A/N: Thank you for your kind reviews! We're near the end but it's not the last chapter. A special thank you goes to Aska, who helped me here and there with the plot in the end:P
To the mommy who reviewed: You are so damn cool! I hope you know that! If you ever like to read a story about equipment-handling, visit my live journal, there's the link to "Restless" cough… I'm happy you like my story!
Thanks to my new beta Tawnykit. Go; check out her fics, she's brilliant.
Sangha
Last time in 'How To Find A Girlfriend…':
Seto: "You're into art and museums, aren't you? Then you certainly like exhibitions."
Serenity: "What kind of exhibition? I thought that you weren't interested in art."
Seto: "Art isn't just art. You'll see when we get there."
-
How To Find A Girlfriend In Seven Days?
-
Chapter Eleven
-
"A Perfect Day"
-
Serenity's eyes shifted to the man next to her who was calmly steering his car along the road. Kaiba didn't even seem to be nervous in the slightest. And here she was not able to concentrate on anything at all. The skates were back in the boot and the two dating partners on their way to an exhibition. Of course Serenity wondered where Kaiba might take her.
An exhibition. You could exhibit a lot of different things. Plus with Kaiba everything was possible. His statement 'art isn't just art' wasn't making the riddle any easier for her. Where would he take her? A museum? As far as she knew, he couldn't stand the Domino Museum. So what else? Some sick stuff like body art? High-tech art?
Serenity inhaled deeply and gazed out of the window when Kaiba turned right into the driveway of the Domino Elementary School. Puzzled, her eyes darted to him, but he climbed out of the car without giving her any clues. She sighed and went after him.
"The Elementary School? I thought we were going to an exhibition." She spoke out her thoughts, no matter what. She could easily guess he perfectly well knew what he did and had a plan. But why did he have to leave her clueless?
"We are. It's inside the school." Kaiba felt the urge to smirk, amused, but suppressed it. He just kept on walking until they entered the school.
Inside, Serenity was growling. Outside, she was shaking her head. Surprising someone didn't mean leaving them dumbfounded and clueless! Why did he make such a secret out of what he was planning? She wasn't the most patient of people!
"I'm sorry but can I help you?" Obviously one of the teachers wanted to make sure they weren't some random intruders. "Oh, Mr. Kaiba! I didn't recognize you at first; I apologize."
Kaiba stared at the elderly woman blankly. "I'm here to see the exhibition."
"Oh, very well, sir." The woman spoke nervously. She had had one or two encounters with Seto Kaiba a few years ago because of trouble with Mokuba. She shouldn't have probed Kaiba's patience, though. "I'm so sorry you couldn't make it to the opening. But we're very happy your company supported us."
"Yeah, well, listen, lady." He began as if he tried to sort his mind from all of her babbling. Mentally, Serenity snickered, cheerleading Seto already, as she could imagine what came next. "I don't intend to waste my time with small talk with you. I'm here to see the exhibition. Undisturbed I might add. So, please, excuse us."
G – O – G – O – Do it one more time – Seto!
With a cold glance at the teacher he turned to climb the stairs. The woman stood with her hand to her heart, nodding with an apologizing gaze within her gray eyes. Serenity shrugged at her and followed him.
This is why people claimed the young CEO as being a jerk. Yes, she knew, and there were times she liked it. Whether he was being rude or not, he was being heroic whenever he did. Of course, a girl was allowed to feel attracted to that, right? Serenity smiled up at him, having caught up with the brunette. Cold as ice and yet, a very heated guy.
"What?" Kaiba felt her gaze, darting his own eyes down to her.
"I'm just excited," she told him with an amused little grin. Excited in general, she might add, but kept it to herself.
If you were looking close enough, you could see the corners of his mouth twitch once in a while but that was rare. Anyways, the day was long and maybe he would even show her one of those rare heartbreaking smiles like she had seen once. As long as she wouldn't have to see the creepy one…
"We're here," Seto announced, entering a spacious classroom. He stopped to let the girl follow inside and take in her surrounding. He didn't want to explain any further details of why they were here, where exactly they were, or what was making him to come here with her.
Serenity did as was expected and gazed around. "These look like drawings of kids."
"They are." He followed close behind her as she read the big self-made banner that said 'My future'.
Her eyes scanned the hand-written text beneath as she read,"The pupils of the Domino Elementary School are happy to exhibit their works about the theme: my future." Small letters, written by probably another one of those merely five to nine year-old kids, advised the visitors that they have been sponsored by Kaiba Corporation, supported by teachers and parents. Serenity smiled unaware of the fact, then turned to look at Kaiba, who raised his eyebrows questioningly.
"It's an exhibition, isn't it?" He wasn't quite sure if she thought of it as being adequate for a rendezvous or not, but thinking functionally lay within his nature. He had no intention of going to any museum in the world but she liked art. Here was art, plus, the only one that was worth a visit of Seto Kaiba.
