A/N: yoohoo! haha, i'm glad most of you found the previous chapter funny! come to think of it, Mischa seems to be such a fun person to be around with. anw, chap 21 is here! if you were hoping to see Caroline get told off, then you'll probably like what is in store. go Seto and Misa and heck, the entire of KaibaCorp! Mischa is well... read for yourself. haha. she's so casual about everything.
okay, shall not waste anymore of your time reading this note. onwards to chap 21! keep the reviews pouring!
Yugi stared at her in horror. After the shock wore off, he quickly yelped, "No way, Mis! Are you for nuts or out of your mind?"
Mischa sighed, putting her spoon back down on her plate. She was just about to enjoy her seafood fried rice (despite being the cook, she was the last to eat) and she thought that it would be a good time to casually share her plan. Unfortunately, the Three Stooges was making it difficult for her. "It's either that or I put you up as the flower girl. But I think the latter's cute, isn't it? I mean, you in a lacey dress, with flowers in your hair, tossing flowers around… Caroline would love it!"
"And I'll be humiliated on national TV," Yugi fumed. He pointed to the other two. "How come they aren't chosen to be Kaiba's best man?"
With a spoon still in her mouth, she turned around to where Joey and Tristan were happily watching an episode of WWE Smackdown. "Who? Those two? Hmm… let me see. Joey would start arguing with and insulting him at the altar, Tristan would break his neck. And oh, Mr Boss doesn't like either of them. So I gave them the honours of being ushers cum bouncers. But Seto respects you enough as an ally, so I choose you!"
Yugi frowned at her. "You know, you're making me feel like a Pokemon."
"I am?" Mischa beamed, downing another spoonful of fried rice. "That's cute. You can be Pikachu. You know, cos of your hair?" She bent over to the side of the desk, peered at the corner of the living room where Marvell and Co. were setting their apparatus up and called out, "Vell! Has the guitar started to sound yet?"
Marvell waved back a negative and Mischa went back to her lunch. It had been almost three days since Mischa came up with her brilliant idea. Somehow, she managed to get Joey, Yugi and Trsitan excused from school ("I call it abusing my employer's powers," she had explained cheerfully) and instead they had been camping out at her house. Being an image consultant meant she had an entire men's wardrobe on standby. Plus, Marvell and his friends did not mind bringing over extra clothing for them. So incidentally, for the past week the three of them had been wearing rather branded goods for casual wear.
The plan was simple, really. As promised, Mischa was in charge of planning the reception. In fact, she had already booked the location (Ritz-Carlton Hotel), hired the caterers and even called in nearly all the television stations in Japan to cover the event. She had even gone to meet her theatre props director acquaintance to be in charge of the interior of the ballroom. She had the ushers penciled in (Tristan and Joey) as well as the band cum technical director (Marvell agreed to sing off-key). All she needed to do now was to gather a few flower girls and figure out how to drag in a screen and an overhead projector into the ballroom.
Technically, that was all she needed to do. What she overlooked was the fact that she needed to train Joey and Tristan on how to be the perfect ushers, as well as Yugi on how to be the best best man. Thankfully, Marvell's group had Ringgo, who had to be the technical whiz among them to settle out the issue about the carpet (he had came up with the perfect idea on how to ruin the wedding dress using it), screen and projector.
Mischa reached out for her handphone and dialed Ale Wang's number. Something needed to be done to the dress. "Hola Ale! Whaddya up to? Allo Allo? Which ep?" Her forehead creased into a frown as she listened. "Renee and gang are still harping on about hiding the painting of the Madonna with the big boobies? I hate that part. Anyway, amiga, about Carol's dress? You see, she's uhh… pregnant, so you're gonna have to make the waist part a bit loose. Don't wanna have to end up suffocating the poor baby, right?" Mischa rolled her eyes. It was ridiculous news; of course Caroline was far from pregnant. "I know, I know, she probably asked for the tightest corset wedding dress you ever have, but ignore her whims. I've sent you over the design that I want you to make for her via email. Oh don't worry, she'll love it. Adios!"
