A/N: I'm back to writing again! It's been a while! but I'll try to start writing new chapters again after updating the old ones! Have fun reading dear reader!

Revised: 11/14/21

Chapter 1

What would you give for love?

If you fell deeply in love with someone, would you give up your entire world for that person? Would you fall in a boiling volcano if he asked you too? What about enduring years of isolation for him? Or if he asked you to give up your wealth, would you do it?

Would you trade your life for eternity with this person?

If you asked me this question two decades ago, my answer would most likely be no. I didn't really believe in this true love crap, nor did I believe in romance. If you asked me, I thought it was a load of cow manure. A tale spun by optimists for the sake of not falling into boredom. I mean, how can two people be perfect for each other? It just doesn't exist in any lifetimes.

At least, that's what I thought.

I come from a family of power and privilege. Life for me was more than comfortable at the least, it was nothing to complain about if I'm being honest. I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth. Though, to the social class that I live in, my spoon comparatively to all the others is a golden one. True, I am surrounded by rich snobby children, However, in their world, my wealth far outshines theirs. I wasn't just filthy rich, oh no no. If I can describe it in any way, I would say I'm filthy rich multiplied by a hundred thousand. Simply thinking about the amount of wealth my family owns makes my head hurt.

My father, a prodigy, owns several major tech companies internationally. He took the world by storm by coming up with innovative ideas to bring about a more efficient lifestyle for generations to come. He is the smartest man that has ever lived in my opinion. Nobody that I've ever met in my life can be compared to my brilliant father. I'm also my daddy's little girl, so I am extremely biased.

My mother, however, came from a long line of wealthy 'royalty' as they would say, in other words, 'old money rich' to give a better description. She, the darling of the family, never stopped her 'voluntary' charity work, having a blasted bleeding heart for the less fortunate, and on top of that, a beauty that compared to no other to match her 'affection' for the less fortunate. My mother was a master at keeping up appearances, she is a true politician when it came to hosting soirees and anything that had to do with the word event attached. She taught me everything I need to know about social manipulation and human psychology.

Fortunately, I received my mother's straight hazel hair, enchanting cerulean eyes with long lashes, a heart-shaped face, and my father's sharp intellect. The people I would meet would literally fall down on their knees and pathetically kiss up to me. It was absolutely abhorrent, I disliked every moment of it. I know what I was born with and have fully taken advantage of my fortunate situation whenever it suits me. Call it a survival tactic if you will, I see it as a necessary evil with the life I was dealt with.

Some people would describe it as egotistical, self-centered, absolutely arrogant of me to think of people this way, but it is what it is. This is a selfish world, all I can do is to use what I have. Although I may dislike how people act because of the amount of money that they have, I, however, also live this way because I was born in a family of privilege. I describe myself as a truly terrible person, really. Such as the ways of the rich. We may live in a modernized era, but we will never grow out of our social hierarchy.

Still, my golden-spooned life did come with its own set of hardships. Life for the impeccably rich and famous went with a set of strictly traditional rules and mindset, a sort of 'get married and produce an heir' situation. In addition, to quickly summarize the long list of rules we must follow, my life wasn't really mine to live. I was a puppet for someone else to manipulate. It wasn't really the money I earned that I'm using to begin with, I lived in a jewel encrusted cage. I am a beautiful doll, ready to be told what to do.

My father and mother never had to undergo the arranged marriage debacle. 'True love' they claim. I thought it was absolute horse-manure if I may be so crude. After all, how can someone be so devotedly in love with another? I really don't understand it. Though their marriage wasn't arranged, it was certainly bound to happen. My mother and father were in the same circle of rich people, can it truly be called love if it was picked out for you who you were meant to meet? I don't believe they fell in love organically, it's still to a certain slight degree an event of manipulation.

.

.

.

Well… not until I met him did my world start to change.

My parents decided to enroll me in a prestigious school in my father's home country. In his opinion, Japan is a nice place to take a break from my mother's family. My mother didn't have a problem with it, after all, being the perfect princess can get tiring sometimes. I didn't care either way, rich people are all the same no matter what school I go to.

