Chapter Nine: A Night To Remember (Part One)
"This shirt was hers, wasn't it?" Alyssa stood awkwardly in the moving limo and moved to sit opposite Kaiba. "And you still miss her..."
"I miss who I thought she was. I thought she cared about me and all she did was pilfer thousands of dollars from my accounts to pay for her brother's hospital care." He stopped and smirked cruelly. "Karma bit back however, as you confirmed, her brother passed away. Her stealing was futile."
Alyssa listened carefully to his every word and her expression softened. "But you cared for her."
"Did I really? Who knows? I can't confirm nor deny that..." He turned to look outside the window and crossed his arms.
The limousine came crawling to a halt in front of the Kaiba Mansion and Kaiba stood briskly out of the vehicle. He helped Alyssa bring her many different bags of clothing upstairs to her bedroom and paused when he saw a bag labelled "The Object Shop". It was folded over and taped shut with cellotape, preventing him from seeing inside.
"Alyssa, what's in here?" Holding the bag for her to see, he pondered opening it and looking inside. 'I can't, it may be something private... '
"Oh, it's something I saw in a shop window and Roland said I could buy it..." Her slim fingers wrapped around the small bag and she took it delicately from his grasp. He quirked an eyebrow as she tucked the small package under her pillow.
"Humph..." His snort caught her attention and Alyssa looked back over to him. "A friend of mine and his wife are coming over for dinner tonight. They should arrive in a few hours, so if you want to relax or prepare for dinner in the meantime, you may. I'll be in my office working should you need me."
Alyssa nodded in reply and Kaiba held out his hand. She placed her small hand carefully into his and he brought it gracefully to his lips. Alyssa blushed as he gently kissed her hand and whispered "I'll see you later...", before leaving her room.
She turned on her heel and just as she was about to tend to her new clothes, Anna knocked on her door.
"Miss Alyssa?" When Alyssa asked for her to enter, Anna rushed in and closed the door quickly. "I bought you a 'Welcome to the Kaiba Mansion' gift! Now, I know you haven't been... Out and about very much, so I thought I'd help you out to start..."
She moved toward her with a small parcel wrapped with silver paper and handed it to her. Alyssa carefully tore the paper and revealed the makeup case inside. She looked at it in confusion and the returned her attention to Anna. "What is it?"
"It's a makeup case! Some women wear makeup to enhance their features! I thought it would be fun to let you try..." Alyssa nodded and focused on the slight brown shade on Anna's eyelids. "Yes, I'm wearing some now..."
"I.. I don't know how to use it I'm afraid... But thank you so much for buying me such a lovely gift!" Alyssa smiled a genuine smile at Anna, who blushed slight and shrugged.
"We can pick out your outfit and I can help you with the makeup if you want..." She looked down at her black shoes bashfully and waited for Alyssa's gentle reply.
"Yes please..."
Kaiba was staring hard at his laptop screen. Reports about Alyssa were opened, some recent but mostly accounts of her first five years in isolation. They were horrifying to read, and Kaiba felt angry with her adoptive father for subjecting her to such ill-treatment. As he was mentally scolding Ryuuka Takahashi, he found a report written by him. Curious, he opened the file.
This is by far the worst thing I have ever done. They refer to my sweet child as Experiment Thirteen, and have given her so many different drugs that I am shocked to see her standing. Every day I witness her growth as any father should, but alas, her growth has been hurried by harmful narcotics in her system. They try to assure me that these drugs are safe, but how would they know? This is nothing more than an experiment to them, these sick-minded psychopaths in their white laboratory coats, constantly scribbling onto clipboards or typing up reports on her behaviour.
She celebrated her ninth birthday yesterday and as I always do, I brought her the box of chocolates after hours. She was delighted to say the least, she seems to enjoy talking to me. She does not know who I really am to her and hopefully, she never will. But if she is told sometime in the future of my relation to her, I would like to leave her a letter.
I have handwritten this letter for my darling child in the hopes that one day, she will want to know of her adoptive father. The letter is hidden in a locker in Domino train station, a number very dear to my heart. The combination for the lock is the same as the number of the locker. I hope she is clever enough to find it.
Kaiba sat back and ran his hands over his face. 'Even for a wealthy CEO, this is becoming more and more difficult by the minute... '
He checked his watch and saw that it was nearing a quarter to six. Standing shakily, he closed down his laptop and made his way from the office to the dining room. Mokuba sat at the table, phone in hand.
"Good evening Mokie."
"Good evening Nii-sama!" Mokuba pocketed the phone quickly and flashed a smile at Kaiba. "Where is Alyssa?"
"In her bedroom I assume..." Kaiba mumbled, before hearing Anna giggling like a young school girl behind the dining room door.
"Go on in Miss Alyssa!" Anna's excited voice caught Kaiba's attention and the mention of Alyssa's name caused him to turn around in his seat and watch the doorway.
Alyssa walked in slowly, wearing a red and white dress that fell to just below her knees. It was a vintage style dress, with ruffles and lace adorning the hemlines and sleeves that flowed down her arms like waterfalls as far as her inner elbow. Her white stockings and red shoes completed her outfit, though her entire image was made up of many more components.
Anna had expertly tied her hair into a typical crown fashion, twisting the ringlets of hair beside Alyssa's face and pulling them back to behind her head. Here, they were held with a silky red ribbon and her hair flowed naturally down her back. Her bangs were left free to fall around her face slightly, having been curled gently to form soft waves.
A thin black line was drawn across the base of her eyelid, and mascara had been swiped across her long lashes. Her lips were glistening more than usual, helped by Anna's choice of lip-gloss.
Kaiba stood up in shock and awe. He stared at the young lady who was blushing heavily in front of him, before extending his hand once again. Timidly, she placed her hand in his and he led her over to the table, where he took her chair from under the table and held it for her. She giggled and took her seat.
"Alyssa, I must say, you look enchanting..." he muttered, as he took his seat next to her. She realised with a gasp that he had switched her seat with Mokuba's, so now she sat beside Kaiba and Mokuba sat across from them. "I feel underdressed..."
"Alyssa might just be a little bit overdressed Seto..." Mokuba attempted to correct Kaiba, which earned him a playful glare from his nii-sama.
"Sir, Mr Simm and his wife have arrived." Anna announced.
"Show them in Anna, please." Anna was surprised that he had bothered to say please, but left to do as requested. Kaiba kept his eyes on Alyssa as he spoke, then thought of something worrying. "Alyssa, Mike and Victoria know nothing of your gift. It's best that you say nothing out of the ordinary, alright?"
"Yes Kaiba, of course." She smiled and looked down at the table. The table cloth was white and ironed without even a trace of a crease. There were black place mats underneath white square plates and the silver fork and knife were polished until they shone.
Ornate candle holders rang down the centre of the table, delicate black bands of metal wrapped around tall white candles. Small black and white menus were sat on the plates. Alyssa took hers and looked over the dishes on offer.
"Mr Kaiba?"
"Mike, come right in." Kaiba stood when Mike addressed him and walked into the hall to greet him and his wife.
"I have the reports here for you sir..." There was the faint sound of papers being ruffled and a grunt of approval from Kaiba.
"Perfect. Excellent Mike. I'd like to introduce you to Alyssa Takahashi, Mr and Mrs Simm. Alyssa? Will you come out here please?"
Alyssa stood carefully and walked out into the hallway.