Chapter 21

Kyouya had been looking into property to invest. It would be on his laptop screen in the background on the weekends. Sometimes on his phone, while he scrolled through his usual emails. It had been months in the making and the CEO was finishing up his research to shortlist some properties. Mari, coming from a family of real-estate had ironically very little input on development properties. She scoffed at the listings and often went back to her own monitor of graphs and raw data whenever she peered over to his monitor on the other side of their study.

"Come look at this," Kyouya called over to her. They were both sitting in their shared study room on a weeknight. Mari had to take the extra time to finish up the analysis that she did not have the time to do before catching the last rush-hour train back home to cook dinner.

"Give me a minute," her eyes were glued on the regression on the monitor. She pushed up her glasses before turning in her chair to see what the Ootori had been going off about. Mari blinked. It was a picture of the woods on the other side of the city. Undeveloped land, nearing the outskirt of Tokyo.

"You want… to live in the woods?" Mari gave him a look of disgust. "As if you could ever handle camping…" she muttered as she leaned back in her chair.

"What's camping?" the Ootori was confused.

"It's when you go out into nature and you spend time in woods overnight with supplies like a tent and food," Mari explained.

Kyouya was appalled at the idea. "Why?"

"Um," Mari shrugged. "To be one with nature? I'm not entirely sure. It's not my thing," she sighed. "I'm guessing that is not what you intend to do with," Mari squinted at the listing. "How big is that lot? Over 10 000 square metres?"

The Ootori shrugged. "It's quite modest."

"What?" Mari thought about the condo that she owned. It was nowhere near that kind of size – and this place had 4 bedrooms to boast with 3.5 bathrooms to add. It was already plenty of space for a grand piano in the middle of the entire place.

"It's nowhere as big as Tamaki's lot," Kyouya explained. "He has a whole courtyard with hedges and a garden like Versai—"

"Yeah but," Mari scoffed. "What do you need all that space for?" She stared at the forest of nothing.

The man shrugged. "We'll see."

She could only shake her head. "Whatever, it's your money," Mari sighed as she got up from her seat. It was enough work for the night. They needed to get into the office tomorrow anyway. She picked up her mug of tea and began walking from her desk. "Can't tell you what to do with it."

"Oi, for someone who's from a family of real-estate developers, wouldn't you at least know a bit about all of this?" Kyouya shook his head back at her in disappointment. "Thought you'd be more helpful with this," he muttered in annoyance when she reached the door of their study.

The scientist shrugged as she exited. "I never had any interest in the business. Do you want to talk to Kanda about it?" Her older brother inherited the business, after all.

"I already have," Kyouya brushed off. "He sent me this link."

Mari stuck her head back into the room and widened her eyes. "You've been talking to my brother?"

"Is there a problem?" he pushed up his glasses that reflected off the monitor. Thankfully he had retired the frameless glasses many years ago during their university years. His round frames were now much more on trend. Mari rolled her eyes and groaned.

"Whatever," she waved off. "Just don't say anything weird to him."

"Weird like what?" he yelled back when he heard her reach the kitchen island. Kyouya sighed and decided to also call it a night at his computer before he joined her in the kitchen. She was in the midst of ridding the tea leaves from her mug and rinsing the cup. He watched her clean, as usual.

"How did you even get Kanda's number?" Mari grumbled.
"Oh, I emailed him," Kyouya nonchalantly answered. "He got back rather quickly."

Mari raised an eyebrow and placed the mug in the dishwasher. She wet a dishcloth to wipe down her counters – a regular occurrence given the white marble that matched the rest of the white and black interior of the place.

"Don't be weird and talk to him about me," Mari grumbled.

"Why not?" Kyouya wondered. "Your parents know about us. Your nephew knows too. He must have told your brother by now."

"My family and I are on a need-to-know basis," she sighed. "I don't want any more questions than needed from them."

"And what could they possibly ask?" the Ootori chuckled.

Mari paused wiping down the counters and gave him a look. "The same kind that you get from your own family, Kyouya. When are you getting married? Aren't you going to have kids soon? Have you arranged your pre-nup yet? Are you going to quit your job to take care of your children, Mari?" she listed off.

