Chapter 2

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The next morning Serenity silently walked out of her home and walked straight to the park. The bench was still empty but it was early. She would wait. Sitting down she gazed ahead.

Seto saw the small form of the girl sit on the bench and with calm steps he neared her.

"Hey." He said and the girl turned.

"Hey." She answered looking up at him while he was sitting down next to her. Then the two of them watched the sunrise again.

"May I ask you something?" Serenity seemed quite thoughtfully.

Seto nodded.

"Did you ever fall in love?"

Reluctantly he nodded remembering his past with Ishizu. Past.

"How was that?" A weird question but he would try to answer honestly.

"Nice. You're happy. Smiling and thinking about the other any time of the day. Why do you ask me that?"

"Just asking." She sighed.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" He was curious by now. He had never thought about other people's lives.

"Don't know. Not really."

"I always thought you were with Tristan."

She sighed again. "I don't know. He was always there and we spent a lot of time together. I guess he even sees me as his girlfriend. But… there never had been anything else between us. I kind of love him, but more like a brother, like I love Joey. I had never felt about him the way you had described love."

"You should talk to him."

"I know. I just don't want to break his heart and destroy our friendship. I don't know how I might do it and what to tell Tristan. I can't tell Joey either, he'd go mad."

"Maybe you should stay with Tristan then."

"But I want to fall in love!"

Surprised Seto stared at her. The longing in her big eyes was clearly visible.

"Falling in love isn't a matter of want. Anyone wants to but they don't do always. Unfortunately not. You can't decide to fall in love. I never wanted to but it happened though. You should be patient. It will happen to you sooner or later. I'm sure about that. Someday you'll meet a guy you'll fall for and he won't miss that you're beautiful and kind and he'll fall for you as well."

She smiled dreamily at his speech. She never knew he could be like this. He wasn't only smart; he was getting wise as well.

"Promise?" She smiled at him.

"Yes, promise." He smiled back chuckling.

"What's with the girl you've fallen for?" She wanted to know who had changed him and made him wise.

"Gone." He replied coldly. "It's over. She doesn't love me anymore and went far far away."

"Do you still love her?"

"That's the problem with what I've told you. You can't decide not to love anymore as well. I'll have to wait until I don't love her anymore. No one can tell me when it'll be."

"Maybe you'll fall for someone else. I'm sure you will. Someday a girl will come along and you will love again and she will love you as well. Just like it will happen to me."

Again he could only smile. She had beaten him with his own statement. She was smart as well. A bit naïve maybe but she had grown more mature since he had seen her the last time, that was for sure.


The next few days it was rainy and therefore Serenity didn't go to the park. But as soon as the weather was sunny again she headed off to the park again. Early to watch the sunrise. But her company didn't show up and she was wondering. Without a trace of him she had to go back home that day. And the next day it was the same. But she had an idea why.

Her small fingers reached out and pressed the button for the bell until a voice answered and wanted to know who's there.

"Serenity Wheeler. I'm a mate of Seto."

The buzzer went and she headed through the big metal gate inside his garden. Approaching the huge house she knocked at the big front door. It got opened immediately. A man was bowing to her.

"Ms. Wheeler, I'm afraid Mr. Kaiba's sick."

"Oh, that's a pity." She thought for a moment. "Is it bad or may I see him though?"

"What are you doing here?" Someone coughed and when she lifted her head she could see the tall grown man standing at the staircase wrapped inside his morning robe. He really seemed sick.

"I wanted to visit you. I was afraid because you didn't show up. So I thought I might visit you at home. But if it's not okay and you're feeling too sick, I'll leave you alone. That's okay."

"Come up." He said and led the way to his living room. "Feel at home. Excuse me and the circumstances but I'm afraid I've got the flu."

"Cold in the morning." She stated smiling.

"Yeah." He sat down on his couch. "I'll order you something to drink, wait."

"No, no. I can do it myself." She said and rushed over to the telephone grabbing the receiver. "Just tell me which button to press."

"The green one."

So she did. A friendly voice was at the other end.

"This is Serenity speaking. Would you please be kind and bring me a glass of apple juice… yes, normal apple juice… erm, no, but thank you… in the living room please… um which one?... upstairs… and bring Seto a mug of tea with citron and honey, that always helps me when I'm sick."

Seto smiled during the conversation. She was quite funny.

"You know, usually they call me Mr. Kaiba and probably they don't have the slightest glue who was ordering at all but let's get surprised if they'll do as you say." His eyes lightened up with his mood.

Serenity shrugged and sat down next to Kaiba. "So what are you doing all day being sick?"

"Working at home. I'm programming and contact my company via Internet. That's quite easy."

"You look like you've just woken." She raised one eyebrow and looked quite funny.

