"You know, I'm not interested in bidding, if you're not interested either," said Kyoya, joining me next to the Mother of All Zits, "There's a new five star restaurant in town that is supposed to have the best sweets in Japan. Would you like to go?"

"Eh?" Is he blushing? No… no, couldn't be. He did look nervous, though, and in a hurry.

"Kyoya!" two voices sprang behind us. I jumped and turned around to see God's present to the world.

Seriously, it's like He said: "Oh, wow, this turned out so good, I think I'll make another one."

"Hikaru, Kaoru." Kyoya said, "I didn't know you'd be here until I met your grandmother. She's looking for you, by the way. And wasn't there a stray cat you two were looking for?"

Is it just me or is he shooing them?

"No way." The one with darker hair said.

"Not with this lovely lady over here." They looked at me like the cat that spotted the laser dot. I smiled, then they each took one of my hands..

"Kaoru, at your service." Said the light haired one.

"Hikaru, at your service." They kissed my hands simultaneously.

Then they each stood on one side of me, Hikaru butted Kyoya away.

"So who are you?" Kaoru asked.

"How do you know our Kyoya?" Hikaru asked.

I opened my mouth to speak, but then Kyoya intervened, "She", he pushed his glasses back again as he spoke and it caught a glare of light, "is my fiancée."

Pause.

"Let her go." Kyoya said. His tone of voice, that was all smooth and sweet moments before, sounded strained.

It was a little funny how the twins' faces were copy of each other's shock. I felt the same way. I'm his fiancée… I'm going to be called Risa Ootori. Suddenly all the hor'doeuvres I'd stuffed in before did an uncomfortable churn in my stomach.

Why did he have to have said it so easily like that?

"No way!" Kaoru and Hikaru said. "You're engaged?"

"Yes." He answered in perfect calm. "Our fathers arranged our first meeting today." The twins left my sides and looked at me. I felt a little embarrassed for being analyzed so openly. This didn't feel right. I didn't expect Kyoya to have friends. And I certainly hadn't expected to meet them so soon.

I took a step back. Then everything happened all at once. From behind us a cat had escaped from the kitchen with a fish head between its teeth, a very young waitress ran after it, it ran towards us, we didn't see this, of course, I only saw the kitty when it zoomed out from under the big table, then the waitress that was chasing it slammed head on the table, and that big goblet thing began to wobble and fall right on top of me. I'm a little confused as to how everything after that happened, but I was suddenly pushed, being in heels (and a little bit tipsy) I fell backwards as a rain of shrimp and sauce covered me and whoever pushed me.

When I opened my eyes Kyoya's face was about two inches from mine. With red sauce covering about half of it. I felt his breath on my lips.

"Gaahk!" I shoved him away. As he raised a protective hand in front of him he hit my head. "Ow!"

"Ouch!" I may have hit his nose. But he was still pulling my hair. "OWW!"

I sat up quickly, my face was burning with embarrassment.

"Ah! I'm stuck!" Kyoya said, his fingers still entwined in my hair. Then suddenly I felt something slip off me head that wasn't a shrimp. My blood ran cold as I saw my hair extension tangled in Kyoya's hand. He looked horrified. I guess the blood-reminding red sauce didn't really help.

Then I heard the laughing.

I looked at Hikaru and Kaoru, calmly standing far away from the table (from where they were standing they could've seen the kitty and the waitress before me or Kyoya had a chance), they were laughing loudly and cheerfully, you could actually see the tears sprouting for their eyes.

Then I saw other people around us join in, hiding their mockery behind their hands but giggling all the same.

And I just couldn't do it anymore.

I snatched the extension from Kyoya's hand, got up and ran away.

Akutagawa showed up from nowhere. "There's a bathroom to your left three doors down. Abe will arrive shortly with a change of clothes."

I didn't even answer. I raced, as well as I could in those horrible shoes, to the bathroom and locked the door and closed my eyes.

You're our only hope…our only hope, Risa

My father's words rang in my head and the tears slipped.

This isn't fair. If only I had a chance, just one chance to show him what I could do. I can do more for the Kotoku name, I want to do more. I wanted to be more than just a seal on a business contract, I wanted to innovate our company, create branches and alternatives, I wanted my dad to come to me to discuss the company's situation instead of me having to hack into his computer all the time.

I sobbed. I wanted our family to be recognized, even more than I wanted to be recognized.

I looked at the ruined hair extensions on my hand and shivered. I'd learned harsh lessons in my life, I learned that in this world there are the privileged rich and commoners, and you can't be both, I learned that there is no such thing as the kindness of the heart, nobody is selfless, so you shouldn't be either, and I learned that what you felt or who you were inside mattered very, very little.

I can't say I learned all those lessons well. Sometimes I slip and they smack me in the face again. But they were there, they molded me into who I am, and there was no turning back.

A/N: Thank you for reading! Please review!