Maid For You (Ai Hayasaka x OC) [Kaguya-Sama: Love Is War AU]

Chapter 26: What Lies Beneath The Surface

"Shinobu? Who's that?"

OC freezes, nearly dropping his fork onto the plate. He'd forgotten that the Hayasaka family had been left in the dark about his current familial situation. He pauses for a moment, deciding whether he should tell both Hayasaka's or not.

"Ummm..." OC hums. "Shinobu...became my guardian after my parents had disappeared. I don't know what happened to them, but at the same time I know I don't have to worry about it too much."

Nao's face goes from an expression of confusion to an expression of horror.

"OC! I'm so sorry for bringing it up!" Nao replies, with both of her hands over her mouth.

Ai looks at OC with a sad expression, seeing that OC seems a bit melancholic for talking about it.

"It's fine, don't worry, not a lot of people really know about it after all," he responds, pulling at the collar of his turtleneck as he tries to dissipate the awkward feeling in his chest.

"OC..." Ai begins, OC looks at her expecting her to continue. "Is that why you left back then?" Ai asks, with eyes that even OC couldn't get a read on.

"Ai!" Nao scolds with an angry expression on her face, knowing how insensitive of a question it was to ask.

"Actually, yeah. It is. Don't worry about asking questions by the way, you two deserve to know what happened," OC explains, before taking another bite of his food.

"Alright...just tell us if you get uncomfortable, okay?" Nao clears her throat as she prepares questions to ask.

"Earlier, you said 'Kocho OC', and you're saying your guardian's name is Shinobu. By any chance, is your guardian the world-class doctor that owns Kocho Pharmaceuticals?" Nao asks while recalling her previous encounter with OC.

OC nods while swallowing his food, "Yep, that's her."

"Quite the important role," Nao responds before turning back to Ai,

"So, when do you two think you're gonna get together?"

Ai rolls her eyes, thoroughly done with the invasive questions her mom is rolling out.

"Well, that depends, work can make it complicated after all," OC responds, entertaining Nao's questions.

OC has to hide a grin when he sees Ai's face become a tomato in response to his answer.

"You work too, OC?" Nao asks, fully invested in OC's character.

"Actually, I technically work as your daughter's assistant,"

Both Ai and OC are caught off-guard when they hear Nao practically squeal,

"A forbidden relationship?! How exciting!" Nao yells out, attracting the attention of the surrounding tables.

"No! There is no relationship!" Ai yells out, a deep blush on her face.

"OC and I have nothing like that, and we never will!" She continues, unaware that she also is causing a scene.

"Uhhh...we're causing a scene..." OC quietly responds, not attempting to match either of the two's tones.

Nao quickly apologizes to surrounding tables while Ai sighs and rubs her temples.

As they both start to calm down, OC excuses himself to use the restroom, quickly hurrying over to the men's room.

When he arrives, he quickly opens the nearest faucet and feels cold water splash his face. He continues to splash water on his face as he thinks about the past few minutes.

'And we never will...' the phrase repeats in his head over and over, as his mind proceeds to create scenarios, none of which he wants to create.

'Why the hell...' OC splashes more water on his face, starting to become aware that there was also a warm liquid that poured out of his eyes as he did so.

"Does that hurt so much?" He weakly cries out, not caring if anyone else was in the room.

'I already know...it would be impossible for us to have that relationship...'

'So I should be okay with this...'

'...'

'Right?'

OC clutches his face, silently crying into his palms as his thoughts continue to run wild, intruding every part of his mind.

'I just wish...'

'I had a chance.'

OC quickly closes the faucet, grabbing a surplus of paper towels to wipe his face before returning to the table.

When he arrives, he notices that Ai had an extremely bashful expression while Nao had a devilish grin on her face.

"Did I miss something?" He asks with fake enthusiasm, his mood already ruined.

"Well—"

"—Mom! P...please don't tell him..." Ai pleads, catching OC off-guard.

Nao sighs and nods, reluctantly agreeing to Ai's pleading.

The three talk for what seems to be another hour, OC's mood slowly improving as he grows more and more keen of Nao.

"Well, it is getting late, so we should end things here and pick up whenever we can," Nao states while grabbing her bag.

"Do you have to leave so soon, Mom?" Ai asks, slightly disappointed that she could only spend so much time with her mother.

"Don't worry, sweetie, I have more break days for the next few weeks, we can be together on those days,"

Ai's face practically gleams at Nao as she wraps her arms around Nao's arm.

"Okay!" Ai responds gleefully, OC looks on and smiles sweetly, enjoying seeing Ai happy.

As they head out of the restaurant, OC can see Nao whisper something into Ai's ear out of the corner of his eye.

"Be sure to bring him along next time too."

Ai's face slowly turns red as she nods in agreement, before hugging her mom goodbye and catching up to OC.

"Sorry about how my mom acted, OC,"

"What's there to be sorry for? I really enjoyed talking to her," OC responds, genuinely wondering why Ai was sorry.

"But...Ai..." OC stops walking, facing Ai with a troubled look on his face.

"What you said back there...when you told your mom...that nothing would ever happen between us..."

OC starts stammering, and if Ai was being honest...

...She found it cute.

"Did you really mean that?" Ai looks on as it was now OC's turn to have a blush on his face.

OC burrows his eyes in confusion when Ai starts to giggle, putting a hand over her mouth and waving it dismissively before responding,

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't."