Chapter Nineteen

Chikako didn't answer the question immediately. Instead, she looked out the train car window and let out a long sigh. So, Kyoya didn't bother to press further. All he knew now was that "Jake" was someone from her past that had hurt her in some way. He figured that she would talk to him about this "Jake" when she was ready. Little did he know that this was a massive secret Chikako was prepared to go to the grave for.
She glanced out of the corner of her eye to see her husband listening to music again. He was sitting across from her in their private car and his head was resting on the window, eyes closed. The sun had set already, so the only lighting they had was from the dim lamp dangling above their collapsible dining table. It was dim and quiet enough to be lulling, so Chikako understood why her husband was taking this moment to nap, but the mention of Jake kept her wired the rest of the trip.

Sitting there, Chikako found herself tapping her foot, nervously and glancing over at her husband, as if he was suddenly going to figure it out. If he knew about Jake, she knew that Jake's life would be ruined. Sure, she hated him, but she didn't want to ever have anything else to do with him. If Kyoya knew that he had been one of the kidnappers, despite having been the one to set her free, she knew that he'd want to launch a full investigation to lock Jake up for life.

No, she concluded, it was better that he didn't know.

She sat back in her seat and let out a quiet sigh. Chikako quietly observed her husband as she saw his head bouncing on the window.

"That can't be comfortable," she whispered to him in Japanese.

His eyes opened, slightly. "No, it isn't, but I'm too tired to care."

Chikako looked down at her hands before standing up and walking over to him. She sat a few inches away from him and folded her sweater neatly before placing it on her lap.

"Come here," she murmured to him, patting her lap. "You can use me as a pillow."

Kyoya shook his head, sleepily. "No, it's fine."

Chikako yanked his sleeve toward her. "Kyoya, come on, isn't this a high school boy's dream? To sleep on a girl's lap?"

He cocked an eyebrow at her.

She shrugged. "At least, that's what the twins were always saying."

He rolled his eyes. "It was never exactly a dream of mine."

"No, you had bigger dreams, like taking over the world one host club at a time. Just lay down. It's what wives are for, right? Supporting their husbands? Come on, I'm trying to play my part in this play."

He sighed, knowing she wouldn't give up and scooted over, lying down on the cushions and resting his head on her lap as he muttered, "I think that means emotionally or mentally, not literally supporting my body weight."

Chikako smiled. "Oh shut up, it's just your head; go to sleep."

Kyoya stared up at the ceiling of the train car, refusing to admit that his wife's lap was more comfortable than his two-hundred-dollar pillow back in his apartment. Chikako leaned forward a bit, reaching for his copy of The Great Gatsby. Her chest jutted toward his face and he almost jerked upward in shock.

"Chi-!"

She laughed and leaned back again, book in hand.

"Oh calm down," she said, cracking open the paperback. "It's not like my chest is something new to you," she added under her breath.

Kyoya turned red but Chikako was too engrossed in his book to notice. He turned his head, so he didn't have to look up at her.

After a while, he couldn't take the silence. He started to sit up, but Chikako's arms were resting on his shoulders.

"What's wrong?"

He sighed. "You're making me nervous."

"Wha-? How?"

He rolled onto his back again to look up at her. "You're reading my book."

She leaned back and smirked down at him. "I'm not going to give anything away. I've already read it anyways."

He closed his eyes, annoyed. "Of course you have."

She pressed her lips together, thoughtfully. "I can read it aloud for you while you rest."

"I…I might not understand all of it, especially with your weird accent."

She scoffed. "It's a English accent, and I'll read slowly, okay?"

He was quiet.

"If you don't understand, just ask me. I'll help you. This is a good story, anyhow."

Kyoya thought for a moment before complying. "Just don't be smug if I don't understand something."

"What? When am I ever smug about being better at English?"

Kyoya cracked open one eye, skeptically saying, "You're joking, right?"

She sighed and gently rested her elbows on his chest as she read the book aloud, slowly, word by word. She paused after each paragraph, making sure Kyoya understood.

"The eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleberg are blue and gigantic-"

"Who's this Dr. Eckleberg character, again?" Kyoya murmured.

"He's just some man on a billboard," she replied.

"And what's 'gigantic' mean?" Kyoya asked.

Chikako translated it for him into Japanese, he nodded, and she continued.

They went on like this until Chikako found herself reading aloud a great deal without any interruption. She looked down and saw her husband fast sleep, mouth slightly ajar. She smiled and stopped reading. Instead, she started to skim the book on her own, although it was sometimes difficult to understand, even for her.

She was suddenly overcome with a sense of pride for her husband. For him to understand this book and thoroughly enjoy it while she struggled…he must have been smarter in English than she gave him credit. For the first time, she felt like running around the train, flaunting his intelligence, like she wasn't really his wife but rather his mother. She wondered if this was what it was like to truly care for someone, beyond romance and lust. She had never felt like this with Jake. Was this love? If so, what did she have with Jake?

