Ouran High School Host Club Fan Fiction ❯ Looking for the Perfect Nanny ❯ Two ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran. I only own the plot of this story.

Looking for the Perfect Nanny

-- Two -

Haruhi Fujioka stared fixedly at the letter in her hand with great disbelief. No matter how many times she took her time to reread it, she still could not find any good explanations that might help her to explain the absurdity of the sentences stated in there.

Sighed frustratingly, she glanced at the clock on the kitchen wall and decided to clarify the matter with the sender who was liable for her distress at the moment.

However, before she had a chance to grab her jacket, she could hear a soft knock on her front door.

Haruhi never had any guests coming to her house before with the exception of the host club members. And she remembered it vividly that none of them ever mentioned returning to Japan any time soon. Furthermore, she also never mentioned her address to any of her classmates in the university so far. It was not like to keep her life as a secret or something, but currently she felt much more comfortable to have a boundary between her personal life with the academic one she had.

Then a sudden thought hit her. Could it be… him?

Kyouya Ootori never came to her house again ever since he returned back to her life only around two weeks ago. Furthermore, he did not bother to call, SMS, or even looked for her in the university. It was as if his sudden visit to her house last time was only a fragment of her dream.

Even until now Haruhi still was not able to sort out her feelings towards his sudden came back. Yet when she realized that somehow he was no longer the same person that she used to know; an uncharacterisctic pang almost like sadness emerged in her heart. She could not decipher the probable cause why she felt that way and she was even more unsure whether she really wanted to know the reason behind it in the first place.

However, she was surprised and for some unknown reasons, she felt a little bit disappointed when she opened the door only to find the person standing behind the door was not the one whom she secretly hoped to see that night.

Haruhi blamed her stupidity awhile ago for thinking that Kyouya Ootori would be the one visited her and had not even thought the possibility for Mrs. Harada, her landlady, to be the one who came to her place. She should have expected that she would come to her apartment especially considering the fact that she had sent her such a surprising letter beforehand.

“Good evening, Haruhi-Chan. I am sorry for disturbing you this late. Are you busy at the moment? I need to talk with you about some matters,” greeted the plump lady in her usual enthusiastic manners whenever she saw any of her tenants.

“Good evening, Auntie; it's nice to see you. No, I'm not busy at all tonight. In fact, I was almost on my way to go to your place before I heard you knocking at my door just now. Please have a seat,” replied Haruhi while gesturing her guest to her living room.

Mrs. Harada appeared hesitant for a second and her cheerfulness almost dissapeared at once as she took a quick glance at the letter on Haruhi's hand.

“I assume you have read the letter, Haruhi-Chan. Is that the reason why you want to see me?”

“Um… yeah… Actually I want to ask you about the reasons behind your sudden decision. I know I don't have any rights to actually ask such thing to you. However, my father and I have been staying in this apartment for so long, it's surprising for me to know that suddenly you decided to sell the place,” replied Haruhi a little too bluntly.

“Well, I got a very good offer from a very generous buyer out of the blue couple of days back. I know that it's a pity actually to sell this place just like this especially considering the good memories it holds all this while. But I guess all of us have to move on at some point in our life, don't you think so too, Haruhi-Chan?” Mrs. Harada shifted her body uncomfortably and looked somewhat uneasy with her own explanations.

“To be honest, I don't know what to think about that. Eh, are you alright Auntie? You look a little bit pale,” asked Haruhi concernedly upon noticing the unusual awkwardness that was clearly shown by her landlord whom took a fleeting second to look around her apartment. She could not help but sighed as she followed Mrs. Harada's action by glancing around her tiny living room which also connected to the kitchen where she had a lot of sweet memories with her late mother.

Haruhi was slightly taken aback by the time she noticed that Mrs. Harada only looked at her pityingly and somehow for reasons unknown to her, her landlady broke into tears.

“I am really sorry, Haruhi-Chan. This is really for the best,” sobbed the landlady as she mopped her tears with a tissue offered by Haruhi.

