Kasumi
Flopping in bed and staring at my ceiling, there was something else bothering me other than Kyoya and the marriage.
I hAvEn'T SlePt iN DaYs!
There's really no reasoning behind why, but lately I just can't get this picture out of my mind. I tried drawing it like Kim with her dreams, but the drawings don't amount to it. It's frustrating to think I may have lost my touch, but no, whatever I'm seeing every time I close my eyes is driving me to insanity.
The image is nothing I can't draw, but each time I try it just seems out of place from what I see and makes me crumble it up and toss it. I reached for the sketchbook once more to maybe get a sketch in of the person I see, but the picture was a blur like I was looking under water and made me give up. For some reason my life seems to be in such turmoil. Maybe it's all the stress from school and work piling up? Kyoya is another matter I should deal with, but without sleep I really don't know how I'm coping with everything on my plate. I stared at my ceiling, hoping sleep would just come to me like it was nothing, but unfortunate it was another night without sleeping a wink. I watched the clock tick on by, the time was now 2AM. Rather than hoping for a nap I just got dressed and headed to work to finish up the finalization of the new contract I got.
~OoOoO~
Shalalalala…shalalala…shalalala~
"Who the hell is calling me this early?" At my desk working, I glared at my phone across the room and made my way over to it. "Kasumi speaking," I groaned, pinching the bridge of my nose and trying not to snap.
"Kasumi, morning," hearing such a gruff voice on the other end, it took me a moment to realize it was Kyoya.
"Morning," questioning why he was up this early, I looked at my laptop and found the time to be around 5AM. I know damn well with his blood type he is no morning person and shouldn't even be alive at this time of day.
"I was having trouble sleeping and kept thinking of you. But I was also wondering if you would like to attend dinner with me tonight."
Caught off guard to the offer, it took me a moment to reply and I can hear his breathing change slightly to impatience. It was subtle over the phone but I clearly heard a slight agitation from his voice as though I couldn't have answered him quick enough.
"Kyoya I—"
"My father would like you to attend. For once my family will be together and we can have a leisure talk." Leisure talk? Lately all these talks have led to being about business and about our family relations. Do I even want to attend such a dinner with him…with his father?
"Kasumi, are you still there?"
"Oh…yeah," I have to say no somehow. "Listen Kyoya, I—"
"If you have nothing to wear, there is a dress I can send to you. I can pick you up around 5 this evening if that will be alright."
Not leaving much room for me to speak, I merely consented to the time and hung up.
"…. a dinner…" dreading the thought, I looked to my mirror and saw the heavy bags under my eyes begin to get very visible. "Better break out the make-up and pull up make-up tutorials online to hide this face…" looking like a walking disaster, it took me about 45minutes before I felt it looked natural enough to fool Kim. Even for me this was enough, but I really don't want to be questioned. Now I just had to come up with a way to speak with Kyoya about my personal matters and maybe get this whole idea of marriage out of his father's head.
~OoOoO~
I've only ever met with Mr. Ootori through a screen at work when discussing stocks and other business-related matters, but in person—it's just never been done. How would they all look at me knowing I'm the soul owner of the Matsumoto Franchise group? I'm really feeling queasy about all of this and I feel like throwing up.
"Kasumi," Kim tugged my hair into a finishing bun and had me look at her through the mirror that sat before me. Zoning out enough to forget she was doing my hair made me realize how damn tired I really was. "Stop trying to figure stuff out; Kyoya is going to be there with you every step of the way, so no need to get flustered." Calming me down, I took a few deep breaths and smiled my best for her and still felt nauseous.
"You're right," I admitted. "I'm worrying too much over nothing." Hoping all will be as Kim said, I looked at myself in the mirror and looked like a proper aristocrat. The light blue corset dress Kim picked for me was rather nice. It was laced with black along the edges to give my curves a finer definition to them and my lower half was a much darker blue that looked like the ocean. Kim working with Kaoru's mom has really started to show her artistic side as I've become a model for some of her outfits as of late. I really adore Kim's enthusiasm towards fashion. Though I'm no fashionista, it did fascinate me how she could come up with so many designs and use me as a model. I especially adore the suits she's made for me for work. I show those off like its nobody's business.
