Review Responses:

Guest pretty pretty: Julie was pretty 'boy-crazy', if you will, during the first season of the anime, so I was trying to portray that, especially since she is still single. I think I mentioned somewhere in the beginning of the other chapter that Klaus and Julie were childhood friends? If not, then I am so sorry! They are childhood friends and since Klaus married Alice, Julie, would of course, befriend Alice! Billy's whereabouts will be mentioned later on in the story so please look forward for that! Oh no! I wish I made it clearer, but the reason why Klaus didn't want Julie there was because Shun is Klaus' new client and he doesn't want Julie to scare him away, LOL. Ah, one of your ideas about the dinner scene is slightly correct to what this next chapter holds, so please stay tuned for it~!（＞ｙ＜）

cherry-tree-of-life: Ahaha, now that's something that I'd like to see; Julie annoying Mylene (unknowingly or not) and Mylene trying to endure it because it's rude to snap at someone of a higher social ranking than you. I'll see if I can squeeze that in in any future chapters! Oh, thank you for reminding me about Shun and Klaus collaborating! I never really explained what Klaus' job was! Klaus is a CEO or the head of his father's business firm and like most businessmen, wants to snatch the most beneficial and wealthiest customers that he can and Shun meets the criteria. （・ｗ・）

Innocent-Diamond: Ooh, thank you for the info on the fanart~! Your conspiracy theory isn't correct, but I appreciate your courage to post it as well as coming up with the idea~! Haha, the best part of any dinner scene, regarding the fact of whether or not if the is tension between two people, is the food! I had a lot of fun doing some research on the food even though it made me hungry, LOL. (〃∀〃)ゞ

Cup of Violet Tea: Ahaha, I know right?! But you know, the heart wants what it wants. Um...there are no actual schemes, although if you stretch your imagination, you could see that Shun is 'scheming' against Klaus. Haha, let's find out what the food is in this chapter~! (๑°⌓°๑)

MagicxMusicxMelody: Huh, I guess I never thought about it that way. With your views, I can definitely see how this story is a bit similar to The Great Gatsby! LOL, it isn't weird; I think it's a very Julie thing to do to seek out Shun's appearance. The olive skin tone is used to describe people living in the Mediterranean, Asian, or South American regions...according to Wikipedia. I'm no skin tone expert, too. ヽ(~～~ )ノ

Chapter 4

"This is getting ridiculous." Alice mumbled under her breath as she hung yet another ballgown back in her closet. It was Friday afternoon and it was 5:30, which meant that Shun would be coming to the mansion for dinner in another hour and a half from then. The young Mrs. von Hertzon figured that she could run a bath, pick a dress, and get her hair done in approximately forty-five minutes with some time to spare. It seemed that it was not the case. While she did finish her bath in decent time, she found that she was having trouble just choosing a dress for the dinner. She had tried on five gowns before dismissing all of them and had scanned her entire closet nearly three times. She started her preparation at 4:30 and nearly an hour later, she is standing in her undergarments in front of her closet madly going through each dress she owned and her hair wasn't even done yet.

"I can't believe this...I've never cared about what I wore before!" She sighed exasperatedly as she went through her entire closet once more. Alice was not one for fashion or prettying herself as say, Julie. She would usually reach into her closet and grabbed whatever she found comfortable. It surprised her greatly that she was actually putting in effort in her appearance.

"This is because of him." Alice sighed deeply as she allowed herself to slump onto the floor. She's a married woman, for goodness' sake, and here he was, making her feel like a giddy girl looking for the perfect outfit to wear. She could feel her heart drop to her stomach at the memory of a thirteen-year-old Alice who would wear her best dress-or the dress that wasn't as dirty or raggedy as the rest-every time she would see him. She violently shook her head to clear those thoughts before collecting herself.

"Come on, let's just pick a dress and stick with it." She mumbled to herself as she settled on a pale green dress with a white laced-collar. Sensing that time was quickly running out, she haphazardly shimmied her way into her dress before running a comb through her hair and pinned it so that her hair wouldn't get in the way. She glanced at her vanity mirror one last time to confirm that she looked decently presentable before dashing out of her room and running as fast as she could down the stairs in her rather tight dress and high heels.

"Ah, Alice, you're just in time! Mr. Kazami's carriage just arrived. Now don't you just look lovely?" The redhead's pace halted to a walk as she reached the bottom of the stairs, where her husband was waiting at the end of the spiraling stairs. Klaus looked rather dashing in his navy blue suit as he extended a white, gloved hand towards her. She nodded a thanks as she accepted it, stepping down the last step of the stairs and stood next to her husband at the sound of someone knocking at the door. Wiping her suddenly sweaty hands on her dress, Alice pretended to be deeply interested in the porcelain vase that sat atop of their mahogany coffee table as Mylene opened the door, no doubtedly revealing Shun.

"Ah, Mr. Kazami. Thank you again for coming to dinner. I hope it didn't take you that long to get here." Klaus smiled politely, making his way towards said male as the raven-haired male entered the house.

"The pleasure is all mine, Mr. von Hertzon." They shook hands and as soon as they pulled their hands away, Shun's attention was immediately on hers. "Mrs. von Hertzon." His hazel eyes shone mischievously before he bowed towards her.

"Mr. Kazami." Was her response as she dropped into a polite curtsy. As she looked up, she finally noticed that he was wearing a pale olive green suit that was quite similar to what he wore when she last saw him. She quickly glanced down at her own dress and her cheeks slowly grew hot as she realized that their outfits were-

"Oh, I didn't know that the color green is coming back into style. Perhaps I should have the seamstress come over to make me an outfit to match the both of you." Klaus joked pleasantly as he looked over his wife and his client's choice of color for their outfits.