Haruhi smiled warmly and spoke in the most comforting tone she could muster, “It's alright, Auntie. I understand your decision and all. Ah, by the way, do you happen to know somebody who is currently looking for a tenant in this block? I like this neighborhood a lot and I still want to live somewhere around here.”

“AH! NO! You definitely CAN'T rent any good apartments around here, Haruhi-Chan. Believe me on this matter,” stated Mrs. Harada in an unnecessary loud volume that made Haruhi almost fell from her chair due to shock because of the sudden behavior change from her landlady.

Mrs. Harada was no longer crying. On the contrary, she looked utterly petrified upon hearing Haruhi's words; as if Haruhi's reaction was not something that she had expected before.

“I'm so sorry Haruhi-Chan, Dear. Did I surprise you? It's not that I am not willing to help you finding a house in this neighboorhood. However, I'm sure you definitely can find a better place somewhere else. I mean he already did as far as buying all the apartments and houses nearby here to make sure that you won't be able to… eh never mind. What on earth am I talking about… Please don't think any of my ramblings just now seriously, Haruhi-Chan. Old symptoms, I guess…” stuttered Mrs. Harada with apparent guilt and nervous looks mixed on her somewhat pallid face.

Haruhi frowned a little and unconsciously mumbled to herself, “He?”

It's like a missing puzzle was finally being found, Haruhi spoke once again with a slightly trembling voice; as if she was trying to restrain herself from getting mad, “Is it possible that you're referring to Kyouya Ootori, Auntie? Is he the same person who's responsible for your sudden decision in selling the apartment?”

For a moment Mrs. Harada looked completely astounded upon hearing what Haruhi just said to her.

“No… Of course not, Haruhi-Chan. How is it possible for a person as important as Ootori-Sama to be interested in such a rundown building like this?” said Auntie Harada hurriedly soon after she recovered from her stupor.

“I see… So what did he offer to you as the compensation, Auntie?” asked Haruhi calmly. She titled her head slightly and smile politely to her landlady as if she was only asking about her cat and not concerning to any specific person.

However, Mrs. Harada knew Haruhi better than to believe her tranquil composure. She had practically seen Haruhi grown up and everything about her never went unnoticed. And by now, Mrs, Harada was absolutely certain that the girl was beyond angry and lying to her was definitely a very unwise decision.

Nonetheless, Mrs. Harada had already promised to that young man not to tell Haruhi anything about him. Judging from the way he behaved when she met him around two weeks ago, he seemed like a nice and decent man. Furthermore, seeing the fact that he already went all the way to the point of buying all the houses around the area as well as came up with an unusual request for not letting Haruhi to ever find out that he was the secret buyer; somehow made her felt certain that he had some unspoken feelings towards her young tenant. If it was not because she liked gossips that much in the first place; she would never know that her apartment was not the only one around the neighboorhood that being bought by the very same person with such excellent price. She just could not understand the reason why the young man had to resort up to that extent when he could just simply straightaway tell the girl how he felt about the girl in the first place.

“I am really sorry, Haruhi-Chan. Please just blame me and my big mouth. I can't tell you anything about this matter more than I already did. I really hope that understand me, Haruhi-Chan,” said Mrs. Harada softly. The landlady could not help but secretly wished that Haruhi would not investigate the matter further and made the young man fell into deep trouble because she had failed to keep her mouth shut.

Haruhi sighed; upon seeing the crestfallen face of her usually cheerful landlady she knew that she had no other option than to say, “It's OK, Auntie. I totally understand your circumstances and I will not trouble you further by asking you about this matter. I will be moving out from this apartment by the end of this month as my contract due on that day. Thank you for your help all this time.”

Upon hearing what Haruhi just said, Mrs. Harada broke into tears for the second time around.

For a fleeting second, Haruhi thought `You will pay for this, Kyouya Ootori.'

“Ootori-Sama, there is a young lady who wants to see you urgently. I have informed her to wait for you at the outer living room.”