And why was she thinking about him now, of all times?

Her smile vanished as she silently scolded herself for letting him back into her mind and she tossed the book back onto the table. Kyoya let out a small, barely audible grunt and turned onto his side, facing her stomach and softly clutching her shirt. She blinked down at him.

"Kyoya?" she breathed.

He was fast asleep and, hesitantly, she reached down to his hair. Her fingers brushed softly over the black tuft. The moment she felt it (it was like silk), she couldn't help but smile and lean back in her own seat. She closed her eyes, her hand still lingering in his hair, and let the movement of the train lull her to sleep as well.

The next morning, Chikako was barely awake as she stumbled out of the bedroom and into the adjacent bathroom as soon as her alarm went off. The door slammed shut and soon the shower cranked on, full blast. The hot water pierced her skin, urging her to wake up, but soon it calmed her, slowly easing her out of her stupor.

Kyoya was harder to wake up, but not even five minutes after Chikako's alarm had blasted some Kpop tune, a genre he had forgotten she was into, the twins were practically breaking down their apartment front door, asking if Kyoya had any extra notes for their Chemistry class. He groaned and let his legs hang over the side of the mattress, rubbing his eyes. He could barely remember how he and Chikako got home the night before. There were blurs of getting off the train, taking the bus back to campus, skipping dinner, and finally falling into bed.

He remembered waking up in Chikako's lap when the train had stopped, though. He remembered sitting up, groggily and looking at her to find her asleep as well. He remembered kissing her cheek without thinking about it and being relieved that she didn't wake up. Now, stumbling around the bedroom and into his kitchen, Kyoya could barely grasp the idea of going to class that morning.

He yanked the front door open, his eyes narrowed in annoyance. He was never a morning person, especially when he had barely gotten any sleep, so he was practically ready to murder someone when he gazed down at the Hitachiin twins.

"What do you want?" he spat.

Hikaru laughed at his friend's state. "Look at you, Kyoya-sempai!"

Kaoru smirked and stuck his hands in his jeans pockets, casually. "Sorry about this, but Hikaru promised to take notes last time, so I took a nap, but then he didn't take the notes after all-"

Hikaru sighed, loudly. "I said I was sorry, Kaoru!"

His brother rolled his eyes, chucking. "But I know that you aren't really."

Hikaru groaned. "How could you say-?"

Kyoya's face shut the two of them up as his fingers tightened around the door handle. "I'm giving you two three minutes. The notes are in my bag on the couch."

He turned, sharply, and almost crashed into the wall trying to get back to the bedroom. He realized he hadn't put his glasses on before answering the door, but it took him a few minutes to realize this after standing there, staring at a very blurry pair of twins. The two wandered in behind him, Hikaru casually going for the fridge as Kaoru rummaged through Kyoya's bag on the couch.

Hikaru nodded toward the bathroom where the shower was still breaking the peaceful air in the apartment. "Is that Kako-chan in there, Kyoya-sempai?" he called.

Once he had settled the glasses on the bridge of his nose, Kyoya took a deep, cleansing breath. He needed something to eat or he swore that he would eat Hikaru in one chomp.

"Who else would it be?" he growled, walking into the front room. "Now, get out of my fridge before you lose an arm."

Hikaru hollered at this threat, jumping back out of the small kitchen. "Sorry! Forgot you were so mean when you wake up!"

Kyoya merely let out an incoherent grunted response.

The shower cut off suddenly as Hikaru started to peel a banana, leaning against the island counter. Kyoya didn't pay much mind as he thrust bottles of juice onto the counter and rummaged about for bowls in the cabinet. Every morning, he'd make miso soup, rice, and whatever protein he had in his fridge. He was still in such a daze that he prayed he wouldn't burn down his apartment.

Kaoru tossed Hikaru a worried look as the bathroom door handle jiggled.

Hikaru smirked, mischievously, but his brother shook his head, unsure.

"We should go," Kaoru whispered.

Hikaru opened his mouth to reply when the door opened and Chikako sleepily made her way from the bathroom to the bedroom in nothing but wet hair and a darkly colored towel wrapped loosely around her body. The twins gawked. They had forgotten how attractive Kyoya's wife was, especially when they usually saw her with a frown on her face or anger in her eyes. Now, in just a towel, lazily tossing her damp hair, her long legs were stumbling in front of each other, like a drunken model on her way down the runway.

She hadn't even noticed the twins as she shut the bedroom behind her and the living room was quiet. It was obvious that Kyoya had either missed his friends blatantly gawking at his wife or he didn't care, because he was still milling about, trying to make breakfast. He was muttering to himself about how he would need to make two servings worth rather than his usual one.

Kaoru had found the Chemistry notes and quickly scuttled over to his brother. "Hikaru," he hissed. "Come on."

