So sorry for the waiting!


chapter 15: "Grandfather" Yoshio

Kyoya was growing more frustrated with every minute Yoshio refused to leave. In fact, why was he here now? For the first time in 11 years, Yoshio was showing some sort of an interest in his own granddaughters, and by extension, his youngest son, after not speaking to him for these 11 years.

After not very long, Yoshio finally asked his son:

-"Why did you not follow the family business, Kyoya?"- Even after all these years, he could not understand why his son did not want to work in the Ootori group, but instead, he has established a holiday club of his own. A holiday club?

How was establishing a holiday club any helpful, in order for Kyoya to redeem himself. Like it was not enough how embarassed Yoshio was when he found out that his youngest son is a member of a host club.

Yoshio has came up with a plan for the futures of each of his four children. His eldest son Yuuichi will become the next family patriarch, his second son Akito has joined the family business after finishing Medical School, and his daughter and third child Fuyumi is married to a man from the Shido family. But Kyoya, he was different.

Ever since meeting Yuzuru Suoh's son, Kyoya slightly changed. Yoshio never expected his son to become so...rebellious. After the host club surprise, Yoshio thought that perhaps, Kyoya learned his lesson, when he agreed to marry Shen's daughter.

But alas, it seemed that was not the case, after he found out that Ren and Kyoya have ended their marriage, after living together for only 3 years. That did not necessarily meant that absolutely nothing have came out of this marriage, since Ren managed to give a birth to twins. He was looking at these twins right now. They were 11 now, but the question was what kind of potential did they possess.

From the way the elderly man was looking at his granddaughters, one could say that the answer was "maybe not much". There was a mixture of dissapointment and even disgust in his eyes. He did not seem to approve of the way they looked, especially Nandini with her black boots, blue jeans, purple shirt, spikey shoulder-length hair with red bangs. The girl just oozed sassiness. Her sister, though, was slightly better. Simran had a more classy appeal to her appearance with her longer braided black hair, tied with white bows and decorated with white pearls, white ankle-length boots and white long-sleeved turtleneck dress. She almost looked like a proper lady, but was she such in personality traits? Yoshio also noticed how similar the girls looked to their father, and surprisingly, to their aunt Fuyumi. With the exception of Nandini's red bangs, the girls did not look much alike their mother. Was that a bad thing?

-"So,"-Yoshio changed the direction of his attention to the twins-"Simran and Nandini, right?"- The girls did not seem to answer him, at least not loud enough. They only barely moved their lips. Each of them was looking at him differently.

In a way, Simran wanted to know more about her grandfather. Enough to see what her father has been through growing up. Nandini looked like she was taking the elderly man's presence as a threat.

-"Tell me, girls!"- Yoshio kept talking-"What are your plans for the future?"

-"Plans for the future?"- both girls replied at the same time.

-"Yes. Could you tell me?"

-"Well..."-Simran looked very unsure, while trying to come up with an answer. In fact, she never thought about it.-"I do no know. I have always been more focused on school, that I never thought about after that. Besides..."- she never finished that sentence. She was too shy to admit anything. Yoshio was making her feel very anxious. He has such an intimidting vibe, that Simran was worried about making even the simplest mistakes.

-"Really?"- Yoshio responded sarcastically and changed the direction of his attention to Nandini.- "How about you, young lady?"

Nandini did not answer immediately. Instead, she kept looking at Yoshio with an expression that oozed suspicion and protectiveness. This never escaped the man's eyes- he did not appreciate the way she was looking at him:

-"I asked you something."-he said, this time with a more demanding voice.

-"I don't know."-Nandini finally answered, but her tone sounded somewhat angry.

This girl was just getting more irritating to Yoshio. The twins were definitely not making a good first impression- one is too shy and lacks confidence, while the other has too much confidence.

While his father was silently judging his daughters, Kyoya was getting angrier. The worst case scenario was that his father was looking for someone to "replace" him, to make up for the disappointments from 11 years ago.

