Chapter 11

.

.

.

.

.

Caleeya hated meeting new people. It was a good thing Kaiba hated mingling with people. The first half hour of the reunion was the worst. Girls constantly coming up to him and asking if he remembered them. He said no the first hundred times, then started playing with them.

"Oh, yes, you're that generic girl, I think it was number 216?" Caleeya couldn't keep the laugh in as the girl huffed away.

"That was cruel." She squeezed out between giggles.

"Then tell them to leave me alone." He said plainly. He glanced down at her and softened. He loved being with her. He loved talking with her. He loved her. He just needed to know she loved him too. He already knew he wanted to spend the rest of his days with her. He just needed to know she felt the same way.

"Well, If it isn't Seto Kaiba. I see you decided to allow this reunion take place unlike last time." An unfortunately familiar voice called out. It was the annoying girl from the annoying group Yugi had spent his childhood with. Kaiba poked a finger in his ear as he winced. "What's wrong with you?" She asked as she got closer, and Caleeya looked up at him worriedly.

"I just got that horrible ringing in my ear from the last time you spoke to stop last week, and now it's back for another ten years. Tonight's going to suck." Caleeya brought a hand over her mouth as she stopped another laugh from peeling out.

"Cant you try to be nice?" She asked, still trying not to laugh.

"He cant. It's just not in him." Kaiba was about to say something, but Caleeya loved to argue as much as he did, no, actually, more.

"Really? I didn't realize you knew him so well." She paused and looked at Kaiba, moving closer to him and he decided to play along with any game she wanted today. "He's not sweet." She said and he stroked her arms gently. "He's not sensual." He pulled her against him as he looked her in the eye and smiled. "He's not kind, or affectionate."

"You're beautiful." He said as he leaned in and nuzzled her neck.

"I totally see where you're coming from. He's a monster." She said sarcastically as the girl... Tasha? No, Tea? Whatever. It didn't matter. She looked on in shock and that's all he wanted. He chuckled as she just walked away and looked down at Caleeya. He loved her so much. She loved him too, right? They got along, but what if she didn't actually love him. What if he was just flavor in her life, when she was the entire thing to him? He wouldn't be able to deal if she was just using him like the others. But she had her own source of money. She had everything she needed... but then again... so did most of the others.

His mind raced as he began to doubt the relationship he shared with her for the first time. He needed her to tell him she loved him. He needed to hear it. The other girls used the phrase so carelessly, but he knew, coming from her, it would be real.

"Caleeya, I ne-"

"Kaiba! Hello!" He was interrupted by his long ago rival, the only one that made coming here worthwhile.

"Yugi." He nodded. He really wanted to talk to Caleeya, but she wasn't going anywhere, which sparked a whole new dilemma in his mind. She was flighty. What if she decided one day she didn't feel for him and just left. She can leave so easily. She'd done it so much over the last few years. It would break him. He shook his head. He couldn't be thinking about this now. It was the absolute worst time. "What have you been up to, Yugi?" His voice was empty and his mentality absent. Both Yugi and Caleeya glanced at him confusedly.

"Are you alright Kaiba?" Yugi asked. Kaiba just stared at him, but Caleeya moved closer to him as well.

" I'm fine."

"Seto, you're not, you look... cruddy." She said blatantly. Couldn't she at least try to be nice?

"I guess I'm just not used to being around so many people." He said quietly.

"Bull. You hold galas and go to big corporate meetings all the time. You're acting really weird." Caleeya was grating on him now. If she was going to leave him, or torture him like this, why did he have to put up with it?

"I hear you've taken over your grandfather's game shop. You must get a lot of business." He said, blowing over her comment and talking to Yugi. She rolled her eyes and moved off to the side of the large room and sat herself at a table.

"We get more than before, but not too much." Yugi answered awkwardly. He was about to say something else when the voice Kaiba wished he'd never hear again called for him.

"Yug, I was just... Kaiba? What are you doin here?" Wheeler asked, looking a little older, but just as dumb as before.

"This is a class reunion. Then entire class was invited. If you remember correctly, I was part of that class." He said, speaking slowly and using smaller words.

"Well... hey, where's that girl you were with?" He asked, glancing around. "What's she, your secretary or something?" Kaiba looked to the table she had fled to. She was talking to someone. The girl from before. Tara? It didn't matter. She didn't look happy.

"She's my girlfriend." He said plainly. He didn't have any extra emotion to waste on this dog today.

"What girl would put up with you?" That ushered a smirk. Many girls had used him, but Caleeya put up with him. She stayed with him through his teasing and prodding, even though she didn't need him for his money or fame. His doubts began to melt away as he realized how he had talked to her. If she wasn't doubting them before, she certainly was now.

