Song Choice for this Chapter: Save Your Tears - The Weeknd
X
"I saw you dancing in a crowded room. You look so happy when I'm not with you. But then you saw me, caught you by surprise. A single teardrop falling from your eye. I don't know why I run away
I make you cry when I run away..."
-The Weeknd, Save Your Tears
X
Marie flagged down the first car that she saw and jumped into the backseat as soon as the driver pulled to a stop.
"Here," she said, shoving the wad of cash that she had taken from Seto into the driver's face. "You can have all the money in my hand if you just get me out of here. ASAP, STAT, statim!"
"Like, woah," the driver said, licking his finger and flicking through the dollar bills. "There's, like, seven hundred here-"
"I know, just...GO! Alright?!" She had seen Mokuba and Seto running down the grand staircase, straight for the car. She pummeled the driver's headrest and screamed 'GO!" again. Without hesitation, the man shoved his foot against the gas pedal. The wheels spun in place for a hot second before catching traction and propelling the car forward. She watched through the back window as Seto's and Mokuba's figures grew smaller and smaller. Finally, when they were far enough away, she turned around in her seat and leaned back with a curse.
"Oh my head," she moaned, running her hands over her sweaty face. By chance, she paused and met eyes with the driver in the rearview mirror. "No funny business, pal," she warned. "I can go from Cinderella to super Saiyan Chun-Li in exactly zero point two seconds."
The driver smiled and turned his eyes back on the road. "Nah, I'm not gonna do anything crazy. That was, like, Seto Kaiba back there, right? Aw man! He'd probably, like, put the entirety of KaibaCorps on my ass if I kidnapped you. Although, like, maybe, like, I can hold you for ransom-"
"Trust me, kid. After tonight, he's not going to want anything to do with me if my ransom is anything over five bucks. Look," she said, letting her head fall back on the seat. "Drop me off at the karaoke bar on 7th and I'll give you a shout-out on the KC Instagram account, 'k?"
"Like, based," the driver said with an appreciative nod before turning up the music.
She was glad that he had chosen to stop talking, then. She needed a moment to collect her thoughts and figure out exactly where everything had gone wrong.
Although, the matterwasdeceptively simple: she had slipped up (literally) and had a panic attack in front of KC's most prestigious investors. Not only that, but they had been more than happy to record her meltdown. Already, she could see her face in newspapers around the world - Marie Tonette: KC's Personal Advisor or Panicky Airhead? It was a much less thrilling wordplay than Seto's Salacious Sovereign.
So where had it gone wrong, she wondered. She had been doing so well holding out on her own as they picked and prodded at her character. Until at some point she had lost control, let her feelings become an expanding balloon until someone had come along with a rusted needle and popped it.
I'd rather talk about more sensible and attractive matters. Seto, how is Mizumi?
She rolled the window down, took her heels off, and flung them both out on the street. There was a scream and a curse as someone presumably got hit by a flying heel to the head. The driver cast a worried glance back at her and then, perhaps remembering her Chun-Li comment, quickly diverted his eyes back to the road.
Mizumi, Mizumi, Mizumi.
Why was it always Mizumi?
Hearing Mizumi's name so close to Seto's had been the needle that had induced the panic attack. And she knew why. Marie was obsessed with Mizumi like a moth tempted by the glow of a wriggling flame. Her therapist had declared this obsession toxic and had warned her that their relationship had been nothing short of traumatic. And tumultuous.
It had only been a year earlier that Mizumi had attacked her with a pair of brass knuckles and a taser. And yet, despite this, Marie found herself constantly checking Mizumi's social media accounts and observing Seto for even the slightest hint of a reacquaintanceship. She could barely even remember the woman's face, and yet she could still feel the cold clutch of jealousy in her heart whenever she thought of the fact that Seto and Mizumi had had a thing. A sexy, obsessive, marriage-proposal-inducing thing.
And now here Mizumi was again: her name an echo in the caverns of Marie's skull. How long would it take, she wondered, before everybody let Mizumi's name slough off of their tongue? When would she finally have her peace?
But, as had become the disconcerting norm, Marie could already hear Sara's voice. What, it's not like you and Seto are official.
