Hello fellow host club fanatics!
Thank you so much for keeping up with this story despite the irregular and abrupt uploads. I really appreciate all of your feedback and try my best to put out good chapter :) I'm sorry this one is super short but I hope that by uploading it I'll be able to finally delve into the last part of this story :D Thank you so much for all of your support!
Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club
Haruhi childishly stomped into the hotel suite's kitchen, holding onto every surface she could. Somewhere far back in the depths of her mind she realized how absurd it was that she was still drunk. Didn't sleep help it wear off?
Then again she had only slept for about five minutes...as far as she could tell anyway.
Haruhi giggled as her feet slipped along the kitchen tile. The fun of socks! She stared at the line between the kitchen and living room. Carpet...tile...carpet...tile!
She groaned when her head began to spin. Not a good idea to look down for so long.
Why was she here anyway? Haruhi scratched her head while looking around. Oh yeah. the yummy drink! She had already drank the leftovers in the room
Haruhi was in the middle of opening a drink when she heard loud talking outside. She stared at the door. It sounded like her friend meanie couldn't still be mad at her could he? She walked to the door and tried to pull it open. No luck.
She pulled the door so many times but it only wiggled around. Finally she managed to unlock it and whipped the door open. She was about to close the door behind her when she saw Tamaki walk into his room. Who was the lady behind him?
Before she could ask they closed the door. Haruhi stared at his door for a long time before reentering her room. On her way back to the bed Haruhi grabbed the two cans of beer. The sight had strangely shocked her enough to sharpen her senses. She wasn't in the mood for that though so she sat on her bed and chugged the can. After wiping her mouth she looked at the figure next to her. There was something about him… No she could never forget how much she disliked him but he looked pretty damn handsome sleeping.
"You can't just leave in the middle of an argument!" Kyoya called from outside Haruhi's bedroom door.
"But you can leave during most of our marriage!" Haruhi called back out. She hadn't meant to act so childishly. In fact, it was a surprise to herself when she walked into her room and locked the door.
"Well now I'm not leaving until we talk." Kyoya rebutted. He couldn't hear her voice clearly but it sounded like she was trying hard to speak.
"That's what we're doing."
"Like adults!" He said more forcefully without thinking. He tried to lower his voice. She rushed in after he had told her that no matter what was going on there was no way she couldn't contact him before or after the accident. And "giving up on their marriage" wasn't a reasonable excuse. No matter what, he was the father and deserved to know. Was she just going to hide the whole thing? Expect him to sign the divorce papers without an explanation? Of course he would assume she had found someone else!
Haruhi stared at the ceiling, trying to control her breathing. What had suddenly triggered her? Why were tears streaming down her cheeks all of a sudden? All she knew was that she didn't want him to see her crying without control. She couldn't stand the thought of him trying to comfort her. Or maybe the thought of him not caring was worse. Something in back of her mind told her that he had a valid point. She could have made more of an effort and not given up easily. But could he blame her for being pessimistic about her odds?
"Haruhi." He knocked.
"Just leave," she began. "It was a mistake to do this."
"No it wasn't." He knocked again. "Come back out or let me in but we can't talk to each other through a door."
Haruhi finally managed to take a steady deep breath but the tears were still rushing to get out.
"Let's just...leave it. I don't care anymore."
"Fine." Kyoya turned around to face the rest of her apartment. "I'll wait for you. Until you're ready to talk even if it's through a stupid door."
He sat on the ground in front of her door. His phone buzzed. He looked at the screen. It was his father asking where he was. Kyoya set his phone down. As if his father didn't know.
Kyoya groaned, slowly opening his eyes. He stared at a fuzzy Haruhi, still not quite able to think properly.
Haruhi handed him a can. "Drink it."
Kyoya blinked before turning over.
Haruhi shook him.
Kyoya lifted the blanket over his head.
In response, Haruhi shook him harder, as hard as she could. "Driiiiink"
This continued until Kyoya got fed up and propped himself up. He crankily snatched the can from Haruhi and drank until there was nothing left.
"Yay!" Haruhi clapped.
"There." Kyoya tossed the can, ready to lie down again.
Before he could reach for the blanket Haruhi forced him to stand up. "Go get more."
Kyoya sighed, trudging into the kitchen. Why was he even doing this? His eyes were heavy as he looked through the cabinets. The blurriness didn't help.
"There's no more." He croaked out.
When Haruhi didn't respond he sighed again, he began to rummage through the refrigerator.
"Kyoya."
"What?" He turned around, finding himself face to face with Haruhi.
"Just to be clear…" A hiccup. "I don't love you, you rich bastard."
