chapter 5: One step closer
While the children were playing in the garden, the adults were just sitting and watching them. Haruhi and Tamaki were both looking at their son proudly and happily. They enjoyed seeing him play with other children. Despite their high social status, with Tamaki originating from a wealthy family and Haruhi being his wife, they were still surprisingly down-to-earth people who wanted nothing more, but to see how their children will grow happily.
In one random moment, Haruhi turned her head, so as to see Kyoya. It is not that she was feeling nervous about anything, but she noticed something different about him. She saw him looking at his daughters and smiling. From time to time, even laughing quietly. In other words, he looked like a normal father. Haruhi found this strange, since she was not used to seeing him that way.
Back when they were all still in high school, Kyoya Ootori was a very introverted and reserved type of guy. He was far more interested in benefit than anything else.
But now, she sees a totally different man. A man who simply enjoys to look at his children playing.
"Well, I suppose that 11 years are a long time."-she thought-"A lot of things have happened in those years. Among them was when he was abandoned by his wife. Not to mention that when we phoned him that day, he said that he has problems with his daughters. He said that he does not spend much time with them, due to his schedule. But things seem to be okay now."
Kyoya finally noticed that Haruhi was staring at him. He knew that it was most likely because of his attitude right now:
-"Surprised to see me like that, Haruhi?"- he turned his face, which had a sly smile on, in her direction.
"His telepathy skills seem to be as strong as before."-she thought by making a reference to the times when he could seemingly read her mind.
-"A little bit. I am just not used to seeing you like this. You use to be such a stoic, but now you are...different.- she did not mean to insult him, but it was a fact. Kyoya rarely showed emotions in front of people. And he hardly ever laughs or smiles in such a sincere way.
-"I have different priorities now, Haruhi. I am a businessman in his early 30's who must raise two children on his own."-his sly smile disappeared and was replaced by disgust-"My father forced me to marry a descendant of Pandora who gave a birth to two daughters, but after that she left and nobody ever saw her again. This unfortunate series of events made me realise some things, Haruhi. They made me look at things in a different light."
After seeing his swift change of mood, from happy to angry, Haruhi felt guilty for unintentionally reminding him of his pain.
-"I am sorry, fellow. I did not mean to ruin your mood."
-"You are not the one I am mad at."
Tamaki saw and heard everything and he immediately felt the need to make both Kyoya and Haruhi happy again.
-"Hey, there is no point in arguing about the past, Kyoya. Look! We are all here together! With our children! The children who love us. Who need us. The reasons we should forget about what we do not have and remember what we do have."
Kyoya considered Tamaki's words and even though he did not say anything, from his expression it was obvious that he knew that his friend is right.
"His beautiful naivety!"-he thought and he looked again at his daughters. Simran saw that her father was looking and waved to him, like she was saying "Hi!". He waved back.
-"Hey, you know what?"-Tamaki raised his voice gleefully, like he often does.-"Maybe someday we should invite all the other members of the host club-Mori, Honey, Hikaru and Kaoru. They should all come here with their families and we will have fun together by reminding each other about the good old times."
-"You know, your idea does not sound bad, Tamaki."-Haruhi quickly agreed with her husband-"Besides, we have not seen them in a long time."
They both turned to Kyoya and waited for his answer.
-"I do not see why not."- he said casually.
Simran and Seval were still playing, but Nandini was too focused on thinking. A lot of things were on her mind. Mostly her relationship with her father.
