Hi, guys! I am really sorry for the long wait! My tardiness is inexcusable! I swear that I already have a new set of ideas and scenarios playing in my head put I just can't put them into words! For everyone who waited and still supports this story, you have my utmost gratitude! Well, here is a long chapter for all of you!

Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran Highschool Host Club. I only have rights to this story as well as my original characters.

Rushed footsteps were heard as the clinking of heels was ringing throughout the hallway of the hospital. Sweat dripped down the sides of Setsuko's face and her hair was all over the place but Setsuko paid no heed to it. Her eyes and mind were only headed for one direction. Hospital room number 409, the hospital room where a car accident patient was currently being kept for treatment.Finally, when she reached the front door, she made no hesitation and quickly opened the door. The sight she was greeted with almost made her cry. His body was beaten up so bad and he had bandages all around his head. His right leg was up in a cast and his eyes were covered in bandages because in addition to treating his deep wounds, he was required to undergo an immediate surgery because a part of his eyes were damaged during the accident so he may have a difficulty in seeing objects for a little while. The patient on the pure white bed sheets was sleeping peacefully, not even aware of the presence of another in the quiet room with only the sound of the heart monitor filling the tangible silence of the hospital room.

Setsuko made her way towards the provided foldable chair and she sat on it as she gently held the pale yet warm hand of her beloved.

"Kazuya..." she whispered with a soft voice that it was barely heard.

The steady rising and falling of Kazuya's chest assured her enough that he was alive. That thought alone made a single tear to fall down her eye.

She was so scared when she received the phone call from the nurse. She was the number one person in Kazuya's speed dial so she was the person whom they called. She was currently on a ferris wheel in Tokyo, watching as the soft white snow goes down the tiled pavement of the amusement park that was nearing its closing time when she received the dreadful call.

The nurse said that Kazuya was riding a taxi going towards the Osaka Airport when a truck was speeding up and eventually crashed with the taxi. The driver was declared dead on arrival while Kazuya was immediately brought to the operating room and after that, he was put on the ICU for a few hours before he was stable enough to be transferred to a private ward.

It took all of Setsuko's will to not jump on the gondola as she received the news of the accident. She immediately went towards the airport and boarded her family's private jet to go to Osaka where she was met with the battered and bruised body of Kazuya.

"Please wake up..." she whispered again as she held his hand tighter.

It added to the weight in her heart when she recalled how their last conversation with each other ended.

"Hello?" Kazuya said through the phone as he made his final packing of his belongings.

"..."

No sound was heard from the other side of the line so Kazuya asked again.

"Hello? Who is this?"

"..."

Finally, Kazuya sighed, thinking that this might be a prank call from someone.

"...Are you happy?..." a girl's voice was heard from the other line before Kazuya was about to press the end call button. The sound of that familiar voice made Kazuya freeze in his tracks and his eyes widened in surprise.

"Why don't you say something? Did you suddenly lose your tongue?" the girl's crisp and stern voice asked and even if they were miles away from each other, Kazuya can hear the venom laced with every word she uttered.

"Setsuko... Why did you call me?" Kazuya asked in a soft whisper as he casted his eyes down to his luggage.

"Why are you asking me that silly question? Is it really that surprising that I give my boyfriend a call?" Setsuko retorted with the same cold voice.Kazuya lightly bit his lip and clenched the fabric of his shirt as he prevented any emotions from showing through his voice.

"Setsuko, please...Let us not part ways like this." He pleaded with her as the hand that was holding his phone tightened its grip.

"Why? Are you really that appalled by me and my voice that you never want to hear me talk to you?"

"No! It's not that I-"

"Then what is it?!"

"I-..." Kazuya's voice drifted off as he swallowed down the sob that was about the break through.He breathed in deeply and managed to compose himself just a little bit.

"I don't want to have any second thoughts of staying here in Japan and abandoning the opportunity given to me." He said which earned him a few moments of silence from the speaker at the other end.

