The nearest Italian restaurant was Olive Garden, but I figured that you can't call ahead in order to make reservations there. It wasn't possible back in Illinois. Knowing Kyoya, he would only allow himself to eat at only the finest places. He always despised fast food, and avoided it when he could, though he would eat it as a last resort. It must be a really fancy place.
"Oh goodness," I said quietly. "An hour? Are you kidding? Telling a girl she has an hour to get ready? Bullshit. This is bullshit." Also, was this a date? What the hell did this mean? Why was he asking me to go out to dinner with him? Was he going to break some new news to me that he was going back to Japan or something? Were the rest of them leaving to move back to Japan forever? Were they never going to come back?
Shut up, I remember telling myself. This won't help a single thing.
After a long while of searching through my clothes, I finally settled on a dark green dress with a belt at the waist to make me look like I had a better figure than I actually did. It was one of the only reasons that I liked that dress, green was my least favorite color. I paired some false diamond stud earrings and a silver necklace with it.
I barely had time to put on makeup before he was standing at the entrance of my room, tapping his foot. I turned around and did my best not to gasp.
Kyoya usually dressed nice, mostly in designer clothing, but this was so much different. He was wearing a navy blue tuxedo with a black bowtie. His hair was slicked back just a bit, enough to know that he did indeed put work into his hair rather than just brush it out and let it lay where it wanted to.
My heart skipped at beat at seeing him. It wasn't a feeling that I was used to. What was this now? "You look really nice, Kyoya."
Oh my God. Was that really what I said? There were so many other things, better things, that I could have said. But 'you look really nice' was all I said. I hated myself right then, I really did.
He chuckled. "Thank you, Elizabeth. I have a car waiting for us. Are you ready?"
"Yeah."
As he said, there was a car outside of the house waiting for us. It was a white SUV-style limo with shiny tires. I had been in limos before, who hasn't, but not in one like this before. On the way to the restaurant, I played with the moonlights and drank some sparkling water from the bar. Kyoya allowed himself some wine; he was 21, after all. Oldest in his graduating class.
I looked over at him before we were able to pull into the parking lot with a tilted head. "Why are you taking me to dinner?" I asked, although it took a lot of balls for me to ask such a question.
Really, I was overthinking everything at this point.
He chuckled, smiling. "I just thought you deserved a nice dinner, to repay you for all your worry while I was absent." The way he spoke, it was almost as if he wanted to say more, but Kyoya held his tongue.
"So just to be clear, this isn't a date?"
"I wouldn't exactly say that."
I squinted. "Then what would you say?"
Kyoya turned to look out the window. "We are here." As if I hadn't noticed that on my own.
Instead of making a comment, I just followed him inside and stayed close. The hostess lead us to a table near the back, it was fairly secluded from the rest of the restaurant.
The restaurant itself was really magnificent. Every table had a little glass chandelier with off-white bulbs, setting the rooms aglow in the warmest and most comfortable way. The tablecloths on each table were red velvet, and I was almost afraid to touch them as we sat down. It wasn't that I had never touched velvet before, it was just… Everything was so nice and proper and elegant, I felt out of place.
"The lady will have a Shirley Temple, and I will have a glass of your best white wine," Kyoya said right after the waiter asked what we would like to drink. It was nice to know he paid attention to what drink I liked, but did he really have to order for me?
After the waiter left, I looked at Kyoya oddly. "I can order for myself, you know. My voice isn't bad or anything."
"No, but it was what you would have ordered anyway," he said simply. "After asking what they had to offer and waiting five minutes."
Oh my Lord. He really did pay attention. That was exactly what I always did. "Then do you already know what I'm going to order from here?" I asked, tapping my finger against the table.
He smiled. "Yes. Fettuccine alfredo with broccoli and grilled chicken, with a ranch salad to start."
"How do you-"
"Your mother is a delightful woman, Elizabeth. And you are very predictable."
Then I remembered. "And you went with us to Olive Garden once and I got all of this to eat. Is that it?"
Kyoya shrugged. "Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. You won't know."
I almost wanted to glare at him, but I just couldn't. How often did you come across a man like Kyoya? He was so different. He was almost unreadable, but predictable at the same time. He was so infuriating, but made me feel so good at times. I never liked it when he left. I had hated it when he left without telling me where he was going for so long.
Then it hit me like a ton of bricks, that final realization.
I did my best to keep a good composure as we started to talk about my plans for the future semester. The first semester had begun with me striving to become a doctor, but with how school was just starting out, I knew there was no way I was going to achieve that goal. It was a good conversation to keep me from my own thoughts.
"I'll just have to find a different way to help people," I said as our waiter came by with our salads. Kyoya had gotten the same salad as me. "Whatever happens, I know I'll probably donate a good percentage of my salary to some charities and organizations for different things."
Kyoya nodded. "And the reason that you are so charitable and kind to the less fortunate is because of your late grandfather?"
"Yes," I said with a small smile. He was so observant. "He died of cancer when he was in his late seventies, pancreatic I think. The worst kind to treat. Grandfather was my idol." Although I was speaking of death, I somehow did it with a smile. He wasn't really gone. He was still with us, with me, in spirit. Always.
I sipped on my Shirley Temple as Kyoya began to tell me about his own family. His two older brothers and his sister, Fuyumi, were all older than him. Not only was he the youngest son, but he was the youngest in the family.