It was the first day of middle school.

I was sitting at the library, keeping up appearances. It was the beginning of the day, an hour before class would start. The airheaded heiresses were, of course, fawning around me like they usually do. After all, you have to be the best of friends with the richest of them all, and because I was richer than most of them, they had to do everything in their power to befriend me. It was a really tiresome back and forth between who had more to show for, who had the most famous parents, who could throw the biggest parties, etcetera, etcetera, it was at most banal. I would laugh prettily at an uninspired attempt at humor and they would attempt to crack another at my expense. It's all a game of deceit, quite entertaining sometimes if it wasn't for the lack of variety, but necessary all the same. It's nothing remotely challenging, I'm decent at political conversations, so to a degree it can be an average game to pass the time. Having experience with speaking to actual politicians from my mother's line of work is definitely an unfair advantage.

One of the heiresses that I was talking to was in the middle of explaining why her villa was the largest vacation villas of all of Japan, when he walked in the room.

He appeared to be the same age as me, handsome, with his dark hair and ebony eyes, glasses to match his calm and charmingly calculating demeanor, and pristine with an air of indifference as he walked into the room. At first glance, he was like the rest of them. Miserably polite, despicably political, and disgustingly inadequate like everyone else. 'How utterly disappointing' is what I thought.

Then my eyes met his.

A glimmer in his eyes, too quick for anyone to see, changed everything about him. Defeat… Perhaps? No. It was more than that. It was acceptance. But whatever for? Accepting his defeat? For what? It seemed to be deeper than that. It became more pronounced when he politely smiled in front of a boy he was talking to. His smile that never reached his eyes and a look of calculation that matched his entire demeanor. Then a silent spark behind his manner of speaking, his words that convey a deeper meaning. His gestures that could mean one thing but meant another. His hidden smirk behind his glasses. His invisible frown. The undisclosed implication of his intent that he thought he hid so well.

I casually turned back to the girls I was talking to, hiding my interest.

What could you possibly find so defeating in your current predicament? As if the life of a rich man couldn't possibly be any more effortless? Oh, but of course, nothing could be that simple. Not with this society, not with all the people expecting more out of you, not with everybody watching your every move.

I felt something… Amusement? Perhaps?

I smiled at the thought.

He's interesting.

A few days would go by. What else could I do but follow him?

But of course, Stalking is above me, I couldn't possibly let myself 'stalk.' It would be remarkably improper of me to do so, repulsively intrusive to degrade myself to that level of pathetic, disgustingly 'average' simpleton, highly inappropriate for a princess of a French family to disgrace the family's reputation!

Exhale...

I am merely 'observing' him. That is all. I need something to alleviate the boredom. It could be fun!

It wasn't terribly difficult.

Fortunately, he was in the same class as me. So 'noticing' his every move didn't prove to have many hardships. It certainly helped that he wasn't too bad to look at. Not that I was staring. I absolutely do not do staring. It is entirely beneath me. It is extraordinarily absent-minded of me, a beautiful rich lady like myself, resorting to such a thing as staring at his interesting face. Terrible. Yes, yes. Ahem.

Anyway,

His name, I soon found out, is Kyoya Ootori.

He is the third son of the Ootori conglomerate. A typical wealthy family that owns several averagely successful companies. In all honesty, my grandmother wouldn't be impressed. They were like any ordinary wealthy businessmen, trying to push their success to exhaustion. It was hopelessly competent at best and entirely futile to see their hard work bring them only an inch more of success.

Him being the third son of the family, of course, was desperately trying to gain his father's approval. Normally, in scenarios like these, he would typically never surpass his two older brothers, because of ruthless competition and a heavy amount of ambition that the Ootori's have. And so, that was what he proved to be, exceptionally mediocre in his role as the third son. He's the same way as his brothers, ambitious, ruthless, boring.

I was rather disappointed. It was merely one of those pitiful family dynamics, in the effect of having to live up to the family name, making your father proud, achieving all the prestigious school titles, getting exceptional marks, in the hopes of maybe inheriting some chunk of the family business, disgusting bull-fertilizer that it was. Excuse me for my french.