Kaiba laughed. "Yeah, my fault. Too lazy dressing. I'm sick, I've got the right to."

This time Serenity laughed. He could be quite funny if he wanted to. She never knew. He had always been so serious and sometimes even mean.

"I always thought you would be… well different. I thought you'd be always serious, not making jokes and be so… casual." She almost blushed from her confession.

"I've changed a lot Serenity. One year ago I was totally different. Working all day and if not, I was dueling. Then I've met Ishizu and we started dating. I realized life had more to offer than work and duel monsters. Though, still both is part of my life."

The auburn haired girl smiled at him. He was right. "Yes. I've enjoyed life much more since my eyesight is good. I've become more self-confident."

"I see."

Her gaze fell on the table where a bunch of DVDs were lying. Most of them were horror movies and some action.

"You like horror movies, huh?" She said with a slightly scared look.

Kaiba laughed. "Don't worry, I'm not a sick freak. Maybe sick, but not a freak."

"Good. I wouldn't want to end pinned against your door or something like that."

"No." He chuckled. "I promise. You don't like horror movies then?"

She shrugged. "Well, I don't like these splatter films, all the blood but no plot."

"Hm, there are some quite good horror movies with not much blood but quite scary as well. There's a very good one playing at cinema at the moment. You should go and watch it."

The girl thought for a moment. "Would you accompany me? I don't want to go alone. That'd be too scary for me. Joey and Tristan would only make fun, I don't want to go with them."

Seto shrugged. "Course, as soon as I'm feeling better."

Serenity nodded happily. They watched some action movie together after they had got tea for Seto and apple juice for Serenity. They hadn't talked much after that but it was quite comfortable. Almost past dinnertime she jumped off.

"Damn, I've got to go home. Mom's gonna kill me." She put on her coat and grabbed her bag. "Thank you Kaiba, I had a nice afternoon. See you soon, bye bye." Then she left in a hurry.

Gasping for breath she approached her home, climbing the stairs and silently opening the door. Her mother was behind the sink doing the wash up and Joey had spread his body across the sofa watching some football game.

"Serenity! Where have you been so long? Do you know what time it is? You should at least tell us before you'll take so long!"

The girl's head sank. "Sorry mom. I was at a friend's after school. I won't do it again." She tried the puppy eye look and her mother gave in.

"Young lady, next time you'll phone us and be there at last dinner time!" Her mother scolded.

"Were you with Tristan?" Joey asked suddenly.

"No, with someone else."

"I just thought, haven't seen him today." He gladly turned back to the TV.

"Ok, gotta go to my room making homework." She rushed away and closing the door behind her she sighed a breath of relief. They didn't need to know where she had been. Both of them hadn't the best opinion about Kaiba. Why should she bother them?


Two days passed by and Serenity visited Kaiba only for short time every day, telling her mom she'd go to a friend from school. Though she felt bad about it she couldn't help wanting to see her new friend. Then a phone call arrived. Seto.

"Wheeler." Her mother answered while her children were playing with the duel monster cards.

"Yes, she's here, wait a second. Serenity, it's for you, Seto Kaiba." Her mother gave the receiver to her with a suspicious glance, which actually was nothing against the look on Joey's face. Priceless.

"Yes?"

"Hi Serenity, you know what? I'm feeling much better today. What are your plans for tomorrow evening?"

"I don't have any yet."

"Okay, then we'll go to cinema. Is that okay for you?"

"Yes, sure!"

"Then that's settled. I'll pick you up."

"No, no. Um… I'll come around." She knew she had listeners but what should she do?

"Okay, 9pm at mine then. See you then."

"Yeah, bye." She hung up and two pairs of eyes were looking with at least a thousand questions.

"What does Kaiba want from you?" Joey asked threatening.

"Oh, erm… he… well… actually it was because of his brother, yeah, he wanted me to baby sit Mokuba."

"When?" Two asked at the same time.

She couldn't tell them it was on a Saturday evening. They'd go insane.

"Just on Monday afternoon."

"And you'll go?" Joey couldn't believe it.

"Yes, why not?"

"Because he's a bastard." Her brother said matter of fact.

"But he won't be there anyway. It's only Mokuba, our friend."

"Why did he ask you of all people?" Damn her mother. She knew the worst questions to ask.

"Mokuba's idea."

The two thought about it, then her mother said. "Okay, wouldn't be bad for you to earn some money. Just take care."

"I will mom."

"And better not tell Tristan." Joey added.

"Why?"

"Because he'd go insane knowing you around any other guy, especially Kaiba."

It sounded like she was really Tristan's property but she wasn't. "Well I'm not his property."

"You don't wanna hurt him, do you?"

She shook her head. It would hurt him anyway.


To be continued...