The restaurant fell silent and all eyes were on her. She had tried so hard not to cry. Letting the first tear fall was a sign of weakness, especially in Kaiba's eyes, but she couldn't help it. It felt as if the room was closing in around her, like the walls had grown arms for the sole purpose of choking her. Her claustrophobia had never been that bad, but during this one moment of weakness, it seemed to completely suffocate her.
Tea rowed her arms wickedly, trying desperately to escape Kaiba in the quickest way she physically could. She disregarded anyone in her way as she sailed through the restaurant, faster than anyone in a wheelchair should move. Guests jumped out of the way, asked her if she was okay, and even gawked at her like she was the greatest spectacle they'd ever seen. Tea snubbed all of them. Not one of them could help her. Not one of them could save her from this nightmare.
Twilight faded into dusk as the night began settling in. Despite the dark, the air was just as warm and smothering as ever. Once the sun had set, the humidity crept in, and Tea could almost feel the water vapor grazing her skin the moment she was met with the outside air. She wheeled herself out of the restaurant and onto the sidewalk, frantically searching for a safe getaway.
Kaiba's limo was parked less than a block to the right of the restaurant, so naturally, Tea went the other way, avoiding Roland and the line of people. She pushed herself as fast as she could, trying to ignore the soreness in her muscles. She huffed, realizing only now that she was breathing so heavy from all the effort. Perspiration ran down the side of her face, mixing with her tears. She still carried on as if this was her only way of escape. She stopped to look back only when she felt like she was a safe enough distance away from the restaurant.
The street lights had illuminated her surroundings and Tea noticed she had stopped just at the edge of Domino Park. Weaving her way dangerously through patches of leaves, dirt, gravel and upheaved tree roots, Tea made it into the middle of the park. Some light from the nearby street lights had flooded into where she was, but overall, there wasn't much visibility at all. Hopefully, no one could see her from the street.
And despite all her effort, she let her head fall into her hands and sobbed.
Using the back of his hand, Kaiba wiped away the sweat that had recently formed on his forehead. He cursed his long bangs for insulating the humidity that assaulted him the moment he stepped outside.
He moved briskly, jogging across the street to where Roland had parked the limo. He tapped on the driver's side window and Roland immediately jumped to attention, moving out of the vehicle and giving Kaiba a slight bow before speaking.
"Mr. Kaiba, I thought you were going to text me?"
"Roland, something came up. Did you see Tea pass this way?"
He shook his head, "I have not, sir. If she's gone missing I can contact a search team to find her."
Kaiba frowned, "That won't be necessary. I'll find her."
"Of course, sir." Roland bowed and crawled back into the limo as Kaiba ran the other way in search of Tea.
Passerby's dodged him on the sidewalk, sending him confused and angry looks as he bolted past them. Kaiba didn't care what they thought. He would find Tea. How far could she go in a wheelchair anyway?
Kaiba ran a couple blocks before he stopped in front of Domino Park to catch his breath. He hadn't realized how humid it was until he felt the sweat glaze over his whole body. He loosened his tie and fanned his face and neck, frustrated with how atrociously hot this summer had been. Even at night, there was no relief from the heat.
His ears perked up the moment he heard his gasps for air echoing. Kaiba held his breath, waiting a few seconds before slowly releasing a quiet stream of air. There it was again, and this time the gasps didn't match up to his. He followed the sound into the dark park, and that's when he saw the trail of thin tire tracks imprinted into the dirt.
"Tea…?"
The soft gasping suddenly stopped. "K-Kaiba?"
The pale illumination from the street lights flashed across her face and Kaiba saw her blue eyes sparkle, burdened by tears. He approached her but stopped when she protested, "Go away, Kaiba. I don't want you here. I don't want you ever!" Again, her words stung, but this time he didn't want them to. He just wanted her. He was done trying to provoke her.
"Look, let's go back—"
"So, you can insult me some more? No fucking thanks."
He took a deep breath, taking the easy way out to try and reason with her. "I'm sorry. Can we just go back, enjoy a nice night and—"
"Fuck that, Kaiba!" She glared at him, her eyes flashing in the light once more. "I'm sick and tired of your bullshit games."
He wasn't sure what she meant. Was it possible she knew of his true intention for bringing her here tonight? "What bullshit games?"
"Treating me nicely then turning around and being an asshole! What is it? Are you actually a good person or just an asshole, Kaiba?"