“Who?” asked Kyouya without even bothered to take a glance to the person who just talked to him and continued typing on his laptop.

“It's me; Haruhi Fujioka, Kyouya-Sempai,” said Haruhi in a more polite manner and patience than what she normally showed as if she was visiting a bedridden patient instead of a good friend. Without further ado, Haruhi entered the room and walked past the flabbergasted-looking butler only to stand confidently in front of Kyouya. She had been quietly following the unsuspectful butler ever since the guy turned his back around to inform his young master about her presence without him ever aware of it.

The butler looked aghast when he saw her barging in to the youngest master of the Ootori clan's bedroom so casually just like that. He could swear that he had already asked her to stay put in the outer living room which located just slightly past the main house. He did not even know how the girl could find his master's room that easily; as if it was not her first time to be there in the first place.

Since he had worked for quite some time with the Ootori family, he knew perfectly about the youngest master's infamous temperament very well; and disturbing him while he was obviously still busy would be the last option he ever chose if he still wanted to keep his job. And now after seeing what the girl had done; he could not help but sweating profusely as he was dreading of the possibilities to lose his current job any moment soon.

For a fleeting second, Kyouya looked very surprised with Haruhi's abrupt coming. However, when he spoke once again he had already returned to his nonchalant self.

“Ah, Haruhi. What pleasure do I owe you to have your company all of a sudden?” Kyouya smirked. He pushed his glasses slightly as he stared at the girl with the same boyish haircut just like the one she had back then when they were still in Ouran High School from behind his expensive laptop.

“I demand some explanations from you on… um… some matters,” Haruhi ended her sentence hesitantly. For a moment she felt doubtful on what to say in fear that she might accuse Kyouya for something that was probably unrelated to him after all.

“I'm sorry, Ootori-Sama. I…” the butler's voice was fading away unfinished since he saw Kyouya gestured him to leave the room. The poor man inhaled his breath deeply; obviously felt relieved that he just escaped from his young master's wrath, and bowed his head in a resolute polite manner before he retreated back to his post.

When the butler was no longer around, Kyouya put his laptop away and signaled Haruhi to sit down at one of his luxurious sofa around his enormous bedroom. He seated himself leisurely in front of her and gave the girl one of his rare smiles.

“So? Can you elaborate your question further about… uh… your demand, just now?”

Haruhi could catch a faint hint of sarcasms on Kyouya's words. However, she chose to ignore them and spoke quickly before she lost her nerves, “I want to ask you whether you have anything to do at all with the sudden decisions of most of the people in my neighborhood in selling their properties almost at the same time, Sempai.”

Kyouya chuckled softly and said, “I always think that you're the reasonable one among all the host club members, Haruhi. Well, I guess I am prone to make mistake in my judgment; as it has already been proven sometimes ago.”

Haruhi could not understand the subtlety behind Kyouya's words nor did she feel intrigued by it at the moment. All she wanted to know was the confirmation from the guy himself whether or not he was the main reason of her current near-homeless status.

However, before Haruhi could press the issue further, a gentle knock could be heard from the outside of Kyouya's bedroom door.

Two maids were appeared shortly behind the closed door; bringing tea and some cookies for both of them. Both maids efficiently placed the trays on top of the exquisite mahogany table, poured a cup of tea for each of them and left the room without uttering any single words or even taking another glance at their direction.

As Haruhi sipped her hot tea, she caught a glimpse of the other trays in front of her and spontaneously murmured, “Meringues?”

She took a good look at the guy sitting comfortably in front of her and could not restrain herself from stating, “I thought you always hate sweet foods, Sempai?”

“Well, that's before a girl told me once that my low sugar intake was the most probable reason why I am feeling grumpy sometimes. She even daringly informed me that these cookies would help me to no longer be … uh… what did she say last time? Ah… bitter,” Kyouya smirked once again.

After hearing the notions from Kyouya, Haruhi could not help but chuckling a little as if she just remembered something very funny. Unabashedly, she took one caramel-colored meringue from the tray and ate it blissfully.