XO XO XO XO
Tea doodled blindly onto her notepad. Without her friends in school, she was bored out of her wits. Then again, maybe that was a good thing. She ended up being so bored out of her wits that she almost forgot about Seto's impending wedding in less than a fortnight. Sometimes her friends came over in the evening, update her with what they were to and as usual, their anecdotes always made her laugh. But she had to admit, she did feel a pang of jealousy when she heard their tales.
"Don't worry, Ti. It's better you're not there," Joey assured her. "She lets the rest of us do the dirty jobs."
Perhaps the guys had told Mischa about her reaction, because the SMSes from Mischa were becoming more frequent now. Initially, the messages were basically asking about how she was. Over time, it was filled with snippets about the going-ons of the day. Then the SMSes started becoming about requests and fixed spa or manicure or hair-dressing appointments for the both of them. In fact, those luxury trips became so frequent that Tea was wondering if she was becoming too used to being pampered.
I hope Mis knows what she's doing, she thought, pulling out her Geography textbook from her bag. But I trust her.
XO XO XO XO
Seto turned a deaf ear to all of Caroline's ramblings. Apparently she was telling Seto about their post-wedding plans, including their house and even their location for honeymoon. She had thrown up ideas for Bali, Phuket, even Marseille. When her fiancé ignored her and carried on with his work, she grabbed a file from his desk and slammed it loudly onto the table.
He looked up sharply. "What the hell are you up to?" He snapped. "Are you blind, or are you pretending not to see that I'm at work?"
"I'm talking to you about our honeymoon and you're not even listening!" Caroline screeched.
"I'm just marrying you to honour the contract," Seto responded coldly before getting back to his work. "I don't love you, and I won't. After our marriage, we'll have an official residence. But I'll stay at my mansion and you stay at yours. We don't even have to meet. So you can forget about the honeymoon because there won't be any."
Caroline stared at him in shock. Her voice was shaking. Whether it was out of anger or she was really hurt by his words, Seto did not know. Then again, he barely cared. "Wh-What are you talking about?"
Without warning, Seto got up abruptly from his seat and dragged her by the wrist to his office door. "This is what you want, isn't it?" He hissed in a dangerously low voice. He expected Caroline to look up at him with fear, but she seemed to be more enthralled by him. He sighed. He forgot how much danger appealed to her. He opened the door and pushed her out. "Leave my office, Carol. Please, just stay out of my life for the next two weeks at least."
She freed herself from his grip and crossed her arms as she retorted stubbornly, "Don't think I'm going to listen to you, Seto. After all, I own almost half of this company."
Seto scoffed. "Dream on. Maybe you want to check your shares again." At Caroline's pale face, he smirked wider. "That's what you get for not going to work like a normal person. Now get out of my building!" With that, he slammed the door in her face. Man, did that feel good.
Outside, Caroline stared shell-shocked at the door that was slammed in her face. Almost instantly, her face contorted into that of fury and she pounded on the door, yelling, "Do that again, Seto Kaiba, and you'll be sorry!"
From her desk, Misa stifled a laugh. Raising her head to smirk in Caroline's direction, she responded politely, "I'm sorry, Miss Lobo, but I believe Mr Kaiba couldn't care less what you're talking about. Would you like the latest shares reports of Kaiba Corporation so you can expect how much you have left? You really should have put your shares off the market."
Caroline let out a screech of anger and duly stormed into the lift and effectively, out of the building. The moment the lift door closed behind her, Misa let out the loud laugh that she had been suppressing. "Serves her right!" She managed to breathe out through her laughter. She punched the button on the phone that connected her to her employer's. "Mr Kaiba? You should have seen her reaction just now! Classic!"
Inside his office, Seto Kaiba afforded himself a smile. "Thank you for the update, Misa," He spoke into the phone calmly. "And can you please issue a memorandum to all the employees thanking them for everything?"
"But of course, Mr Kaiba," Misa replied happily.
"Thank you for everything, Misa," Seto added on quietly. "Thank you for rallying the employees to help me out. To get them to pitch in to buy up ten percent of her shares. It must have been asking a lot from them."
"Mr Kaiba, you sound weird saying thanks, but I'll pass the message on."