"I don't get the last question," he pointed out.

Mari threw the cloth at him. "That one is reserved exclusively for me," she seethed.

Kyouya caught the cloth and shook his head at her. "Oi, don't get all snappy on me for a question that I didn't ask!"

"Then don't let it happen!" Mari shot back as she scurried down the hall into their bathroom. She took down her ponytail for the day and brushed through her hair before putting it back neatly in a bun. The Ootori quickly caught up to her, watching her from the doorway.

"You do a fine job of avoiding those questions already," Kyouya sighed. "Do I really have to do anything more?" he loosened the buttons on his dress shirt and pulled down the sleeves of his dress shirt. It was time to get ready for bed – their usual routine at this hour melded together after working late into the night in their study.

Mari frowned. "Is that too much to ask?"

"Mari, I'm not going to hide you like a dirty secret," Kyouya sighed. "In fact, I'd really like to stop avoiding those questions that people ask. I want people to know about you."
"I don't!" she disagreed. "What would that say about my career?" She angrily grabbed her electric toothbrush and began brushing her teeth.
"Nothing," he shot back. "You're deserving of all your accolades and your achievements. Being involved with me –"
"—Would only undermine my position working under you," Mari finished with a foamy mouth. The Ootori tried his best to keep a straight face at her.

"So what do you want me to do about it? Fire you?" the Ootori challenged.

Mari continued brushing her teeth angrily. She had only been working for him for less than a year at this rate. But she was nearing her annual performance review in the next quarter. Either way, it didn't look good to quit or get fired. Besides, she was working well with her colleagues and making headway on two projects. It would have been a shame to leave.

"I want to go back to academia," Mari murmured with her mouth still filled with foam. "Eventually," she added. She had already done her post-doc and the majority of her work had been in academia. Industry was just a pit-stop, she told herself. Until she was able to head back into doing her own research without the overhead of a company that owned all her work for now. Mari spat out the excess toothpaste and rinsed her mouth.

"I know it's easy for you to just present me to the world and say 'here she is'," Mari sighed. "But it's hard enough being taken seriously as a woman in the workplace and to try to have to prove my worth."

"Who's not taking you seriously?" Kyouya narrowed his eyes and looked like he was ready to fire the name that came out of Mari's mouth. Mari's shoulders lowered as she relented at the behaviour of the Ootori who spared no time in retaliating against anyone who even remotely looked at her the wrong way.

"No one," she sighed. "Not in my department." Mari reassured him by pulling on his forearm and bringing him closer to her. He relaxed and let her crawl into his chest smelling like mint. "My post-doc experience was an eye-opening one, okay? People talk. People assume. People draw conclusions from inconclusive evidence. It's not easy to deal with and I'd just rather not."

"You're being treated like everyone else," Kyouya reassured. "I promised no special treatment."
Mari chuckled. "I don't know about that. You sounded like you were ready to fire someone a few seconds ago."

Kyouya rolled his eyes. "Knee-jerk reaction," he admitted. How could he not feel the need to protect his most prized asset? "But you could have filed an HR report and have HR deal with it."
"Such a hassle," she grumbled. "Anyway, I don't want my colleagues knowing about you. Or anyone beyond the circle of people that already know."
"That's too bad then," Kyouya smirked. "I'm the CEO, how could your colleagues not know of me?"

Mari pushed his shoulder in annoyance. "Get out, I'm showering."

"No, I think I'd rather stay for that," his smirk grew wider.


Mari hated hospitals. She always had. The irony was that she had to have been in a relationship with a man who owned one of the most profitable chains of hospitals across the country. Of the three children in her family, only she found the time to sit in the hall of the outpatient ward with her aging father.

His wrinkled hand patted her thigh in comfort. He could sense how tense his middle child was being in the hospital. There was just something so weirdly sterile about it – it made her feel uncomfortable around it all.

"You didn't have to come," the Takuya patriarch reminded.
"No one else came," Mari reminded. "Not even mother who couldn't make time from her luncheon with god knows who," she quietly seethed.