“Well, what do you think, Haruhi? Do you still see me as a bitter man?” asked Kyouya while he was quietly staring at the girl before her and a hint of smirk was visible on his handsome face as he noticed how the girl enjoyed eating the cookies.

Haruhi almost choked on her cookies upon listening to Kyouya's sudden and unexpected question.

Left with no visible answer, Haruhi simply replied the guy's unordinary question with, “I am not very sure, Kyouya-Sempai.”

Kyouya laughed very hard as though he found her response to be downright funny. She was Haruhi after all to give him such direct answer; so far nobody but her had dared to give him any kinds of straightforward replies to whatever he said.

Finally, after regaining his composure back Kyouya said a tad too seriously, “I guess it means that I will still need to eat a lot more meringues then, Haruhi.”

Haruhi sighed and said, “I'm not coming here to discuss with you about the cookies, Sempai. I just want to know the truth whether you're the one behind my problem at the moment.”

“Is it really that bad to leave that apartment, Haruhi?” Kyouya asked gently with his onyx eyes staring intently at the girl who was sitting in front of him.

With Kyouya looking her like that, Haruhi could only inhale her breath deeply and replied meekly, “That is not the point of this matter, Sempai. Truthfully, I like that apartment a lot and it never occurs to me that I will have to move out from there so soon. Not to mention how stressful I am because of the fact that I am going to be homeless by the end of this month. All of these unexpected things that happen to me recently almost make me lose my sanity. Besides, I can't think of anyone else but you who will be more than able to make such drastic changes to ever happen in my life all of a sudden, Sempai.”

“I see…”

Haruhi did not know what to expect from Kyouya; but what she did know was the fact that she hated herself for being such an insensitive girl upon seeing the expressions etched on his flawless face. It looked so remorseful and unlike Kyouya she had known before.

“I am sorry, Kyouya-Sempai. I did not mean to be so harsh to you just now. I swear I never tried to accuse you or something. Just tell me that you did not have anything to do with my problem and I will believe in you, Sempai.”

“Do you know the other name for meringues, Haruhi?”

“Eh?”

Haruhi confused with the rapid change of the conversation. She did not know the importance of the cookies, but apparently Kyouya thought of it as something that was definitely worthier to muse over rather than defending himself against her arguments just now.

“The other name for these meringues is `forgotten cookies.' And it's just like an irony; to realize that some things in life you could not just simply forget that they ever happened no matter how hard you tried or how many forgotten cookies you ate all the while,” stated Kyouya in a matter-of-factly tone. His expression was unreadable and his eyes were hidden behind his bangs.

“And to clarify your suspicion about me; you're right all along, Haruhi. I am indeed the person to blame for your current state.”

When Kyouya suddenly raised his head to see her after he finished his sentences; Haruhi noticed that his eyes glimmered with something that she never saw it existed in there before.

Haruhi stared exasperatedly at Kyouya and she could only muster to ask, “What did you do that for, Sempai?”

“To make you stay here with me, Haruhi.”

------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------

2 years 7 months 9 days before….

Ootori Mansion - Kyouya Ootori's Bedroom

“Aaaah… Poor mother… Look how terrible his state is now,” cried Tamaki too overly dramatic upon looking at the sleeping figure of Kyouya.

“Tono, you will soon be like him if you stick your face that close to the Demon King,” shouted Kaoru mockingly.

“I never knew that Kyou-Chan could fall sick. Did you know that, Takashi-Chan?” Hunny glanced inquiringly at his cousin who stood quietly next to him.

Mori only nodded slightly upon hearing Hunny's word and looked at the figure that was still sleeping soundly in the huge bed beside him.

“It's so much unlike the Demon King to fall sick like that. Don't you think a demon like him supposed to be immune to any kinds of human illnesses, Kaoru?” asked Hikaru to his twin while tapping Kyouya's face daringly; obviously thinking that the guy was still deep in his sleep to notice what he had done to him at the moment.

