A/N: hi guys! i'm sorry this chapter took forever. at first i thought i could wrap this up after graduation, but the inspiration to write only came recently, so... :/
anw, thanks for all your comments/reviews etc. 3
i know some of you are confused by the proceedings in the previous chapter, esp with regard to how come Tea doesn't know it's Seth. i intended it to be that the ad that Seto & Caroline posted in the newspapers was just a general anonymous piece of news about one of the patients in the hospital. so Tea and friends assumed it was some other equally rich guy's kid and not Seth. until towards the end, of course, when Tea starts suspecting..
i think this time round the chapter is slightly longer... and i have a love/hate relationship with Kaiba in this one. (leaning more towards the hate, really. if i were Tea i'd probably just shoot him dead and weep after that. or maybe Mischa should have done that. hmm...)
so, the usual read and review guys! thanks so much in advance, and sorry to keep you all waiting!
love, fika1603 3
The French doors to his office burst open. Seto barely glanced up as he greeted the trespasser. "Hello Mischa."
His Indonesian image consultant stormed up to him and pulled him by his collar. "Why didn't you tell me about Seth?" she hissed.
Seto gently flicked her hands away from his shirt as he replied snarkily, "Maybe next time I should post an ad in the newspapers. 'Seto Kaiba's illegitimate son revealed to have leukemia.' I'm sure all our share prices will shoot up, and you'll make a killing in the stock market."
Mischa resisted every urge to not slap him. Recalling that at the end of the day he was still her boss helped greatly. Instead, she plonked herself in the seat across his desk and glared as furiously as possible at him. "Stop sounding like a failed smart aleck," she fumed. "He's my godson, I deserve to know!"
"It slipped my mind!" he snapped just as angrily. Seeing the shock registered on his image consultant's face, he glanced away and heaved a huge sigh. "It slipped my mind," he attempted in a more normal tone this time. "How did you find out anyway?"
Mischa kept silent as she fidgeted in her chair. "Ah… urm… when I was at the hospital, I ran into the skank and Seth. I found out from her." She eyed him warily. "Why does my gut feeling tell me you haven't told Tea?"
Seto froze momentarily at the mention of his ex-fiancée's name. Diverting his attention to signing several documents he had been perusing, he answered matter-of-factly, "For what? He's none of her concern."
"Eh? But she's your fia-"
"Like I said, she no longer has anything to do with me," he sealed the matter coldly. Despite her confusion, Mischa deigned to probe him further.
"Well…"
"And I would appreciate it if you could address Caroline more politely," Seto continued, as if not sensing her awkwardness.
"Yes Mr Boss," Mischa muttered half-heartedly.
"Anyway, what were you doing at the hospital?" Seto sounded more suspicious than curious, but at least he sounded normal.
"Ehh…" Mischa fidgeted in her seat, scratching her head for a while as her eyes paced the floor. Her employer continued staring at her expectantly. Finally Mischa let out a relenting sigh and confessed, "I thought I was pregnant."
"Are you?"
"If I say yes, will you promise not to lay me off?" she pleaded.
For the first time, Mischa witnessed her boss rolling his eyes at her request. She barely bothered to stifle her grin. It only invited a disapproving frown from him, of course.
"What are you grinning about?" Seto made no effort to conceal his irritation at his employee's and – she can be considered a good friend, right? – private enjoyment at his expense.
Mischa shook her head, letting her curls bounce around. "Nothing," she continued grinning unabashedly. "Misa was right. You've become warmer."
"Anymore words like that and I'll really fire you," Seto warned.
"No, you won't," Mischa chuckled. She gave him a quick head-to-toe glance-over. "A few days without me and you're back to your old boring suit. Boss, you're capable of sharp-dressing. Those tailored shirts and suits are not meant to decorate your wardrobe."
"If you have too much free time on your hands, maybe you can make me coffee."
"I shouldn't have come," Mischa muttered as she got up anyway to request coffee from Misa.
"I heard that."
XO XO XO XO XO
Tea hesitated at the entrance. Truth be told, this was the last place she wanted to be, but her curiosity about Seth got the better of her and somehow her feet ended up bringing her to the front doors of the skyscraping Kaiba Corporation. Property of someone smug, condescending and unfortunately, who she was still in love with.