"I told her to go," the father reassured. "She has been by my side for so long. She needs a break."
"Whatever," the child dismissed. "Doesn't mean you should be here for your appointment alone."

"Don't you have a job to be at?" her father laughed. "You shouldn't be here."
"It's fine, I took the afternoon off," Mari sighed. She put in the extra hours earlier in the week. It worked out as she sat in the white halls of the hospital. She watched as nurses scattered about, checking upon the patients. Mari walked past doctors who had been doing their rounds, catching only bits and pieces of their conversations.

"How is the Ootori?" he asked.
"Fine," Mari answered with a shrug. "Has an empire to run, so he's a little busy."
"Ah, I see. You're working for the empire but you aren't busy?" her father chuckled.
"I am very busy," she sighed. "But not too busy for you." Mari smiled. She was the only one of the three children that wasn't actually running a business. She had what those would consider a traditional 9-5 job. By default, it only made sense that Mari did her duty as a filial daughter.

"You were quite the wildcard growing up," the elder Takuya mused. "Never quite fitting into the mold of what anyone expected."

"You mean you always knew Yuki would be a fashion mogul with her own cosmetic and fragrance line?" Mari raised an eyebrow. Even she didn't see it coming, but Mari had gotten to the point in her studies that she had very little time to think about what her siblings would end up to be.

"Well, we all knew she would turn out to be someone grandiose even from her youth. But you were the opposite – always reserved. Talented but so humble in your achievements. Granted, none of us expected Louise to leave us in that way."

"And that was worrisome?" Mari rolled her eyes.

"Well I was never worried. Your mother did most of the worrying for the three of you. You just happened to be the least communicative of your plans for life. We always knew what Yuki and Kanda were up to. But with you? Not a clue. It drove your mother wild."

"I turned out fine," the daughter pointed out. Or mostly fine minus the depressive blip in her youth. She was in her 3rd decade of life now. She had gotten enough time to deal with her feelings over it all.

"Oh, that you did," her father agreed. "You just wouldn't tell us anything about it."

"There's nothing to say," Mari sighed. "I turned out mediocre, still cashing out my trust fund," she reported. "I have 3 degrees to my name. I work a normal job. I don't have a net worth of millions."

"Why do you sound so bitter about that?" her father wondered. There was nothing to be bitter about. The child was doing rather well for herself without needing the guidance from her parents.

"Because it sounds like that is what people were expecting me to have – if not millions, then at least a husband who does," the child muttered.

"You have nothing to be ashamed of, child," the older man reminded. "I'm quite proud of you, Mari. The world expects a lot from people your age. Yet no one in this family can call themselves a doctor but you. You took the path that no one else in the family did."

"It's not like I can save lives," Mari reminded. "Dr. Mari Takuya holds no value in this hospital, that's for sure." They were surrounded by real doctors that had actual applications to their degree and years of training to get to where they were today.

"She saves lives," her father reminded. "You do research to save lives, do you not? Don't tell me what you do is all for nothing."

The daughter shrugged. "I hope not."

The elder Takuya was called into the doctor's office for his appointment. Mari helped the man up, now that he was frail in his legs and he was easily fatigued by the smallest activity. No more golf courses. No more lavish meals with his business partners at the country club. No more travelling abroad if not necessary. The elder had lost a significant amount of weight over the year. The list of medications kept growing with each visit. Mari had wondered if this was all necessary – if it was really improving his quality of life or just extending what little he had left of it.

The appointment was no more than 20 minutes long, with the doctor emphasizing that no strenuous activity or stress should be placed on the elder whenever possible. He was reaching his mid 70s with a heart that couldn't function like it had a decade ago. Mari let her father sit in the lounge area as she went to fill his prescription in the hospital pharmacy. By the time she was back, the elder Takuya had been chatting with a man that she already knew from the back of his stupid head.

"Ah there she is," her father waved his daughter over. "Look who it is, Mari!"

Mari only rolled her eyes. "Yes, the owner of the hospital," she muttered.

