~Time skip: 1 week~

Illumi stared long and hard at the flowers before him. Did she prefer flowers or food?

"Excuse me, sir. May I help you?" the clerk asked.

"What kind of flowers are good for apologies? You know, when you royally fuck up and haven't talked for over a month..." said Illumi, his face falling.

"How do you feel about the person?" they asked.

"We're..." he said, stopping himself.

What were they? Acquaintances? Friends? Something more? The clerk looked at him, seeing the distress on his face. They smiled then led him inside the shop.

"I think white orchids would work since you don't know where you stand." they said, showing him the flowers.

"If you think that's best." said Illumi, looking at the white orchids.

It reminded him of the off the shoulder shirt she wore long ago. He shook his head, confused as to why he was remembering such a thing. It was just a shirt. That looked nice on her.

"Sir. Sir. Sir!" the clerk called out, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Oh, sorry. How big of a bouquet...?"

"Um, yay big?" he replied, unsure.

____

Honjo and the children looked at Corliss who radiated. They asked Honjo to find out what was making her so smiley.

"Ms. Steinbeck, did something good happen?" he asked.

"I guess you can say that." she replied. "A curious one aren't you?"

"Am I not allowed to know?" he questioned.

"Mmm, lets just say Ms. Steinbeck is crushing on someone." said she with a smile.

"Is it Mr. Zoldyck?" he asked, unaware that they never made up.

"Honjo, we don't mention his name anymore. He's a bad man." she said.

"He is...?" Honjo asked curiously. "Is that why you two started yelling at each other?"

"Not exactly... Just remember he's a bad guy." said Corliss.

The door alarm sounded and she took off to greet the visitor. Honjo explained to the others what he understood from Corliss's words.

"Mr. Zoldyck is a bad man? But he brought us sweets last week..." a little girl said.

"Yeah. And he read stories to us." a young boy said.

"Ms. Steinbeck wouldn't lie to us, right...?" Aoyuzu asked.

"I don't know." Honjo replied.

He was confused himself. They turned around at the sound of Ms. Steinbeck's laughter. They curiously peeked around the corner and saw a man with blonde hair. Who was he? Honjo stepped out and held Corliss's hand.

"Oh? And who might you be?" he asked with a smile.

"Who are you? What are you to my mom?" Honjo asked sternly.

"Mom?" he asked, looking at Corliss who quietly scolded Honjo.

"He wants me to adopt him. Due to financial reasons, it's not possible. I want him to have a stress free childhood." said Corliss, patting Honjo's head.

"Maybe I could help you out." he said, grinning.

Honjo narrowed his eyes at the man then looked at Corliss who didn't seem angry like before with Mr. Zoldyck. He didn't understand.

"Ms Steinbeck, why aren't you yelling at him too? Mr. Zoldyck brought up the same thing." he questioned, needing an answer.

"Mr. Zoldyck?" he asked, looking at Honjo. "Who is he?"

"He promised me that he'd be Ms. Steinbeck's best friend and take away her lonely look. He hasn't visited us in a while." Honjo said, looking down at the floor. "We miss him..."

"That's enough out of you." said Corliss, ushering him back to the others. "Don't mind what he says."

"No, I want to know more about him. Your friends are my friends." he said.

"List, you don't need to know him. He's a thing of the past." she said, laughing softly behind her hand.

The children gasped.

"Mr. Zoldyck!" Aoyuzu shouted happily.

Corliss and List turned, catching Illumi's retreating figure. Her eyes moved down to the floor where a bouquet of white orchids laid. She walked over and picked them up, seeing a notecard inside it.

"I don't like this distance between us and I want to make up with you. I may mess up and say the wrong thing, but know I'm trying. - Illumi.' He really..." she thought, holding the bouquet tighter.

"Liss?" List called out, watching her leave. "The kids..."

"Illumi, wait!" she shouted, hurrying to stop him from getting in his car. "Illumi!"

She just barely made it in opening the passenger door before he could lock it. She got in, knowing he wouldn't take off with her inside.

"Why are you here?" he asked after a long period of silence.

"You came all this way for something, didn't you?" she said. "Are you just going to turn tail and run?"

"Run? Run from what?" Illumi scoffed. "I'm just getting myself the hell out, since I'm just a thing of the past."

"You heard that...?" she asked weakly.

"Get out of my car, now." said Illumi, starting the engine. "I don't have the patience nor strength..."