"Okay?" Kyoya coughed slightly to make the knot in his throat disappear.
Haruhi kicked his glasses out of the way as she approached him. "I hate you, you stupid person."
Kyoya rubbed his eyes. Perhaps it was the alcohol that made him more sensitive. "I see."
"So this means nothing." Haruhi said now standing in front of him.
Twenty minutes later nobody had said a word. Kyoya leaned against the door, stretching his legs out. He startled when he heard Haruhi speak.
"What would you have done if our roles were reversed Kyoya?" Haruhi asked.
"I would have told you as soon as you arrived home." He answered unconvincingly. Even he couldn't assure he would have spoken up.
"No you wouldn't have." Haruhi replied. "You would have kept it to yourself because that's what you're like. You would have seen no point in telling me about something that had already been lost."
"I…" Kyoya halted. "At least wouldn't have given up on our marriage." There was a long pause.
"And why not?" Haruhi asked, her voice stronger. She was approaching the door now. She had suddenly found the strength to see him again but her voice was flat and unfeeling.
"There's such a thing as marriage counseling." He said. "Therapy," he added. "It didn't have to be over."
"Why can't you understand I couldn't take being a second, third even last choice for you." She halted in front of the door.
"I never thought of you as anything but first in my life," Kyoya insisted.
"You make it hard to believe you when I saw how little you cared," Haruhi said.
"I know…But I can do better." Kyoya insisted again.
"It's too late," Haruhi opened the door, finding herself staring face to face at Kyoya. "I - thank you...I guess. I got everything I needed." She nodded to herself. Of course it wasn't everything but perhaps the rest could be seen at the trial. She had resigned to the fact that no matter what their time was up. They had their shot but perhaps they were never meant to be from the start.
When she realized Kyoya was just staring at her she frowned. "Are you going to leave?" Or make resentful remarks perhaps?
"You kissed me."
Haruhi flinched, opening her mouth and closing it without a sound.
"We almost stepped on my glasses that's why I couldn't find them. I think one of us kicked them under the fridge or something." Kyoya's words spilled out in a rush as bits of that night came back to him.
Haruhi sighed. "Why am I not surprised that you're doing something like this?"
"Doing what? You did kiss me." Kyoya replied indignantly.
Haruhi shook her head. "Please just go."
"Why is it so hard for you to admit when you obviously remembered this from the start."
"I don't know what you're trying to accomplish but-"
"I'm right."
Haruhi sighed, annoyed with his insistence. "You have to leave."
"Nothing else happened though did it?" Kyoya shook his head, answering himself. "No you kissed me but that's it."
Haruhi rolled her eyes. "Are you done? I have better things to do."
Kyoya snapped out of his memory trance, stopping himself from saying something else. He nodded at her. "Fine." Her sudden change in attitude confirmed that she remembered exactly what he had said. He still hadn't attained the closure he needed, especially not after what he had just remembered, but it was obvious Haruhi wouldn't talk anymore.
Haruhi just looked on as he gathered his things.
Kyoya opened the door and stepped out, closing the door behind him.
Haruhi sighed out loud when he closed the door. Why did he have to remember the kiss. They hadn't done anything else, thankfully but just that was bad enough.
She jumped when Kyoya opened the door again. "Somehow we made it to the bed."
"Go away," Haruhi urged as she walked to the door.
"And you said that you loved me," Kyoya continued, still talking as he let her close the door in his face.
"I was drunk!" Haruhi almost shouted from inside her apartment.
"But that you had to learn to hate me." He said, sure of the fact that she was still listening to him.
"You said you didn't know which feeling was stronger. Haruhi, that means we can still try to save this."
Haruhi whipped the door open. "It's hate."
With a loud thud she closed the door again, not responding to anything else Kyoya tried to say, What else was he to do but leave?
Three days later Haruhi gathered her materials for the trip. This would be the second meeting with the attorneys but as far as she knew, nobody had any idea whether any executive would be present. She locked her door before walking towards her car, her mind surprisingly blank. This was a trick she mastered the night of their talk after throwing up three times.
Haruhi pulled her door open sluggishly. She sat down, sighed, and rested her head on the steering wheel. She could drive about as well as before with perhaps some slight improvement but there was barely a change in her paranoia.
Her hand turned the key in the ignition, followed by checking the mirrors, putting on her seatbelt, checking her mirrors again, a silent prayer and another look at the mirror.
"Why am I so dramatic? One more time won't hurt. Besides, this time I'd be the only one injured"
She slowly and cautiously began switched gears and began to drive. She could do it. She just had to be careful. When she made it to the parking complex, she breathed a sigh of relief. Her prep was much faster this time. Her recovery too. That had to be a good sign.