Kyouya smiled at her – the ones that he gave to charm girls while he was a host. Mari was immune to such tricks and looked back at her father who beamed at the unexpected guest. Goodness, it was like the Ootori had somehow figured out how to charm elderly men instead of young women nowadays.

"This young man heard I had an appointment and made time to make sure that everything was alright. How considerate he is," her father pointed out.

"He's just doing his job as a businessman," Mari rolled her eyes. "Making sure the customer experience is as great as it could be," the scientist sarcastically replied.

"Ah, that makes sense," the father nodded. "Well I have no complaints," he told the Ootori. "It seems like Mari has more complaints than I do," he winked.

"She always does," Kyouya teased.

"I have to get my father home," Mari interrupted their little session of bonding and crossed her arms.

"Oh! No worries on that," the Takuya patriarch laughed. "I've already called my driver. He's waiting at the entrance already." He slowly propped himself up with the help of the edge of the sofa. Mari flinched in trying to help her father up by the arm, still new to the whole process of being a caretaker. She quietly walked her father to the entrance while the Ootori trailed beside them, pointing out the new facilities and the luxuries of being a VIP patient. The elder was certainly impressed and even patted the Ootori on the shoulder before retreating into their family car, leaving Mari unexpectedly with the Ootori once again.

"Don't you have work?" Mari was sure that she did not tell Kyouya about the fact that she had to take half the day off today. She certainly did not tell Kyouya about having to take her father to the very hospital that he owned either.

"Coincidentally, I had a shareholders meeting at this hospital. My assistant informed me of your father being here on coincidence when he listed off some VIP patients currently on-site," Kyouya shrugged. "It was only right to say hello."

"Well you said hello," Mari rolled her eyes. "And charmed my father while you were at it." She made a noise of disgust before she looked into her handbag for her phone. She could take the subway back and do some grocery shopping if she made the train in time. Then she could go to the gym before cooking dinner.

Kyouya watched as she ignored his presence, her thin fingers gripped her phone beneath the wool jacket she wore to protect her against the remnants of the cold winter they had left. A v-neck light blouse peaked through the jacket while her legs were accentuated by high waisted pants. Her style was always minimalist. She was a couple inches taller than she usually was at home thanks to her heeled boots. Her hair fell against her face, a change from her usual ponytail or tight bun she had to keep while in the lab. Her glasses slipped down her face as she looked down at her phone. He smiled at the sight of her.

Kyouya's hands gently found themselves at the small of her back, discreet enough to catch her attention without catching anyone else's. His strong grip quietly led her through the lobby to the elevator. It was oddly comforting. Mari glanced around to make sure no one was looking. Sure enough, doctors and nurses had better things to do than to gossip about the owner leading a woman away. She relaxed into his grip and let him have his way.

"Where are we going?" she asked as her boots echoed down the hall. "I have to go home to cook dinner. I wanted to try this one pan chicken recipe," Mari began mumbling when she realized the Ootori couldn't care less about what was on the menu for dinner. "Don't you have to get back to work?" she tried again.

They were in the elevator leading down to the underground garage. He swiftly made a call to his assistant to cancel the last thing on his schedule before he lost reception. Mari blinked and gave him an appalled look.

"Kyouya, what are you doing?" she asked.

"It's not an urgent meeting with the executives," he reassured her. "I think they would prefer having more time to gather their wits anyway." He gently gripped her wrist to lead her to his Mercedes. Of course he would have a Mercedes, she sighed to herself. Mari got into the car without being told to, taking off her handbag for comfort and leaned into the leather seats. It still had that new car smell. Kyouya didn't drive the vehicle enough to get rid of it it seemed.

He buckled himself into the seat and started the car. Mari did the same and stared at him quietly, hoping for an explanation. He only smirked in response.

"It'll only be a 30 minute drive," Kyouya told her.

"To where?" Mari groaned. "It better be a restaurant," she grumbled. "Or a café," she offered an alternative. She could use a snack at this point. Or maybe a coffee in the midst of a dreary winter day. It was supposed to be spring soon.

