When I reached the bottom of the stairs it was 11 minutes after my butler had announced that Kyoya Ootori had come to visit me. I'd been planning to take my time and hope that by the time I'd decided what shirt to wear he'd be gone.

But you can't do that when your best friends are having their first taste at playing doll with you (another dream apart from double-dating).

Amazingly, the short amount of time available actually had them agreeing to each other more peacefully then I'd ever had the chance to see. They'd opted for a wrap-around sea-green dress "to bring out my eyes", a simple gold bracelet and matching earrings were enough for the accessory department. A little "natural" make-up and I was released from my bedroom.

Sure, this is how I always hang around the house.

They'd have made my stylist, Sakugawa, proud.

Kyoya had his back towards me, looking at a painting of a flower vase I'd done in high school. He was also wearing casual clothes (a white shirt, sleeves folded, a cool vest and black jeans), more trendy than I'd expected from him. For the first time I felt uneasy, somehow, having him see something that was very much mine, while I looked at him dressed in my own taste. It was like he knew more about me, than I him. And that just wouldn't do.

Why couldn't he at least be a bit normal? The girls made fun of me for it, but my frustration over it was real. I mean, I loved learning about technology and networking, loved it, so much that it was the basis of the new branch I was creating for Kotoku Inc. But because of that preference I didn't have great grades in things like history and literature (if you see me reading Shakespeare "for fun", shoot me).

So why did Kyoya Ootori have to have been good at everything? I saw his school record, he was president of his class every year, had excellent grades, part of a club… how? Didn't he have hobbies? Why was he so… perfect? Why did he try so hard?

I cleared my throat. He spun around, "Ah, hello, Kotoku-chan." Maybe it had been a bad idea to stay away from him, it was like I'd forgotten all about the intensity of his stare and needed to start creating a resistance.

"Hello, Ootori-kun," I wished I wouldn't blush just because of the honorific, "It's such a pleasure to have you visit. I'm sure something very important brought you here…?"

My voice trailed away once I saw that one of the maids had set two glasses of lemonade on the coffee table. Crap. Now I had to be all polite and hostess-y.

He sat on one of the sofas and indicated the one next to him for me. "Please sit, Kotoku-kun."

I fought back a sigh. Maybe I should have come in my PJs so he would know what an imposing bastard he's being. I felt my fingers tense with the desire to grab him by his collar and drag him out of my house.

But I didn't, instead I plastered a sweet smile on my face and walked over to him.

I hadn't realized how much the physical distance between us comforted me. It was only when we were just a couple feet apart that I realized my palms started to sweat and face became hot.

That, and I'd spotted Noel coming down the stairs out of the corner of my eye.

For the first time since I'd adopted the kitten I didn't find it cute that he followed me everywhere.

Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God.

I'll kill them, I thought. The girls probably left the room to ransack my kitchen or something and left the door open. I'd been so worried making them promise to not eavesdrop that I'd forgotten to tell them to keep an eye in Noel.

I wondered what Kyoya would do if he saw the cat-I distinctly remembered denying to him that I had a pet and saying that I never thought of having one. Which, at the moment that it was said, at the art auction, was true- and I came to the conclusion that he would return it to the organizer of the auction.

Who'd probably kill my kitty.

I tried to shift my position in a way that Kyoya would look only at me, but I guess I looked a little awkward since he said, "Are you okay?"

After that I figured Noel should learn to take responsibility for his own actions. "I'm fine." I said, fixing my bangs for the thousandth time. A new zit had popped on the other side of my forehead so I had to sort of wear my bangs all over my face to hide both zits.

"How are you, Kotoku-chan?" Kyoya asked easily, drinking from his glass.

No.

Just no. He did not come to my home to make Boring Conversation Part II. I mean, come on! There wasn't any food milling around or anything!

"Fine." I bit the word out. Why are you here? Why are you here? Why are you here? I took a sip from my lemonade to keep from blurting out the question.

He gave me one of those innocent bunny smiles and I felt like clawing it off his face.

"That's great, Kotoku-chan."

