Kaiba wondered all next day if she would come again. If she was smart, she wouldn't, he decided. But if she was softhearted and naïve, then she would. Seriously, Kaiba didn't know which one he preferred. And Mokuba, would she help him? Or had he angered her by his cold, unappreciative attitude?
Meanwhile, Nadina had been summoned to Marik's room. She played with a lock of her long hair as she steadied herself for her brother.
Could he have possibly found out what I've done last night? She prayed not. It was too soon for her cover to be blown.
"Ah, Nadina," Marik said as she entered the room. He reshuffled his papers. "Please, sister, sit." After she had settled down in front of his desk, he began in a pleasant voice that somehow made Nadina nervous.
"Tonight, one of my business associates is having dinner with us. His name is Blake Malone." He sent on, describing this Blake Malone. He ended with; "I was hoping you'd join me on this business dinner, sister. Think of it as doing a favor for me."
"Of course, Marik!" Nadina nodded eagerly, leaning forward, all apprehensive thoughts now vanished from her mind.
"Wonderful, now that's arrange." Marik nodded approvingly. "Oh, and before you go—how many petticoats do you have on?"
Nadina turned around slowly, wondering if she had heard wrong. "Pardon me?"
"How many petticoats do you have on at the moment?" Impatience was thinly disguised in her brother's voice.
"Three…?" Why in the world would her brother…
"Put on two extra tonight." He gestured with his hands. "Malone like full skirts that...billow."
Nadina nodded mutely and slipped out the room, not daring to speculate on how her brother knew so much about what women wore.
"May I compliment on exactly how charming and beautiful you look this evening, Miss Nadina?" Twenty-eight-year-old Blake Malone, gave a slight bow as the Ishtar siblings entered the living room. He pressed his lips daintily on Nadina's knuckles.
"Thank you, Mr. Malone." She thanked docilely, taking care not to embarrass her brother in any way. The five petticoats ruffled as she was escorted to the dining room by her brother.
"Ishtar women are not to be trifled with, Malone." Marik joked good-naturally. "They look delicate as lace, but they've got rods of steel running through them." The men laughed as they sat down to dine.
She was dressed in a pale blue silk, refreshed with clouds of gaze de Chambéry. Classy, elegant, and simple. But a smile followed, very sweet and lovely, as she had added the clusters of gorgeous blush roses to light up her quiet gown. She was very pleased when she saw the approval shining in Marik's eyes when he knocked on her dressing room door.
The dinner went passed quickly and pleasantly. Nadina sat on her brother's right, cool and resplendent in ice-blue clouded satin, sapphire drops dangling from her earlobes and an indulgent smile on her lips. Under the billowy satin skirts, her ankles were cross demurely. She kept quiet at the dining table, as Marik had gone through so much pain teaching her when she was small. A lady must keep quiet at the table when the men are discussing business. Don't speak unless you're spoken to.
So Nadina was a perfect doll that evening.
In the eyes of Marik and Blake Malone, that is, until dinner was over and they retreated to the study to have coffee. Nobody saw her sneak into the back kitchen and gather all the leftovers and put them all in a basket.
"Curse it." Nadina gritted her teeth as she struggled to descend the steps with the heavy basket. Her candle had just been put out by the cold drafts of the tunnel, leaving her in total darkness. She had forgotten to bring extra matches.
"Seto Kaiba," she grumbled. "You owe me big. How can you expect me just to leave you? You empty headed…thing." She was flustered that she couldn't come up with anything more cutting to call him.
Meanwhile, Kaiba, in his cell, was listening intently to the distant muttering that he could hear, but couldn't make out what or who was talking. It wasn't until the cell lock was opened and a breeze of familiar perfume surrounded him.
"What are you doing here?" He asked in a whisper.
When her answer came, it was short and simple. "Like you said, I'm not like my brother. Not in that way—nor in this way." She added huffily.
"Where did you get the keys?" Kaiba whispered back. A long, shameful silence followed.