"We can go out to eat after," he responded. "You can look up where you want to eat."

Mari thought about it. "I'm craving a gourmet burger with truffle fries and—"

"No," he vetoed immediately.

"Okay, how about convenience store sandwiches," Mari went to the other end of the spectrum to spite him.

Kyouya made a noise of disgust. "Why must you keep indulging in these commoner foods?"

"Convenience store food is quite delicious," she informed. "Sometimes I grab it for breakfast when I'm feeling extra hungry before I get into the office."

"You make it sound like it's a delicacy," Kyouya was nowhere near warming up to the idea of eating from a convenience store. "Fine, we can grab whatever those burgers are. As if you didn't have enough of that kind of food while we were in America," he grumbled.

"It's different!" Mari insisted. "There's the super gross greasy mess we'd have in the cafs during university and then there's the finely crafted—"
"—Also a greasy mess," Kyouya interjected.

Mari crossed her arms. "Fine, what do you want to eat?"
"Whatever you want to eat," he grumbled.
"Ugh," she rolled her eyes.

The two spent their time bickering over the foods that Kyouya found acceptable to eat, despite Mari's protests in that she had been feeding him simple commoner the entire time they had lived together. Kyouya was not a picky eater, never believing that food was particularly something he had to pay attention to beyond eating for nourishment. But he drew the line at fast food and convenience store food. By the time they arrived, the two had decided on nothing about food.

Mari looked out the dashboard to an empty acre of land, covered in barren trees and snow on the ground. It was quite a large hill that the trees had grown upon. Quite frankly, it didn't look like much besides a forest growing on an angle.

"This is not food," she commented at the trees.
"That much is obvious," he shot back. Kyouya reached over for his tablet in his workbag and pulled up a rendering of what the developer sent. Mari noticed that it was a subsidiary of her family's company right off the bat. He handed the tablet over to her.

"This is what it will look like in 5 years," he pointed to the modern home that was computer generated. The elevation of the hill was meant to provide a view of the city from the front and the mountains in the back. Mari looked more at the map and back to the piece of undeveloped land in front of her. The market value was 15 million yen.

"Is this an investment?" Mari asked.
"All forms of real estate is an investment," Kyouya shrugged.

"I mean, I guess it could be an interesting project to make money off of," the scientist shrugged. "It's farther from the city than I thought. Might be difficult to access essential services."

"The city is growing," he responded. "But at least the trees and the elevation could provide some privacy from the ground-level."

Mari nodded in agreement. "It's nice," she shrugged. "The home is very aesthetically pleasing. I'm sure someone is bound to buy it after the development is finished. You could make a sizeable profit though probably not as much as you already do."

Kyouya chuckled. "You mean you wouldn't want to live in it?"

"Oh I would," Mari responded as she scrolled through the renderings. The home would be covered well enough by vegetation that the use of the glass would allow for plenty of natural light. The home faced eastward and would be greeted by the sun every morning. The house had plans for making a garage right beneath the main floor, enough to fit 4 cars at a maximum. The living space looked right out into the backyard to face the mountains. The 5 bedrooms would provide more than enough room and the open kitchen boast plenty of space for two ovens, a state of the art stove, and a kitchen island with its own water source for two sinks, all with black marble covered upon the counters. Mari nodded slowly in acknowledgement.

"It's beautiful," she softly gave her seal of approval. "I think it'll turn out nicely, especially with our family's developers."

"Good, because I bought it," he smiled. Not a smug smirk. A full blown boyish smile that only made her smile back.

"What if I had said I didn't like it?" Mari chuckled. "It's not like you could rescind your offer."

"I thought you would like it," Kyouya answered. "It seemed like something you would appreciate. I like the privacy. We have similar tastes in décor and aesthetic. I just wanted the validation that you would like your future home."

"My future home," Mari repeated as she looked into the trees. The sun was setting through the woods, the sunlight filtering through the branches as the evening neared. "This will be in your pre-nup though, so not really my home, is it?" she half-joked. Mari still had her condo under her name. It wasn't nearly as expensive as what the Ootori had bought.

