Well, it's been about a month and a half, but I finally got time to update. I'm sorry for the delay, but I've been extremely busy lately. And this is probably the last chance I'll get to update for a couple of weeks, so I took it. Hope you like the chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh or its characters.

The Discovery

"Duke, what the hell are you doing here?" Joey asked, frozen with shock.

Duke grinned. "Why, you didn't know? I'm Mai's boyfriend," he said, emphasizing the last word.

Joey looked as if he had been slapped in the face. He was completely lost for words. It couldn't be…he refused to believe that it was true. He couldn't have been replaced by Duke. There was no way it was possible.

Joey struggled with his words. "Excuse me?" he managed to whisper out.

Duke's grin widened. "I said I'm Mai's boyfriend," he repeated. "Ask her yourself." He turned around. "Hey, Mai! Company!"

Mai walked out of her bedroom, running a comb through her hair. She looked like she had been in the shower. "What is it?" She stopped short when she saw Joey. Her eyes darted to Courtney and Jason, who were smiling as innocently as possible. "Joey, what are you doing here?" she asked slowly.

"Funny, that's just what I was asking Duke," Joey replied, his eyes narrowed.

Mai looked down at her feet. "I thought you already knew," she said quietly.

"Knew what? That you replaced me with Duke? Of course I didn't know! I haven't talked to ya in over a year! How the hell was I supposed to know?" Joey shouted, his face red.

"I thought that my cousins had told you," Mai answered calmly. "There's no need to shout, Joey. I'm right over here. And now I think you can see why I haven't wanted to talk to you in so long. You freak out over everything."

"How long?" Joey asked suddenly. "How long have you two been together?"

Mai's gaze was completely fixed on the floor now. "Four months," she whispered, her cheeks brightening.

Joey almost fell with shock. "Four months? You've been with this bastard for four months? I can't believe it!"

"It's not that big of a deal! You knew I was going to move on!" Mai exclaimed angrily.

"Yeah, but I wasn't expecting it to be with him!" Joey yelled. "You know what he did to my sister, and you still wanna be with him? What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"What the fuck is wrong with me? The better question is what the fuck is wrong with you? Why the hell are you here? You can't win me back! I've already moved on, in case you haven't figured that out!" Mai shouted. "If you've been pining over me ever since I left, then you're just a hopeless case! I'll never go back to you, so just get the fuck outta my house and leave me alone!"

Joey didn't move. He was paralyzed with the shock of Mai's words. There she stood, the woman of his dreams, the love of his life, with such hate in her eyes. He had never known her to look at him like that. It broke his heart into a million pieces. He once remembered the loving look in her eyes when she saw him. His heart ached at the thought.

"Well, I guess I'll be going then," Joey said quietly, his voice catching in his throat. "I won't be seeing you around, then." He turned to go. "Have a nice life."

He exited the room and headed back for the car, trying hard to keep his tears inside. As soon as he left the house, Courtney and Jason rounded on Mai.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Courtney asked, outraged.

"You destroyed him!" Jason yelled. "After everything we've done, you ruined it all in a few minutes. Why couldn't you just get rid of the bitterness and accept him here?"

"Because I don't want to see him anymore!" Mai exclaimed. "I moved here to get away from him so both of us could move on with our lives! But judging by the expression on his face, my plan didn't work! He came here in the hopes of getting me back. I'm not going to lead him on."

"But even if you don't love him anymore, did you have to say all those hurtful things to him?" Courtney asked. "Didn't you see his heart falling apart with every word you spoke? Even if you don't love him now, you loved him before. Think about how much it would hurt for him to hear you say that."

Mai exhaled slowly, her brain moving fast. Then her expression changed rather quickly. She suddenly looked upset by what she had done. Duke noticed this and immediately intervened.

"But she has every right to be pissed off," Duke said. "Who is he to come all the way out here to mess up her life? She's doing just fine without him, obviously. Why would he want to change all of that?"

"Maybe because he loves her," Courtney shot at him. "Look Duke, don't interrupt what you don't understand."

Duke jumped up, fury etched in his face. "Who the hell are you to tell me not to interrupt what I don't understand? Look, I was there! I know exactly what happened! And where were you when Joey cheated on her? You were here with your husband, not knowing a damn bit of what was going on in her life! You have no idea of what he did to her, and what she went through because of it! How would you feel if your man cheated on you with his enemy's maid? How would you feel if you witnessed him doing things with the maid that he had always said he would only do with you? Would you like it very much? Of course not! So don't try to fix things when you don't know everything!"

"Well, it's not like you're Mr. Perfect either!" Courtney yelled. "You blackmailed his sister into going back out with you because you couldn't win her over fair and square! And what happened when she chose the other guy over you? You tried to beat the shit outta him! So don't you act like you've never done a girl wrong! That's low, blackmailing a girl into dating you because you're a sore loser!"

"That was a long time ago," Duke replied quietly, his voice shaking with suppressed rage.

"And so was what Joey did, but you won't let it go, will you?"

"Guys, stop it!" Mai shouted. Duke, who had been about to reply, closed his mouth. "I get what you guys are saying, but you don't need to argue about it. What's done is done, and it can't be undone. Let's not dwell on the past, or fight about it, but concentrate on our futures."

Duke rolled his eyes. "You're one to talk. You're the one who started this whole thing, freaking out over Joey."

"Well, let's drop it for now," Mai said grumpily.

Outside by the car

Joey was leaning against the car door, his mind swimming with thoughts about what was going on. He couldn't believe it, any of it. He was seriously messed up at the moment because of what Mai had said. He had never heard her say such hurtful things before, especially with such sincerity in those words.

I guess it really is over for good. I was a fool to believe that I might get a second chance with her. What the hell was I thinking? I left the country thinking I might be able to see her again and maybe reconcile things. Wow, I was really naïve. But I won't make this mistake ever again. I'll get the first flight back to Domino and get back to the life I lead before. I just hope I can forget about what Mai said and just move on.

Joey turned around when the door opened and saw Courtney and Jason coming down the steps towards them. He sighed and got ready for them to open the door for him. But they didn't do so right away. Instead, they faced him with grim expressions on their faces.

"Joey, it's not over yet," Jason said firmly.

"We will continue on with the plan," Courtney added.

"But you heard what Mai said. I've got no chance," Joey said.

"I honestly don't believe she meant what she said," Courtney replied. "We'll give her a few days to cool down. Then we'll continue on with the plan, trying harder than before. This will work out. I promise you."

Joey couldn't help it. He let out a very small smile of relief.

(End Chapter 10)

Ok, I know it wasn't as good as I had hoped, but I had to write it in my Multimedia class while the teacher wasn't looking. I think the job wasn't overly bad, though. It's better than nothing. I'm sorry I won't be able to update for a few weeks. I've just got too much to do. Hope you liked the chapter. Chapter 11 coming soon!