XO XO XO XO
Yugi stabbed his ravioli in silence, throwing discreet death glances at his Indonesian host who was blissfully onto her second helping of the Italian dish. Normal people would have ravioli probably for lunch or dinner. People like Mischa decided to have it for breakfast. And no thanks to her hyperactive mind yesterday, Yugi ended up having nightmares about him being the flower girl that Mischa pictured. Naturally, when he awoke, it caused him great distress.
The rest of the guys had gobbled down their ravioli as fast as possible, grabbed a couple of bags of chips and headed for the living room where entertainment consoles awaited them. Marvell was the exceptional one; he was doing dishes in the kitchen. Apparently that caused him to be at the end of the guys' ribbings.
"Eh, Yug?" Mischa suddenly noticed his silent attitude. "Anything wrong with my ravioli? Too much cheese?"
"No, it's fine," Yugi assured her. "It's just that I dreamt that I was a flower girl."
"A flower what?!" His words caused Mischa to crack up. "I was kidding! Oh my god. I already found a suit for you. Don't tell me you want a dress?"
"No!" Yugi immediately replied. He could feel his cheeks burning. "I'm the best man. Right. I got the job and accepted it. You already prepared my suit?"
"Yups," Mischa got up to clear the table. She went to put the plates in the sink where Marvell was scrubbing the pot and went back in. This time round, she hollered, "Okay, dudes! Line up and get ready to get into your costumes!"
"Music for the day?" Syam scurried over to the stereo set.
Mischa's face scrunched up for a while as she thought of a suitable artiste for the day. She held up a hand and ticked off a couple of artistes, "Lemme see. Uhh… John Lennon? Nah. St12! Cintaku, cintaku padamu … Nahh. The Three Stooges won't understand. Okay, plug in Michael Jackson! Beat it! Just beat it!"
Syam flinched. "Mis, please. Do anything, but sing."
Once the stereo set played Jacko's songs, Mischa made them head into the guest room to change into their costumes. Joey and Tristan barged in and waddled out in their ushers' costumes: a long-sleeved white dress shirt paired with black slacks. It was a smart attire, but it looked awkward on the duo. Mischa frowned at them and pointed for them to move to the side. It was Marvell and his team next. They ran in and swaggered out in impeccable long black formal coats. That was, until they removed their coats to expose a leather and chains getup which was definitely inappropriate for a wedding.
"And that's the way it must be, if Khelaidoescope is to rock the ballroom down!" Marvell crowed.
"Make sure Khelaidosescope do their job," Mischa warned before turning her attention to Joey and Tristan. "Okay, you two. Stand up straight, don't slouch. Sheesh. You two have a lot of working to do."
"What's wrong with us?" Tristan asked out loud, sounding slightly offended.
Mischa clucked her tongue. "A lot. You two need an etiquette crash course! How to stand, how to walk, how to welcome the guests, how to talk." She pulled out her notebook. "I shall pencil you guys in for an appointment with my friend. He can help you out." She frowned. "He better help you two out. And Yugi as well. Anyway, you guys will only have to be proper until that welut enters the ballroom. After that, technical team over there –" She jerked her head in the quartet's direction. "Will take over. Now excuse me, I want to let out my evil laugh! I've been practicing it, you know."
Ringgo grabbed Marvell's shoulder and slammed his head on it. Marvell patted Syam's head and Evan's sadly as they looked on. The Three Stooges exchanged 'she must be kidding' looks. Apparently, the entire wedding deal had gotten to and messed up with Mischa's head.
XO XO XO XO
He raised a hand as if to knock, then lowered it again. He felt so guilty – and ashamed now, after he spilled everything to Mischa – that he wondered if he even deserved to be standing at her doorstep. But they had broken off any form of contact since three weeks ago, and as much as he tried to get it out of his mind, he missed her presence in his life. Finally he braved himself and pressed the doorbell. Whatever awaited him, he would accept it head on.
The door opened, and her eyes widened at the sight of him standing before her. "Se-Seto?"
"Tea," he greeted her softly. He inclined his head towards her living room. "May I come in?"