The driver pulled up to the curb of the karaoke bar and turned the car off. Marie stepped out on shaking legs and gave a shuddering exhale. If the shareholders thought so low of her in comparison to Mizumi, then what did Seto think? Marie knew deep down in her heart that he could never stop loving Mizumi. She had seen it in his face the last time that Mizumi had walked away.
"Yo," the driver said, hanging his arm out the window and smiling at her. "That Kaiba-dude? He's got, like, bad vibes. Like, I think his chakras are misaligned."
"I know, right?" She said as she slammed the door. "That's, like, what I said."
The driver flashed her a two-fingered salute and sped off. The people lurking around the entrance to the bar watched as she made her approach, no doubt amused by the sight of her drenched and bedraggled dinner dress. She plucked a glass of beer out of somebody's hand as she climbed the steps and downed it quickly. There was only one thing on her mind: get drunk and do it quickly. Tomorrow, she'd blame her sorrowful mood on a hangover instead of stone-cold embarrassment from having been made a fool of at the shareholder party.
Once inside, she was surprised to see Tea and her crew standing around a table in the corner. Further back, Sara had taken up occupancy at her usual booth and was chatting up a pretty waitress. Sara looked up with one hand on the waitress's thigh and locked eyes with Marie. A small, pitying smile crossed her lips and Marie realized that she had already figured everything out, just by looking into her face.
Marie turned away.
"Marie! Hey, hi!" Tea called over the sound of the music. She ran up to her with Yugi, Tristan, and Joey trailing behind. "What are you doing here? I thought you and Seto were…" Tea's words trailed away as she took in the sight of Marie's dress.
"Marie, are you okay?" Yugi asked. She bit her lip, shook her head.
"Aw, it was that Kaiba punk, wasn't it?" Joey said, clenching his fists by his side. "What'd'ee do this time? Just point me in the direction, Marie, and I'll set him straight!"
"Joey, you tripped over your shoelaces while running after the guy who stole your duel deck in the cafeteria," Tristan said in exasperation. "You're in no position to set anyone straight."
"Yeah, well I only tripped cuz my shoelaces were untied-"
"They still are!"
"Okay, you know what, girl time!" Tea quickly interjected, shooing the three men away. "And, Joey, tie your shoes before you trip again. Marie," Tea said, winding her arms around Marie's shoulders. "What happened?"
"I had a panic attack in front of the shareholders and ran away," Marie admitted as she took a shot from a passing waitress. "Then I stole seven hundred dollars from Seto and gave it to a random dude in a car."
"Gosh! Well, that's not optimal."
"Tell me about it." She downed the shot, grabbed another, and swallowed it just as quickly. "I hate myself."
"You didn't do anything wrong," came Sara's voice from behind her. There was a soft pressure on her hips as Sara slunk her arms around her waist. "Blame Seto for putting you in that position in the first place."
"I can't blame him for giving me an opportunity." A third shot and her mind began to reel and tilt around the edges.
"No, you can't," Sara pointed out. "But you can blame him for putting you in a paper lifeboat and throwing you to the sharks."
"Swear to God, Suzuki, now's not the right time…"
"Which God are you swearing to, hun? Cuz I've never heard you say a bad little word in Seto's presence-"
Teas gasped as Marie shoved Sara in the chest. She was drunk now and on a hot rampage. Sara's words only succeeded in fueling the fire.
"I'm just trying to set you straight, sweetie," Sara called as Marie grabbed a mug of beer and wandered away. "One day you'll thank me for-"
But whatever Marie was supposed to thank her for, she had no idea. For no other reason than to get away from the crowd on the floor, she clambered clumsily on the stage and stood glaring down at them as she sipped her beer. The night's MC watched her nervously before wandering over and handing her the mic. He said something inaudible and the crowd laughed in response. Then, they fell silent and watched Marie watching them. She hiccoughed and then realized that she might as well say something, as all eyes were on her.
"All the long faces in here, I might as well be in a horse stable."
There was a collective gasp and then someone booed.
"Oh shuthafugup," she hissed into the mic. She saw Tea bury her face in her hands as Tristan, Joey, and Yugi whispered nervously behind her. Sara gave her the thumbs up, and then quickly devolved into a fit of quiet cackling. Marie took another sip of her beer. The yellow stage lights were beginning to burn wriggly circles into her retinas.