“However thisDemon King will definitely want some paybacksonce he regained his health. Now can anyone explain the current situation to me especially on why all of you daringly entered my room without asking my permission first? Who has given you the right to come to my room this freely? I will surely be more than happy to sackthe person responsible for this,” grunted Kyouya with an obvious anger shown on his usually collected face.

“Um, I'm sorry, Sempai; it's actually my idea; a bad one, I guess. But I thought since I've noticed the door to your room was slightly open; it would be much simpler for us to wait until you woke up in here rather than in the living room. That place is too far from here anyway which only makes us unable know whether you have woken up or not,” replied Haruhi without even thinking twice. All she ever wanted at the moment was to prevent a possible havoc from happening to them once she saw the dark expression looming on Kyouya's face.

Kyouya was astonished for a moment after he heard what Haruhi just said. However, he restored his composure in almost no time when he darkly snapped, “Why on earth are you coming here and disturbing me in the first place?”

The rest of them except Haruhi, who was currently still staring at the guy with a great interest rather than fear, released relief sighs after knowing that Kyouya did not pursue the matter further.

To tell the truth, it was actually Tamaki's idea to wait inside Kyouya's room in the first place. However, Tamaki did not know how Kyouya would react if he explained the real situation to him. Thankfully, Haruhi was quick not to mention foolish enough to explain such blatant lies to Kyouya before the shadow king could dig into the matter further. Yet to be honest with himself, Tamaki also could not help but wondering whether Kyouya had realized that Haruhi was just throwing the stupidest fib straight to his face.

As a smart person, even with one quick anaysis Kyouya knew that Haruhi had just lied to him. It was too obvious even for the most idiotic person on earth to know that she was lying in the first place since his room was located in the furthest wing of the mansion while the inner living room was positioned right in the center of the house. Thus, it would only mean that it was definitely impossible for them to see his bedroom from the living room since it was way too far let alone to know whether the door to his bedroom was open or not. But somehow he chose not to mention his findings to any of his friends as soon as he saw the strange twinkles in Haruhi's big amber eyes when their eyes accidentally met.

Hunny chirped merrily; obviously tried to fill the thick atmosphere around them with something much more cheerful to talk about, “Of course we have to come today since it is Valentine's Day, Kyou-Chan. We will never celebrate this special day without you.”

“Yes, that's true, Mother! If you can't attend Valentine's Day at the host club then it's only logical for us to bring Valentine directlyto you,” added Tamaki in his usual excited manner.

For the second time around, Kyouya did not know what to say. He should expect things like this to happen especially when a person like Tamaki Suoh existed in his world. However, he was also wondering whether it was because of his fever that made him softened and not yelling to all of them or even worse; kicking all of them out of his room as soon as Tamaki and the rest of them blabbed about the importance of Valentine's Day or because he just realized that Haruhi was the one who took all the blame for all the commotion that the rest of the host club members had made so far. He knew it somehow that it was not Haruhi's type to suddenly feel curious and open his door without his permission beforehand especially when she obviously knew that he hated to be disturbed when he was sleeping. It was more like Tamaki's type than hers was anyway. Yet somehow he could not shake off his minds from mulling over the reasons behind her decision to do such thing to no avail.

Finally, Kyouya only replied coldly, “What do all of you want from me? Please make it quick and painless then leave my premises immediately.”

“Ah, Mother. Where's your Valentine's spirit? The day is not over yet for us to have some party here and celebrate love. Well, of course don't forget the most important thing as well: exchange presents!!!!” cheered Tamaki dramatically.

Normally in the past, every year Kyouya would refuse any kinds of chocolates from anyone including his own sister Fuyumi and celebrating Valentine's Day with a party would be a laughable concept for him back then before the host club was established.

Yet he knew this year would be different for him since the host club had planned to have some activities to celebrate the day. Nevertheless, much to his relief, he fell sick just one day before Valentine's Day this year and he indeed considered his poor health at the moment as a blessing rather than a condemnation. He surely did not like the idea of people being so mushy to each other for a whole day long. Furthermore, eating chocolate always remained as a nightmare for him since he always hated all kinds of sweet foods. The sweeter the foods the more he disliked them.