He laughed. Only the rich could joke about such things. "Our home for as long as we're together," he corrected.

"I hope we're together for a long time," she softly said, almost as a secret that she wanted to keep to herself. "In like, a happy way, you know?" Mari wondered if that was too unrealistic considering the fact that they spent half an hour bickering about tastes in food.

He reached over to her hand and gave it a squeeze. Her fingers were cold under his palm. He held on tightly to Mari. "I'm happy," he told her. "I'm always happier with you than without."

Mari weaved her fingers into his and planted a sweet kiss to the hand in thanks. It was a half-apology for bickering with him on the way here when all he wanted to do was show her what he had been looking for in the past few months.

"I have a meeting with the architect and developer on the weekend in a month" he told her. "You should come."

"Okay," she agreed. It took a moment before it dawned upon her that the man just bought both of them a home even though there was nothing but rock and trees. He was invested in them, their future, their lives together with this home to be built.

"What are you thinking about?" he grazed his thumb over her own to catch her attention. "I know it's a little far from the city, but I think the commute is similar to your current one using the subway—"

"No, it's not that," she cut off. "I'm just… reflecting," Mari settled. "In how much you want… this," she held up their hands.

"I'm a man of my word," he smugly responded with a smirk.
"I know," Mari grinned. "As am I," she added. "Let's go eat burgers."

The Ootori groaned at the sickening idea of a greasy mess in his hands as an entire meal.


Mari sat on the floor with her back against their couch. Their meal was sprawled across the coffee table. Kyouya grunted at her choice of sitting on the floor instead of their dining room table. At the very least, Mari put on the news channel – the only channel that the Ootori was willing to watch. He teared through the parchment paper to reveal his custom-made burger with wagyu beef, caramelized onions, gouda, and mushrooms on brioche bread. Mari watched as the Ootori bit into the bun with suspicion before chowing down half of the meal in his hands.

"I'm hungry," he narrowed his eyes. They waited nearly half an hour for a takeout, plus another 10 minute drive and the time required to travel to the top floor of the building. Mari snickered at his defensiveness.

"It's good," she gently nudged him with her knee as she unabashedly ate her own. It was certainly not cheap as regular fast food, but it was delicious and satiated her craving. Enough that the Ootori was silently on board with it as well, digging into the truffle fries while they were still hot. His eyes were glued onto the 70" TV screen. Mari rested her head on his shoulder as she ate comfortably. He welcomed the weight, moving closer to her so she could be more comfortable.

Mari offered a bite of her burger to him, to which the Ootori took without complaint. She fed him the fizzy soda that came with it – also customized by flavour. Kyouya opted for a refreshing lime-kiwi soda while Mari opted for strawberry acai. Somehow, despite all their differences, the two managed to come together and sit on the floor during the night to eat junk food while watching the news of all things.

The two sipped on their sugary drinks like they were their dessert and stared at the big screen. Mari sighed at the bliss of how stupidly simple this was. How satisfying it was to just sit on the floor to eat a greasy burger while watching the news with your best friend.

"What?" he grumbled. He took it as the start of her being snarky about him not willing to try what happened to be a decently good meal.

"Nothing," she answered truthfully. Nothing that was of much importance to voice, at least.

"You're about to make a comment about how I was too pompous to try a commoner burger but ended up devouring it," Kyouya accused.

Mari lifted her head from his shoulder and looked at him with surprise. "I wasn't but I mean, it's nice that you acknowledged your closed-minded rich people behaviour," she shot back. He crossed his arms and leaned back on the couch, catching the last bit of the news segment. Mari rolled her eyes and went back to drinking her soda.

"Then what were you sighing about?" he quietly asked.

She shrugged. "How it was nice to eat burgers with your best friend," she responded simply.

His shoulders relaxed as he shook his head. "Goodness, even after all these years you manage to surprise me."

"Is it so surprising that I'm just grateful to have a moment of peace with you?" Mari laughed. "I mean, I know we fight a lot but it's especially nice when we aren't fighting, don't you think?"

The Ootori shrugged. "I could think of a better use of time."

