Hi everybody! This is my fourth chapter, Eavesdropping. I hope you like it!
I want to thank kittycat for reviewing and TsugumiSora for following and favoriting my story. I love it when people follow, favorite, or review my story so you two are my favorite readers as of now!
Now enough of my blabbing, read the chapter!
It was Saturday morning, dad had come home late last night and he had already left for work by the time I got up. So I haven't seen him since yesterday morning.
'I hope nothing's wrong at work. Dad doesn't usually go to work on Saturdays.' I was sitting on my porch swing which was on my private balcony that was attached to my bedroom/suite when I was thinking this.
I was wearing a light brown dress that had a v-neck and three-quarter length sleeves. The dress had a dark blue sash around the waist and the skirt of the dress was pleated. Underneath my dress and showing in the opening of the v-neck was a dark blue camisole that matched the sash.
Unless I'm going to some special event I usually don't mess with my hair so it was simply hanging down my back.
"Hey Madoka! Wanna go to the mall?"
I leaned over the railing of my balcony, which was facing the front lawn, and I saw my friends Kiyomi and Yuka waving at me from the ground.
"Yeah, sounds like fun! I'll be right down." After grabbing my purse, I raced down two flights of stairs and out the front door where I joined my friends in Kiyomi's limo.
Once we got to the mall I turned to my friends and said, "is there anything in particular that you wanted to look for?"
"Actually, there is something we wanted to look for," Kiyomi said as we walked through the crowded mall. "We want to look for outfits for the host club's ball."
"Wait, won't it seem suspicious if we ran into a classmate?" I asked.
"Not at all," Yuka said as she danced around Kiyomi and I.
"Why?" I asked.
"Because the host club put up an announcement for the ball on their website!" Yuka said, walking backwards in front of me.
"Come on, there's a store I had in mind," Kiyomi said as she grabbed one of mine and Yuka's hands and dragged us off to a store.
"Where are we?..." I trailed off as I saw rows and rows of designer dresses, shoes, handbags, ect.
"Look! It's the Hitachiin twins. Over here Hikaru! Kaoru!" Yuka shouted while jumping up and down and waving her arms over her head.
"Why are the devils here?" I mumbled as the twins approached us.
"This is their mother's store. Didn't you see the sign out front?" Kiyomi said casually.
"No, somebody was dragging me through this crowded mall at the speed of light," I commented dryly.
"What are you girls doing here?" Hikaru, I think, asked as he and his twin reached us.
"We're looking for dresses to wear at the host club's ball," Kiyom said.
"Will you two help us pick out dresses, pleeeaasssee!" Yuka begged.
"Sure, shrimp," the other twin said. "Hikaru and I will help you pick out dresses."
'Yay, I got the twins right, for once. But Kaoru just called Yuka a shrimp, how is she not insulted?'
"The only thing we ask for in return is that you try on whatever we want," Hikaru concluded.
"Deal!" Yuka said excitedly.
"Let's look at the dresses over here," the twins said, leading us to the back of the store.
The twins found a dress for Yuka first. After trying on thirteen dresses, they settled on a silver mid-calf length dress with dark purple lining and a dark purple sash tied under the breasts. The sleeves were made out of a transparent silver material that was lightly ruffled and reached the elbow.
Then Yuka picked out a purple mask with silver accents and open-toed purple heals with a small flower made out of diamonds on the outer ankle of each shoe.
Kiyomi was next, she tried on ten dresses before she and the twins agreed on a floor length light blue dress. The dress was one shouldered with a flowing sleeve that had a triangular shape with the point brushing the top of the elbow. There was dark brown beading around the neckline and a dark brown sash, tied in the front, around the waist.
Hikaru and Kaoru picked out dark brown flats with light blue transparent flowers on the toes of the shoes; they also picked out a dark brown mask set with light blue rhinestones.
When it was my turn, I tried on seven dresses before choosing a dark blue dress that stopped two inches above the ankle. The dress had a black sash around the waist, tied to the side. The dress was form fitting to the waist but when it past the sash it flowed out softly to right above my ankle with a sparkly black mesh sticking out underneath it.
The Hitachiins finished off my outfit with a black mask that had dark blue accents and dark blue one-inch heals with black stones placed where the criss-crossing straps met the shoe.
"Thanks for helping us find these dresses," Kiyomi, Yuka, and I said as we left the store.
"No problem," the twins answered before starting their twincest act for some reason; I ignored it, Kiyomi giggled, and Yuka swooned.
Then we said goodbye and headed back into the crowded mall
XXXXXXX
My friends and I had spent the whole day at the mall, now it was five in the evening and I had just been dropped off at home by my friends.
As I walked in the door and stepped out of my shoes, I heard my dad's voice echo down the hall.
'Dad's back!' I thought joyfully as I ran silently down the hall.
As I got closer to my dad's voice, I could here my mom and dad talking in low voices to each other.