"Oh, that opportunity to study in the Royal Ballet Academy under the recommendation of Madame Adalicia Sinclaire Desrosiers Fujiwara, one of the most renowned principal dancer of the academy as well as ten million dollars and a penthouse in Paris as complimentary gift? Well, a person with a mind like yours can certainly not resist those tempting offers." Setsuko said in a mocking tone that made Kazuya's eyes close and the tears he failed to contain to spill down uncontrollably.

A few moments of silence reigned as Kazuya managed to hide the sounds of his sobs.

"Tell me..." Setsuko uttered.

"..."

"Are those useless things the price of our love?" she finished with a soft voice and unbeknownst to Kazuya, Setsuko's eyes were equally pouring out tears.

"Are those enough of a compensation for our love that you abandoned me? Tell me, Kazuya! Did you even love me? Did you love me for who I am and not for how much money I am worth?!Did you love me just as much as I love you? So much to the point that I was willing to defy my family and break my lifelong friendship with Kyouya! I was willing to do that... I was willing to because I love you so much..." the sobs that were being kept in by Setsuko were finally released as she let all her emotions loose.

A long silence followed after Setsuko's outburst as Kazuya struggled with his words. His lips and hands were now trembling and he had to distance the phone away from him in order for Setsuko to not hear his agonizing sobs.

It never meant to be this way. All he ever wanted was to love her and for her to love him. He was already contented with that. However, he just had to cross the line and desired for something more. He desired for freedom for both of them. He wanted to shout to the world that they were in love. He was tired of being in the dark. He was tired of swallowing his emotions as he watched how Setsuko and Kyouya display to the world their engagement. He was sick and tired of being the secret boyfriend. He wanted something more. He wanted recognition. He wanted to hold Setsuko's hand as they walk down the hallways of Ouran without the worry of being caught by one of the students. He wanted to sweep her away from the arms of Kyouya when they finally made their engagement official to the whole world. He wanted for both of them to freely love each other but for a second, he forgot how the world truly works. He forgot the world that Setsuko lives in. He forgot that in that world, money can buy everything, even the truth.That's why, no matter how painful it may be, no matter how much he wanted to just kill himself instead of parting ways with the one that he purely and genuinely loved the most, he had to leave her side. Even after knowing that his life will never be the same again, he had to leave her, knowing that if he did, everything will fall back into what it was supposed to be.

"Yes, those were enough." Kazuya replied shortly in a quiet voice when he managed to calm himself down.

"..."

"Let's face the truth, Setsuko. No matter how pretty or interesting you may be, no one can ever avoid how much your name is really worth. I am just one of those guys. I may have been attracted to you at first but in this world, we have to face the reality that I was not saved from the temptation of your family's value."

"..."

"..."

The silence on the other line was so thick that Kazuya was about to press the end call button to end their conversation as well as to end any existing relationship the two may have had.

"Then you are just not the same person I knew. You are different from the Kazuya I loved." Those were Setsuko's final words as she was the one who hang up. She never knew how much tears Kazuya shed that night, how intense were the sobs that rocked his body as he clutched on the promise ring that the two exchanged a few hours before the official engagement party of Kyouya and Setsuko. He clutched that single piece of memento that held every bit of their love with strength as if his life depended on it.

"I'm sorry, Setsuko. I'm so sorry..." he repeated into the thin air like a mantra.

Setsuko briskly walked down the hallways of Ouran Academy albeit with a slight limp and quiet groans of pain because of her injured ankle. However, all of the pain did not matter for her only goal was to get away from that pit of hell. All of Kyouya's words struck deep in her heart for the wounds left by Kazuya's betrayal were still fresh in her cold, scarred heart.

Even if she wanted to forget that fateful day, her mind seemed to be like a broken tape recorder, playing over and over again those words and scenarios as if mocking her for being so naive and clueless. The last time Setsuko and Kazuya met was in a hospital in Osaka where Kazuya was confined due to a car accident. Kazuya wasn't able to even see her or know her presence because he was unconscious the entire time that she was there by his side.