He was relieved she didn't suspect his true intentions, but something about what she had said made him stop and think she wasn't completely ignorant to him. "Come on, I'll help you back."
"Go away, Kaiba. I'm done with you."
I'm done with you. Her words circled in his mind. No, she couldn't be done with him. Not after everything they went through together. He had never opened up to someone like he had with her before. No, he wouldn't accept this, he couldn't.
His face twitched and his hands balled into fists as he struggled to control the anger boiling within him. He wanted to lash out at her but forced himself to recall the last time she'd hurt him. It was back at the hospital when he was met with her fierce rejection.
You can't control everything, Kaiba. You're too late. Now get out!
No! You're wrong!
"No…" Kaiba's voice was low and calm. His eyes became heavy and his soggy bangs stuck to his forehead, lightly shielding the passion that radiated from his gaze. His fists quaked from the frustration. "You're wrong…."
Tea took a few minutes to reply. The silence felt loud until her voice sliced through it. "Excuse me?"
Kaiba replied right away, "You're wrong."
"I… don't understand—"
"You're wrong, Tea."
Silence shrouded them once again, but this time only for a few moments as Tea studied the young CEO's determined glare. She opened her mouth and was about to speak when he interrupted.
"You're not done with me."
She furrowed her brows and glared at him.
"You're just confused," he said, "and you don't know what you want."
"Who are you to tell me what I want?"
"You know if circumstances were different— if Yugi wasn't in the picture— you'd have no problem being with me."
She let out a sarcastic laugh, tears brimming her eyes once again. "Is that what this is about? I thought this was a business dinner, not a date!" She let go of a few more hysterical laughs before dropping the sarcasm all together and switching to an uncompromising, defensive front. "You don't know anything, Kaiba." The tears fell. She wasn't kidding. There was much more to her than Kaiba had initially thought. He was going about this situation all wrong.
He let his temper cool before attempting to approach her again. She didn't protest this time. She seemed too preoccupied with wiping the tears from her eyes to care if he was near. He knelt in the dirt next to her, not caring if it ruined his suit. She was worth it. "Then tell me." His voice was stern but tender. It represented all the conflicted feelings he'd felt over these past couple months.
"You've already proven you don't care."
"If I didn't care I wouldn't be here right now." He handed her his handkerchief and she dabbed her eyes with it. "Besides, I've told you time and time again that I wouldn't be able to give you up."
She sighed, "You need to, Kaiba."
"I've heard this spiel already."
"I'm serious. You need to let me go."
"And why is that?"
"Have you seen me?" She cried, "Have you seen my situation?" It was a rhetorical question and Kaiba let her go on her rant. "Clearly, since you went to such great lengths to make fun of me for it."
"I told you I was sorry—"
"Sorry doesn't cut it, Kaiba! You can walk! I can't!" She sobbed into the handkerchief.
Kaiba reached out to console her but she retracted. "Don't fucking touch me! It's your fault I'm like this!"
Kaiba shot back, "You told me it wasn't…. That day in the hospital."
"Yeah, well I didn't think that after two months I'd still be held captive by this damn thing!" She gestured to her wheelchair and continued spewing her frustrations. "No matter what I do I'm always being held captive by something."
"What do you mean?"
"Ever since Yugi's proposal, my life has tumbled into circumstances of captivity and no matter how hard I try I can't get myself out of them. I feel stuck…." She pounded her fists so hard on the armrest of her wheelchair that Kaiba was sure she'd given herself some nasty bruises. "You don't know what it's like to always have to rely on people. For once, I just want to do something on my own."
She sobbed for a bit, and Kaiba was tempted to rub her shoulder but let the idea stray from his thoughts. Tea didn't need consoling, she needed to be heard. Kaiba was shocked that she chose him of all people. However, he did open up to her in the virtual world, maybe she felt comfortable exhibiting the same behavior?
"I know you've been in a wheelchair and a coma before, but you recovered. I still haven't."
"It's not a race," Kaiba said simply, "everyone has different recovery times."
She shot him the wickedest glare he'd ever received from her. "You don't get a say in this! It was your invention that did this to me! You took away my life, Seto Kaiba!"
There was an indescribable sense of self-hatred and guilt that completely washed over him. Kaiba no longer wanted to be the one responsible for causing people pain. The ruthless, reckless side of him that didn't care about anyone but himself, was gone. Now, Kaiba wanted to use his resources to help people. In one single moment, he felt like he had regressed back to the reckless, harmful person he used to be. If it weren't for his passion for technology, he never would have had Tea as a test subject. Maybe she would be able to walk. Or maybe she'd still be in a coma…
Tea's voice cut through the silence, "I used to have goals, a future. Now, I'm not capable of anything…" She paused to look him in the eye with unnerving seriousness. "Can you even begin to fathom what that feels like?"
