NOTE: Okay, I thinking that I forgot to hint people on some things…but I can't remember them. So, if you have ANY questions whatsoever about my story, just (a) email me (b) ask me in the reviews (and your question will be answered in the next chapter) or (c) try to AIM me. Okedoke? All clear? Okay!

Disclaimer: Listens to Avril Lavigne "…I'd rather be anything but ordinary…" Yeah, so would I! And that includes owning Yu-Gi-Oh! But, hey! I'm not! So, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!

Chapter 3: Coincidence, Luck, or Fate?

Seto leaned back in his chair and sighed. Why? Why him? Why did he have to own such a large company and a mansion? All those responsibilities…finding workers…paying bills and workers…the work itself…firing workers. Yes, that's what had just happened. He had just fired another employee. It had been the head cook. His room was being cleared at the moment.

He had to find someone else now. Oh boy. What fun. More lunatics coming for job interviews. This was going to be a great week. There was too much thought going in his head. He needed fresh air and alone time. But first…came the aspirin.

Seto walked to the bathroom and opened up the cabinet. He took down the little bottle. Every boss's best friend. This one little tablet. The enemy: a gigantic headache.

Seto took some water, swallowed the aspirin and snuck out of the house, without being caught by his brothers. Had that happened, the aspirin wouldn't have stood a chance. So, Seto's relaxing walk began. Up this street, and down the other, leading him nowhere in particular….


Tea walked up the sidewalk to her apartment. Today, she was dressed in her orange, sleeveless shirt, red skirt and brown boots.

It wasn't the best looking neighborhood to be in. But hey, it was all she could afford. She carried some grocery bags and her keys were in hand, ready to unlock the door. She walked up the two steps leading to the entrance and put down her bags. Then, Tea began fiddling with the keys.

"Well, boys, look what we've got here," a voice said behind her. She let go of the keys and turned around. At the bottom of the steps were three men, dressed in black, and wearing sunglasses. Tea gasped. Oh no…what had she done to deserve this? She knew this day would come. That was what she got for living in this stupid neighborhood.

"W-w-what'd you want?" Tea chocked.

"Oh, nothing in particular…just you," the middle man answered. Suddenly, the two others rushed up and grabbed her arms.

"Ah! Get off me you freaks!" she cried out.

"Why?" the lead man said, "You're coming with us."

"Argh, let me go!" Tea flailed, trying to get free. But it was futile. The men holding her were "muscle-men." No matter how she tried to kick them, they weren't going to let go. The leader of the gang walked up to Tea and put his finger under he chin.

"Aw, come on, sweetheart. Stop fighting. You know you want to come with us. Otherwise…." his hand went into his pocket and pulled out something. He flicked up the top. It was a pocketknife.

Tea was now, officially, scared to death. Why had her life turned on her? Actually, she might not have a life to turn on her in a minute. She could only stress one thing, one more time.

"Let-me-go-now," Tea declared, saying each word separately.

"You'd better do what she says, or you're in for a world of hurt," someone said.

Now, the title of this chapter is the title for a reason.

Was it fate? Coincidence? Or just sheer, dumb luck that Seto Kaiba's wandering had taken him to this certain street. I don't know…you tell me. Personally…I think it was fate. For fate is a strange thing…as will be revealed later in this story.

"Kaiba!" Tea cried out.

The leader laughed and spit out his name like it was trash, "Tch…Kaiba. What possible threat could you be? And why would a rich punk like you be in this dingy little area?"

Rich punk. That had struck a deep nerve. A very deep nerve. One nerve that had only been struck when…Joey Wheeler was around.

"You're going to wish you had never said that," Kaiba threatened.

"Bring it on, tough guy," the squad leader said. Geez, the guy was sounding more and more like Wheeler every minute, Kaiba thought. That could come to his advantage though. If he just pictured that that freak was Wheeler…oh, the poor soul. We'll just leave it at that.

So, Kaiba did take him on. And in three solid punches, he won.

"Who's next?" Kaiba cracked his knuckles.