Their romance, although it only lasted for a short while, was the most precious thing that Setsuko kept in her heart. She loved him with a love so pure and unadulterated and she thought, she believed that he loved her the same way but it was never meant to be. He was just like one of those two-faced, gold digging sons of business men who wanted nothing but her family's wealth and influence.

However, she continued to doubt herself. She continued to think that maybe she misjudged him. She still fed her mind with illusions that somehow, she was mistaken and Kazuya still loved her. It was so pathetic to hold onto false hopes like that but remembering those times when the two of them would be cuddled up in each other's arms with a pint of green tea flavoured ice cream shared between the two of them as they watched a humorous, slapstick variety show on an old television set on Kazuya's apartment like some cheesy elderly couple, when Kazuya would get jealous over the simplest of things such as Setsuko having a guy partner besides him during a dance, when he would secretly sneak a few bars of chocolates for Setsuko and remembering that one time when they uttered vows of their own, just a few hours before her official engagement with Kyouya, where they gave each other promise rings and sealed their vows with a sweet and soft kiss was enough to make her doubt if what Kazuya said when the two of them parted were all true.

"Ne, Setsu-chan looked like she was really upset…" Honey said to Mori as he played with Usa-chan. The rest of the host club members looked at Kyouya who proceeded to sit on the couch after Setsuko walked out a few moments ago.

"….."

Even though all eyes were on him, he never even uttered a single word as a reply.

"Kyouya…." Tamaki started but was cut off his words with a single glance from Kyouya.

"You don't have to say anything." Kyouya stated as he directed his gaze towards the door. He gave out an inaudible sigh and closed his laptop. Lacing his finger together, he propped his elbows up the tea table and let his chin rest upon it.

It has been like this for years. He would always reason out to Setsuko so that she may finally wake up from her self-inflicted illusions, so that she may finally open her eyes from the truth. Their relationship was never this rocky before. The two of them were very close ever since they were mere toddlers since their fathers were business partners and there were several occasions on where they would often be left with their nursemaids in the company lounge as they wait for the business meeting of their parents to end so it was inevitable that the two of them grew close to each other. They were always together and it never bothered them when they were informed that they were soon to be engaged to each other. However, all of that changed when Yamamoto Kazuya stepped into the picture and Setsuko fell deeply in love with him. But that love, that love that Setsuko thought of as something so pure and sacred was in fact all a bitter lie. It was all a masked façade of innocence and behind that mask is a vile and corrupted intention.

At least that was what they made Setsuko think to be the truth.

However, he knew everything. He knew all of the lies. Kyouya knew that the one who deceived Setsuko was her own mother. Everything, even from the single minute detail was all a farce. But despite all of that, he had no choice but to go along with that lie. After all, because of that lie, everything will fall into where they should be in the first place.

Kyouya sighed once again before he stood up. The eyes of the host club members were upon him but he paid them no heed. He turned towards the direction of the door and went outside of the club room to find his childhood friend.

"Setsuko..." Kazuya whispered groggily into the thin air. His throat was dry and he found his voice to be raspy.

"Are you awake?" a woman's voice gently called out to him.

He squinted his eyes a little bit to get himself adjusted to the bright light. Finally, he could picture out a white ceiling. He looked around a little more and found the beeping heart monitor by the bedside.

"It seems that you are" the woman said once again. He turned towards the direction of the woman's voice to find a middle aged woman wearing a nurse's uniform and holding a clipboard.

"Where am I?" he asked in a raspy voice.

The woman smiled gently at him. "You are in the hospital. You were involved in a car accident a few weeks ago. You were unconscious for about two weeks." She said.

Kazuya's eyes widened as he looked around the room and he was indeed in the hospital. Well, that explains why that woman was wearing a nurse's uniform. His eyes then spotted a vase filled to the brim with wisteria flowers. The nurse noticed that his attention was into the vase and gave him a smile.

"Those flowers were given by that girl. She never fails to visit you every day. She always took care of you when you were unconscious. You're so lucky you have such a nice and caring girlfriend."

Kazuya's heart skipped a beat and his chest constricted when he figured out who that girl the nurse was mentioning. He looked down as he slightly bit his lip.

