Second chances

Chapter One

Ranka's POV

Both Midori and I were over washed with feelings of relief when Haruhi finally woke up after a fortnight after the incident. However, it seems that Haruhi was suffering from memory loss, only remembering the events up to when she was in middle school. She had forgotten what was happening before the accident, or the fact that she was already a lawyer and was no longer in middle school anymore.

At least she remembered me as her father, so I believe deep in her mind, she was able to trust me and my words of what had happened to her throughout the lost years of hers, which I briefly describe to her. At least she did not forget me, although she may had forgotten about the past few years of our lives together. If she had forgotten me completely, I don't know what I would do. She was the only one that I had left around me, after Kotoko passed away.

Even though Haruhi had lost her memories, it seemed that that did not affect her work performance as a lawyer. She was able to work as well as before, especially I knew that she had spent most of her spare time looking up at some past cases she had before as well as reading up more about law. That may be due to her passion in law that was not forgotten; her dream to follow her mother to become a lawyer. I still remembered the moment her eyes sparkled when I told her that she had already became a lawyer at an established firm. In fact, I feel that this time, she radiated more happiness than before, when she graduated from law school and became a lawyer.

So it had been half a year after the incident had occurred and now, our lives had been almost back to normal as before. Haruhi was able to cope in her work and at office, and Midori was her good friend at work again and they had re-build their friendship, even though Haruhi had forgotten the past few years of them working together. So all in all, everything was going well now in their lives.

The knocking at the door came to my attention. Dragging myself out to the front door and coming face to face with a similar parcel that Haruhi had always looked forward to but tried to not placed much expectation to before she had the accident, I felt a headache coming as I signed the parcel. I had not told Haruhi about the host club at all. All I told her was "You had graduated from Ouran High School on a full scholarship and graduating at top of your year had helped you get a place in law school" in regards to her few years in high school. After all, now she and the host club were not actually contacting much except the packages, so why should I tell her about them? Why should I make her feel the heartache of losing contact and drifting apart from them again when she could not remember them now? There was no reason for me to put her through it again and the heartache from breaking up with Tamaki.. Thinking of that Suoh boy brought me even more headache.

So I had made up my mind earlier to not tell her about the host club and her high school years. Perhaps I may be selfish, but a father should tried his best to protect his daughter. I would not let her be hurt again by anyone. I kept the photos that she had with the host club members that things that might remind her of them packed inside a box under my bed, somewhere she wouldn't look at. Well, perhaps except the clothes they got for her, where a lot were Hitachiin originals. It just seemed too wasteful to put all those pretty dresses and suit in a box, when there were ladies spending don't know how much to get just a piece from the Hitachiin's lines of high end fashion. Moreover, upon closer examination of Haruhi's wardrobe, it seems most of the dresses she got were gifts from the twins as well as some of the suits she had. So it just made no sense to hide almost her whole wardrobe under my bed! Moreover, it was a Daddy's dream to see his beautiful daughter in cute clothing!

There was a card on the package and out of curiosity, I looked at it.

Hi Haruhi!

It had been a long time since we sent you something. Busy with the new line we were thinking of introducing. Hope you like it.

Hikaru, Kaoru

It was at this moment that I heard the sounds of the key and the door opening. Its 5pm. Haruhi usually don't come back so early.

Haruhi's POV

It had been a long day at court even though the case managed to end on a favorable note on our end. At least every of the hard work was worth it. Hence I decided to go home earlier as it would make no sense to look at another case now when my mind was so tired from earlier. However it seemed I gave Dad a fright when he almost jumped when I opened the door and I saw him holding a card and there is a nicely wrapped package on the table. "What that package?", I asked out of curiosity.

"Oh.. Oh, that is package from a friend, two exactly. Hahaha. These two friends are in the fashion industry and they seem to like to give you clothing saying you had make a good model for their clothes. They had send us a package or two occasionally. Why not you go and try this on? They hoped you like it as mentioned in this card and I would like to see how it looks on you!" Dad said and by the time he finished, he seemed a little too excited. Although I was quite exhausted, I could not bear to disappoint him hence I went to change into the clothes I found in the package after I unwrapped it. The dark blue dress was actually quite pretty, simple and elegant with no frills, the patterns of the dress are made up by folds in the fabric. Accompanying the dress in a box was a necklace with a sapphire on it. That should be an accessory for the dress.

As I changed into it, I recognized a well-known Hitachiin label on the dress. It seem that these friends of Dad's really like to give me dresses and clothes. I think a major part of my wardrobe were filled with them and even though I lost my memory, I would not be that extravagant with clothing back then. So they were gifts. It made more sense then.

Ranka's POV

Haruhi had went to change into the dress as I go look for my camera. Haruhi rarely wear nice dresses so I had to make this moment permanent. As I looked for my camera, I kept the card in a drawer safely. I think Haruhi might have mistakenly thought that these clothes were from my friends instead of hers since she did not prompt further. Well, perhaps that for the best. That would be a good reason for the wardrobe full of Hitachiin's label clothing and perhaps the future packages if there were. As expected, the dress fitted Haruhi perfectly and I took a photo for remembrance.

Haruhi's POV

There seemed to be more chatting in the office today than usual. Well, it seems that the whole office was very excited about the meeting in the afternoon. It was not that I was not excited, I actually spent over a day to read up on this potential client's company and all other information related to this oncoming collaboration as I knew that if I could get the case from this client, it would help a lot in my career. It did not help that the other lawyers in this firm might also want to clinch this opportunity. It seems that the potential client did knew about that people would hoped to get his case, as he mentioned that he would give his case to the most suitable candidate. Hence I did the reading up.

However, a majority of the excitement from the others were not for the case but rather the client himself. I knew that several ladies had deliberately dressed up, hoping to grasp his attention when he came for the meeting. They were making a few more trips to washroom than usual, ensuring that make-up and everything was perfect. I heard a lady exclaiming in the washroom that it was not every day that they had meet people from the top list of bachelors in Japan. Clever, rich background, good-looking, heir to his family-owned corporation.. These just seemed to be characteristics for a prince charming in a modern day fairytale to many females.

But regardless of who was he, my goal was to get the case only.

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