A/N: hey guys! as mentioned, this chapter is kinda heavy, and possibly OOC at some parts for some of you. but i'm not gonna spoil it for you guys, so read on!
keep the reviews and alerts coming in!
By the time Tea reached the living room, a shouting row had ensued between the brothers. She hid herself behind a wall, and took a peek at what was happening inside.
"What do you think you were doing, running away like that?" Seto was being too harsh on Mokuba, but whether he really meant to or not, Tea had no idea. "Because I scolded you for lying to me? So that gives you the right to disappear everytime you feel that I wronged you?"
"Because you're unreasonable!" Mokuba shouted back. He was bracing for the worst case scenario earlier on, but he never expected Seto to start throwing accusations at him.
"Unreasonable about what? Pointing out your mistakes? I'm just trying to be a good parent to you, is that so hard to understand?" Seto snapped, hands akimbo as he stared Mokuba down.
"It's all about you! It's always about you!"
"Always about me?" By now, Seto was infuriated. "I work hard every single day just to give you the best I could, you know that?!"
"I never asked you to, did I?" Mokuba yelled back at Seto.
"Don't shout back at me like that!"
Mokuba offered the final blow to the 'discussion' when he threw his pendant down and screamed, "I HATE YOU, SETO!" Without looking back, he fled out of the living room, barely aware that he passed by Tea, and up the grand stairway. Seconds later, the sound of a loud bang echoed throughout the mansion.
Tea glanced at the stairway, and back at Seto. He appeared stunned as he slowly bent down to pick up the pendant. He was rooted in that position for a long time. Tea bit her lip. He'll be okay, she convinced herself. I'd better go check on Mokuba.
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Mokuba threw himself on his bed and punched his pillow repeatedly. Seto is so unfair! Instead of being worried, he comes home and starts pushing all the blame on me! Huffing, he stopped punching the pillow and hurled it at his dresser. It missed the photo frames lining the top of the dresser by an inch.
A knock came on the door, and Mokuba promptly yelled, "Go away! I hate you!"
Tea snuck her head in and said softly, "Mokuba, it's me, Tea."
Mokuba practically leapt out of bed as he went over to hug Tea tightly. "Tea! I hate him, Tea! I hate him!"
Tea knelt down and took Mokuba by the shoulders. She gave him a small smile and spoke gently, "Don't be like that, Mokuba. Your brother cares for you, but maybe it's just that his way of expressing it is…"
The black-haired boy shook his head furiously, causing his wild mane to go all over the place. "He used to really show he cares for me! He never shouted at me when scolding me, Tea. But why is he suddenly acting like a complete jerk?" Then he suddenly glared angrily at Tea and pushed her away. "You promised me you'd get Seto to be his old self back! You promised to help! Why aren't you doing anything?"
"I'm sorry, Mokuba, but I just couldn't find a way," Tea protested. How was she going to appease this boy?
Mokuba eyed her warily. Then finally he said in a warning tone, "Promise me you'll try again, Tea. Please." Without waiting for Tea's reply, he leaned in and gave her a tight hug. "Thanks, Tea."
"N-No problem, Mokuba," Tea stammered as she hugged the younger boy back.
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"If you're planning to lecture me, spare me the agony, Gardner," Seto said curtly without looking over his shoulder.
Tea flinched. How could he notice her presence when she had just set foot into the living room? Plus, Seto had his back towards her. He was seated on the black leather sofa set, hunched forward as he placed his glass on the wooden coffee table. From afar, Tea was not too sure what it was, but it looked like Sprite or 7-Up.
"I'm not," she replied, holding her hands up slightly as she walked a few more steps. It was best to maintain her distance from him for now. "Just… don't be too hard on him, Kaiba. He's probably going through his rebellious phase." That was when she noticed what he had been consuming all along. She commented in disbelief, "I thought you don't drink."
"I do now," he answered bitterly. He reached out to pour himself another glass of Glenfiddich as he snorted. "Rebellious phase."
"It's just a suggestion," Tea shot back heatedly. Was the phrase so alien to him? But as she watched him drain his glass and start to pour himself another, she grew worried. "How many glasses have you had, Kaiba?"
"Doesn't matter," he proceeded to down his whisky. He looked straight ahead, keeping his gaze steady on the front door of the manor. Tea hoped he was the sort who would be able to hold his drink. He gave a slight, almost cruel smile as he mused, "Mokuba keeps on blaming me for a lot of things."
Tea was about to offer some comforting words, but any intention of doing that immediately faltered when Seto barked out a laugh. She flinched upon hearing how hollow and cold the laugh was. By the time she dared to glance at his direction, Seto was already staring blankly into space, the grip on his wine glass tightening with every passing second.
"Do you think it's easy to be me?" Seto suddenly spoke up, taking Tea by surprise. "Do you think it's easy to be taking on so many roles at the same time?" The volume of his voice rose with every rhetorical question thrown out. "Doing things that you don't want to do? Giving up things that you'd rather won't?"
"Kaiba…"
"Do you think I enjoy it?!" A hand flew to Tea's mouth when the glass in Seto's hand found itself smashed against a wall. The CEO himself was crumpled on the floor on his knees, his hands clutching the edge of the coffee table to balance himself. His head was bowed, but there was no mistaking the swell of emotions raging through him. His shoulders were shaking as he spat, "Everyone thinks they know Seto Kaiba. Sure, I know him too. Cold, ruthless, jackass multi-millionaire."