"When is she coming back?" he asked with a hope laced in his voice. His heart was thumping loudly in his chest and his heart rate sped up. The obvious fast paced beeping of the heart monitor was heard throughout the room and the nurse worriedly went towards Kazuya.

"You should lie down first. It's not good for you to stress yourself after you've just woken up." The woman placed her hands on Kazuya's shoulder and back to support him but Kazuya quickly slapped her hands away.

"Where is she? Where is Setsuko?!" Kazuya's voice rose considerably as he looked around in panic. He then put down his bare feet into the floor as if to stand up but the nurse prevented him from doing so.

"Stop it! You shouldn't be standing up yet!" she scolded and struggled to lock him in place but Kazuya continued to thrash around.

"No! I- Where is Setsuko?! Where is she?! I-I need to see her! I have to tell her something important!" Kazuya yelled desperately with tears running down his face.He ripped off the IV on his hand and proceeded to get up. The nurse then pressed the emergency button in panic while she struggled to subdue Kazuya who was thrashing around.

"She left a few days ago! She went back to Tokyo with her sister!" she exclaimed and finally, Kazuya stopped his movements and sat silently at the edge of the bed as if all of the power he previously had dissipated.

"W-What did you say again?" his voice trembled with sadness and his eyes shook with tears as he deeply breathed in and out.

"She left with her sister. Her sister said that their parents demanded her to return to Tokyo at once but she left a letter for you to read after you wake up so don't worry too much." The nurse calmly said and picked up the single, lavender colored envelope sitting atop the bedside table and gave it to Kazuya.

With shaking hands, Kazuya opened the envelope and saw Setsuko's neat penmanship.

Kazuya,

I know that by the time you are reading this I already went back to Tokyo. I want to apologize for everything that has happened to you. It was all because of me. If you haven't gotten yourself involved with me, you shouldn't be there in a hospital. That's why I finally realized it myself. I realized that I should distance myself away from you so that you wouldn't get hurt again. I realized that I have to let you go. I'm sorry if I was so stubborn and made you feel uncomfortable. I know now. I know that we shouldn't be together anymore. I hope that you will live a happy live and it may be best that the two of us shouldn't meet anymore. However, remember this, my love for you was never a lie. I truly loved you and I still do but our circumstances made it so difficult for us to love each other. Maybe in another lifetime we may freely love each other. Maybe we could finally be together and if ever that time will come again, I will never regret loving you the same. But in this time, we are bound to part ways. I may be Kyouya's fiancée and eventually I may become his wife but remember that you still own a part of my heart. No one will ever replace you even though our love was never meant to be. After you finished reading this letter, I only have a single request. Please forget about me. Forget everything so that you won't be in pain anymore. I wish you all the best.

-Setsuko

All Kazuya can do was stare at the letter with his mouth slightly agape. The continuous drops of tears from his eyes were leaving a large stain on that piece of parchment paper as his hands trembled, making small creases in the paper.

"Setsuko..." he whispered out. The nurse looked at him with sympathy in her eyes and she immediately knew what to do and quietly left the room.

Kazuya never noticed that the nurse was already gone because his focus was on that single piece of paper that brought such great sadness to him.

"I-I can't...How could I possibly forget about you? A-After everything... After knowing how much you mean to me... how could you be so selfish and demand something from me that I obviously cannot do? " he whispered with anguish in his voice as he clutched the paper into his hands.

"I never meant anything I said that night. I never looked at you as if you were some bag of cash. I truly and honestly loved you. I-I..." but the person to whom those words were addressed to was gone and all Kazuya could do was let his tears fall and his sobs fill the room and accept the fact that the love between him and Setsuko has come to an end.

Kazuya woke up with a start and looked at the digital clock at his side table. It read 2:30 am. He gave out a long sigh as he gently ran his fingers through his soft locks. He felt around for the lamp switch and when he finally turned on the bed lamp, his gaze went towards the night table and saw the untouched bottle of pills.