"I stole it." Nadina confessed guiltily. Kaiba almost smiled. She was just a kid. Innocent and pure of feelings.
Nadina saw Kaiba's mouth twitch slightly, as if he was trying to hold back a smile
"It's not funny," she insisted fiercely. His laugh quickly changed into a cough.
"Of course not." He had quickly sensed a depth within the girl that he did not see before. He had recognized in Nadina's defiance a courage that forced her past fear, but she realized now that the girl's courage also somehow blinded her. She displayed the courage of a lion, although she was a little more than a child.
"I didn't get too much for you tonight." Nadina informed him. "I had to steal the leftovers from the kitchen and these are the only thing I managed to get my hands on." She lifted out a huge bowl of mashed potatoes, a smaller bowl with gravy, and a pitcher of wine.
She looked up at Kaiba, who was quiet, and a tiny sad smile formed on her lips. Poor Kaiba.
"Thank you." The words were said so softly that Nadina thought it was part of the air.
"Did you say something, Kaiba?"
"I said," He cleared his throat with difficulty. "Thank you…for caring about me." Kaiba forced the laborious words from his lips. "I know I've been difficult and I know what you're risking by helping me."
"Yeah, well…" Nadina turned away to hide the sprinkle of blush that showered prettily over her cheeks, even though Kaiba couldn't see.
"Oh, yeah," she turned back and said briskly. "I also brought you a glass of milk. Do you know that a glass of milk and a potato a day, and you've got all the nutrition you need for the day?"
"No, I never knew that." Kaiba smirked.
"Marik told me that when I was small, because refused to eat any sort of vegetables or fruit. So to coax to me to eat something besides meat and candy, Marik told me that. I lived on potatoes and milk the year I turned five. Come to think of it, my brother was pretty good at fixing potatoes for me. It seems to be served different everyday. Even our cook quit because she couldn't think up enough potato dishes to cook up for a whole year." She stopped talking all of a sudden. "I'm sorry. I was rambling. You wouldn't care anything about Marik."
She turned toward Kaiba, and found his shoulders shaking unmanageably.
"Kaiba?" Nadina eyed him worriedly, until she realized that he was laughing so hard that he was gasping for breath.
"Do you still live on potatoes and milk?" Kaiba finally spoke, his voice very amused.
"No," Nadina grinned. "I love vegetables now."
"My little brother went through a period like that." Kaiba's voice turned wistful. "Except he refused to eat anything green and red."
Nadina laughed. "I guess you and Marik both went through something, huh?"
"Yeah." Kaiba's voice dropped lower as he sounded grim. Nadina, hating to see his spirits so low, interrupted in a brighter voice.
"Speaking of Mokuba, did I mention that I've located him?" She was happy to see the spirit and energy return back into the willowy brunette as his head snapped up and asked, in a voice barely a whisper,
"How is he?"
"Doing fine," she nodded as she gave him a sip of wine. "Terribly worried about you, though."
"How did you ever located him?"
"I have my ways." Kaiba disliked the mysterious airs surrounding the answer Nadina gave him.
"Can you remind me why I'm stuck with only potatoes today?" He changed a subject.
Nadina sighed. "We had company. One of my brother's business partners, Blake Malone, joined us at dinner today."
"Blake Malone, huh? Never heard of him." Kaiba replied crisply, thought his mind told him, but I'm sure he's nobody worth knowing if he associates with someone like Marik Ishtar. Unwilling to hurt Nadina's feelings, he didn't say that out loud. He knew that the girl worshipped the very grounds her brother walked on.
Their time went by fast and the young billionaire found himself talking to her like he's never talked to anybody before. Maybe it was because he couldn't see whom he was talking to. Or maybe because he found that Nadina was a warm hearted, compassionate, and virtuous girl that he quickly grew fond to. Her sweetness and sincerity Kaiba observed from her talking was nothing like the calculation and suspicious ways of the business world he came from.
Or simply maybe she's the only that cared to talk and care about him and is his only hope.
