The convention was dull. Shuu read aloud from some legal documents and met with the managers of different branches of chains that his company owned. He'd finally gotten through all the clothing stores. Now he just had to wrap up the cafes.

He walked around the room, smiling the fake smile that he thought he'd lost the need to wear, only it was the only smile he wore anymore. He shook hands and greeted people, Maria walking next to him and greeting them as well.

Then he came to a person he didn't recognize from past business conventions. "Hello," he said, approaching the woman from the side. "I'm Shuu. And you are...?"

The woman looked over and frowned, which was nothing compared to the man next to her who positively scowled at Shuu.

Shuu's smile faltered. Why are they so hostile? "I'm sorry, does something offend you?" he asked.

"Rude people," Maria whispered. Then, in a louder voice, "Thank you both for coming." She smiled.

Why is she so comfortable with putting on a fake face for people? Why can't I handle it?

"You-" the dark-haired man started, but the woman grabbed his arm.

"Calm down," she said.

"No!" The man glared at Shuu, who took a step back. "I'm going to kill him!"

"Security!!" Maria called out, trying to sound put-together, but her voice carried a tone of panic.

And then security agents swarmed the area, taking the couple into custody while Shuu just stood there.

Who was that?

Why did she look so familiar?

***

Shuu sighed after finishing up with the convention, fully ready to get back on his return plane and go back to France.

"Sir, before you leave, we have two people in temporary custody. We've taken statements, but do you want to press charges?" the head of security asked.

"Yes," Maria immediately answered. "We'd like to-"

"Let me...let me talk with them first," Shuu said, tilting his head. He'd temporarily forgotten about the two of them while he'd been finishing up with the convention, but now that he'd been reminded, he felt...unsettled, somehow.

"Honey, you don't have to-"

"Where are they?" Shuu asked, interrupting his wife for the second time. He should have felt bad.

But, he didn't.

"Follow me, sir," the man said, leading Shuu to a room with another security guard outside the door. "There's another guard inside watching the two of them. He'll protect you if there are any issues."

Shuu nodded, feeling slightly nervous. He'd never gotten a death threat before. Why now?

He entered the room. Both of the individuals in question had been handcuffed and were sitting in metal folding chairs.

The man glared at Shuu. "Take those cuffs off of my girlfriend! She didn't do anything wrong!"

"Ayato, relax," the woman said, and Shuu flinched.

Ayato...why does that name sound familiar?

"I can't believe you dated this asshole," the man muttered, and Shuu was even more confused. "This isn't how I would use handcuffs on you. If you know what I mean."

"Shut up."

The security guard looked at Shuu questioningly. "Sir?"

Shuu hesitated before waving the guard off. "You can go outside. I'll be fine."

The guard paused before nodding and walking out.

Shuu sat down in a chair facing the two of them. "What are your names?"

"This guy," the man snapped, still glaring at Shuu. "I can't believe you seriously called security on us."

Shuu frowned. "You verbally delivered a death threat...and I didn't call it, my wife-"

"Yeah! Because you were being an idiot and you pretended not to recognize Ken and obviously that would hurt her feelings and-"

"Ayato," the woman cut off. "Stop." She looked at Shuu with unreadable eyes. "He's a busy man, I'm sure. Just give us the paper and we'll sign whatever we have to or pay the fee or whatever."

Shuu was still for a long moment. "Wait, Ken?"

The woman looked away before looking back at him. "Yes? What?"

"But- you don't look anything like Ken!" Shuu protested, panicked. He wasn't lying; when he'd left, Ken had a) had been hair and b) been in the hospital. But here she was in front of him with white hair and a full recovery.

"Is that a compliment or...?"

"I'm sorry, I just can't believe it's you. And, this is Ayato? Your...boyfriend? You're dating him?"

Ken looked extremely uncomfortable. "Yeah? You're married, right?"

"Well, I didn't mean there was anything wrong with it, just that, you know, you thought that he..." Shuu, for all of his normal grace as a businessman, was behaving like a fish swimming in an oxygen tank. "I just-"

"It wasn't Ayato," Ken said tactfully. "And I've gotten over all of that." She frowned, but Ayato took her hand in his.

Shuu wasn't sure why, but it made him angry. "Oh. Well, that's good. Recovering, I mean. And...Hide," Shuu said, jumping to a safer topic. "How's Hide? You're still friends with him, right?"

Ken nodded. "We're roommates. And he's still Hide, if that tells you anything."

Shuu nodded, smiling a strained smile. "And...your family? Are they doing well?" he asked out of instinct, paling after the words came out of his mouth. "I mean- not your uncle or anything-"

Ayato frowned. "What about Ken's uncle?"

Ken swallowed. "They're doing fine. Yuuichi is going to a university. I haven't heard from his parents."

Shuu opened his mouth but closed it, nodding. "Sorry."

"It's fine." Ken looked up at the ceiling. "Can we go? Or are you going to press charges?"

"What? No, no, nothing like that. You guys are free to go. I'm sorry about this whole thing..."

"It's fine," Ken repeated, agitated. "Can we get these cuffs off now?"

"Right, right, my bad..." Shuu called for a guard, and he took the cuffs off of Ayato and Ken while Shuu apologized profusely.

Then they all walked out together.

"What are you doing?" Maria asked, frowning as she saw the three of them, plus the guard, walk out of the room. "I thought we were pressing char-"

"It was all a mistake, honey," Shuu said.

Ken looked away. "Let's go."

"Wait, Ken-"

"This is Ken?" Maria interrupted. "The Ken?"

Ken frowned at Maria. "I'm sorry-? Do you know me?"

Maria looked at Shuu expectantly.

"Maria, my wife, meet Ken, my ex..."

i'm pretty much bored with this story so i'm going to try and finish it really quickly

if you're wondering why the slow updates, it's because i'm busy updating stories on my collab account xgoldenxmaknaex so please check it out