"I forgot to take them again..." he mumbled out to himself. Suddenly, he saw droplets of something wet drip down his hand. His eyes widened as he reached out towards his cheek to feel the dampness of fresh tears running down his face. He wiped them off to stop them from falling but new tears quickly made their way back.

"I... How could I? Even after two years..." he whispered with his voice laced with unfathomable sadness.

Kazuya looked up at the ceiling and closed his eyes as he gave out another long, deep sigh. He tried to even out his breathing to calm himself down but the hands that were turning ghostly pale from gripping the bed sheets too hard were enough of an evidence how shaken up he really was.

After that fateful day, he never saw Setsuko again. He knew to himself that he could just go back to Tokyo and look for her but something prevented him from doing so. What if Setsuko really wanted them to part ways? What if she realized that she couldn't really love someone as pathetic as him? He wanted to see her. He wanted to hear her voice and hold her in his arms even for one last time but he couldn't.

Kazuya opened his eyes again and got out of bed seeing as there was no purpose of staying in bed when he was fully awake. He opened the door towards the balcony and immediately, a gush of the chilly autumn wind grazed his face as if welcoming him.

After that fateful day, he decided to move to Kyoto. He couldn't bear to go back to the place that held a lot of memories of Setsuko. His career as a ballet dancer was also cut short because he incurred a severe injury in this ankle during the accident therefore, he wouldn't be able to perform the stunts that he used to do. Instead, he enrolled in a theatre program and is now performing in several musicals.

The sound of his phone ringing brought him out of his thoughts. Kazuya turned and closed the door to the balcony and went back towards his bed where he saw his phone. He read the caller ID and immediately sighed to himself.

"What is it?" he asked to the person from the other line.

"Oh, Kazuya! You're awake? I didn't expect you to pick up your phone!" a male's voice could be heard from the phone.

Kazuya signed and sat down at the edge of his bed.

"If you know that it is abnormal to call a person at this time of the day then why did you call me?" Kazuya asked exasperatedly.

A long pause was heard from the other side until the caller gave out a sigh.

"You forgot to take them again, haven't you?" the caller asked or more like said.

Kazuya wasn't able to say anything and just looked down at his feet with eyes laced with sadness.

"See what I told you? You aren't able to sleep unless you take them. You should stop taking those sleeping pills! They are not good for your health!" the man lectured out to Kazuya as if this topic was brought out countless of times between them.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Kazuya? Are you still there? Hey, I didn't mea-"

"I-I know what you're trying to say to me, Makoto. I-I fully understand what I am doing but I..." Kazuya's voice drew on.

"You still get those nightmares, right?" Makoto finished the sentence for him.

"...Yes..."

"Look, man. It's been two years. God knows if she still remembers you or if she still loves you. I watched the news the other day and I saw that the date of the marriage between Setsuko and that Ootori boy has been moved up to an earlier date. They said that it was immediately after the two of them graduate high school. Kazuya, I know that you still love Setsuko but don't you think that two years of suffering is long enough?" Makoto said from the other line with his voice filled with worry.

Kazuya bit his lip to stop them from trembling as his grip on his phone tightened. Finally, he gave out a sigh as he smiled sadly as if pitying himself.

"I know, Makoto. I know that it's hopeless waiting around like this but I..."

Kazuya smiled as he let the tears fall from his eyes. He reached out towards his left ring finger and caressed the promise ring that Setsuko gave him and then looked at his night table to see a single framed picture on top of it. There on that picture were two people. A girl and a boy who were in a gentle and loving embrace with wide smiles on both of their faces as they stood underneath the famous wisteria tunnel of Fukuoka.

"...but I still love her, Makoto. That will never change. Even if she loves another man right now, even if she may not even remember me, a part of her will always stay in my heart. That's why I ask of you to please let me live with this love that's barely holding on. At least let me love her until I couldn't love anymore..."

"..."

"..."

"...Then, it may take you forever before you can finally let her go..."

I assure you that the drama is just starting! Thank you for reading this story and I hope that you enjoyed it! Comments and critiques are warmly accepted. Just click on the review button or send me a PM. Thank you and have a great day! -Spark of Memories