He proved to be typical.

After my days of observation, I simply lost interest in him. I genuinely thought that he was different from the others. I had hoped that he would maybe want to achieve more than what he's showing for now.

I assumed that he would try a different angle than what he was predictably trying, that he would do something more extraordinary than silent acceptance. Something. Anything else...

Until that fateful day that we accordingly got paired up for a project.

What. A. Joyful. Coincidence.

A few weeks had passed after my (in my opinion) accurate assessment.

The homeroom teacher had just announced the pairs for our upcoming school project. The bell had just rung signaling the end of class and the beginning of lunch.

I noticed him standing up from his chair and casually striding up to my desk. He offered up his hand to me to shake in a polite greeting. I smirked at him and took it, as I looked up at him calculatingly. 'I think I will have a bit of fun with this. This should be a fun experiment to try out, I've never fully played a dumb heiress persona yet, so I shall execute my brilliant plan.' Is what I initially intended, who knew it would prove to be actually interesting.

"Hello, my name is Kyoya Ootori." He smiled.

"Akane Hinode. Pleasure." I smiled back politely.

"The pleasure is all mine," he smirked at me as he pushed up his glasses.

I smirked back.

"I look forward to working on this project with you, Ootori-san. It should prove rather educational, don't you think?" I gave him my best air-headed heiress smile and proceeded to blush prettily on cue.

He pushed up his glasses calculatingly as I detected a subtle twitch of his lips downwards before he caught himself and politely smiled back at me.

"I certainly hope so, Hinode-san. I trust that we will do quite well in this project. If you would like, I can begin the project now, to give us a head start? You can depend on me to get us a good grade." he smiled politely.

My eyebrow twitched at his not-so-subtle remark at my intelligence. His eyebrow suddenly raised for a moment in curiosity, then vanished just as quick with the help of the glare of his glasses.

"That won't be necessary, Ootori-san. I would rather work on it with you if that's alright?" I willed myself to do my best impression of a swooned idiotic girl.

Judging from the fake smile on his face, he wasn't impressed.

"Where would you like to work on our project Hinode-san? My family owns this wonderful private library, if you'd like we can meet up there to work on the project?" He asks, as he pushes up his glasses.

Is this supposed to be the part where he flaunts his family's wealth? I'm not impressed. He's trying to be friendly? To be friends with my family I suppose?

"Oh wow! Ootori-san! How impressive! A library!" I replied back.

He smirks at my remark. Oh, this is too much fun!

"I would rather study at one of my family's private beaches! I hear the weather's nice this time of year! It sounds absolutely great! Don't you think so Ootori-san?" I smile at him.

He gave me a polite smile.

"If it pleases you, Hinode-san," he replied.

I smirked momentarily at his forced polite smile, then quickly hid it with a dopey grin.

"Truly, it does, Ootori-san." I sighed stupidly.

I noticed his hand twitch and I smirked internally.

"I changed my mind, Ootori-san! Why don't we just use one of the school's five libraries? I heard one of them had a spa! Plus it saves my time so I could go shopping later with my ten maids!" I gave him the widest smile.

His glasses glared at me.

He is so much fun to mess with!

"That could be arranged, I'll see you at the third library on the fourth floor then?" he asks politely.

I noticed his annoyance radiating off him. He hides it pretty well if I do say so myself. I almost didn't notice it, if I wasn't trained to assess body language by my mother, I probably would have. I nod at him demurely.

"Well then, I'll see you soon." he nodded as he made to leave.

"Sooner, I would hope." I called out to his retreating form.

I didn't fail to notice the momentary slouch of his shoulder as he briefly grimaced at what I said. He waved his hand goodbye as he gave me his most polite smile.

I couldn't stop myself from silently laughing at his retreating form. This should be fun.

A few days would go by as we worked on our minuscule project. He would politely entertain me with petty small talk about high society and all that nonsense, and I would be equally as mundane as he is. We would go back and forth in our little game of who can talk about nothing the longest until silence followed. It was truly fun at first to act like an idiot and see what he would do. For a while, I found it entertaining to test his limits of how much annoyance he could handle. I almost got through to him a couple of times, but he would always go back to politely smiling at me. He probably did his research on me, most of them do. He would benefit from making me one of his friends, it would definitely benefit his family if they got our family supporting him. I might as well take advantage of it by acting like an idiot and see how much of it would get to him.

