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This chapter is dedicated to all of you, my readers and reviewers. I hope you'll enjoy this! ^^

Behind the Pretty Picture

Chapter 10: The Spendthrift

"You bitch! How dare you to ask for my help, when you have given up on me?!" I screamed at my mother, as she was standing before me, entangling her fingers, begging me for some money.

"I can barely support myself! And what should I do?! To give a money to somebody who never gave me a chance to be a son?!" I was still screaming at her, and Serenity was watching the scene from one corner, her tiny body shaken by strong sobs. She was tearing apart watching us argue.

"P-please, Joey…We can…" mother was still crying.

"Do you even know that the old man is dead?! Do you know that I used to live with a tycoon? He was my only family." I lowered my head, scratching the back of it nervously. "You don't even care where your son lives, as long as he is there to give you money, you filthy piece of nothing! Why don't you find yourself a job or something?" I looked at her, eyes full of tears, shaking my head.

The pain in my chest was unstoppable. It spread throughout me, suffocating me. I couldn't cry, I didn't know why, and it was making the thing even worse. Pain wanted to exit, and my rage as well, out of me, so forcefully, that they both stuck somewhere in my throat. I couldn't stop the despair I was feeling. I could not stop offending her.

"I know that you're living now with a local rich boy. You always find a way, don't you, Joseph? You're always somebody's whore." she said through her clenched teeth.

I just shook my head, shoving some money in Serenity's shaking hands, whispering her that that money was for her, and not to give it to mother. It was hers and hers only. And she took it, slightly nodding, never stopping to cry. I could read in her eyes clearly a silent question; if I would ever come and visit her again. And I wasn't sure if I had an answer to that, if she ever asked me. But deep inside, I knew that I would come back once again, and if that time showed as an unsuccessful negotiation between me and mother, I would never come to see them again.

I came back home (if you could call that cold, enormous house a home, when there was nobody around to give you a little warmth, kind word, or a warm look), crying all the way. On my way back, I had phoned Seto, to see when he would come back from his business trip.

"Hi, Seto" I had said with the kindest voice.

"Hi" he had replied coldly. I had never told him that I was to visit my folks. "What's up?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to know your exact time of arrival." I had wanted some warmth in his voice, the sign that I wasn't all alone in this stupid world. But he had given me coldness.

I lied down on the sofa, our conversation still ringing in my ears. And the sight of Serenity's wet, warm eyes never disappeared from my vision. She was one lonely girl, torn away from his older brother, who loved her more than anything in this stupid universe.

But that was the system, and, considering that I had stopped being a criminal, I had to obey it.

I heard the door, and ran to the hall, wanting to greet my lover, to feel secure. My legs were trembling from excitement. But he greeted me back with the cold kiss on my lips.

"I'm tired. I'm going to sleep. But if Kazuki calls, wake me up." Kazuki was his best friend.

I nodded, removing coat from his shoulders.

"Wanna take a shower together?" I offered. "It can relax us both." I wrapped my arms around his slim waist.

"Please, let me go." he said, half whining. "I want to sleep. I had a tough day."

"Oh, really?" I frowned. "I had it, as well, you know. I had a fight with my mother-again! And, and my sis…she was crying her heart out! And, and…" I just needed to tell someone, I just needed to share it with the one I thought that loved me. "I just need a hug, I won't bother you." I sank so low.

"Later." he said, disappearing upstairs.

I gave up. It had always been like this, for more than a year. Instead of looking forward to his coming back from business trips or coming from work, I was dying of worry. What if he went out without me? What if, what if…? So many what ifs that I had gotten one serious ulcer in my belly of all that worry. Seto had suddenly stopped leaving me out of his life.

And this was no exception. I had barely survived that ulcer, but he never stopped worrying me like this. Soon, Kazuki would call, and they would go out. The very thought that Seto could go out with his friends, with every other person who is not his own boyfriend, was aching in my chest like angina pectoris.

So I ran upstairs when Kazuki finally made a call, with such a face, as if I had become a zombie, dead serious, and handed the handset to Seto. He jumped as if his ass was set on fire.