When Kyouya finally thought that he could spend the day peacefully while reading a book or two to make him forgotten about his sore throat, runny nose, headache and the slightly feverish feeling he had ever since the day before; all of the host club members apparently had come to a decision to suddenly show up inside his bedroom totally uninvited.

Kyouya could only curse himself inwardly to stupidly forgetting the most important fact that his best friend Tamaki Suoh was one of the mushiest people alive on earth that he happened to know. Leave it to him to change his supposed to be recuperating time into some sorts of exhilaratingslumber party.

Kyouya could only rub his temple impatiently in a vain attempt to brush off his now worsened migraine. He should have known that this day would come sooner or later after he became a friend of Tamaki.

Much to his annoyance, apparently the other members also started to feel the same way as Tamaki and began jeering and cheering with him while taking out all the party supplies so fast that Kyouya could swear they were coming out from nowhere.

However, when Kyouya thought that all the insanity that was ongoing inside his room should be stopped before it could affect his mental health, he incidentally glanced at the corner of his room. He could not help himself but chuckling lightly when he saw the twins busily forcing Haruhi to wear a bunny-girl costume which came in a set with its ear and pink round tail.

And somehow for some odd reasons that he preferred not to think at all; for the first time in his life he thought that Valentine's Day was not thatbad after all.

“Tono, we think now is the most appropriate time to give the present to Mother,” said Hikaru and Kaoru at the same time.

“Waaaa… present…” exclaimed Hunny joyously.

“I guess you're right, boys. Let's give the presents to your mother now!”

Kyouya could only shake his head tiredly; he could never understand why he was still able to keep his sanity intact while he was constantly being surrounded by people like Tamaki, Hunny or the twins.

He could swear that by the time all these people leaving his house; he would definitely be allergic to anything in pinkfor the rest of his life. He was too horrified to give any comments upon noticing that all the gifts from the host club members were wrapped in all the shades of that particularly girlish color.

He could only mumble frustratingly upon receiving those gifts that all of his friends were more than happy to place them at his lap, “I don't have any gifts to exchange with you guys, so you can keep those things to yourself. Besides, I always hate allkinds of sweet foods.”

“How can you be so ignorant with my feelings or your children's feeling, Mother?” sobbed Tamaki from the corner of Kyouya's bedroom; looked as dejected as ever.

“Sempai, this is my gift. I hope you'll like it,” said Haruhi; completely ignoring the faint sobbing sounds from the corner of the room.

Kyouya sighed deeply and stared at Haruhi in disbelief for a fracture second before scowled, “Oh, no… Not you as well, Haruhi. I always think that you are the sanest one among all these people.”

“I don't think sanity has anything to do with giving gifts, Sempai. However, it's perfectly okay for me if you do not want it. I don't want to force you to take something that you're unwilling to accept in the first place,” said Haruhi in a matter-of-factly tone with her head titled slightly as if trying to decipher his current expression. There were neither sarcasms hinted in her tone nor disappointments apparent in her beautiful face. It was almost like she had suspected that he would refuse any kinds of gifts given to him that day in the first place.

“Haru-Chan made her presents all by herself and even incidentally burnt some of her fingers because of that, Kyou-Chan. You're hurting her feelings by saying such insensitive things like that,” stated Hunny in his usual childish tone although his face somewhat saddened. Kyouya merely suspected that it was probably because of his unsympathetic remarks to Haruhi a moment ago. Yet he regretted his insensitiveness almost at once when he caught a glimpse of Haruhi's heavily bandaged fingers before she hid them behind her back as soon as Hunny pointed at her direction.

“Ah, I am perfectly fine, Hunny-Sempai. And don't feel bad just because you're grumpier than usual, Kyouya-Sempai,” retorted Haruhi quickly.