Hikaru shook his head as he leaned forward toward Kyoya. "So, how is she?" he asked, casually, jerking his head toward the bedroom.

Kyoya yawned. "Fine, I suppose. I'm sure she's just as tired as I am, both from lack of sleep and from your rude appearance this morning."

Kaoru bowed, awkwardly. "Yeah, sorry, senpai, we'll leave." He paused, tossing his brother a glare. "Right, Hikaru?"

His twin waved his hand. "No, I mean, how is she…?"

Kyoya cocked an eyebrow. "I don't-" It then sank in and he turned bright red, a shade the twins had never seen on their Shadow King. Angrily, he cranked on the stove and turned away from his friends. "You've gotten more disgusting, Hikaru, you know that?"

Kaoru sighed, loudly. "Hikaru," he scolded.

His brother didn't seem as bothered as he shrugged and headed toward the door. "I'm just asking what everyone in the club's been wondering since the day she showed up in the club room."

Kyoya tossed Hikaru a glare over his shoulder. "You have all the notes you need?"

Kaoru nodded, quickly and moved to grab onto his brother's arm. "Yep, sure do, so we should probably be on our way, right, Hikaru?"

Finally, with a sigh, Hikaru conceded and followed his brother out of the apartment. However, before he closed the front door, he called, "Don't forget about the meeting for the new club!"

As the door slammed shut and the front hall was encompassed with silence, Kyoya took a deep breath. He was starting to wake up, either from the twins' obnoxious chatter about his wife or from the coffee in his hand. The apartment was quiet for a while and he wondered if Chikako had fallen asleep again.

His eyes trailed back over to the couch where Kaoru had toppled his bag over to find his notes. Out on the cushions lay The Great Gatsby. He set his mug down on the counter and started towards it. He gently reached down and picked up the paperback when he heard another knock on the door.

Kyoya glared and threw the novel back down on the couch, grumbling about how no one seemed to have respect for peace and quiet before noon. Thank god his arranged marriage hadn't landed him with a morning person. Chikako was just as cranky as he was in the mornings.

There was another agitated knock and Kyoya groaned, marching toward the door. "I'm coming, I'm coming," he snapped in Japanese. "Can't you guys just leave us alone?"

When he opened the door, though, it wasn't the twins. It wasn't Tamaki or Haruhi or anyone else in the club either. It was an American (he thought, since he wasn't Japanese and was light-skinned) with blond hair and green eyes. The young man was a little taller than Kyoya and had a motorcycle helmet under his arm. He looked absolutely lost and Kyoya prayed that he wouldn't have to speak too extensively with this man.

"May I help you?" Kyoya asked in English.

"Sorry, mate," the young man started, and Kyoya recognized the odd accent right away. It was the same as Chikako's when she spoke—English. "I think I have the wrong apartment. I'm looking for somebody?" He paused and shook his head, a nervous smile on his face. "Do you understand what I'm saying?

Kyoya leaned against the doorframe. "Of course I do. I'm not an idiot."

Realizing that was rude, Kyoya cleared his throat and started over. "Who are you looking for? Perhaps I can help you. Are they an international student at the university?"

"I…I think so. Her name is Chikako? Chikako Akiyoshi."

Kyoya blinked, dumbfounded. He glanced behind him, hearing movement in the bedroom again, as if to remind him that his wife was still there.

He looked back at the stranger, narrowing his eyes. "You have the right apartment. Chikako is here."

The stranger blinked, looking shocked. "She…she is? Why?"

Kyoya furrowed his brow, confused, before slowly replying, "Because…well, she is my wife."

The young man's jaw fell open. He blinked a few times before closing it and clearing his throat. "She's…She's your wife?"

Kyoya stared at him, hard. "Yes."

There was a pause.

Kyoya narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?"

The young man's eyes flitted around the hallway and then into the apartment. "Jake. Jake Lawrence."

Kyoya cocked an eyebrow. "Jake," he echoed, almost angrily. It couldn't be a coincidence.

Jake's hand shot out, somewhat awkwardly.

Kyoya eyed the gesture before accepting and shaking his hand. "Kyoya Ootori-Akiyoshi."

Kyoya paused and glanced inside the house, a quiet rage boiling in his stomach and crawling up his throat. Finally, he turned his glare back to Jake. "Why don't you come in, Mr. Lawrence."

It wasn't a suggestion. It was an order.

A/N: I'm a horrible person. I can't believe I haven't uploaded anything for so long. I've been busy, of course, but everyone gets busy. I'm sorry. I do hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, though. I'll work on the next one since I don't have too much work to do this weekend. Please leave me lots of reviews letting me know what you think of this story, these characters, and the plot so far. What do you think/hope will happen? What are you dreading? What are you looking forward to? I love hearing from you guys and every time I get a review, I'm reminded that I need to work harder and get that chapter out! I love you all and hope you guys are having great semesters/autumns. 3

~Kit Koko