"The girl I'm going to spend the rest of my life with." Both Yugi and Joey stared at him, jaws dropped.

"Who the heck are you, cuz you're not Kaiba." The young CEO chuckled.

"It's been ten years. You didn't expect me to stay the same childish boy I was in school, did you?" He wanted to talk with Caleeya now. He needed to talk to her now. He turned to her and she was staring at him. He smiled. He would always have her attention, whether she wanted him to know it or not.

Caleeya glanced at him every once in a while. She was so pissed she just wanted to leave. But she had come so far. She had to stay. She couldn't keep running. She couldn't keep doing this to everyone who cared about her. But did he? It was a stupid question she asked herself. He did care about her. She knew it. She was just mad, so right now, she didn't care. She needed to calm down.

"Trouble in paradise?" The annoying girl from before said as she sat across from Caleeya.

"What do you want?" Caleeya asked venomously. She was in no mood to put up with this girl.

"Well, just looks like Mr. Perfect isn't all he's cracked up to be anymore. And it only took ten minutes." She said smirking at her.

"I'm beginning to hear that ringing Seto was talking about earlier." Caleeya said, cleaning her ear in much the same fashion Kaiba did earlier. The girl shot her a glare and she couldn't help but feel better.

"Why are you with him?" It was a stupid question, but Caleeya went over the reasons in her head again and smiled.

"Because. He's sweet." The girl looked at her incredulously.

"Sweet? Kaiba?"

"I know it's difficult to wrap your little head around, but he is. Maybe if you spent less time bothering or annoying him, you might have been able to figure it out. He's a great guy. He's only ever treated me right. He's annoying sometimes, but who isn't? You're probably guilty of that seven days a week. Besides... I love him."

"Does he know that?" She asked, glancing between her and him with her brow raised. She was trying to be mean, but it prompted a silence from Caleeya as she looked over at him again. He turned to face her as she stared at him and he smiled. "Cuz it doesn't look like it from the way you're sitting all the way over here." the girl finished before walking off. Normally Caleeya would bite back, but she was preoccupied with another set of thoughts.

Did he know? She never told him, but she was never good at those things. She preferred to do things for people she cared about instead of admit feelings or apologize. It was easier that way. She watched him as he turned back to the two people he was talking to and continued to chat.

He was so handsome. So smooth and wonderful. She had thought it a thousand times, but now she felt like an idiot for not seeing it so clearly. He was one of the best things going for her and he had no idea how she felt about him. Well, she figured he had some idea, he wasn't stupid. She rose from the table and started towards him.

As she neared he glanced over and nodded to the men he was talking to and they left. Once she made it to him, she looked down, preparing herself for the difficult words that she needed to say.

"I'm sorry." It was right on the tip of her tongue. She could have sworn the words came from her, but her voice wasn't that deep, and her mouth didn't move. She looked up and he had closed the distance between them. He stood with his hands on her arms and looked at her sadly.

"You're..." her voice started, but failed after the first word.

"I'm sorry" He said it again. "I shouldn't have talked to you that way. Caleeya, I-"

"Seto, I love you. I love you so much. You know that right?" She looked up at him. He was just looking at her. No smile. No emotion, as far as she could see. "S-Seto?"He pulled her against him.

It was the thing he needed to hear the most. The thing he needed to calm him. To put his mind at rest.

"Caleeya... I love you too." He pulled back and reached behind himself. " I've been waiting for you to say if for quite some time now. Longer than I wanted to, but now the time is right." He pulled out a small velvet box and Caleeya's heart stopped. "Caleeya. Marry me." He said, kneeling as he took the center of attention for the entire room. He moved to open the box, but she put a hand over his, keeping the box closed.

He tensed as the possibility of her saying no passed through his mind. Was she going to turn him down, in front of all these people? Was that why she was stopping him?

"Yes. I don't need the ring. The dress, anything. I just need you." She hugged him and his heart finally started beating again. She had agreed. He rose and hugged her back, taking the box and opening it for her like he tried to before. Her eyes widened as they rested on the ring within. "Seto..."

"The man who made it said it was the cheapest thing he had ever custom made." Kaiba chuckled.

"Garnet and silver... my favorite." She said taking the ring and looking at it in the light. It was perfect.

"Caleeya, you're perfect."

.

.

.

.

.

So close to the end I can taste it. Tomorrow will be the last day of this fic. Sad to see it go but enjoyed the ride so far. The only thing left for it is the last chapter. Cant wait to hear what you guys think about the ending, but in the meantime, why dont you tell me what you think about