Lost and Found - Book 1

Chapter 3

"Kyoya, who is this?" Mrs. Ootori asked, surprisingly calm as she stood in the doorway. But Kyoya saw past her forced composure. One wrong response and he'd be sent away to boarding school.

"I found her outside, earlier." Kyoya quickly jumped to his feet. He stood between his mother and Alm. "She got lost in the woods, it was raining. I brought her inside, I'm sorry."

Mrs. Ootori stared at her son's face blankly for a few moments. "Why didn't you call the police?" She asked softly, trying to peek over Kyoya's shoulder at the girl who was still in his bed, frozen in fear.

"No!" Kyoya said, almost yelling, making his mother flinch. "They won't help... She... she was running."

"Running from whom?" Mrs. Ootori asked, her eyebrows knitting together. Kyoya knew what buttons to push when it came to his own mother.

"Her mother is the mistress of a Russian drug lord. He's very abusive. They were on vacation here in Japan. He hit her before she ran away, and broke her glasses." Kyoya shifted then, letting his mother get a peek at Alm. One of her lenses was obviously cracked. "He's very rich, and powerful. If you call the police she'll just get sent back to him."

"So you've forgotten that your father and I are also very rich and very powerful?" Mrs. Ootori responded, frowning slightly. "I'll have him sent to jail, or worse."

"No, please!" Alm yelled, and Kyoya gave her a frightened look from the corner of his eye. "I don't want to ruin my family. I just want to get away."

"Mom," Kyoya breathed, giving his mother the saddest look he could conjure. "She has nowhere to go, and she wants to settle here in Tokyo. Can she stay for a few nights?"

His mother looked conflicted, but after glancing between the two teens, she sighed. "I'll have to talk to your father about it," She signaled to Alm. "Come dear, let's get you cleaned up."

Mrs. Ootori left, and as Alm got out of the bed to follow her, she glared at Kyoya. "That was unnecessarily cruel," She whispered.

"Cruel, yes." Kyoya pushed up his glasses with a single finger. "But completely necessary."

Rolling her eyes, Alm left the room and followed Mrs. Ootori down the hall. Within her bedroom, Mrs. Ootori searched her wardrobe with a perplexed expression. Kyoya entered the room with his head down. Mrs. Ootori stared at his son as he returned the clothes he had taken earlier. She handed them to Alm. She reluctantly accepted the garments.

"The bathroom's right in there," Mrs. Ootori said.

"Thank you," Alm mumbled.

"Wait." Mrs. Ootori swallowed, as if trying to swallow the word down as it left her lips, but it was too late. Alm turned nervously. "Do you really intend to stay here in Japan?"

Alm frowned, guilty. She shrugged. "I don't know. I may never intend to stay anywhere long-term. But I thank you for helping me while I am here."

Alm entered the bathroom; looking over the loosely knit sweater and jeans she'd been given. It was hard to imagine that Mrs. Ootori ever got the opportunity to wear such casual clothes. After she changed, she found the bedroom empty.

There were muffled sounds coming from the hallway. Alm snuck up to the door and pressed her ear against it. It was Kyoya and his mother, and they were talking about her.

"You don't actually expect me to believe that story, do you?" Mrs. Ootori scoffed. "As if I couldn't tell you'd made it up as you went along."

Kyoya sighed. "I didn't expect you to believe it, no. But I had nothing else but a story to offer."