Mari looked at the garbage strewn on their coffee table. "Like cleaning this mess?"

"No," he scooted closer to her and pressed a kiss behind her ear as he pulled away her hair. She could feel him smile into the kiss before his hands wandered around her waist to pull her closer to him, a move that he had now perfected since they had begun their long affair with each other. He began peppering kisses along her neck and tugged at her blouse to reveal more of her skin along her shoulder. Mari turned to pin his arms against the couch while wrapping her legs around his waist, refusing to let him have his way before she did. Their lips met like it was second nature, her arms letting go his wrists in favour of caressing his sharp jawline. He chased her lips as she bent backwards. His hands were already untucking her blouse from her pants with an insatiable hunger to explore the skin beneath. Mari grinned and pulled away from the man, eliciting a groan.

"What? You want me to clean the table, don't you?" Kyouya was hoping she would be distracted enough from the mess.

"And take out the garbage," Mari added innocently. "Please?" The man could only sigh, pinching his nose bridge in frustration. She kissed him on the cheek sweetly before climbing off of the Shadow King.

"You'll be rewarded," she promised with a sultry whisper.

The Ootori lifted himself up to his knees to gather the trash on the table within a split second.


Her morning routine on the weekends usually involved crawling out of the Shadow King's death grip at what he considered an hour far too early for any kind of function. A quick run in the gym a few floors below and back upstairs to take a shower to get ready for the day. Her breakfast was black coffee on most days with the addition of fresh fruit on a bed of yogurt. It was a relaxing and quiet routine. Weekends generally meant errands to run. For Mari, it was sending off her jacket for dry cleaning to welcome the spring weather.

While the Ootori had slept in on the weekend, Mari arranged for their dry cleaning of their winter coats. She emptied her pockets of the things she had kept over the season: extra bobby pins, her house and office keys, travel-sized hand sanitizer and lotion, and lip balm that fit in her two pockets. She moved over to the Ootori's winter coat that stored his winter gloves. That was it.

The joys of being a man without the need of carrying the essentials around, she figured. Mari laid his coat down on the counter to double check that there was nothing else she had left behind. Her hand felt a bump against the chest area. A hidden pocket happened to be in the seams for Mari to discover. Her slim fingers easily slid into the pocket to fish out a dark velvet box.

She observed the box for a bit. It wasn't the typical Tiffany & Co. box that Mari had always heard of Yuki boasting about when it came to her own engagement ring someday. Mari let the box sit on the counter while she sipped her coffee quietly. She moved over to the grand piano, sitting on the bench cross legged as she looked out into the city.

Her curiosity begged for her to return back to the counter to open the box. Who was she kidding? It was obvious it was going to be an engagement ring. But… maybe it wasn't. Maybe she was being presumptuous. Maybe it was a pair of nice earrings? She sipped on her coffee and let the cup settle on the ledge of the piano before she tiptoed over to the kitchen counter to bring the velvet box back.

The sun began trickling through the ceiling to floor glass windows, illuminating the piano and of course, the box in her hands. She took a deep breath and calmly revealed the inside of the box. The diamond immediately glittered in the sunlight.

It was not one, but three diamonds on a thin platinum band. A hexagonal diamond sat in the middle held in place by six prongs, flanked by two smaller triangular diamonds that sat on each side. It was beautiful. Not overly extravagant but certainly a ring that was worth a couple of her paycheques. The clarity of the diamonds was incredible. Mari let the ring glisten in the sun. She admired the ring for god knew how long before she mustered up the courage to place it on her own hand. Kyouya certainly knew her well enough to have her fall in love with a house he had purchased for them, and now this incredible ring, and of course, him.

Whether her fingers shook from the coffee's caffeine or if she was nervous from discovering a secret that the Ootori kept for how long, she didn't know. Her eyes welled up at the thought of him waiting and waiting and waiting. She certainly did not give him enough credit for his patience and his kindness over the course of the years. Mari kept her tears as silent as she could, overwhelmed by the love he had for her. She crouched over the bench, sniffling as she admired her own hand.

It was a perfect fit.