*Ding…Dong…Ding!*
"That should be Kyoya now." Kim said cheerily as she ran to the door to let him in while I remained up in my room. Without reason I decided to open my mother's old jewelry box buried deep inside my drawer and look at all my mother's jewelry.
Inside the box sat priceless gem stones; necklaces, earrings, rings, bracelets, practically anything to wear on any occasion. But within this very box I found my mother's favorite blue stone necklace and pulled it out and put it on. It was a good setting image that tied the outfit together, and the small gem brought me a little more courage than I thought it would and got me to walk to the stairs.
Descending the stairs I noticed he was dressed as only a nobleman would. He had his hair slicked back and his glasses polished to a fine shine. Wearing a black tailored suit and a light blue rose clipped to his chest to match my dress, he looked stunning. I walked slowly as not to fall and said my farewell to Kim until late tonight of my return. We left my house promptly and the driver had driven us to the restaurant Kyoya's father picked out for the family to gather.
Kim
"She looked really nervous," speaking on the phone with Kaoru, he was hardly paying any attention to our conversation. I could tell since he's hardly spoken since I've called him. "Kaoru… are you even listening to me?! Kyoya just might drop the bomb tonight and Kasumi will say no!" venting out my thoughts and worries to him only to hear a meek reply, I gave up continuing the talk and just hung up the phone. "Ugh…I know how Kasumi feels right now." I said aloud as I lay in bed thinking about my own relationship with Kaoru. Lately it's been bothering me how much he's changed. Both twins only act themselves at the host club, but when outside of the school and the club they act entirely different. These last few months of the new Kaoru have really shut me off. He's not all sweet and attentive, he's a brute with his words and critiques of others work…especially mine of late. I wish society wouldn't get in the way so much…it was nice being with him without the reality of it all crashing down on us. "All I ask for is a little more eagerness from him…" wishing for something I know won't come true, I rolled around on my bed and wondered how Kasumi was holding up. Having been two hours already I can only imagine how boring or scary things might be. The Ootori group is not exactly a light weight family. I've only ever heard Mr. Ootori speak on the phone when taking a message for Kasumi, and even that weighed my anxiety to a level that was uncomfortable.
The door downstairs was heard being swung open by force and slammed seconds later with a pattering of footsteps climbing up the steps and finding Kasumi running past my door all disheveled and angry.
"Kasumi, what happened?"
Kasumi didn't respond to me. I followed her quickly and noted her shoes were gone, dress was disheveled and her hair was a mess. Something happened at dinner and truthfully I didn't wish to know, but as her friend I had to know.
Kasumi
The nerve of them! All of them! How dare they suggest such vulgar things to me in front of so many people! I would wring all their necks if I could! Ripping the remaining clips out of my hair and taking the dress off as carefully as I could manage in my anger, I was just fuming with hot tears stinging my eyes. The urge to punch and kick something was so tempting that everything looked like a target.
"Kasumi," Kim was in the doorway ready to come to me when I sat on the floor with my head in my hands and trying to breathe. "…what happened during dinner?"
I looked back up with pursed lips and struggled to find words that portrayed my every emotion. "Kyoya's father just decided I was marrying into the Ootori family tonight as a way to strengthen our businesses! Even better yet, he had the gall to ask for grandchildren as soon as possible! Be it with Kyoya or his second oldest son Keiji! There is something wrong in that man's head!" Seething with anger and gripping onto Kim for Sanity. She asked if Kyoya said anything to my defense. That's where I lost it and laughed to the thought of what happened.
"Kyoya proposed to me like his father wished of him to do with little to ZERO emotion in it! I felt nothing but obligation to his father rather than feelings of love towards me!" Clicking my tongue and digging my nails into the floor, I was breathing hard and wanted to break things. But just recalling how Kyoya spoke to me and the obligation I felt to say yes like some mechanical doll just turned on the waterworks and I sobbed. "Just what the hell…" I cried angrily.
"Kasumi…" She pulled me into a big hug and didn't bother letting me go. I stayed this way until Kim was capable of helping me get to bed with her and sleep soundly with her by my side. I've never cried myself to sleep in a rather long time…I had forgotten the feeling of my heart being torn to pieces each time I shed a tear. But the sleep was so short lived, maybe 3o minutes or so. I wanted to cry again in frustration but had no more tears to shed. With Kim sleeping soundly and not wanting to wake her up, I stayed quiet and just let my thoughts wonder aimlessly.