Haruhi listened as Riku went over what was expected of them as the new legal team of the Ootori Group. Again, Haruhi figured it was pretty obvious but listened because it was possible she only thought this after having lived with an Ootori for five years. Then they revised the first half of the case. It had all started with a forged signature of Kyoya's. This was unrelated to the primary topic but important to note since it dealt with a legal issue. Finally, Kyoya walked in, motioning for the attorneys to remain seated.
"Good morning. I am very pleased to see that everybody made it on time." He smiled, sitting down. "I trust that Mr. Kobayashi informed you of some background information?"
There was a variety of nods and soft confirmations.
"I apologize for the rather slow pace but before we begin, are there any questions?"
There was a small ruffle as the group glanced at one another. Of course they had questions. But Haruhi was willing to bet that the majority were about the contents of the packet not about the debriefing.
Finally, about five people raised their hands. Haruhi listened to Kyoya go on answering every question. How did they manage to act so normal after everything?
Before she knew it she heard him ask, "Are there any other questions?"
Slowly she raised her hand.
Kyoya turned to her but she could tell he wasn't looking at her. Perhaps his eyes were directed at the person behind or in front of her, but she knew he couldn't be looking at her.
"Yes, ?"
"Will we all be in the courtroom during the trial?"
He smiled, a businessman as always. Haruhi's face remained neutral as he answered.
"Yes," he turned to face everyone. "Of course, we understand that you are in a demanding profession and since the court date has not been set, being present is not mandatory but would be appreciated. It seems rather ridiculous to have you all there but since this is an almost obnoxiously serious issue, the company would like for you all to be there, regardless of who is on the actual floor."
After it appeared that the attorneys had no more questions, Kyoya began to address the case itself. "I assume you have all studied the details provided. I will not waste any more of your time and will let you all go to work." He stood up and bowed. "Mr. Kobayashi, I would like to speak to you outside."
Riku stood up easily as though he had been expecting it.
When the door closed behind them the group glanced at each other with some looking down at their paperwork. Finally a woman cleared her throat. "From what I can see, it's going to be difficult to prove he's innocent."
A man about as old as Kyoya spoke up. "I disagree. There are a myriad of fallacies in the plaintiff's accusations."
One by one the attorneys began to provide their own input and soon the room was filled with conversation.
Haruhi remained quiet, occasionally nodding or providing a generic response.
When Riku returned to the room the lawyers slowly fell quiet even though he hadn't said anything.
"I do not agree with this method but I suppose it has proven to be efficient," He began. "I would like for each of you to introduce yourselves. You can name your firm if you'd like and you can provide whatever details you want your coworkers to know. My only request is to keep it under thirty seconds."
Another round of unsettled glances ensued. Haruhi didn't know if she should laugh or cringe. This was the first time since perhaps her first year in college that they did this but she agreed that people seemed to be a bit more comfortable afterwards. When the person next to her finished, Haruhi stood up.
'My name is Haruhi Fujioka. I am twenty five and am looking forward to working with all of you." She sat back down, not at all questioning her choice to leave out her firm's name. After all, what was the point of that extensive hiring process if they were going to throw around titles anyway?
The remaining lawyers took their turn and then Riku looked at a note pad he had in front of him.
"Now that we have all introduced ourselves, we can proceed to some team building activities." He looked up to see the attorneys either in disbelief or annoyance.
"I know this is tedious but it was requested by the CEO." RIku informed them.
The expressions didn't change but he doubted anybody would complain.
Haruhi sighed. They weren't going to start the damn packet today would they?
Haruhi sat in her car after the meeting. She was almost certain the majority of the group thought the meeting was a waste of time. Haruhi would have agreed if she had been anticipating the case details as she normally did. She stared at the files she had thrown onto the passenger's seat. Those stupid papers had been added to the list of things haunting her. After some debating she picked up the stack and turned to the first page.
"I've read through a bit already," Haruhi tried to tell herself it wasn't any different now that she knew it was Kyoya but…
"Of course it's different. Now I know what he was doing while he wasn't here." She let her head fall onto the steering wheel for the second time that day.
Her phone buzzed. Haruhi didn't lift her head and simply felt around for her phone.
'Hey, would mind if we talked? - Riku'
Haruhi leaned against her seat. Crap. They were supposed to meet two days before.
A knock on her window caused her to jump in her seat. She turned to see Riku standing a safe distance away. Haruhi unlocked her door and stepped out.
"I'm really sorry for not showing up for our meeting I completely forgot."
"No worries. It gave me time to prepare my speech." Riku waved away her worry.
"Speech?"