But then it quickly got boring.

I decided to change it up one day. I needed to get out of this ghastly boredom.

It was one afternoon. We were at one of the study rooms, and as always, he was tediously polite, and I was as tiresome as he was, feigning a ditsy persona, when I noticed something was off. There was something else. His eyes were different from our typical dull small talk. It was the same look as the first time I saw him. That irritatingly sad look, I couldn't help myself when I saw that look. My subtlety was lost on me that day.

Purposely, of course.

"Why do you look so... despondent?" came out as a quiet whisper in my mouth.

"What?" he turned to me.

His eyes met mine. I saw his silent acceptance of his defeat in them. The same defeat that I assumed reminded him that he was only a third son, that his situation will never be any better than it is. His eyes captured my attention. He conveyed so much depth in one glance that I would do him a disservice if I looked away. I needed to keep eye contact. My curiosity getting the best of me, I let myself get captured.

"Nothing," I smiled back at him politely.

I looked away.

He stared searchingly for just a moment, then the moment ended, and we went back to our tedious discussion.

After that day, something changed. I started noticing the subtle glances coming from his direction when he thought I wasn't looking. He looked almost intrigued or maybe confused. But of course, he wasn't the only one who was interested. I would sometimes return his subtle glances with a barely-there smirk sent his way, that would immediately be replaced by my best impression of a daft bimbo, then he would stare longer as if trying to dissect the situation. Confusion would eventually overcome his features as if trying to figure out if I was genuinely daft. I would internally laugh at him for it.

It was a game. Yes, just a game. Nothing else.

One afternoon he approached me. I was sitting on a window sill in the library, reading a novel by a miserable french poet. I chose to sit at the very back, where there were no tables and chairs near, surrounded by rows of bookshelves housing different romantic authors from a foreign language. No one dared to grab a book from this genre. It was entirely ancient and arguably boring for people to find interesting. Which is why I chose this spot in the library to occupy.

He was tentative at first, I had noticed. His pace slowed down as I saw him in the peripheral of my vision. He picked up his pace when I turned to him and gave him a look of challenge, then replaced by an air-brained smile. His glasses glinted as he distinctly stopped a few feet in front of me and gave me a polite smile.

"Hinode-san. I believe we've gotten off from the wrong foot. I came to apologize." He said.

"Apologize? Whatever for Ootori-san?" I replied.

His eyebrow twitched for a brief half-second. I found that amusing.

"I thought that I had offended you somehow, that day when we were working on our project?"

"Oh, don't be silly, Ootori-san. I didn't feel offended by anything." I smiled prettily.

Our eyes met, I saw a brief uncertainty in them, and perhaps a spark of mild annoyance. I smirked at that.

"Well, that's a relief Hinode-san. I hope we can get along better now." he smiled politely. I returned his polite smile right back at him.

I saw his eyes drifting to the book that I was reading. His eyes sparkled with amusement, then he smirked.

"Interesting choice of literature." He remarked.

I looked down at my book, then back to him.

"Yes, well, I have always found romantic French literature to be 'highly' enjoyable." I smiled again politely.

His eyes glinted with amusement, then was hidden by the glare of his glasses. He grabbed a book from a nearby shelf and riffled through it, feigning interest.

"If you considered death and misery to be a higher form of romance than the romantic books of our age. I would say you have a surprising perspective in romantic literature than most people." He commented.

It was my turn for my eyebrows to momentarily twitch. There was just something about how he looked at me with an amusing challenge that positively irked the living daylights out of me. Then he slyly smiled as he finished his sentence, and a small twinge pulled at my chest. I wanted to wipe that slight smug look off his pretty face. I couldn't help it, I lost control, yet again.

"I find it quite laughable that young authors would think that unconditional love could be born out of just one sight. Hence my choice of literature. Miserably romantic senile authors had to end the lives of their beloved character to reach some climax of some sort from their romance." I blurted out before I could stop myself.