I'm doing this for Seth, she told herself determinedly as she walked through the doors towards the receptionist table. For Seth.
The pretty receptionist glanced up and threw her a kind smile. Adjusting her earpiece, she greeted Tea, "Good afternoon. How may I help you, miss?"
"Hi, I'm here to see Se – I mean, Mr Kaiba," Tea winced slightly at the mention of her ex-fiancé's name. "It's urgent. Is he in?"
"Let me just check first, miss…?"
"Te – Theresa," Tea amended lamely. "Theresa Goh."
"Alright, Miss Goh. Let me just check with his secretary first." The receptionist maintained her kind smile even as her fingers worked on several buttons to link her to Misa's desk. Meanwhile, Tea mentally crossed her fingers and prayed that Seto would not be that averse to her presence once he discovered who Theresa Goh really was.
"Miss Goh?" the receptionist's clear voice broke Tea's cogitation. "It seems you don't have an appointment with Mr Kaiba."
Tea's mind barely caught up with her as she blurted out an effortless, convincing lie, "Like I said, it's urgent. It's something that just cropped up. Obviously I won't have the time lag to book an appointment with him."
Tea swore the receptionist's smile hardened a little at her terse outburst. "I understand, Miss Goh," the receptionist tried to reason as politely as possible. "But nowadays Mr Kaiba has been keeping tighter tabs on who is allowed to meet him, and an appointment is now mandatory. So unless you have an appointment with him, I'm afraid I'll have to turn you away."
"Let me speak to Misa," Tea pretended she did not hear the lengthy rejection. She held out a hand, gesturing towards the phone. "Let me speak to Misa, please."
This time round, the receptionist's smile immediately disappeared. "I'm sorry, Miss Goh," asperity seeping into her voice now. "But procedures are procedures, and my employer's orders are absolute. Appointments are mandatory. So for now, Miss Goh, please leave."
"I refuse to leave until you allow me to speak to Mr Kaiba, or at least to Misa," Tea stubbornly stuck to her guns, refusing to budge.
"Miss Goh, please leave, or I'll have no choice but to get you escorted out!"
"Reira, what's all this commotion about?" a familiar cold voice resonated from the lift lobby behind them. Tea froze momentarily as the owner of the voice strode forward coolly.
The receptionist was quick to jump to her own defence. "Mr Kaiba, I apologize!" she hurriedly said, bowing deeply as a mark of apology. "This lady here insisted on seeing you without an appointment. I tried to talk her out of it, but she still refused to leave."
Tea bit her lip expectantly as she glanced furtively at Seto. The young CEO barely appeared to be bristled by her presence, affording her only a quick glance from the corner of his eyes.
"I see," he spoke languidly as he turned on his heels to walk away. "Find her an appointment slot, if she's so importunate in seeing me."
Needless to say, Tea was furious. Dropping whatever apprehension and pretensions she had in coming to his office, she lambasted him, "Seto Kaiba, for once in your life, stop acting like such a jerk!"
"Who are you to pass such judgement on me, Miss Goh?" Seto accosted her mockingly. "As far as I'm concerned, I have no dealings with you. And as mentioned, if you are so persistent to see me, book your appointment appropriately. Now will you leave my premises with dignity, or do I have to get my guards to guide you to the exit?"
Tea opted for the former, but not without delivering a sharp, parting blow to Seto Kaiba's cheek.
XO XO XO XO XO XO
Caroline said nothing as she pressed an ice-wrapped towel to the mark. She could feel him wince slightly under the pressure, but took no heed.
Seriously, men… Mentally, Caroline condemned men in general to the realm of hopelessness. Case in point, the one sitting in front of me now.
"Stop wincing," she finally said, annoyed. "If I leave it to you, you won't bother in trying to compress it down."
"It'll go away on its own soon enough, anyway," Seto muttered with equal irascibility.
"Why do you have to say that to her?" As she spoke, she pressed the compress harder on purpose. "Do you want to be killed? You're just lucky she threw you a very good punch to your face."
"Are you going to be this naggy when we're married?" Seto shot back a dour rejoinder.