Tea bit her lip, barely believing what was unfolding before her. She knew her sight was clouding up with warm tears, and she quickly held them back as she continued to study Kaiba. How could he live harboring such contempt for himself? She walked up to him carefully and pushed the bottle of whiskey away.
She attempted to put a hand on his shoulder, but he launched into another tirade, albeit a quieter one. Now that she was directly beside him, she could see angry tears streaking his face. "I'm a nobody. I'm a nobody who tries too hard to be a somebody."
Tea clutched at him as she tried to hoist him back up to the sofa. She choked out, "You're drunk."
Even in his less than sober state, he was adamant to argue otherwise. Tea firmly shook her head and eked out a stern whisper, "Yes, you are. I'll get you coffee. Stay here."
Without wasting another minute, Tea hurried out of the living room, closing a hand over her mouth tightly as she did so. She pressed her eyes shut, wanting to stop the tears but she could still feel them flowing. Kaiba… oh my God. Kaiba…
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By the time Tea stepped into the kitchen, she hoped that there was no traces that she had just let her emotions got the better of her earlier. Hastily, she ran her hands over her face and smoothed out her hair and willed herself to smile. The last thing she wanted to do right now was smile, but at least it made her feel better somehow. Her mood was further lifted by the sight in the kitchen; a middle-aged lady dressed in a navy blue servant uniform who had just taken out a tray of chocolate chip cookies from the oven.
"I'm sorry, excuse me," Tea interrupted the lady politely.
The lady turned around and broke out into a wide smile when she saw Tea. Tea instantaneously felt calmed by her, and she smiled back shyly before she proceeded to introduce herself and ask if she could have some coffee.
"Well, certainly," the lady, who introduced herself as Nana, gave Tea a knowing smile as she brewed the coffee. She offered the cookies (which she had baked to cheer Mokuba up) to Tea, but Tea declined. "Finally, Seto brought a girl home!"
Tea could feel her face turning a deep shade of red as she spluttered. "What?! No, I mean, I'm not –"
Nana laughed. "Oh, you youngsters keep saying no, but you can't fool us!" Then she stopped laughing and regarded Tea with a wan smile. There was no mistaking the relief in her eyes. "I'm so glad Seto could bring himself to let someone into his life at last. He's been keeping people out for so long."
Tea's eyebrows furrowed. Maybe I should play the girlfriend for a while, she thought for a while. If this is going to be how I find out more about what's going on. Feigning a confused look like a girlfriend who seemed surprised to know about a hidden part of her boyfriend, she queried, "Keeping people out? What do you mean, Nana?"
Nana looked around to ensure that there was no one nearby before she sighed, "I suppose you deserve to know, Tea. To be frank, I'm surprised you can stand by him. Seto's not an easy person to handle. I remember when he first came here. He was quiet, but he was such a sweet boy. Until, of course, his classes started. At first, he was fine. Occasionally he confided how stressed he was by everything. I pitied him, I wanted so much to help, but what could I do? I was just a servant. Over time, he just grew… cold. He was distant to everyone, and started to keep more to himself. I had to admit, it was scary to be around him at that time.
"After Seto became the head of the Kaiba family, I thought that maybe there was a chance the ice in him would thaw. I was wrong, of course. He just became more reclusive. From the way he dealt with people, I could tell, he never believed everything they said. He was always wary of them. If you were there like I was, you wouldn't believe how he could push people away effortlessly. It was like he was trying to keep as little people in his personal life as possible. I watched the boy grow up, and it just broke my heart to see him end up to be a man like that. Bitter, full of anger, friendless.
I know Mokuba has tried to soften him. He's still trying, isn't he? After Mokuba's accident, Seto showed promising signs of changing. Mokuba was so happy about it, but…" Nana shook her head sadly. "They've been at each other's throat for the past two weeks, it's unlike them. I know that their company isn't doing too well, Seto himself hasn't been well… I never had the heart to say it, but I think the psychologist sessions Mokuba made Seto go for caused all this madness."
The coffeemaker clicked, and as Nana poured out a cup per Tea's request, Tea quickly turned her face away and blinked rapidly. When she looked back at Nana, the middle-aged lady already had a tray with the cup of coffee held out for her. With a smile, Tea graciously took it. Nana walked her to the entrance of the kitchen and had this to say as a parting to Tea, "Seto doesn't trust people easily. But now that he has you, please, don't betray his trust by leaving him."
With that, Nana left Tea to continue her way back to the living room. As Tea balanced the tray in her hand, her eyes skimmed the grand furnishings of the mansion. She swallowed down a lump in her throat. Kaiba's right, she realized with a sick feeling in her stomach. Everyone thinks they know him. But how could anyone know how much sadness is hidden behind all this grandeur?
By the time she reached the living room, it took all Tea had not to give in to the atmosphere again and start tearing. Quickly she set the tray on the coffee table and braved herself to take a seat beside Seto. Thankfully, he was not drinking, but that did not make the situation any better. The young man was staring down at the floor, unmoving save for twin rivulets streaming down his cheeks.
Bitter, full of anger, friendless. What have you done to yourself, Kaiba? Tea reached out a hand to touch his face.
Seto turned to meet her gaze, and Tea saw for once the anguish and the fatigue mirrored in those blue eyes. Unwittingly, her fingers slowly wiped off the tears trailing down his face. "It'll be alright," she heard herself whisper.
"I'm nobody," Seto whispered back hoarsely.
"You're not," Tea assured him. She never removed her hand from the side of his face, even when he leaned his head against her shoulder. "It'll be alright." When she peered down at him, she saw that he had fallen asleep. Gently, she stroked his cheek. "It'll be alright."