Kaiba merely stared at her, fronting her frightening glare with a stone-cold face, but not emotionally strong enough to defend himself against her arguments.
"I don't want to be here anymore."
Like a gentleman, he offered her his hand. "I can help you back."
She looked at him through tear-filled eyes, her lips curving upward only for a mere moment before falling into a heavy frown. "That's not what I meant, Kaiba…."
He was about to ask her what she meant when he saw the depression in her eyes and realized the true meaning behind her words. "No, don't talk like that."
"It's true!" She bawled, "I'm sick and tired of spending my days like this! I have nothing to live for!"
He seized her hands, not caring in she fought him. Moving in front of her, Kaiba shared her teary gaze, staring at her with justified severity. "Don't think for a second your life isn't worth living anymore, you hear me?" His grip tightened around her hands. "I mean it, Tea."
She shook her head, tears flying every which way. "No, you don't understand—"
"I do. I've wasted too much time trying to justify my way out too, but it's not worth it," he confessed, realizing he'd never told that to anyone, not even Mokuba. "The people around you, those who care about you, that's what makes life worth living. That's what makes it all worth it."
Tea just stared at him, starry-eyed and mouth agape.
He gave her hands another squeeze before cupping her tear-stained face in his hands. "Don't give up on me, Tea. We can work together and fight this."
She ripped his hands from her face. "No, Kaiba, don't you see?"
"No," his features were like stone, and even though she had torn his hands away from her, he couldn't help but replace them onto her dainty wrists. "I don't see. Please, elaborate."
"I can't be around you. No one knows about us and I want to keep it that way."
"Why, so you can have a bit of normalcy?"
"Yes!" She urgently cried, "Yes! That's all I've wanted was a bit of normalcy! I'd like to be in control of something in my life since I'm bound by this goddamn wheelchair!" Once again, she tore away from Kaiba's grip to bring her hands to her face. She sobbed into her hands before speaking, "Besides, if it weren't for you, this never would have happened to me!"
Kaiba sighed, there was no point in arguing with her. Her mind had been made up and she truly blamed him for her disability. He couldn't help but feel responsible. It was his invention, his thirst to make strides with his technology that he never thought twice about the long-term consequences. He didn't deserve Tea. She needed to be with someone who truly cared for her and not an emotionally premature man like him.
Yugi did deserve her….
He sighed once more, a little heavier this time, coming to terms with the reality of his thoughts. "Let's go back. Enjoy a nice time, may it be our last…"
His words seemed to strike her a different way than previously, but she still refused. "I can't go back in there looking like this." Her make-up was almost all gone, and the remainder of it stained her cheeks in long vertical streaks. Her eyes were red and puffy, and Kaiba sympathized with her. She looked like a wreck.
Kaiba took the handkerchief from her and lightly stroked her cheeks, trying to rub off the make-up. It wasn't working. He frowned before she moved his hand away. "It's not going to come off, Kaiba. Just leave it."
"How about we go get a drink? Bars are typically not well lit."
She groaned before declining his offer, "I'm never drinking again."
"Well, I can't just let you go." The sentence came out too bluntly, even for Kaiba's taste. Truly, he didn't want to let her go, but he wasn't ready to reveal his whole heart to her. The parts of his heart that he did show had been tossed to the side by Tea's needs. He understood, but it still hurt. He covered up his honest blunder with quick whim, "How am I supposed to know if you're okay?"
"I'll be fine, Kaiba," her expression said otherwise, "just take me home."
Kaiba caved. He wanted to keep trying. He wanted to persuade her into thinking through his offer, but this wasn't a business deal, it was a human life, one that he had neglected for the sake of his business and now he would pay the price.
Glancing at Tea's weary eyes told him the price he had to pay would be steep, but he would make it up to her.
Because she was worth it.
A/N: Shorter chapter this time around but I'm leaving for Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, in about twenty-four hours so I really wanted to get this chapter posted. Also, I'll begin my first full-time post-college job right after I get back from my vacation so I'm not sure when I'll be able to update next. But, PLEASE, bear with me! I will not give up on this story and will finish it! The updates just might be a little slower, sorry…. Anyway, thanks for your patience and please review!