I touched my lips with the tips of my fingers and looked away from his amused eyes. I saw him silently chuckling at the corner of my eye. I felt my cheeks warm at the revelation. Why did I have to be so affected by him? It is positively frustrating.

He placed the book that he was holding back to its previous spot and looked back at me.

"It's an intriguing notion, in its own way." he smirked and pushed up his glasses.

I said nothing as I avoided his gaze.

"Well then, I look forward to seeing you around Hinode-san." He smiled politely and walked away.

I watched his retreating form with apprehension and then proceeded to turn back to my book, doing nothing but rereading the first sentence repeatedly.

Oh great, my cover's blown. So much for playing a ditzy heiress! Why am I so affected by his annoying smirks? Akane, you silly girl! It's just a facial expression! What is it about him that intrigues me so? Is it the depth hidden behind his eyes? I get so lost in them… Curious! Curious would be a better description! His eyes are just filled with so much emotion, that it's hard to look away… I'm reading too many romance books, I'm turning into an actual ditzy heiress. Akane, get your mind out of the clouds!

Well… It was a fun game while it lasted. Made my time here go by faster.

A few days would go by.

We fell into a battle of subtle glances and scathingly polite greetings right after the whole 'library fiasco,' as I like to call it. A most surprising discovery that I got from our predicament was that I do not, for my life, understand why I give a rat's buttocks about him. Again, excuse my French. It's not that I care about him or anything. No, no, no. It was a passing interest; that is all that it is.

Yes, Indeed.

He and his frustrating smirk.

A few months would go by, as our little game of cordial politics would stretch out into the rest of middle school. He went on, achieving quite a lot for himself. A class representative for three years in a row, top of his class, and a perfect model student. It was entirely predictable and uninteresting for me to achieve any of those, I dare say, I let him have it. I don't really have the need to accomplish a list of boring titles, nor do I gain anything from taking it from under him. Which is why I would step back and let him try to attain a little bit of fulfillment for himself. I didn't think it improved his situation, but he would look momentarily determined to try. I couldn't possibly interfere with his efforts when his eyes would shine with conviction the way they rarely do.

Yes, it would be rude of me to do that.

Of course, I do not care about his well-being at all. He can achieve any of those titles all by himself if he really wanted to. I was merely pitying him for his predicament. Yes, that's it.

He was just pitiful. That's all.

While Kyoya obtained all of his little titles. I forced myself to become an average student with above-average grades. I didn't want any more extra attention taken away from the 'unimportant' class representative now, could I? That would be counterintuitive, considering that I literally gave it to him on a silver platter. I already had it all after all. What more could I possibly want?

The rare spark of subtle joy in his eyes was enough for me. His eyes that showed a little bit of happiness was worth all the effort.

How do I label what I'm feeling? Infatuation? Pity? Boredom?

Why do I care if he looked satisfied for a brief moment? Why would I give a damn when he smirks at me like that? I really don't care. I'm sure it's just a phase of my adolescence. It's quite annoying if I'm being honest. He's annoying.

I'm supposed to be a composed heiress that would do my family proud. Or the very least, keep my grandmother from being angry. I'm supposed to not care about anyone! Caring is the first mistake I could make in a game of political warfare, I might as well have tied a noose around my neck if I keep this act up!

He does not interest me. At all. In the slightest.

Until Suoh came into class and changed him completely.

Damn it, Suoh.

It was the final spring of middle school, and an arguably handsome boy entered our classroom. He was a transfer student that hailed from France. His blonde hair and violet eyes was an unfortunate product of a fleeting tryst that came from the once-respected Suoh family.

Apparently, the Lady Suoh couldn't produce an heir for the family. So they had to resort to naming the illegitimate child from France as the heir of the prestigious Suoh legacy. A scandal is what it is, indeed. An embarrassment he might have been, but an opportunity evidently for the Ootori family, as I noticed Kyoya immediately befriending the bastard upon his arrival.