The moment matrimony was mentioned, Caroline slowly retracted her hand that was clutching the compress. She studied the man seated in front of her carefully. Apart from the slightly swollen left cheek where Tea's punch had struck, almost everything about him was the same as they were five years ago. His sharp cheekbones, the strong jaw, the confident air with which he carried himself in that was bordering on arrogance. However, Caroline didn't dare to admire his eyes. Piercing as they were, she was not sure if she could live seeing the shadow of another woman lurking beneath the azure orbs.
"Done admiring me?"
Caroline rolled her eyes at his supercilious assumption. Deep in her heart, she silently prayed that Seth would not grow up with such a hidden narcissistic streak like his father.
"Caroline, stop doubting me."
She blinked at him questioningly. "Huh?"
Seto eyed her steadily. "I know what you're thinking. Just stop it. I made a definitive choice, and it's my family. Stop worrying about other people."
Caroline's simple answer was accompanied by a faint smile, "Even if you have to lie all your life about your feelings?"
"Caroline, I don't hate you."
"I know that, but I wasn't talking about me," she replied quietly. She reached out to lightly place a cool hand on his sore cheek. "Take your time, Seto. And if you decide in the end that it'll be me, then I'll marry you."
XO XO XO XO XO
Tea made no attempt to remove her sunglasses even after she had stepped into the sheltered comfort of her home. Her parents weren't at home, as usual. Sighing, she reached out for the stack of letters on the desk. A couple of bills for her parents, some advertisements, more random ones, save for one addressed to her. Printed at the lower part of the envelope was the emblem of Kaiba Hospital. She tried her best not to recall the humiliating incident at a certain somebody's office a few hours ago that had been the main reason she was wearing shades even in such stormy weather.
Carefully, she tore open the envelope and unraveled the note inside it:
Dear Miss Tea Gardner,
The staff of Kaiba Hospital would like to express their heartfelt gratitude to you and your willingness to be part of our charity blood donation drive conducted recently. We hope that you will continue to participate in future blood donation drives conducted by the hospital.
Also, it has come to our attention that your blood type is AB. As you may be aware, Kaiba Hospital is currently in search of a possible bone marrow donor for one of our patients, a four-year-old boy diagnosed with leukemia. As such, we would like to invite you to come for a bone marrow sample test should you be willing to be a donor and have a chance at saving the boy's life.
For further enquiries, please contact the hospital via our various avenues below.
Tea's mind was whirring. Four-year-old boy? Leukemia? Her mind suddenly flashed to the memory of seeing Seth at the hospital premises a week ago. Her stomach suddenly churned.
That moron, Tea silently chastised her ex-fiancé almost sadly.
Picking up the telephone receiver, she punched in the according numbers. "Hello? Kaiba Hospital? This is Tea Gardner speaking. I'm here to inquire about donating my bone marrow to your four-year-old leukemia patient…"
XO XO XO XO
"The reverse side of beauty, is dyed by beloved filth..."
Reaching out to her bedside, Caroline tried to rummage for her ringing handphone, unmoving as possible. She glanced beside her. Seto barely stirred. Gently moving his arm away, she sidled out to answer her phone.
"Hello? Caroline Lobo speaking," she answered in a half-whisper.
"Miss Lobo? We're calling from Kaiba Hospital. Congratulations! It seems that we may have found a donor for your son. If possible, could you come over to sign a few papers?"
"Yes, yes! I'll be right over!" Caroline could barely conceal her glee. As she bounded back to bed she shook Seto up. "Seto! Seto! Wake up! They finally found a donor for Seth!"
It took him a few seconds to properly wake up and get his mind working. "They found a donor for Seth?" he asked again, just to be sure.
"Yes, yes!" Seto had never seen Caroline beam so happily for years, it seemed rather unwonted. She shoved his shirt towards him excitedly. "Get dressed. We need to go down to the hospital to sign a few papers. Seto, our son's going to get all better!"
For the first time in a long time, too, Seto directed his warmest smile towards her. "I'm really happy, Carol," he spoke sincerely. "I'm really happy."
Without warning, she gave him a quick hug and a peck on the cheek before running off downstairs. "I know. Just hurry up! I'll ask Roland to get the car ready!"
