Falling In Love ( Shoto Todoroki x OC )

Chapter 1- Sora Rachi

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Snowflakes, beautifully formed crystalized water droplets lazily fell from the sky. Their delicate forms endlessly being swept up and blown back down. Their trajectories and paths already decided for them. Helplessly, they simply fell toward the earth thanks to gravity's ever-present touch.

For some reason, on that spectacularly cloudy night, Sora Rachi found herself empathizing with those singular flakes as they splatted against the smooth-riding town car.

As she watched them melt against the warm tinted windows, she reached out and touched the countless little rivers they were making on the dark glass.

"Sir, how much longer?" Sora asked softly so as to not jar the somber atmosphere of the car.

"Not much, miss. Perhaps 10 minutes?"

Sora simply hummed in acknowledgment and went back to watching those lonely flakes join their comrades and make intricate designs on her plush prison's surface. A tiny rueful smile pulled at her full lips' edge. Perhaps prison was too extreme. There were no shackles about her ankles nor guards with guns forcibly containing her to the car, nor was her perfectly pressed knee-length designer dress a hideous shade of orange.

No, instead the life sentence she was living out was merely one filled with obligation, one she must complete according to the circumstances of her influential birthright.  

When the town car began to slow, the chauffeur announced, "Miss, we are here."

"'Here'?" She parrotted breathlessly. Through the impossibly dark glass, she couldn't see much of the monstrously large Japanese-style estate waiting for her outside but she knew it was time. "Oh, yes. Of course. Apologies, I-I'm ready."

Both she and the older gentleman employed by her family since before her infancy could hear the lie in her slightly trembling words.

In a moment of unprofessional yet tender care for the reserved girl he had watched grow up, the chauffeur murmured quietly, "Til'll be alright, miss."

Emerald green eyes began to swim with anxiety as she met the elderly man's eyes in the rearview mirror. Sora's bunny-like nose crinkled as she slathered on her practiced forced smile, yet his concern touched her heart enough for her to put a teeny tiny bit of faith into his words. "Yes of course it will."

She knew it was out of line in terms of formality, but she wondered aloud, "Sir, is...is Mister Todoroki a nice man?"

"I-" there was a long moment of hesitation. Sora could see the man wrestling with his job's resistance and his desire to soothe the clearly anxious girl in the back. Alas seeing so much of his own daughters in the eldest Rachi child's worried expression made Calum curse under his breath before taking off his driver's cap and scratching at his thinning white hair. "Please excuse me, miss. I just...I don't..." he let out a heavy sigh before turning in his seat and reaching beyond his station. His wrinkled heavyset hand settled on top of her tightly clasped ones, and Sora sucked in a heartbreakingly desperate breath. 

When he felt her small thumb press into the top of his- seeking his comfort- Calum let out yet another string of curses in a language she didn't recognize. "Listen, child, I can't tell ye much about the man. I don't right well know much about him either beyond what 'em papers print, but I know ye are gonna be fine. If he's half as good a person as ye are, you'll be able to win him right over."

When he saw Sora's chin begin to quiver with discomposure, he let go of all of his professionalism and treated her just like his youngest babe. "Come now lass, don't ruin yer makeup by cry'n. Oh and your nose is runn'n. Ain't no man want a wife with snot run'n down her lips."