Well, it would be a soundly obvious outcome. From my many observations and my independent research of Kyoya - again, I am reiterating that I, Akane Hinode, am not a stalker, because I absolutely do not 'stalk' anyone at all - found that the Ootori conglomerate and the Suoh corporation are business rivals in many instances - All general information that I found were presented to the public, it obviously did not come from my family's private investigator - Of course, the Suohs do not stand a chance against the Ootoris because clearly Kyoya and his brothers are far more intelligent than a mere bumbling baboon that Suoh presents himself as.

People from rich families hire private investigators to get a leg up on their competition. I'm really good friends with my family's. Just stating a fact. I'm merely doing some light research on my political adversaries for my family, not out of my interests for raven-haired boys with glasses.

Honestly, Suoh doesn't even stand a chance against Kyoya at his best. Suoh just prances around like a monkey handing out random roses to every girl that would fall at his feet. Why would this silly competition of theirs exist when there is obviously a clear winner in this charade!

Ahem. What I meant to say was, they seem to have a very competitive rivalry, yes, yes, indeed… Ahem… Very spirited, yes, yes...

Nevertheless, Suoh changed Kyoya.

Every now and then, I would coincidentally see Kyoya walking with Suoh down the halls. Of course, it would be rude to interrupt their conversation, so I would lean against one of the pillars out of sight. It doesn't count as 'stalking' when you happen upon them by 'coincidence.' I was just being polite. That's all.

God, I do sound like a stalker… What is happening with my life? I'm better than this! What is this? It's just for my amusement! I am not infatuated whatsoever!

I hate my adolescent period.

Nonetheless, every time I see them they would be talking about the most outlandish activities. Kyoya's attempts at befriending the French bastard was honestly rather comical and an imposing display of patience on his part. He would listen to the many ideas of Suoh for their next trip to another Japanese expedition of culture, and so forth and the other. It was quite an obnoxious display on Suoh's part but a surprisingly memorable one for me.

Yes, I will never forget Kyoya's annoyed facial expression. Truly worth immortalizing in a photograph. Which I absolutely 'do not' have with me at all times, professionally taken I might add, by one of the most renowned photographers in the world, that just so happened to be hired by my family. How silly. Ahem… Very silly. No, I definitely 'do not' own one of those.

Damn hormones.

In spite of that, days would go by, I would notice Kyoya increasingly showing frustration with his interactions with Suoh. Still, he would display a more pronounced determination each time. Suoh, successfully breaking his calm facade each day, showing a genuine side to Kyoya.

I have to hand it to Suoh, his capriciousness is abundant to the point that I had thought he was provoking Kyoya on purpose.

.

.

.

Suoh, you genius.

For a bumbling blonde baboon, he wasn't too bad. His idiocy and manipulation can be a little endearing sometimes, when he puts it into good use that is.

I smiled at the thought of Tamaki Suoh's theatrics. Genius. Absolutely inspired!

I do not care! I repeat, I shouldn't care! I am composed! I am an heiress!

God… I'm doomed.

I hate romance.

I sound crazy. I sound like those girls from the romance books! I am absolutely, undeniably not infatuated with Kyoya Ootori!

These damn hormones are an actual curse!

Is this what its like to be intrigued? Is this what they call a crush?

No, no, no, no, no! I am to play the perfect doll! I'm not allowed to have these feelings for this annoying raven-haired boy! I cannot allow myself to stoop so low!

Breathe… Calm down. Everything will be alright.

I'm just going to choose to ignore him. Everything about his damn soul capturing eyes and god forsaken smirking lips.

It'll pass, like a damn hurricane.

A few months later.

It was almost winter. Middle school was reaching its conclusion. He came into class with Suoh one day, he was laughing at what the manipulative blonde had said. They looked genuine… It was almost interesting. It's not anything special.

I need to focus.

Then our eyes met, I saw that permanent look of his silent acceptance of defeat completely non-existent, replaced by a fierce determination that lit up his soul.

It was opulent. It was Kyoya Ootori at his best.

I felt something change.

I genuinely smiled at him that day, he didn't fail to return my smile with a genuine one of his own.

That was the day that I started to fall, without noticing it.