Ever since he was a child himself, Kyoya has been obeying his father without any hesitation and trying to please him. No matter what he did, it never seemed enough for Yoshio. Kyoya always blamed himself- he thought that maybe he was not good enough or that he should put much more effort into what he was doing, like the day when he met Tamaki for the first time.

Even back then Tamaki was as loud and upbeat as a jazz music concert. So much that it made Kyoya wonder why in the world would his father want them to become friends. He excused his old man's behaviour by thinking that all the obstacles he put him through were just tests, to see how his son would handle different situations. He kept thinking like that for years. Everything changed after he married Ren.

Since their fathers were seeking business partnership, Kyoya agreed to marry Mr. Shen's daughter as a manner of union between the two sides, despite believing that his bride had hidden motives. However, even with those doubts, he had to do whatever it took for the sake of success. The marriage iself produced no surprises, except for one-two daughters, but it also gave Kyoya one more thing- it made him realise something. It made him realise that pleasing his father is not worth it. His father was never there for him, not even when Ren left him. What is the point of trying to please someone who will never see something good in you? Some one like that could never be pleased, no matter how hard you try. It took Kyoya years to finally understand that, and he would not let Yoshio cause the same toxicity to his children. It is about time to finally put a foot down.

-"Father!"-Kyoya spoke, sounding very annoyed.-"Leave the girls alone!"

-"I was just checking what kind of potential they had!"- Yoshio replied, as coldly as always.

-"They are 11. We are on a vacation. It does not matter now. But you are bothering us, so I am going to ask you to leave."-Kyoya gestured with his hand.

-"Actually Kyoya, you did not answer one of my previous questions. Why did you not follow the family business?"

-"I myself made the decision. It is only natural for someone to do what they know they can do."

Suddenly, Yoshio's expression changed, although slightly. He frowned and wrinkled his nose, like he was dissatisfied, and he spoke:

-"You are just the same as before. Always performing those "experiments" of yours."- he put a little emphasis on "experiments".-You have chosen the "easy" by not working hard for something of greater value."- his fists started shaking.

This did not go unnoticed by Kyoya, as he stood up from the chair he was sitting on and faced Yoshio. He was not going to give his father the same pleasure of humiliating him and putting him closer to the ground as that time at the ball back in high school, when his father slapped him in front of everyone and called him an "embarassment to the Ootori name":

-"Leave, please!"-Kyoya said again, with complete confidence.

-"He said "leave"."-another voice spoke and it was Nandini's.

This surprised both Yoshio and Kyoya. Yoshio looked at Nandini very angrily:

-"What did you just say?"

-"This "conversation" is going nowhere. Why bother to keep going?"- the girl sounded somewhat annoyed.

-"You better be careful who you are talking back to, young lady."

-"I think you are in no position to discipline me."

After she said that, Yoshio raised his hand. Right before his hand reached Nandini's face, someone else's hand grabbed his. It was Kyoya.

This caught both Yoshio and the twins, whom they all looked at Kyoya and saw his angry face:

-"Don't you even lay a single finger on her!"-Kyoya said in an almost growl-like voice, while holding tightly his father's wrist. When Yoshio raised his other hand, Kyoya grabbed that one as well.

-"What do you think you are doing?"-Yoshio asked in the same "growl" as Kyoya.

Kyoya did not give a verbal answer immediately. He kept holding his father's wrists for a few more seconds, before finally releasing them. Although finally released, Yoshio did not hit his son, instead he just looked at him with disappointment, without saying a word:

-"My daughters have already been through enough, especially Simran."-Kyoya finally spoke and his statement did not escape from Nandini's ears.-"Their mother hurt them and I am not going to let anyone else hurt them. Not even you."

-"You are a fool!"-Yoshio said quickly, but his son did not reply.

Instead, he just turned his back on him and called the twins:

-"Girls! Let's go!"

They obeyed him, as they stood up from their chair and followed him. All three of them left the restaurant.