I stood stalk still as I heard their worried voices, then I silently crept next to the door, slouched down next to it, and listened to their conversation.
"Is it that bad?" Mom asked.
"I'm afraid so. When Sakura had her attack on Thursday I had asked Mr. Kongo to take my place but..." My dad said trailing off.
Mr. Kongo is the vice-president of my dad's company, but he can be a little brash at times.
"But?" My mom prompted.
"But during the meeting he refused to cooperate with Mr. Ohtori's new business contract. Kongo swore, things got ugly, and it ended with Kongo storming out of the meeting.
"Yesterday, when Ohtori spoke with me, I apologized and promised to fire Mr. Kongo but Ohtori had already made up his mind; he's cancelling all business between our companies."
"No," my mother gasped with disbelief filling her voice. "Doesn't business with the Ohtori's-"
"Account for over fifty percent of our income? Yes," dad said, cutting mom off. "This means a drastic change in lifestyle for us. We'll have to fire most of our staff, we'll have to get rid of our chauffeurs and sell our limos, and no more buying unnecessary things."
"What about our children's education?" Mom asked.
"We've already paid this years tuition so they can finish off this year of school at Ouran"
"Well this sounds doable... Right?" My mom asked when dad did not respond.
"I'm afraid not," my dad said grimly. "The drugs in the stimulant for Sakura are extremely expensive. In other words, we won't be able to afford the supplies needed to make Sakura's stimulant."
"But, but... But what will we do? Sakura could die without the stimulant!" Mom said, bursting into tears.
"I know. Today I talked with my brother and he's willing to care for Sakura, he's even willing to pay for the drugs needed in the stimulant... Of course that means that Sakura will have to live with my brother but I just don't know what else we can do."
I didn't want to hear any more; I stood up half way, took a few steps back, and then I fled up the stairs to my bedroom.
I silently closed my door and locked it, then I sat on the edge of my bed and tried to take in what I had just heard.
'No more business with the Ohtori's? But we've done business together for as long as I can remember.
'Having Sakura live with uncle Toma? No, I can't let that happen. This is all just a big mistake, it has to be!'
I flopped onto my back and stared at the celling for half an hour.
'Guess I'll have to return the dress. I wonder how Kyoya will react to me refusing to go to the ball?'
My eyes suddenly grew large and I sat straight up.
'Of course! Why didn't I think of this sooner? Kyoya was there when the nurse came to get me, maybe I can convince him to talk to his father about forgiving my father because of the circumstances!'
I sprang up off my bed, brushed my hair, put on some make-up, and dashed out the door. I ran up to my favorite chauffeur and told him, "I need a ride to the Ohtori estate."
XKyoyaX
I had just finished balancing the host club's account and not surprisingly, Tamaki had over spent on supplies for the ball. Since I knew my friend so well, I had given him a budget with less money than we could actually afford; so even with Tamaki's over spending we still had plenty of money.
"Excuse me master Ohtori, you have a visitor."
I looked up to see a maid standing timidly in the door way. "Who is it?" I asked, standing up.
"A girl named Madoka Yamada. She says that she's a friend from school."
"Tell her that I'll see her in a minute."
"Of course," the maid said, leaving my room.
I can already guess what Miss Yamada is here for; she wants to talk about why we stopped doing business with her family.
I sighed, 'the sooner I do this the sooner it will be over.'
As I walked into the room Yamada was in I gave her a quick survey. I could tell from the way that she was fiddling with her skirt that she was nervous.
The second she saw me, Yamada stood up from her seat and started to speak. "Excuse me for going straight to the reason why I'm here but... I was wondering if you could do me a favor?"
'A favor? This isn't exactly what I was expecting.'
"May I here you out before making a decision?" I asked while pushing up my glasses, making them glint.
"Of course," she said quickly. "I just wanted to ask if you could speak with your father about the circumstances of why my dad couldn't make it to the meeting."
Miss Yamada's words ran soft and fast out of her small mouth. "You were there when the nurse came to get me, you know that it was serious. I-I..."
Here Yamada broke off, when she looked back up at me you could see that her eyes were full of tears and determination, and she said. "Just tell your father that I'll do anything for my dad to get his job back."
I stayed quiet for a minute, then I put my hand under Madoka's chin and lifted it up, causing her to blush. "I'll tell him," I said.
Instantly her eyes lit up. "Thank you Ohtori!" She said bowing, then she took her leave and left.
That evening when I relayed Yamada's message to my father he said, "I figured something like this would happen, though I didn't expect that it would be Miss Madoka who would make that offer. I suppose this just makes thing easier. You are dismissed."
As walked away I thought, 'so this was his plan the whole time? Father's as manipulative as ever.'
So that's the end of this chapter. What do you think? And what does Kyoya's father mean by this will make things easier? I guess you'll have to keep reading to find out. See you next chapter!
Next time: The Business Proposal
-Karolyn Grace.