Rules Were Made to be Broken

‣ scene 15 [shattered glass]

Two more weeks passed. Kiyotaka got more sleep, and felt a bit more level-headed as a result, even if keeping Mondo nearby made him feel nervous and guilty.

Mondo would occasionally ask, again, if Kiyotaka wanted to go to dinner or a movie with him. And Kiyotaka always found some excuse to avoid the question, or would say that he didn't have the time that night, while never outright denying the man. Anyone else likely would have gotten impatient, but Mondo had apparently been telling the truth when he said that he simply liked being around Kiyotaka.

Sonia had seemed anxious during their last "date". Kiyotaka had thought that their ruse was going well, but she had been fidgety and less eager to talk about her beloved animal rescuer. She'd barely even finished her food.

He tried not to think about this as he opened up the brand-new book he'd gotten himself. Mondo's words had struck a chord with him, and he figured that his parents wouldn't object to reading as a hobby. Reading was educational and kept the mind active, after all. So a couple of books a month couldn't hurt, right?

It was sad, really, how thoroughly he had forgotten about the simple joys of relaxation. He spent two hours reading, not bothering to look over spreadsheets or work emails. The book absorbed him and transported him to another place where he didn't have to worry about quarterly figures and parental pressure.

But, of course, this paradise of calm couldn't last forever. The thin veil of quiet was  shattered by his phone ringing. He had expected his parents, but saw that the call was, instead, from Sonia. The Sonia that had been acting strange when he'd seen her three days earlier.

"Hello? Has something happened?" he asked tentatively, afraid of the response.

"I... am so terribly sorry, Kiyotaka! I have ruined everything!"

Her voice was high-pitched and panicked, her breathing shallow. He could hear her pacing about her own room, and he imagined her wringing her fingers through her long hair.

"P-Please slow down, Sonia. I can hardly understand anything you're saying. What happened? Did your parents find out?"

"N-Not exactly, but... I should have told you. I should have informed you from the very beginning, b-but in my home country, courtships usually take no longer than one month."

Kiyotaka nearly fell off of his sofa. A month. A month?! People were expected to enter engagements after dating for only a month?!

"Isn't that awfully fast?!"

"I have always thought so, b-but my parents have always said that it is only because I am too modernized! A-As you are already well aware, our fraudulent courtship had lasted for nearly two months, and my parents got impatient. Th-They cornered me, saying that if I did not have a ring after all this time, they would forbid me from seeing you any longer, a-and I knew that if I allowed them to do that, they would then force me to marry that awful Byakuya, so—"

"Slow down, please! Who's Byakuya?!"

"Th-The Togami family! Their current heir! He is still unmarried, and with the way that that family chooses its heirs, his family wants him to wed at least one wife and begin reproducing in the near future. M-My parents have been trying to get Byakuya interested in me, but I simply cannot stand the man! He's rude and arrogant and cold-hearted, and I want absolutely nothing to do with him! I would much rather be forced to continue this charade with you for the rest of my days than go anywhere near him ever again, s-so I... I...!"

Kiyotaka hadn't realized that things at the Nevermind household were that serious. He'd heard of the Togami corporation, of course, and he'd heard rumors about their vicious process for choosing successors. He'd thought those were only rumors, though, and Sonia was now confirming them as fact. Byakuya Togami, surely, was a wealthier and more desirable husband than Kiyotaka Ishimaru. But if Sonia, a sweet and lovely woman, said that she couldn't stand him, then that was that. He must have made for terrible company indeed.