On of the goons holding Tea let go and charged at him. The other member quickly grabbed the arm his comrade had let go. Again, Kaiba won. This time, in two punches.

"So, are you up for it? Are you going to be my record of one solid knock-out?" Kaiba threatened. Now, you would think that the goon would've gone over to try his skill. But, at seeing his comrades all bloodied up, and thrown over on the neighbor's yard…he wasn't too confident. So, naturally, he ran.

Tea fell to the ground on her knees, breathing hard. True, she hadn't done any fighting, but being the captive was trying enough. Seto held out his hand to help her up.

"You okay?" he asked simply.

"Yeah," she said, taking it.

"What were you doing here anyway?" Kaiba asked, looking around at the dingy surroundings. Tea walked up to the door and turned the key.

"I live here."

"Oh," was all Kaiba could say. Tea picked up her bags and turned around.

"Thanks," she said.

"Whatever," Seto walked up the two stairs and stood there, holding the door open for her. But this wasn't out of courtesy. Lord, no. He wanted a look at the inside of the apartment. After all, she was living in this neighborhood.

Tea stepped inside, and Kaiba followed, pretty much inviting himself in. The house was a mess. It looked like it hadn't been cleaned for ages.

Tea saw the look on his face, "Sorry, haven't gotten around to cleaning it…" then, she truly noticed he was inside her "house," "I don't remember inviting you--"

"Have your parents seen this mess?" Seto looked around, smirking. He knew he was causing her embarrassment. He liked doing that sort of stuff. After all, the mutt was gone. She was the only one to pick on, now.

Tea took a sharp intake of breath, at the mentioning of her parents, "N-n-no. They're…dead." Seto stopped. Her parents were dead? Kind of like him….

"Why not just get a maid or something?"

Tea glared at him, "Not everybody has money to resort to in their problems." Seto was a tad taken aback at her glare. Then, she sighed, "Well, you'll probably want something to drink or whatnot, after that…fight. Come on in," she led him to the kitchen.

Surprisingly, it was clean. It was probably the cleanest room in the apartment. Seto took a seat at the small, two-seat table.

"Want something to drink?" Tea asked, rummaging through the drawers.

"Do you have tea, by any chance?" Seto inquired.

"Yes, actually. I can't live without it. It's my favorite drink. It also soothes my worries," she pulled out some tea mix, and filled an elaborate looking teapot with hot water. Then, she poured the mix into it and set it on the stove. She turned the stove on, and let it mix and simmer. (People, I don't know how to make tea. That was SO a guess! Don't kill me! I'm cooking-ignorant! My mom despises cooking, so she teaches me nothing of it.)

She got out a couple blue glasses and set them on the counter. When the tea was ready, she took it, and poured a glass for Seto. Then, she added a couple things in it that he couldn't see and set it down before him.

"There you go!" she said happily. She stood by to see if he enjoyed it. Seto didn't enjoy people watching him eat, but if she would go away afterwards, he'd get it over with now. He took a sip. Not bad, he thought.

"Is it okay, for you?" Tea interrogated.

"Yeah," Seto replied, taking another sip. Tea turned around and walked back to the counter. Seto took a good look at the glass and smiled. Accidentally, he let out a small laugh.

Tea turned around, "What's so funny?"

Seto realized what he had just been doing, and set the cup down, "It's nothing. You wouldn't understand. It's just something to do with the style of the glass."

"Oh, I get it."

"Excuse me?"

"Does it, by any chance, remind you, or something, of that glass Noa and Mokuba used to pour water on you once?" Tea started snickering.

Seto, whom was just about to take a sip of tea, choked and set it down, "How did you know about that?" He reddened slightly. If she knew about that…oh the humiliation. He'd never hear the end of it.

"Mokuba told me."

"What? When did you see Mokuba? When did he talk to you?" Seto inquired, "Besides Saturday, that is."

"Yesterday afternoon. Noa was there too. I met Mokuba there and we had a little talk."

"In the park? When did they go to the park?" Seto interrogated. He was going to have a little chat with them when he got home.