"All you people with your Christian Greys your Bruce Wayne's and your James Gatzs," she said, swinging her finger around at the crowd and promptly spilling beer all over the stage. "When did we as a society create the myth of the lovable jerk, huh? Quite the contradicting phrase, mm-hm. And yet, in every damn scenario, it's the money and looks and conniving charm that separates the stalker from the romantic hero! Can you believe that? And...and I'll tell you one thing-" she raised her empty beer glass and nodded. She really wasn't even sure what she was talking about anymore. "These romantic archetypes only ever make sense on paper and on the screen. Because on paper, and on the screen, you can distance yourself from the true horrors of your sensationalized infatuations. Can I get a hullo?"
She did not get a hullo. Someone cleared their throat in the audience but otherwise, all was suffocatingly and awkwardly quiet.
"What is she talking about?" She heard someone say from the back of the room. She reared around and wielded her empty beer glass at the crowd, causing a loud feedback from the mic to ring through the room.
"I'm talking about the fact that I was just like you, gawdamnit!" She said loudly, and the crowd began to shift nervously. But nobody made a move to leave or shut her down. It seemed as if they had all fallen entranced by her drunken rant, like students cowering before a raging teacher. "I once fell in love with the idea of a man," she continued in a calmer voice. "A man who looked so good on paper: hot and crazy and lawless. And then I realized that I was nothing like that. I wasn't a part of his world. I wasn't a part of his story - shit, I wasn't even a part of the same book. The characters in his weird little kingdom were nothing like you and I. Fucking shareholders-"
"So what did you do?" Someone asked from across the room. She looked up from her nails dazedly.
"Wha-"
"I said: what did you do when you found out you guys weren't similar?"
"I ran away. I don't know why I run away..." There was a song with that exact lyric and she was struggling to place it. "Uh…" she said before muttering disjointedly to herself. Something about dancing in a crowded room. She looked over and caught eyes with the MC. He flashed her a knowing grin and gave her the thumbs up. The speakers turned on, and the sound of a guitar thrumming rose through the speakers.
There it was! She remembered now.
"Fuck it!" She screamed, tossing the mic at the ceiling. The people in the room recognized the music immediately. Glad to be done with her wayward speech, they gave an excited whoop and began to rise out of their seats as one. Disco lights flashed to life above her head and she smiled, enthralled by their enthusiasm. There was nothing a little karaoke couldn't fix.
"Fuck your Bruce Waynes and fuck your Christian Greys! Save your tears for another day!" She held her fingers up to the lights and counted down."Okay, one, two, three, four! I saw you dancin' in a crowded room! You looked so happy when I'm not with you! And then you saw me caught you by surprise-"
"A single teardrop falling from your eye!" The crowd sang back.
There was a mad rush as people hopped up onto the stage. In the span of a mere second, Marie had been surrounded by hot, sweaty bodies dancing all around her. She felt the air squeezed out of her lungs as the crowd grew larger and more ecstatic. But still, she giggled and screamed and sang as if her very life depended on it, even as someone poured a pitcher of beer over and ruined what was left of her dress. Someone called her name in a high-pitched voice and she opened her eyes in time to see Tea launch herself straight at her. She grabbed her arms and the two women spun in circles, laughing and howling along with the lyrics. Sara appeared beside them: a stormy mess of stringy blond hair, flushed cheeks, and snakish hips.
"Atta girl!" Sara said, punching her playfully in the chest and shaking her shoulders. "See?! This is the kind of gusto that I'm talking about."
"Thought you said I have about as much gusto as your tits in a push-up bra!"
"Turns out my tits look damn good in a push-up bra. Who knew?"
Marie threw her head back and screamed with laughter. "If that's the case, then maybe I should try lurking around with you instead of Seto!"
"Girl, YES!"
The crowd had lost their minds, Marie had lost her mind. There was nothing but pure adrenaline coursing through them all as bodies twisted and hands were thrown in the air. She watched as Tea twirled around with expert precision and Sara moved her body like a rogue wave. Marie didn't even know what she was doing with her own body: she jumped, jived, and wailed; she shimmied, shook, did the salsa, and slid across the stage. At some point, she, Sara, and Tea locked arms and simply held each other as they giggled and tried their best to remember the lyrics. Joey, Tristan, and Yugi were standing at the edge of the stage slack-jawed and this made her laugh deliriously. Someone grabbed another pitcher of beer and poured it over her shoulders. She grinned and cringed as cascades of melting ice cubes melted into her collar and rolled along her back.
