a fool's words || Kyoya Ootori

The Renge Houshakuji

Word Count- 4067
Whoops i forgor to update

Miko walked down the halls afterschool towards the Host Club. The dinner was a disaster she just wanted to forget. Even a week and a half later she was thinking about how her betrothed stood up to her parents that night...

-

"I have to say you are lucky with your children, Yoshio." Miko's father praises. The four Ootori siblings ignored the compliment and continued their meals. Minato subtly rolled his eyes and let out a huff.

"Well from what I heard your son is rapidly climbing the ladder to top of class." Yoshio compliments the young man. "I also hear your daughter is a head of a few of her classes, as well as getting accepted for the office position. You must be proud of their achievements." The eldest Ootori male nodded to his friend. A shy smile made it's way onto Miko's face in appreciation. She knew how strict Mr. Ootori actually is so this was probably just a show of respect for her father, but it still felt nice.

A chuckle came from her father. "Well anyone could be accepted into a position no one else applied for." Sound slowed to a stop. Eyes either were glued onto Miko or her father, the girl's smile dropped and her head dipped.

"Minato actually is going to do his own launch for the first time next month!" Her mother piped in, smiling wide to her son.

"Miko is simply doing secretarial work, nothing too impressive." Her father chuckled again and shook his head. Both adults oblivious to the silence around them.

Miko quickly brought a hand up to adjust her glasses, subtly hiding her embarrassment. White noise slowly filled her ears, and it became the only thing she could focus on. The deafening silence let Miko's mind run down hallways of darkness. Was she really just a glorified secretary? He was technically correct, her job there was planning, organizing, and paperwork.

Her hand fell from her face to grip her dress, her shoulders shaking. She assumed that the Ootori's were looking at her as if she was weak. They probably received feedback ten times worse than she was being served, but here she was on the verge of tears. Her teeth grit as she picked up a napkin and brought it to her mouth as if to wipe her mouth to hide the quiver.

"With all due respect, I happen think your daughter is brilliant." A voice broke through all the white noise. Next to her Kyoya really was wiping his mouth, before looking towards Miko's father. "She's top of three of her classes, and second in a few of them,-" Miko's father raised a hand to comment but Kyoya just smiled. "But I share those classes with her, so that's completely understandable." He placed his napkin down. "She's bright, but you can't really expect her to outsmart me..." His eyes moved towards Miko who was staring at him wide-eyed.

"If I remember correctly, Ootori, she scored higher on the most recent quiz in maths by one point." Miko's head whipped across the table to the last person she expected to come to her support. Minato smirked over to Kyoya whose eyebrow twitched.

"How could I forget." He adjusted his glasses. "See, she seems to be even brighter than I initially thought." His eyes pierced into her soul. Was he mad at her? No...he was probably annoyed with her brother for embarrassing him in front of his parents. Or maybe he wanted her to speak up? Maybe if he wasn't so stoic and cold she would be able to read him. Tension slowly rose as no one spoke up.

"Standing up for your betrothed." Fuyumi clasped her hands together. "That's quiet admirable, wouldn't you say so? Mother? Father?" Miko slowly looked towards the two intimidating adults and watched a small smirk appeared on their face.

"I would expect nothing less from an Ootori." The cold man shared a look with his youngest son.

-

... Her parents have hardly spoken to her since that night. Apparently it was her fault that they were embarrassed by their actions. Miko also hasn't really seen Kyoya since that night, events were popular for clubs this time of year so she was busy setting up meetings and calculating funds. However, she thought it was time to formally thank Kyoya for coming to her rescue.