Beauty With a Brat (The Suzuhara Family 1) ✅

Chapter Five

October 13th, 2028

Natsumi surveyed the pink dress on the mannequin. She brushed out the sleeves and tested the buttons. She smiled with satisfaction. "Good."

There was a knock at her door. "Natsumi, can I come in?"

"Sure, Brother!" She called over her shoulder.

Yuto entered the room but his brow rose when he saw the dress on the mannequin. "That doesn't look like a dress from your line," he said. "Personal use?"

"Yes," Natsumi said smugly. "That's why it's in my favorite color."

Yuto leaned against the bedpost, inspecting the dress closely. "You used Georgette fabric for this dress," he pointed out. "Good quality, too."

"Yes, I did. What about it?"

He smirked at her. "You're going on a date, aren't you?"

Natsumi flinched, and let out a strangled laugh. "W—Why, I don't know what you're talking about Yuto!"

"You used your best pink Georgette for a fall dress," Yuto pointed out. "Why else would you do that unless you were going on a date?"

"Oh all right, fine!" Natsumi huffed, turning around to face. "I'm going to a mixer tomorrow, okay?!"

"A mixer?!" Yuto made a face. "What, like a college mixer?"

"Sort of, except without alcohol. I'm going out with four girls from Shirahime to meet five guys from Yukinaga, okay?"

"Really?" Which girls?"

"Well, Tami—"

"Why is Tami going when she already has a boyfriend?"

"Because Yoshinaga is also going," Natsumi responded. "And there's going to be Aneko Konishi—"

Yuto gagged. "And Sanyu Ōtsuka—" Natsumi continued.

"You chose two shallow harpies for your girl group?!" Yuto asked incredulously. "Why?!"

"They're not harpies!" Natsumi protested. Yuto only raised his brow in response. "And the last girl is Kisa Sakada!" She snapped in response.

"Kisa Sakada?" Yuto looked confused for a moment before he sobered. "Wait. That's the girl Ayeka Eguchi chopped the hair off of!"

"Yes," Natsumi said. "I wanted her to be in our group so she could have fun. I also gave her a dress from my fall line free of charge for the date. Purple's her favorite color, and luckily I had a dress in that shade for her."

"That was nice of you," Yuto said. He folded his arms over his chest and gave her a piercing look. "What?" Natsumi asked.

"If Yoshinaga's part of the mixer," he said. "Does that mean Suzuhara is part of the mixer?"

Natsumi flinched. Yuto groaned loudly. "Oh, seriously Natsumi?! You had a whole meeting emphasizing how much you wanted Suzuhara to stay away from you! Now you're going on a group date he's participating in?!"

Natsumi said nothing. "You do realize that with Tami and Yoshinaga being there, it shows that this mixer was only put together so Suzuhara can try to get to you, right?!" Yuto said. His tone wasn't harsh but it wasn't gentle. "Why are you entertaining this, Natsumi?!"

"Tami begged me to do this," Natsumi said, her tone desperate. "And besides, there's going to be other girls there! They can serve as a buffer, a-and maybe I can focus on one of the guys in their group and ignore Suzuhara!"

"What makes you think that their group isn't made up of that bastard's asshole friends?"

"Because Yoshinaga is his only friend now!"