"My older brother, Akito, just recently got engaged. It was one of the reasons that I had to go back to Japan," he explained as our food arrived. "My father explained to me that as of that wedding date, there was no way that I would ever inherit my family's medical company. It really opened my eyes on many different levels."
"Many different levels?"
"Precisely," he said, twisting the straw of his water between his fingers. I hadn't touched my water yet, but my Shirley Temple was already mostly gone.
It didn't take too long for us to finish our meal at the restaurant. The food was absolutely delicious, and it was enough food that we had plenty leftover.
He didn't let me try to pay for the meal, so we finally decided that he would pay for the meal and I would pay for the tip. The waiter thanked us, we thanked him for our meals, and we left promptly.
"You know," I said slowly on the drive back to my house," I don't really understand you."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. You're so confusing. Remember when we first met? You're a completely different person now. I usually can't tell why you do things, but if I do understand why you do things, I understand it perfectly. Everything is extreme one way or the other with you."
"You think so?" he said.
I nodded.
Kyoya laughed. It was still such a nice sound. "I'm not surprised that you think that, Elizabeth."
Was it his intention to be so confusing, yet obvious?
My mother greeted us at the door with a grin. "Welcome home!"
What the hell. She never greeted us if we were coming back from somewhere. What was up? Something was up, that much I could tell.
"Hi, Mom," I said, trying not to sound confused. "Did you and Father go out to eat like you planned?"
"No, we were a bit busy, but we made reservations somewhere for tomorrow," she said, leaning in. "Did you two have a nice dinner?"
Kyoya nodded as he walked into the hallway. "I believe that we did, Mrs. Hawthorne. Elizabeth, will you please excuse us for a little bit?"
The two ushered me out of the room and into the kitchen. I sighed as I put the leftover food away in the fridge, before I finally decided to grab a breadstick to eat. It was still warm, and hadn't gotten cold in the fridge yet.
It wasn't long after that that he came into the kitchen and grabbed my arm. It wasn't a tight grab, and he led me out.
"What are we doing?" I asked, frowning as he took me into a different hallway.
"You'll see," he said simply.
I huffed. "You are so-"
Before I could finish my sentence, he covered my mouth with his hand and opened the door to one of the spare bedrooms. I gasped against his hand.
It was magnificent. A total transformation. There were flower petals all along the floor, with fairy lights illuminating the room faintly. The room itself smelled sweet and calming, and it only took me a few seconds to recognize the scent as one of my favorite Scentsy scents.
In the middle of the room was a chair. The chair was a dining table chair, white with a stained wood frame, but in that moment I couldn't tell. A dark purple velvet piece of fabric covered it, and there were even purple flower petals on it as well.
"Oh my goodness," I breathed as he let his hand off of my mouth.
Kyoya just laughed a bit. "Sit down, Elizabeth. I think we need to talk."
"O-Okay…" I stumbled across my words as I took a seat at the chair. "About what…?"
Right after I sat down, he reached out and took my hands between his. "I did a lot of thinking while I was away, Elizabeth. A lot of thinking."
I nodded slowly. "Yeah…?"
"And," he continued," I came to a few important conclusions. You see, my entire life, I've always wanted to be more than what is expected of me. I wanted to be the third son, but the best son and the most impressive son in my family. As every year passed, I came to realize how much harder that would be for me to achieve. My brother's engagement really opened my eyes and helped me learn and realize that I'll never be more than my father wants me to be. But that's okay."
"I know how important that was to you," I said softly. But what did this have to do with me?
Kyoya knelt down, my hands still folded between his. "It helped me realize that it really wasn't what I wanted. What I wanted was only what I thought that I wanted."
"Yeah? Then… What did you realize that you wanted?"
"I wanted somebody to accept me for who I was, somebody who wasn't going to expect more from me than I could possibly give. Somebody who knew they could be themselves with me, and I could do the same. Elizabeth, you're that somebody."
For a foreigner, he spoke our language now with such grace. It made my heart melt.
"Which leads me to a question," he continued. "Elizabeth, we've barely known each other for four months. That may not be such a long time, but I believe it has been time enough for me to realize that you're the perfect girl for me.
Oh my lord. Oh my LORD. OH MY LORD.
He slowly let go of my hands and reached into his pocket. "Elizabeth. You have every right to deny me, and I know that. We have not even been exclusive. In my opinion, that does not matter for this, but it may to you. And if you say no, or yes, on certain conditions, that is fine as well."
"Just get on with it!" I heard somebody whisper from outside the door. It sounded like a mix of the twins and of Tamaki's voice.
Weren't they all back in Japan?
Kyoya looked back for a split second, and when he looked back, I saw a trace of him rolling his eyes. "Elizabeth, I have gained permission from both my father and your father and your mother to ask this question. This is the question. Elizabeth, will you do the honor in marrying me and becoming my wife?" He opened a small white box to reveal the most beautiful ring I had ever seen in my life.
Oh my God.
"Kyoya…"
We never even dated. We never kissed. We maybe went on one date, and that was only a few minutes ago. He always seemed uninterested, but interested. I never knew I was interested until just recently.
Even with all of that in mind, I knew what I wanted and needed my answer to be.
"Kyoya," I said quietly. "Yes!"