"Well, it was around noon. According to them, you were still…oh, sleeping, I believe?" she let out another snicker. Seto flushed, slightly again. He had been asleep until about one o' clock yesterday. But didn't most people do that? She had NO reason to laugh.

"I expect you do the same…sleeping in, that is…on certain days," he commented.

"Not really. Eight thirty is the latest I get up. Otherwise, I feel like I've wasted my day! Actually, six thirty sounds pretty good…."

"You sound like my brothers," Seto side commented.

"Humph," Tea shared. But all this talk had reminded her of the original conversation she had had with Mokuba yesterday. The tears were coming. No, she couldn't break down now. Not in front of Kaiba. She held up the teapot, to pour herself a drink, but she couldn't. She was shaking madly, trying to keep the tears from coming. Seto noticed her shaking.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed her hand that was holding the teapot.

"Watch it. You might shatter this. And by the looks of it, it's the only thing you have left of them," Seto commented. Tea knew what he meant. Actually, it was one of the only things left she had not sold that had belonged to her parents. It had been one of their wedding gifts.

All of the sudden, she put the teapot down, and fell to her knees, with her head in her arms, resting on the counter. And she cried. She couldn't stop crying, no matter how much it embarrassed her in front of Seto. The tears just kept coming.

Seto was unsure of what to do. He had never dealt with…tears before. He had told Mokuba early on that crying would solve nothing. He himself had not cried for many, many years. Noa hadn't ever really cried either, that he could remember. Sometimes, the employees he fired, or was on the verge of firing, were on the verge of tears, but he didn't care about them. His mood wasn't very "happy" at those times.

All he could think to do was put a hand on her shoulder and give his regular pep talk, "Stop crying. What's done is done. You can't do anything about it. Life will turn around sometime. It did for my family." He wasn't quite sure if he had soothed her, or made her angry.

It looked like it hadn't worked, because she was still shaking, and she was still crying…wait. Was she laughing?

Tea's head popped up, and you could see that she was indeed, laughing. She stood up and wiped the tears away.

"Hehe, I can tell that you've given that pep-talk to many people. It sounds so rehearsed! Hehe, but, hey, you tried, and succeeded. Cause now, I'm laughing! Hehe," she continued.

Seto still felt a twang a pity for her (hey, a twang is more than he's ever felt before!). He saw that she had missed a tear, and wiped it away for her. Tea was slightly taken aback at the action.

Then, Seto thought of something: something he needed and something she needed, "You want a job? A real job?"

"Well…yes."

"Well, it just so happens I've got some space for someone like you. You can cook, right? After all, you were a waitress."

"Well, being a waitress has nothing to do with cooking…but yeah, I can cook pretty well."

"Good. I'll send the details by email…you do have email, don't you?"

"Yes! Yes, yes, I do," she scurried around the kitchen for a pen, and then found a napkin. She wrote her second email address on it (the one for work; her other one was for friends and sounded way less professional), and handed it to Kaiba. He took it and quickly glanced at what was written on got style, Seto thought, remarking at the simple and plain address. Then, he continued.

"You'll receive the details no later than 5:00 tonight. I'll want an answer of acceptance, or decline, by, say, 7:00.

"Oh, okay," Tea replied. Seto then, took his leave, walked out of the kitchen, and to the front door.

Tea fell into one of her chairs (precisely the one Seto had been sitting in). His glass of tea was empty.

Well, that's good, she thought, at least, if I accept this job, he'll like the tea.


Wow! Seto's gonna give her a job! Wonder if she'll accept? (Sorry, again, it's kind of short, but these beginning chapters are. They'll get longer…I promise!) Anywho…that sentence where I said that Seto wiped away her last tear. That has more meaning than you think. Just think about it for a second…. He wiped away the last tear. Maybe think about it in the context of: He washed away the last of her sadness. Tick tok…tick tok…tick tok…time's up! Well, people? I'm not gonna tell you straight forward, but think about the genre of this story: romance. Has your brain clicked yet? Well, tell me what you think in your reviews!