"Tea, hey Tea!" She called over the music. "You'd better be careful! Your boyfriend looks like he's ready to propose!"
"What?!"
"I said, 'your boyfriend looks like he's about to-'"
"WHAT?!"
There was a deafening whoop and holler as black balloons packed with glitter exploded from the ceiling. Marie thrust her fists in the air and pumped them wildly as paper streamers floated around her. The song faded to a close, the crowd screamed the final lyrics, and the sound of fireworks exploding outside of the bar filled the space. She clapped along with the others, her cheeks burning with excitement until soon the sound dwindled to a single, measured applause from the back of the room.
Clap...clap...clap...
For some reason, the sound of it made her heart do a backflip in her chest.
The crowd turned as one to look at the dance floor but she was too busy snapping her fingers by her ear. It sounded to her as if someone was laughing at the top of their lungs or maybe it was the ringing that she was hearing.
No, there was definitely laughter unlike the others: it was masculine and brash and annoyingly boisterous. It was what she had come to recognize as the signature Lunatic Laugh of the one and only-
"Oh my god," someone muttered. "Is that-"
-Seto Kaiba.
And indeed it was. Marie followed everyone's gaze to a single table in the middle of the dance floor. There, Seto sat with his legs crossed and his pit bull terrier Laika by his side. He looked for all the world as if he owned the bar, so relaxed and spread-out was his posture. He should have looked out of place in his white leather pants and high, buckled boots. But he didn't, not then. Seto was a practiced chameleon. Everywhere he went, he managed to take control of the space. Still laughing, he scratched Laika's head with one hand and held up a martini glass with the other.
"Oh, for fuck's sake," Sara muttered.
"Another round," Seto shouted, his lone voice ringing through the bar, "this one on me!"
X
It took a while, but eventually, the crowd on stage dwindled out. Everybody was tired and presumably drunk after the many rounds of raucous singing. Some of the patrons slid into taxis and trudged their way home while others gathered around tables wedged into corners and talked quietly amongst themselves. It was obvious that Marie's drunken oddball allure had worn off and the conversations that she tried to pick up on were boring and led nowhere.
So.
There was only one thing left to do.
Somehow, it always felt as if she and Seto were meeting for the first time every time they drew close to each other. The rush that she felt around him hadn't yet faded away. She was constantly reminded of their night in Domino City hills when she had admitted that his presence was nothing short of an adrenaline shot. They locked eyes as she moved across the dance floor, the hem of her dress balled up in her hands. Cat and mouse, boss and secretary. The subtle power dynamic spanning between them was palpable, but she was learning day by day how to handle it. Still, his unblinking and exotic blue eyes sent a shiver down her spine every time she saw them.
"Laika!" She exclaimed, bending down and fondling the dog's broad head. Laika gave a friendly 'woof' and placed several slobbery kisses along her chin. She snickered, straightened up, and then wiped the smile away from her face with the back of her fingers. "I thought I told you not to follow me," she said, trapping Seto with a hard gaze. She was trying to be strong and hold true to the values that she had preached upon the stage but Seto had always had a way of melting away her defenses.
"Selective hearing," he said. "It's one of my more personable traits, don't you think?"
"One out of many, I guess. Seto." She breathed in deep and let out a sigh. She could feel the gazes of several onlookers grazing her shoulders. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Sara leaning against Tea's shoulder and for some devious reason holding on tight to the neck of a broken beer bottle. She prayed to God that she wouldn't do anything rash. "I'm sorry I stole hella money from you. Oh, and...I guess I'm also sorry for the whole…shareholder debacle."
He pursed the corner of his lips, shrugged, and stood up slowly. As always, she had to crane her head back to get a good look at him.
"Don't be," he said, brushing something unseen from the thighs of his white leather pants. "I remember my first shareholder dinner. Gozaburo took me when I was younger than Mokuba and much less sharp. That night the cook claimed to have accidentally swapped out a bottle of soy sauce with ipecac." Seto paused and gave a handsome little laugh. "Except somehow it only ended up on my plate. I tried to hold my sickness in because I didn't want them to think that I was weak. But I couldn't. You can imagine what happened an hour later when they brought out the balut and haggis."