"Illumi-" she said then shrunk back as he shouted at her.

"Just... stop..." he said, his voice cracking. "Stop pretending to care when all this time you never thought of me, of how I was feeling, anything."

Corliss watched as he got out of his seat and started making his way around. She scrambled into the backseat. She continued to avoid him until he seized her by her wrist. He pulled her out and closed the doors. He let her go then got into the driver's seat, promptly locking the doors.

Corliss quietly watched his car drive off, slowly disappearing from sight. After a month of separation, he had taken initiative in healing their bond. He even bought flowers for her. He was right, she never did think about him. It was more of she didn't want to. Did their friendship mean that much to him?

"Huh? That's strange... it's not supposed to rain until midnight..." she said, wiping her face. "Stupid rain..."

____

Honjo sat in the seat beside Corliss. He gave her head gentle pats. He was ecstatic to see her laughing and smiling genuinely with the blonde guy, but something told him that he wasn't a good guy. Though, it could be that he was just jealous that the blonde man was close to her.

"Why did Mr. Zoldyck leave?" he asked.

"Because Ms. Steinbeck said something that wasn't nice." she replied, not wanting to teach him insulting words.

"What was it?" he pressed.

"Don't worry about it." she said, then had him look at her. "Remember this: some things happen for a reason, while some for no reason at all."

Honjo nodded, taking her words to heart. He continued to stare at her as she went back to work. The lonely look had come back. He walked and made his way to the front desk, seeking out the telephone. He looked around on the desk, hoping the card was there.

He found it tucked away underneath papers. He pressed on the numbers then held the phone to his ear. It rang. and rang.

"Zoldyck Interiors. How may we be of service?" a man said.

"Um, is Mr. Zoldyck there? It's Honjo." said Honjo, making sure Corliss couldn't hear him.

"He hasn't come back to the office yet. I can leave him your message if you'd like." he said, a bit suspicious of who was calling.

"Oh... I just wanted to talk..." he muttered, feeling deflated.

"You sound rather young... how old are you?" the man asked worriedly.

"I'm 8. I'm turning 9 in December." he said, looking to the side to see if Corliss had come back.

"Where are your parents? Do they know what you're doing?" the man fussed, starting to scold him.

Honjo hung up after having been thoroughly scolded. Was Mr. Zoldyck okay? He couldn't go out and search for him no matter how much he wanted to. How could he bring a smile back to Ms. Steinbeck's face?

"Honjo." a voice called out.

"Ms. Steinbeck!" he said, getting off the chair. "I was looking for a tissue."

"I heard everything. I knew I should've taken that card home..." she said, picking the card up. "You really worry about me too much."

"I want to always see my mom smiling." he said, kicking the air.

"You really are something, Honjo. I've never seen a child go so far just to make their guardian happy." she said, squatting down his height. "Come here."

Corliss gave Honjo a tight hug. Honjo smiled happily, relishing in her warmth and subtle sweet scent. She pulled away then smiled.

"Can you promise me not to do something like this again? What if the person on the other end wanted to hurt you?" she said, hoping he'd understand.

"But it was Mr. Zoldyck's company. They have to be nice people too." he said.

"Don't judge a book by its cover, Honjo. It's okay to doubt people. Trust your gut." said Corliss, placing her hands on his shoulders.

"Okay..." he replied quietly.

____

Corliss stared at the bouquet as she sat at the reception desk. Illumi never answered her calls nor texts. He had every right to ignore her. She didn't make an effort to understand him. She shouldn't have let it carry on for a month. Why did she call him a thing of the past? To keep List from thinking they were a thing? Was it really worth it?

"Hey, how can I turn that frown upside down?" a voice asked, concerned.

"Oh, List." she said, moving the bouquet over. "I'm guessing you have free time."

"Enough about me, what about you? You suddenly left without a word. Who was that we saw leaving?" List asked, wanting answers.

"The Mr. Zoldyck the kids were referring to. My... ex friend..." she said, getting quieter.

"Eh? If you aren't friends, why did he come by?" he pressed.

"Because we broke it off after I went after him." she said a bit too loud. "I always mess things up..."

"I doubt that. All it is is bad luck." he said, stroking her hair. "After all, you still have me, right?"

She quietly nodded then felt his hand move to her cheek. He gently placed a kiss on her forehead then gave her his signature smile. A blush occupied her face as she looked down at the desk. Was it okay for her to feel like this after what occurred earlier that day?