I surreptitiously scanned the floor of the room looking for Noel, and was relieved to see that he wasn't anywhere in sight. Another game Noel liked, other than following me around, was to hide under the sofa and play-fight my feet. It was really cute.

I realized it was my turn to say something, "Um… And you?" I cleared my throat lamely, "How are you?"

"Excellent." He said. And crossed his legs, leaning comfortably on the sofa.

I shifted. Something was going on, this was a little off from the script we'd had last time (or should I really say first time…) we'd met. He looked a little like Izumi looked when she tried to see the hidden picture on my Magic Eye book. I could feel the weight of his stare on me.

It was a little hypnotic to have those eyes staring so deeply into mine.

Then Kyoya jumped. I looked down quickly enough to see a gray little paw grabbing Kyoya's foot. With cold sweat sprouting from me I saw Kyoya tilt his head down to see what the hell kind of spirit was haunting him in the house of his bride-to-be.

"WHY ARE YOU HERE?"

I was panting a little. Kyoya looked at me as if I'd grown a second head. I glanced down and saw that Noel had retreated back under the sofa. Stupid cat. Does he want to get handed over to kitchen workers and get drowned in a dirty bucket?

Kyoya looked at his feet and a confused look took over his handsome features, then he looked at me again. And I just knew he knew I'd tried to hide something.

"I thought you might enjoy having lunch with me today." He said, his voice as smooth and as velvety as if he hadn't just felt shadow claws grab his foot.

"Didn't think of calling first?" I said before I could help it. My heart was pounding against my ears. I couldn't believe that in the short span of three minutes I was ruining the image of "perfect little princess" that I was supposed to be.

That's when I also saw something change in Kyoya's features. He looked a little evil. Like the fox showing from beneath the bunny mask.

I swallowed.

"So far you've cancelled an opera, dinner and a brunch. I figured I'd try to see if lunch was a more appropriate time in your schedule." He said smoothly.

"Okay." I said, coming to my senses that we needed to get out of there and springing up from the sofa. I couldn't risk Noel going for round two.

As we were leaving I caught Riko peaking from the top of the stairs.

I'll kill you. I mouthed to her. To which she responded with thumbs-up and a grin. The other two heads peeped out.

Good luck! Mouthed Izumi.

You look great! Mouthed Chika.

I nearly gave them the finger as I hurried to catch up with my wolf in sheep's clothing.

The car drive was normal. I was glad Kyoya had come with his own car and not had a driver bring him, because it meant less forced conversation, since he had to focus on the road and all.

I'd have bet my left foot that it was my father who told Kyoya that I liked the restaurant he'd picked. It was the Grand Fleur, not very creative in names, but the best place for romantic encounters.

Filled with irises on every table and every corner, this was the place people brought their first dates, got proposed to, celebrated wedding anniversaries. To be here, was to be in love.

Dad was really pushing it.

We sat on a corner table, nice and private.

Except there was nothing nice about this. I'd made the mistake of putting on my golden flats after leaving the house, and while it matched beautifully with my dress, the Grand Fleur was strictly a high-heels kind of place.

Talking with Kyoya was surprisingly less hard-work and annoying than I'd thought it'd be. If it was because I was sitting with comfortable shoes and clothes, as opposed to last time where we just walked around with my toes bleeding, or if it was because I was pretty sure Kyoya's real character had finally shown through the cracks and spiked up my curiosity for more, I don't know, but as we had our respective orders, I felt a little better.

That is, until, as we were waiting for our desserts, I told Kyoya about the time I'd tied a string with a ball on the other end to Urusai's hind legs and watched as he ran round and round the coffee table trying to catch it.

I heard, for the first time, Kyoya laugh. A smooth and a bit evil laugh that had me laughing too.

Then, and this is when I stopped feeling better, Kyoya said: "Well, this makes it a nice farewell, Kotoku-san."

My smile faltered, "What? What do you mean? Are you traveling soon?"

"No." he said calmly and adjusted his glasses, a half smile on his lips, "But as of today, I'm terminating our engagement."

A/N: Mua-ha-ha!

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