The raven-haired male forced a polite smile. "I am flattered, Mr. von Hertzon, but I don't think green will suit you very well. Mrs. von Hertzon, on the other hand, looks graceful in the color."

The older male laughed airily. "Oh of course. Alice looks darling in any color. But I didn't invite you for dinner to critic what colors suit me best, Mr. Kazami. If you would follow me, I believe Cook has dinner waiting for us."

The dining table that usually had two chairs seated at either end now housed three chairs. One chair remained at one end of the table while the other two chairs were placed to the right-hand side of the first chair. Because he was the head of the house, Klaus nearly immediately claimed the chair at the end of the table. That left, Alice silently dreaded, her to sit next to Shun. While she had originally planned to take the first chair to Klaus' right, her husband was offering for the raven-haired male to take that seat. He had insisted that it would be easier for both Shun and him to converse. With no other choice, the redhead female came to terms with sitting awfully close to her childhood lover. It didn't help the butterflies in her stomach and the pounding of her heart when the rather stoic male pulled out her chair for her instead of her husband.

Dinner was, to say the least, delicious. The dishes came one at a time, with each dish being more appetizing than the last. A creamy soup comprised of bits of deer, turnips, and potatoes, with some chopped onions sprinkled on top. A plump goose cooked to perfection, drizzled in a sweet, yet savory, brown sauce. A stout, roasted pig with a bright red apple in its' mouth rested on an assortment of different vegetables. Smoked salmon resting on a bed of white rice and asparagus. Oysters and mussels, whose shells were opened, laid in a rather large bowl of ice, as a couple of lemon slices rested near the seafood. As mouthwatering as the whole meal was, Alice found it difficult for her to truly enjoy dinner. Especially not when a servant, who was bringing out the pig, caught her by surprise, making her drop her napkin. As the young lady reached down to retrieve her napkin, the gentleman by her side reached for it at the same time, causing their hands to accidentally brush against the other. As she embarrassedly looked up to thank him, his slight smirk caused her to unwillingly blush. For the most part, Alice was able to tune out what Shun and Klaus were discussing, as she had no interest in whatever business-related issues they were discussing and turned her attention to the food.

Everything went rather smoothly until dessert came. Dessert comprised of platters of different types of pies and tarts sat beautifully on the pastel-colored trays and chamomile tea was being served in a beautiful porcelain tea set. The redhead female finally tuned back into the two males' conversation when her husband moved on from business to more...personal matters.

"If I may ask, Mr. Kazami, are you still a bachelor?" Klaus asked as he sipped on his white wine and Alice nearly choked on the piece of strawberry lemonade tart that she was eating.

"I am." Was Shun's simple reply before he ate a piece of his slice of peach pie.

The von Hertzon male set down his wine glass. "I find that very hard to believe. Surely you must be courting a woman."

"I am not, Mr. von Hertzon." While the slight change in the raven-haired male's tone sounded as if he was slightly annoyed at the silver-haired male for questioning him about his love life, the redhead female felt her shoulders beginning to loosen up. So Shun wasn't with anyone-

"Oh? If you are interested, a long-time friend of mine, Julie Makimoto, is single herself. Perhaps you would like to meet her some time soon?" The young Mrs. von Hertzon stiffened at her husband's proposal, having forgotten about the silver-haired female's interest in the raven-haired male. The sudden image of an ecstatic Julie gushing about said stoic male had her gripping her tea cup harder than she normally would have, causing some of her fingers to turn white.

"That is very kind of you, Mr. von Hertzon, but I am not interested." Her childhood lover thanked her husband politely and Alice felt as if an enormous weight was lifted off of her chest and she was able to breathe once more.

"And why ever not? Is there another woman that caught your interest?" Klaus persisted with his questions.

Shun finished his slice of pie before he spoke. "I suppose you could say that. She has caught more than just my interest; she caught my heart and holds it still." At those words, Alice felt her heart beating undeniably fast and it felt as if her heart could pound its' way out of her chest if it continued on beating that fast and that hard.

"It sounds as if she is a very important person to you." The older male smiled politely.

"She is." Shun cracked a small smile, a real and genuine smile and it had been so long since she saw him smile that tears almost immediately start springing up.

"This mystery woman seems very wonderful, Mr. Kazami. I would suggest that you marry her as soon as possible."

"It seems as if I cannot, Mr. von Hertzon." His smile quickly vanished and his facade came back on.

"Oh? And why ever not?" The silver-haired male raised an eyebrow questioningly.

Time seemed to slow down as Shun's hazel eyes locked in with her own and the words that she dreaded to hear escaped his lips. "She is married to another man."

End of Chapter 4.

Note: HAPPY NEW YEAR! Can you believe it? I haven't updated this story since last year! *insert fake, canny laugh* In all seriousness, though, I really haven't updated anything AT. ALL. I apologize for the lack of updates, since I would almost always *try* to update at least one story in the months of November and December, but I've been through a rather major life change that I'm focusing more on that than writing. Anyways, wowee, Shun is finally in this chapter! Shun did indeed arrive at the von Hertzon manor for dinner and talk about tension! Klaus is honestly just super dense, so he doesn't catch onto the *subtle* hints about Shun and Alice. And wow, can we just talk about how freaking loyal Shun is to Alice? He hasn't even looked at another woman all those years and wasn't even interested in Julie when Klaus mentioned her during dinner-totally random but I just recently found out that the Shun x Julie ship existed...I'm not hating, but I feel so outdated that I didn't know about it! And how 'bout that 'cliff-hanger', huh? I know that it's not technically a 'cliff-hanger' but I honestly don't know what it is, so I guess I'll call it that. Please review your thoughts on this chapter and I'll try my best to update my other ongoing works as well! v(｡･ω･｡)