When Haruhi and Kyouya started dating, they never really told anyone. It was not that it was a secret, or that they didn't wish for anyone to know, but simply because they didn't consider it to be anyone else's concern.

Personally, Haruhi didn't see this as a problem, but then, she hadn't expected the relationship to last as long as it did, or to end in something like marriage. She had been confident that it was all experimental, that Kyouya had asked her out because he liked her and that she had accepted simply because she liked him. A friendship taken to the next level, so to speak.

Kyouya had always known that Haruhi was thick when it came to things like relationships, and asked her out fully prepared to do what it took to make her see that he didn't just want to date her; he was in love with her. However, he underestimated her ability to be blunt and oblivious.

She wouldn't let him buy her anything, or take her to extravagant places, or arrange first class vacations for the two of them. She insisted that they only went out every other week so that their studies wouldn't slip. She let him hold her hand and kiss her occasionally, but that was the extent of their physical relationship.

Kyouya found it frustrating and enjoyable at the same time. It was a challenge, and challenges thrilled him. However, there were times when she was just so stubbornly stupid that he wanted to hit his head on the wall.

He would say, "I love you."

And she would suspiciously reply, "What do you want?"

He would say, "You're beautiful."

And she would shake her head, muttering, "baka..."

One time he even asked her to marry him and she burst into laughter and said, "You shouldn't joke about that sort of thing, Kyouya-sempai! What if someone takes you seriously?"

If only, Haruhi, he remembered thinking.

As their relationship moved on, things began to settle down. He had a feeling that Haruhi finally began to develop an idea of his feelings for her. Every so often he would catch her staring at him as though he was the strangest man in the world, and when she saw he was looking, she would blush and look away.

It honestly came as a relief to him that she was slowly seeing him more as a man and less as a friend. He used every possible chance to heighten this image, touching her as only a man would, whispering romantic things in her ear when she least expected it. It only baffled her further. She accused him of being too much like Tamaki with pretty words and empty meanings, at which point he stated that Tamaki spoke his words to everyone, but his were only for her.

He had never really considered himself a romantic before he met Haruhi, but it seemed as though if he wasn't the romantic one in the relationship, who would be? He found that it came fairly naturally as well, since he really did think the world of her. He was intelligent enough to recognize (and come to terms with) the fact that he was completely infatuated.

The only disappointment was that his feelings far surpassed hers, though he was certain that such a thing would be remedied with time. The fact that she cared for him at all had always been a shock to him. Some ten years down the road he finally admitted such an insecurity to her.

She only laughed and said, "If it's any consolation, Kyouya, the second most surprising day in my life was when I realized that you loved me."

He took the bait and asked, "Really? And what was the first?"

In all honesty, she answered, "The day I realized I loved you, too."