"Of course," She held the door out wider, and Seto stepped in. As he did, she watched him and the emotions started gushing out. But she quickly put a lid on it. He wasn't hers anymore. "I'll get you a drink."
He shook his head. "That's not necessary. I … I just came here to … see you."
Tea swallowed hard the lump in her throat and quickly looked away. "That's … nice."
He neared her and let the tips of his fingertips lightly touch her face. "Tea …" She still kept her face down, and he carefully lifted her chin up. "Look at me, please." When she did, he let his eyes wander over features slowly, and a small smile lit his face.
She narrowed her eyes and asked in mock irritation, "What?"
"I can't believe I made this pretty face cry," He remarked quietly, his fingers gingerly brushing back a lock of her hair behind her ear. "It should be smiling, or be mad at me."
"I missed you," Tea blurted out suddenly, and the first drop of tear fell. Seto wordlessly stroked it away with the back of his forefinger. "I know I made the decision to end it for our own good, but I can't help regretting it. It just seemed so unfair, why we had to put an end to what we barely started."
"I put us in the situation," He responded in a bid to reassure her. "It's my fault, Tea. You don't have to feel bad about it." Seto removed his hand from her face and let it hang loosely by his side. "I just came to see how you're doing."
She shut her eyes tightly and shook her head furiously. "I'm not okay."
"You are," He attempted to say it firmly, but his voice did not sound that convincing. "You will be. You have to, in case …"
Mischa's plan fails. The same thought crossed their mind, but neither of them dared to say it out.
Tea suddenly reached out to grab Seto's arm, and his eyes widened in surprise. "Don't go, please," Tea pleaded through her tears. "Don't go."
Seto closed one hand on hers and said painfully, "I don't want to hurt you anymore than what you already had been." I can't tell her about my past with Caroline …
"I don't want you to leave me," Tea's voice was lowered to a choked whisper. She knew this was not any easier on him either. But with barely two weeks left until the possibility that he became somebody else's…
She was taken by surprise when she felt strong arms encircling her, and the familiar brush of lips against her forehead. He spoke almost inaudibly, "I won't." He pulled back slightly, and bent down to slowly press his lips against hers. "I won't." Then they pulled apart, and his eyes ticked over to a nearby clock. "It's nearly midnight."
"The time when all fairytales end?" Tea retorted.
"Unfortunately," Seto attempted to make a feeble joke out of it and failed miserably. "I …" He hesitated, then cupped her face and kissed her more fiercely than before, as if wishing that this kiss would be enough to accompany him a lifetime. The intensified kiss took Tea by surprise initially, but eventually even she gave in to it. Suddenly she found him struggling to pry himself away from her grip, and she relented. He breathed out, "I …" He looked wildly into her eyes, but forced himself to say, "Goodbye Tea."
With that, he turned on his heels and headed quickly out of the door and into his car. Tea helplessly watched his Ferrari take off into the night. Deep down, she prayed hard that Mischa's plan would work. She needed it to work.
As Seto sped down the street, his mind wandered back to events starting from nearly seven years back, and how Caroline entered his life. She had been the daughter of Gozaburo's associate, and Seto cursed himself for letting himself be captivated by her looks. It was purely for her looks, he realized now, that his stupid thirteen-year-old self ended up being crazy about. He remembered how thrilled he was when it turned out she liked him too. That was what led them to be insane enough to sign an engagement contract at the tender age of fourteen. Seto gunned his car to a brake as memories of their first time flooded his mind. Furiously, he tried hard to shake it off from his head. It was a mistake, a whimsical mistake by two adolescents who lost control of themselves and the situation at the back of his limo.
Seto cranked up his stereo and hurried to find any radio station that was playing any genre of music that he hated. That was the only way he could stop these memories, by turning his focus into getting annoyed at trivial things like hiphop on the radio. The method worked, and soon Seto was once again racing down the empty night streets.
Caroline was a huge mistake, he thought regretfully. And maybe what I'm facing now is just part of facing up to my past mistakes. But I promise you, Tea, I won't ever treat you like that. Because you're not a mistake; you're my life.
Word glossary (javanese - english):
welut - eel