The twins snickered upon hearing Haruhi's words while Mori and Hunny seemed like struggling to suppress their laughs.

“Why did you say such things to mother, Haruhi-Chan?” asked Tamaki disapprovingly.

“Well, low sugar level always affects people's mood, Tamaki-Sempai. And now knowing the fact that Kyouya-Sempai dislike all kinds of sweet foods in the first place, it's only logical for me to think that it is one of the reasons why he always looks grumpy from time to time,” explained Haruhi serenely while smiling sweetly to Kyouya.

Kyouya chuckled softy upon hearing Haruhi's blunt words. It was always amusing to hear her explaining things with unscientific arguments like that. Actually, he could easily retort her with the fact that Hunny always ate more than enough sugar for the portions of 10 normal adults; yet he also had a tendency to be grumpy whenever he was being woken up. However, for some odd reasons unknown to him; he opted to leave the matter to rest in the end.

Still chuckling serenely, Kyouya said, “Well then, just for this time I will accept all your gifts as long as they're not too sweet.”

“But Mother, how about the gifts from the girls in the club? They asked us to pass their chocolates to you.”

“I think Hunny-Sempai will be more than happy to receive them on my behalf. We can't refuse the gifts from our clients because that will obviously hurt their feelings.”

Haruhi shook her head quietly. Everything related with Kyouya always strictlymeant for business. And seeing what she brought for him, it was definitely something that would fall under the category of `too sweet' for Kyouya Ootori.

Thus, without bothered to take a glance at Kyouya, Haruhi quietly put her gifts away together with all the gifts from the girls in the host club and placed them neatly at the table nearby; just in front of the settee where Hunny and Mori sat currently.

“Hey, Haruhi… I thought you brought that stuff as mypresent. Why did you have to pass it to Hunny-Sempai?” asked Kyouya a little bit surprised upon seeing what Haruhi did awhile ago.

“Well, I thought you hate sweet foods,” replied Haruhi simply.

“Well, I don't like things that are toosweet. However I still can eat chocolate since I assume it is not reallythat sweet anyway,” answered Kyouya a little bit too quickly. Somehow he could not help but feeling oddly disappointed with Haruhi's voluntary willingness in giving away the gift that was supposed to be his to Hunny without even asking his opinion first for that matter.

Haruhi cleared her throat uncomfortably before saying, “That's the problem, Kyouya-Sempai. My gift is really… sweet.”

“What do you give your mother anyway, Haruhi-Chan? I thought it was supposed to be the same chocolates with the ones you gave usthis morning.” There was a hint of jealousy in Tamaki's voice that went unnoticed by Haruhi.

“Well, I don't give chocolate to Kyouya-Sempai…” muttered the girl in a low voice.

“Why?”all of them except Mori and Kyouya asked Haruhi at the same time, which made Kyouya thought inwardly that even Philharmonic Orchestra, would be proud of upon hearing their spontaneous synchronization.

“Because he has enough bitterness insidehim to last forever and it will not help him at all to eat something as bitter as chocolate,” stated Haruhi to nobody in particular.

The twins laughed very hard upon listening to what Haruhi just said. Even Mori and Hunny did not try to suppress their laughs anymore.

However, Tamaki looked anything but happy upon hearing Haruhi's rationalization. Almost sounded like he was thoroughly envy with Kyouya; he abruptly said, “But there are a lot of different kinds of chocolates in the world, Haruhi-Chan. And I am absolutelysure that a lot of commoner shops also sell some sweet types of chocolates anyway.”

“Well, from what I've read so far, the real taste of chocolate supposed to be bitter, Tamaki-Sempai. That's why I don't think it will be suitable for Kyouya-Sempai.” Haruhi answered simply as she took a glance at Kyouya before gave him a friendly shrug.

Tamaki only scowled and looked somewhat dejected. He totally disliked hearing the explanations from Haruhi and realized almost all too sudden on where things might possibly be going between Haruhi and his best friend.

However, his grimace turned into curiosity almost instantly when the twins shouted happily to Kyouya, “Open Haruhi's gift, Mother!”