He grinned. "If you'd like we can talk in the cafeteria on the first floor. That way we won't have to drive or anything."
Haruhi nodded and apologized again. She turned to remove her bag from the car before locking it. They walked towards the elevator.
"You know it took me about an hour to realize you weren't going to show." Riku said as they stepped onto the elevator.
"I'm really-"
"No, I should have called you or something. You must be busy with the case and your usual work."
Haruhi didn't respond. The truth was she had barely managed to concentrate on the later and hadn't touched the former since she saw Kyoya. The elevator dinged and opened.
"Speaking of which, what do you think so far?"
Haruhi hesitated. Her boss was asking her about a case she had yet to thoroughly examine.
"Honestly, my first thought was that he was guilty."
"Really?" Riku said, surprised. "That's not the opinion you should have when defending him."
They chose a table to sit down in.
"I agree but fortunately every attorney gets used to giving their client the benefit of the doubt, whether its forced or not."
"So what do you think now?"
"The details still make him sound guilty but I suppose there are certain faults in the plaintiff's accusation." She reiterated something she knew could apply to most cases. "But are we supposed to be talking about the case outside of the group? I mean since you're technically our supervisor it's different than if I were to discuss it with a coworker."
"Do you think I have information I'm withholding from the group?"
Haruhi shrugged. "It's not strange for a plaintiff to want to withhold information from his attorneys although it makes our job harder, as you must know."
"I couldn't agree more."
They awkwardly looked around. Neither had bought anything so there wasn't much to do with their hands or an excuse to pause.
"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Haruhi prompted.
Riku smiled unconvincingly. That meant Haruhi was yet again about to receive bad news.
"First of all, I would like to emphasize just how much I'm sorry about this." He paused. "I suppose it's probably not the worst news you could ever receive but I wouldn't like to be in your position."
"Not to be rude but do you think you can just tell me? It makes me more nervous for you to beat around the bush." Haruhi said when Riku paused.
"Of course. Well, as you know I approached you first."
Haruhi nodded so Riku continued.
"And I was also the one to invite you to the cafe. I understand it was strange for your supervisor to do this but it was actually part of my job."
Haruhi opened her mouth but wasn't sure how to respond. "What?" She finally said.
"You see, part of the interview process was to gauge the personality of the interviewees but it's difficult when you only get to see them within the interview and not outside."
Haruhi tried to keep up with how this made sense.
"In order to get a better grasp of your personalities it was our job to sort of befriend you and-"
"Why?" Haruhi asked, unable to stop herself from interrupting him. "And how could that have possibly helped? People are bound to act different in front of a supervisor. I mean since you talked to me after the interview, I assume you did the same to others."
"Right, but we all had a way of implying we were the least influential in the panel. This way we could throw you off at least a little bit."
"So, you not asking questions during the interview was on purpose but not for the reason you told me? And you being the only judge mingling in the crowd wasn't an accident?"
"It made my story more believable. Each judge mingled for a certain amount of time so we all were assigned a fair amount of work."
Haruhi was just stunned. "So...this hiring process was even more elaborate than I already thought?"
Riku could only shrug slightly. "I'm really sorry if this offends you or hurts you in any way. We were required to let everyone know from the moment they were eliminated or as soon as possible after being hired."
"Am I the last to know?"
"Yes."
"And nobody thought about quitting?" She asked in disbelief.
"Well, this is a great job opportunity and would look great on a resume."
Haruhi was still trying to justify the long and tiring hiring process in her mind.
"I understand it doesn't make much sense but it really did help." Riku concluded,
"Of course," Haruhi nodded. "I suppose this is all you wanted to tell me?"
Riku said yes.
"Okay," Haruhi shifted. "I thank you for your honesty although I'm sorry but I have to go."
"I understand completely," Riku stood up and looked at his watch. "In fact, I should get going too."
"Okay. It was nice speaking to you again," I suppose, Haruhi thought. "But I think that this should be the last time we talk about work related matters without the rest of the team?"
"I agree one hundred percent." Riku said.
Haruhi didn't know whether to wave or just walk away but ultimately decided to shake his hand.
Before she could walk away, Riku spoke again.
"I'm terribly sorry but I have to tell you that I'll try my best to make sure you aren't summoned to testify."
"Excuse me?"
Riku winced slightly. He had meant to hide the fact that he knew she was Kyoya's ex wife but she deserved a warning. "I mean that the plaintiff might want to question you in order to prove Kyoya's guilt. I'll do my best to prevent it but I think you deserved a heads up."
Haruhi just stared at him for a second. "Thank you."
She began to walk away again determined to read that damn packet no matter what.
