave. But I suppose you would like to wait for your credit card." I allow a small smile to play on my lips before looking over where the waiter disappeared. And where he is currently reappearing.

"I'm hope you and your girlfriend enjoyed your meal, Otori-san." The waiter says before handing him back his black credit card.

Normally I would hurry to correct him but this opportunity is too helpful to ruin with my annoyance or pride. Instead I pretend to be busy on my cell phone and try not to clench my teeth.

A few moments pass before Kyoya says anything. "It was worthwhile and filling, thank you. But Miss Kobayashi is merely my associate."

"My apologies, sir." The waiter is quick to say but he takes the news seemingly in stride. "Enjoy your evening."

"Thank you." Kyoya responds. Once he leaves, the third Otori son comments to me in a monotone. "You didn't correct him."

It would be unwise to lie to him but even more foolish to explain my reasoning. "You corrected him, didn't you? I was busy."

When I glance back up he is staring at me with a curiosity in his gray eyes. "I see." He leans back in his chair and a glare on his glasses quickly covers any other emotion his eyes may betray. Hopefully he is only curious and not suspicious. "Shall we?"

I figure he means leave so I nod before I slide my chair back to stand. "I think so." A plop informs me that my blazer has fallen from the back of my chair and I sigh in annoyance.

Can I do anything without disturbing other things? First the younger sister and now my damn blazer, what else am I going to do?

I start when I realize that I am still thinking about the two girls as well as connecting them to a situation that is perfectly meaningless. This way of thinking needs to stop before I drive myself crazy. I already took care of them. I gave them enough money to last for months, I could send more if needed. I could do what-

"Sara-san." When I look up, Kyoya is holding my blazer and watching me with concerned interest. "Time to leave?"

I nod silently and stand up without a word. It's not hard to imagine him staring at me so I don't turn his way, instead I merely hold out my hand for my jacket.

To my surprise, I feel him slip my hand through the sleeve of my blazer. Suddenly I feel extraordinarily tired- much too tired to complain or protest and almost grateful for the assistance.

What is wrong with me?

"Are you sure you want to work today, Sara-san?" Kyoya asks me as he smooths the fabric on my shoulders. "I hope I don't need to remind you of the last time you overworked yourself."

This time I shake my head at him. "I'm fine." I roll my shoulders and the pressure of his hands disappears from off of them. "I'm fine."

"Then we should hurry. I estimate we have only three hours before Tamaki or your siblings interrupt our work."

At that I allow a small smile that he can't see. "I think you're being optimistic."

"Am I?" He questions lightly. "I think Haruhi and Tamaki are out 'commoner shopping' today which should amuse him until six maybe and he'll be bored before being home an hour. And your siblings should be pacified with your phone call until after their dinner which if I am not mistaken, ends at seven."

As we both exit the restaurant I notice some photographers positioned at the entrance. I should purposely pose with Kyoya to throw off suspicion, but to be honest I am gaining too much enjoyment from speculating with him. "Ah, but you forget that my sister has a tutoring session with Hikaru today. And after the mustard incident I am sure she will have much to complain about."

"Otori-san! Kobayashi-san!" Some of the reporters call over to us. They begin yelling questions to us, but we both ignore them and continue walking with a member of his police force and one of my newly paid guards who are cutting their way through the crowd of photographers and reporters.

How did so many of them manage to come here so quickly?

"I had forgotten to include that in my calculation." Kyoya muses while stroking his chin.

"And that is why I said it was optimistic. And naturally, Tamaki will want to share his latest discovery with his best friend while it is happening." I add with a playful roll of my eyes. Though Tamaki usually tries my patience, I have found it amusing how he reacts to commoner food. "I just hope he doesn't ask her what cheese to buy."

"Pardon?" Kyoya appears incredulously. "How did you know about his cheese obsession?"

"Otori-san, Kobayashi-san, we must leave now." His police force urges as he points to the open limo door.

We both head for the open door at the same moment, but immediately pull back to allow the other in first. Kyoya quickly gestures for me to enter before him which I do promptly so my newest guard will not insist again. This one seems to be more nervous than the others who have worked for us in the past.

Once we are settled and the sound of the crowd is muffled behind the closed door, Kyoya repeats his question. "Did Tamaki bombard you with questions of the different kinds of cheeses as well?"

I nearly groan, but I manage to hold it in. "No, I'm afraid I may be the blame." He even told Kyoya about cheeses? "Why would he do that, the idiot? I already told him that he could use whatever kind of cheese he wanted!"

"I don't follow...you told him what?"

Kyoya looks very confused, floored even but that isn't what surprises me most. What surprises me even more is that I said the last part out loud. I really must be worried if I am slipping up so easily.

Slipping up? Since when did I use that expression? I don't think I have since America.

"I apologize, yes he did tell me about it. But apparently he wasn't satisfied with my suggestion of any cheese would suffice for a simple sandwich, the buffon." But even as I call him a buffon I can't help but smile a bit. He's almost like Susanna in that regard. She is also prone to flights of fancy whenever the mood strikes her.

But once I turn toward Kyoya again, I notice that his expression is completely blank. Almost as if he cannot proceed the information I just gave him. Maybe he was startled by my use of the word buffon? I really shouldn't have allowed that to slip out, he is his best friend after all.

"I see." He says after a few moments but then refuses to say anything else the entire ride to his home.

His behavior is so strange that I find myself glancing over to him every so often with a bit of worry. What if he suspects something? I should have been more on guard around him.

I hope he isn't suspicious of anything. The last thing I need is for him to catch on to any of our plans.

Sorry for the wait, everyone! But I didn't expect the summer to be so hectic! I hope that the next chapter will come out soon, but I just have so much on my plate.

Tell me what you think in a review! :)