Alinea

"Ah, he's gone again,"Kazehaya Gin commented as the two of them looked at Aki's ashen face.

"What happened? Did I do something?"

Koutaishidenka, you did a lot. You called the poor guy "brother" out of the blue – who wouldn't be shocked?

Kazehaya Gin of course didn't tell that to the prince, so he just poured his efforts on bringing back the poor guy to the matters at hand. The faster they made things clear, the faster Suzuki Aki could go home and rest.

When Aki came around, he looked over the doc.u.ments again.

"This… is all real?"

"Real, legal, and binding,"Kazehaya answered.

He didn't know why. Most people would be in cloud nine upon learning that they would be connected through marriage to the Homura House. In fact, many people had already schemed, and tried forcing their way into making such connection by bringing their daughters to business functions in hope to catch Koutaishidenka's eye. Suzuki Aki on the other hand, not only didn't look happy, he even seemed to want to reject the idea.

The latter was something they couldn't afford to happen, and so he signaled Ryuu to let him handle it. After all, the prince who was so smart actually had a dysfunctional EQ – sometimes it worked, sometimes no. It's a "hit and miss" all the time with him. But the matter of marriage between him and Ara was something they couldn't take to chance, and so he would step in.

"It looked like you have never heard about this before," Kazehaya commented.

"Actually," Aki began as he racked his brains. It had been almost three years since their parents died from the car accident, three years since he focused on working so much to prove his worthiness to inherit the family business that he totally forgot about a lot of things.

"My parents died accidentally, and so I was not privy to everything," Aki said. "But with regards to Ara's engagement, I did hear a bit about it, but I never thought it was with Homura-sama."

"Ryuu,"Koutaishidenka corrected seriously, and Aki gulped as if he got scolded and Gin nudged the prince's arm so he'd keep quiet.

"Koutaishidenka just wanted Suzuki-sama to call him by his given name since you're almost family,"Kazehaya explained with a smile, but a more complicated expression crossed Aki's face.

It really appeared that Suzuki Aki did not approve of this engagement.

"Is there a problem with this betrothal Suzuki-sama?"

"I…"Aki started, and then sighed. "I have nothing against my sister's marriage with…Ryuu."He choked on the name, but it was an improvement.

Kazehaya Gin relaxed then. Even the serious looking prince had a glint of approval in his blue orbs.

"But?" Kazehaya prompted. If there were issues, they should put everything on the table now. He would make sure to satisfy the brother regardless of what else he might want.

"But Ara-chan has some... issues," Suzuki Aki finally said. It would be unfair to Homura if he had no idea of what happened to his sister, and so he told them everything omitting of course her horrible temper when they fought before.

Kazehaya Gin and Homura Ryuu however didn't even bat an eyelash. They already knew about all of these and more it seemed.

"Please understand. My sister was just lost when our parents died so suddenly and I didn't have time for her. It was also my fault she had a rough time that she…"

Aki stopped, and Kazehaya decided to clarify this one misunderstanding of Suzuki to his sister.

"She what? She tried to kill herself?" the Homura's CEO finished his sentence, and Aki was taken aback. He was not expecting them to know about it.

But then again, this was Homura House. It's not impossible for them to have kept tabs on Ara if they had wanted her for marriage since she was born.

Then, Aki bowed in defeat. "Yes," he answered.

"You're wrong,"Koutaishidenka spoke again, and Aki looked at him in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"She did not try to commit suicide. Someone tried to kill her," the prince informed him matter-of-factly and all the color drained from Aki's face.

"No….That can't be. After the accident, I asked," he racked his brain again back to a couple of months ago when it happened. "The police said it was an accident."

"It was not,"Kazehaya Gin said as he placed another set of doc.u.ments on the table.

It was an investigative report about the crash. It stated how the car brakes had been tampered with and Aki was in disbelief.

"How could this be?"

"Well, this evidence of course no longer exists,"Kazehaya continued. "The culprit has a connection with the chief of police, so they removed it."

"W-who?" Aki wanted to know so badly, his body shook, his hands balled into fists and he gritted his teeth to contain his anger.

Kazehaya placed another doc.u.ment on the table, and Aki's breath hitched. It was a picture of a girl he knew so well. "This girl…"

"Okada Koharu, same age as Ara – and I believe her best friend,"Kazehaya stated, and he explained to Suzuki how this girl had manipulated the entire school into tarnishing Ara's reputation while benefiting by her side in her quest to get someone else's boyfriend.

The more Aki heard, the more he looked sick.

"I… this girl. She's always at our house; she always hanged out with Ara-chan. She…"Aki choked. "She's the one who told me all those bad things Ara was doing at school. I-I thought she was concerned. I didn't know… I didn't know."

The distressed brother palmed his face. He had already totally forgotten he was in front of Gin and Ryuu. His eyes were filled with pain, and Kazehaya just let him vent.

"Ara-chan tried to tell me she was innocent at the hospital. She said she didn't do it. I didn't believe her…"

By this time, the young president of the Suzuki Raiden Group had been reduced to a crying mess on the table, remorse was written all over his tear-stained face. "It's my fault. I vowed on our parents' grave I will take care of her. But I failed. I failed…"

Koutaishidenka remained expressionless, but Kazehaya knew he felt the same. After all, it wasn't long ago when the prince himself had been angry at his fiancée without checking things first.

"Suzuki-sama, it's not your mistake alone," Kazehaya Gin told him.

"It's all of us. All of us are to blame," Koutaishidenka added softly, his eyes narrowing on the picture of the smiling girl on the table. "And we will correct it soon…"