In Sickness And In Health (Yandere M. Genius x F. Reader x Yandere M. Prince)

Chapter 4: Contract Bound

The fieldwork was going very well. The younger girl was able to fully immerse herself in her work. Though some may have argued she focused too much, almost ignoring her needs to eat or rest, Sona was there to remind her. She felt fulfilled, not pushing herself, but excited to show off everything she could do. No matter what, she wanted to make the project a success. If not to prove she could do the job to Kazuya, then to prove to herself that she was still just as intelligent as she always was.

In the end, she felt confident about the instructions and suggestions she had given to the architects and believed she made a good impression on them as well. Even though she ended up finishing a little later than she thought, she nonetheless left very satisfied. Too excited about how the project would end up coming out, she was unable to sleep on the plane, returning back to the Akahito's main mansion fairly late at night.

Regardless, there were countless people there to welcome her back, taking her luggage for her and guiding her to her bedroom. To no surprise to anyone, Haru was waiting there, arms crossed over his chest and a sour look on his face. She sighed as she saw him but ended up welcoming him inside her room to appease him slightly. Although, she couldn't quite tell how he felt about it since he hid his expressions shortly afterward.

"How long were you waiting?" she asked, sitting down on the couch, "I didn't think you would have the patience."

"I'm not a child. I can wait."

"You could have fooled me. I thought you would rip me limb from limb when I stepped into the house."

Though the younger girl was largely joking, the brunette gave a guilty expression. It implied that he was thinking about doing something akin to that, but she never really thought he would. Truth be told, it was likely he was thinking about punishing her in some way, in a way she probably wouldn't like, hence the shame he felt. It was unpleasant to think he would do such a thing, and even more so to imagine the things he had done before, but she supposed, in some way, she was grateful.

Moving a little closer to him, she pet his head, watching as he glowed a soft red. He really liked physical touch, making it a useful asset to the younger girl, especially for bargaining. And though, at the moment, she wasn't trying to get anything out of him, it was still nice to see he wasn't immune to it yet. He soon after leaned into her shoulder, giving a heavy huff. Whether it was directed at himself or her, she had no idea, and she wasn't given much time to debate it, since he had held up a box, snapping her out of her thoughts.

It was poorly wrapped, parts of the paper ripped, showing the gift through the supposed barrier. The ribbon on top was entirely too loosely tied, and many parts of it looked like it had gone through the woodchipper. However, it made her smile. Haru had clearly tried to do it himself, something that he would usually outsource to his servants. He was oddly proud of it, looking up "slyly" every now and again to gleam her thoughts on it before looking away as quickly as possible.

"What's this for?" she questioned gently, not wanting him to feel as though she were rejecting it.

"I wanted to congratulate you."

"Yeah? How come?"

"Père said you were working hard."

The (h/c) haired girl was speechless. Though he didn't say it directly, it was his way of making a peace offering. He realized that working was important to her and that she genuinely enjoyed doing something on her own. And even though he didn't like her going away or directing her attention to anything other than himself, he was giving her some leeway because he wanted her to be happy. She was proud.

Accepting the gift, she began to open it carefully, watching as he kept his eyes on it. He even tensed up a bit, probably worried that she wouldn't like it. There was no way she was going to dislike it, however. The motivation behind giving her the gift was more than enough. Still, as she began to open it up, she opened the box to reveal a brand new laptop, one made by his company.