"God damn 'n shit," she whispered, moving closer. A camera flashed somewhere to their left, momentarily stunning her.
"My feelings exactly," he said. "Of course, they whipped out their cameras and recorded everything, just like they did with you. You would think that they would have posted the video of me vomiting my heart out to every social media page in existence, but they didn't. You wanna know why, Marie?"
"Enlighten me, daddy."
"Every rich shareholder punk has got something to hide. I could dig up so many records of tax evasion and tickets to third-world kiddy brothels that it'd make your head spin. Don't think that what happened back there is going to tarnish your image, Marie. I won't let it."
"But-"
"You're doubting me again," he said, reaching out and flicking her chin. "Do us both a favor and stop doing that. It's getting old. I was being honest when I told you that I will damage control the hell out of this city if it crossed certain lines."
"Be careful, Mr. Salacious," she said, fanning herself. Fuck it all. Once again, he had completely won her over with what she had heralded as his 'conniving charm' only a few minutes earlier. "I'm all about free speech but you're making censorship sound very sexy-"
"Um, excuse me, Mr. Kaiba sir?" A bespeckled man suddenly appeared behind Seto, a sheaf of papers held like a shield in front of him. "My name is Dewey Edley and I work for Domino City Bi-Weekly. I'd like to talk to you about KaibaCorps glaring lack of involvement in the Transcendental Vegans Against Capitalist Corporation movemen-"
Without hesitation, Seto thrust his elbow straight into the man's nose hard enough to send the glasses skittering off of his face.
"Hey!" Dewey whined in a nasal voice. "Not cool, man!"
"Don't think so?" Kaiba said, crossing his arms without even looking back. "I'm an ice cube in a frying pan, pal. I'm about to show you what it really means to be 'not cool.'"
"Battery is a federal crime! I'm going to write about this, you know!"
"You can write to Santa and ask him to quit his milk addiction, for all I care," Seto growled, suddenly swinging himself around. Another camera flash and he shielded his face with a hard frown. "You'll probably have better luck doing that than standing around trying to get an apology from me. Get lost, kid!"
The man named Dewey stormed away, waving his fists and stomping his legs, and cursing every fiber of KC's being. Marie couldn't help but wonder what, exactly, Seto would have done if the wrong buttons had gotten pushed. It wasn't the first time that she would ask herself that nor, as things would turn out, would it be the last. Another camera light flashed, drawing his attention away. She watched him scanning the ground, his head still as his pupils slid around the room, and couldn't help but see him as a stretched rubber band on the verge of snapping. Such a constantly on-edge disposition couldn't be healthy.
"I think I'm gonna get outta here," she said with a friendly nudge, just to wipe that odd expression off of his face. "Head back to my place, have a drink away from prying eyes."
"Good. I'll go with you."
"But Seto, I gotta get outta this soggy dress and-"
"That is exactly why I want to go with you," he looked at her, flashed that handsome smile again, and suddenly the butterflies in her stomach were going coo-coo crazy. Suddenly Sara appeared behind her and put a protective hand on her shoulder.
"Mr. Kaiba, sir," she said, somehow managing to make her business professional tone sound snarky. "If you don't mind, I think I'm going to take Ms. Tonette home."
"Well, I'd hate to deprive her the pleasure of your company."
"And I have no problem depriving her the pleasure of yours. Marie-"
"Sara," she said, turning and fixing the older woman with a warning gaze. "I'd prefer it if Seto took me home tonight."
Don't, Sara's eyes said, I'm warning you...again. Then she dropped her shoulders a little and flashed a defeated smile. "I'd prefer it if you exercise caution in all future endeavors. Very well. Toodles, Marie."
"Toodles, Suzuki." She slid her hand into the crook of Seto's elbow and allowed him to steer her away. He led her outside and opened the door to the KC limousine. Laika bounded into the back seat and she was about to follow when suddenly Seto put a hand on her shoulder.
"Marie," he said, turning her to look at him. "Don't you ever call me daddy again-"
"I-"
"-in public."
A small grin spread across her face as he slid into the seat next to her and ran his hand along her upper thigh, his nails raking pale tracks along her skin.
God, she couldn't wait to get home.