"Hi! Yeah, yeah…You can pick me up now, and we will go somewhere…Is Imamura coming?" Imamura was his friend as well. All of them business tycoons (less powerful than Seto, of course) "Ok, we will pick him up later…Ok. C ya then!" he hung up, jumping from bed, approaching a closet.

He pulled out a towel, clean underwear, and he fished out some outfit for that night. And then he rushed to the bathroom.

If he was single, I would understand his going outs. It would be so normal. But he had me, for fuck's sake! We could go out as friends as well, since we never acknowledged our relationship to public because of discrimination. But no! Seto had his ways.

I ran into the bathroom, gripping his wrist before he managed to get into the tub.

"So, where are you guys going, huh? To fuck some girls, or boys even?!" I screamed at him. "Or maybe you are fucking each other in a filthy threesome behind my back, huh?"

"Do you even listen to yourself?! "he was enraged, screaming at me. "What the hell are you talking about?!"

"I don't see another reason you don't want to take me with you. You always go out, but never with me." I said.

He rolled his eyes.

"You again about that? How many times do I have to explain to you?! You always get mad about everything!"

"Ok then! I will go out myself!"

"Have I ever forbid you?! Go out if you want." he said and I let go of him.

I ran into the room, looking for my address book.

"Fine!"

He went out shortly after.

And I went out with my pals.

He never cared to hear how I had spent my days. And not even after I had cheated on him, did he care to learn the lesson.

You know the rest.

---

A month passed with such speed. I asked Teru to come with me and meet my folks. After the last fight with my mother, and me going to hospital, I thought that I would never see them again. But how could I say no to my sister? Teru accepted.

And, of course, everything went fine, as I expected. I wasn't mad anymore, for it seemed that my mother had changed.

I wanted to introduce Teru with my folks; no matter I didn't love him at all. I wanted to show Seto his disadvantage, he had been twice longer with me than Teru, yet Teru was the one to meet my family, and not him. I knew that his pride would be hurt, no matter he loved me or not. It was inevitable.

And it seemed so right, I said my mother I was gay, although she already knew (Tristan told her about me and Seto by accident, right before one of our last fights). And she was fine with that, obviously because Teru was rich, and she had probably heard about my inheritance somehow.

Yet I told her that she would never receive even a penny from me unless she started working. I could help her, but I never wanted to support her. Why would I, when she never did that to me? Every now and then, I would send some money to sister, without her knowing, and that was all.

And, miraculously, she agreed, telling that she had a job. I smiled, content, with Teru's arm around my shoulders, drinking coffee Serenity had made for us. It was so idyllic and soon after, we came back home.

It's been two months since then. I haven't seen Seto, despite the fact he is my neighbor. I haven't seen him since our first encounter. But he's always in my thoughts, every time I make love to Teru. He's always with me, with every breath I take.

I'm on my way to visit mum and sis again. One more turning and I will be there. They said that they moved to another location, and it is harder for me to find them, but I will, eventually.

---

But what the hell is this?! Maybe I missed the turning? Before me, it is one mansion, painted in light pink color.

I fish the phone out of my pocket, dialing Serenity's number.

"Sis, I am in front of some mansion. Are you sure you gave me the right address?"

"Of course I'm sure, brother! Just wait there!" she says, and soon after, I see a teenage girl running towards me, passing the security.

"That's my brother" she says. "Let him in."

I'm in disbelief. Something is telling me this is Teru's work. I will kill him for this!

We're going through the garden, my hand in hers, the scent of roses everywhere. It is a beautiful garden with roses of all colors, white mostly. I can see several gardeners, doing their job devotedly. The entire sight is like a little paradise.

"B-but, Serenity…Who gave you this house…?"

She chuckles, turning to look at me.

"Kaiba Seto." she says, turning her head away from me, still leading me to the entrance.

But I feel as if I'm not moving at all, as if I'm frozen in time.

And the sight before me suddenly becomes ugly. This beautiful estate, all of this…is utterly disgusting to me, knowing that it is bought by that filthy money of that spendthrift Seto. He never was one, but when it came to his pals, and now this…Why, in all hells?!

Kaiba Seto…

---

TBC…?