All of them were speechless by the time Kyouya opened Haruhi's gift.

None of them opened their mouths until Kyouya decided to ask, “What are these?”

Before Haruhi could answer, Hunny had already explained on her behalf, “Those are meringue cookies, Kyou-Chan and I guess it's correct when Haru-Chan said that they're sweet. Believe me when she said sweet, it means really… really… SWEET.”

“Oh,” replied Kyouya tentatively while staring suspiciously at the neatly arranged meringue cookies inside the pinkish round box that he put on his lap shortly after he put aside all the gifts from the other host club members into the empty space beside him.

“Well, I guess if mother doesn't want to eat them, I still have some empty spaces inside my stomach,” stated Tamaki much more cheerful than before when he saw Haruhi's gift and tapped his stomach gently; as if he already made up his mind that Kyouya would never eat those kinds of cookies in the first place.

“Don't you dare to think that, Tono. We would like to eat them as well,” retorted the twins heatedly.

As if he did not want to be left behind, Hunny also added the current commotion with, “My bunny also wants some meringue cookies as well, Kyou-Chan. Right, Takashi-Chan?” Mori nodded almost at once.

All of the uproar ended almost abruptly when Kyouya announced with a slightly louder and more hoarse voice than usual, “I neversaid that I don't want to eat these.”

Later on that evening...

Ootori Mansion - Kyouya Ootori's Bedroom

“Kyouya, I thought you have already looked much better this morning when I left you. Why did Takagi-Sensei inform me that your condition seems getting worsened when he gave a checkup on you this afternoon?”

“I'm OK, Fuyumi. It's not a big deal,” croaked Kyouya in a barely audible voice. His voice was so hoarse that almost sounded like he was uttering some words from an unknown language.

Fuyumi looked utterly bewildered upon hearing her brother's hoarse grunts. “Oh my God, what's wrong with your voice? I thought you're only having a common cold.”

“Nothing's wrong. Don't bug me; I want to get some actual sleep when I am alone at last.”

“What's that?” asked Fuyumi curiously and pointed at the pinkish round box on the side table next to Kyouya's magnificent bed; completely ignoring her brother's request to leave him alone.

Before Kyouya could stop Fuyumi from taking the box; she swiftly took it and grinned at her brother. She was very happy to see Kyouya not being able to get back at her due to his head-splitting migraine once in awhile since normally he would not let her joke around with him.

When Fuyumi opened the box, she could see that there was nothing inside except one single cookie.

Fuyumi could not hold back herself from asking her brother, “Meringue cookies? Don't tell me that you're nibbling the whole box when Takagi-Sensei has clearly stated that you have to avoid spicy, oily and sweet foods before you're completely recovered from your flu.”

“I am not nibblinganything, Fuyumi. Just leave me alone, OK?” answered Kyouya a little bit too quickly that made him coughing badly as the result.

“Honestly, Kyouya. I don't know what's wrong with you. All this time I always thought that you hate all kinds of sweet foods. It's totally idiotic for you to devour the whole box of meringue cookies out of the blue especially when you're obviously unwell. You never even wanted to try any of my cookies I made especially for you before just because you said they're a little bit too sweet for your taste. Why do you liketo eat these sickeninglysweet kinds of cookies all of a sudden anyway, Kyouya?” Fuyumi shot an exasperated look at her youngest brother before shaking her head incredulously.

However, much to Fuyumi's bewilderment; she could swear that she just saw her brother smirking as if he found her remarks just now to be particularly funny.

As though that was not enough, Fuyumi was left speechless and more than utterly astonished upon hearing what his brother said next.

“Yeah, I wishI could say the same thing to the manufacturer,” said Kyouya hoarsely in between his severe coughs.

-- to be continued -

A/N: Wow, this chapter was definitely longer than what I've expected before. Please don't forget to leave me your reviews and comments for the story.

Thank you so much for all of you who have been reading this story; especially DC and Miss Mischief for reviewing this story.