Serenity smiled to his relief. "Yeah," she stepped aside to see the first picture, "but I wonder why we're here. You told me you don't like art. Now I've just seen that you've supported these kids with their exhibition. Well, Seto Kaiba, now drop the bombshell. Are you here to fulfill your duty as the sponsor or are we here because you like these drawings?"
She was teasing him; that much was obvious by the little playful smile that crossed Serenity's features adoringly while her gaze never left the drawing. Seto huffed out a breath of superior knowledge. "Maybe I'm just here because I thought you would like these pictures."
Serenity chuckled to herself and kept watching the great works of those youngsters until she saw something that was looking familiar to her. Narrowing her eyes, she tilted her head to the side; then she snapped with her fingers, getting it finally. "Look at this, Kaiba."
Seto cleared his throat, "It's Seto."
"Huh? What?" Serenity was caught off guard, surprised at his sudden reaction, or to say it better, correction. She slowly raised her thin eyebrows, hardly believing what he had just said. Mr. Official, Mr. Important, Our Highness, Mr. Formal, Mr. Stick-up-the-butt etc. etc. etc… wanted her, Serenity Wheeler, to call him by his first name!
Her expression said it all to him. "You can't possibly expect me to want someone to call me by my surname on a date." He shook his head calmly. "It's Seto."
"Of course… Seto." There! She had said it. And it felt good. He was right. It felt right.
"Now, what was it that I should take a look at?" Nodding once slowly, he looked at her and Serenity smiled.
"Oh, this." She turned to show him the drawing that had caught her eyes moments ago. "Look at it. Doesn't just look like your mansion?"
Kaiba looked at it closely, then shrugged. "Many kids wish to live in there. Do you want to see my favorite?"
"Your favorite? Does that mean you have been here before?" If he already had a favorite picture, then he must have been here before!
"Once or twice. Come." Seto's hand reached out to grab the girl's wrist, pulling her gently along to their destination at the opposite of the room.
Becoming aware of their physical connection, Serenity's cheeks started to burn slightly. Please, don't go all red now! Her silent prayers were heard, though not completely as a light shade of pink stayed amongst the peachy tint of her face.
"This is it."
When they stopped Serenity looked at Kaiba, who was still holding her hand within hers. Did he realize that at all? She looked at him intensely, trying to figure out if he knew what he was doing. But she could try how hard she wanted to, there was no sign within his expression. Shrugging mentally, she decided not to question the fact any further—she didn't want him to let go anyway.
Because this definitely felt nice…
She shifted her eyes to look at Seto's favorite painting. Amazed her heart swelled for the young CEO. The drawing's simple content was of three people in front of a small yellow house with big purple flowers around. The sun was painted in a bright yellow color, shining down on the two tall people and the smaller kid in their middle—it was obvious to her. Serenity simply smiled.
"Do you like it?" Kaiba asked calmly, not giving away his own nervousness. And hell, he was damn nervous! He knew pretty well that he was still holding Serenity's small hand within his own, and she wasn't protesting! His heart hammered inside of his chest and he was sure that she could see the pulse on his neck vibrating rapidly.
Not just because he touched her hand, but also because he was about to give away something very private, something he truly liked—apart from Serenity of course. God, and he liked her even a lot more with every passing minute!
"Yes," she smiled at Seto before she turned her attention back to the picture. A little white card was showing the artist's information. "It's drawn by Eleanor, first grade from the—" Serenity paused, seeing where the infant came from.
"The Domino Orphan Care Center." He finished the sentence for her, his inner turmoil slowly beginning to form. He didn't want her to pity him, all he wanted to do was to make her see that he could open up to her.
Serenity looked into Kaiba's blue eyes, mesmerized by them although he didn't look back at her. She smiled and shifted her hazel eyes back at the drawing. "That's so sweet."
"What?" Flatly, as he was puzzled for a moment, he asked. What was so sweet? She didn't mean him, did she? She better not. He wasn't sweet. He was the iron rock the waves smashed into on the shore, not withering from their severe force.
"The drawing, it's really sweet of her. Modest, don't you think?"
Kaiba's narrowed, confused facial expression changed into one of surprise as he was staring at the girl next to him. "Yes." He nodded, distracted by the smile that suddenly spread across her face. Assuring mostly himself that he was still concentrating on the topic, once again he added, "Yes."
Enjoying the kids' works, they spent another hour inside the school. Seto was relieved that she indeed liked it. He was doing the best he could to come up with concerning his rendezvous with Serenity and even though admitting it was hard for the young man, he had fun. He already had been to this exhibition twice, admiring the drawings in private. He had taken a risk to come here with Serenity but it had turned out to be a good decision.
He mentally wiped his forehead.
Serenity felt weird instead. Not in a bad way but weird, almost high. This day so far had been exciting and surprising, and it made her happy and joyful to the extent that one would think she had been smoking grass—not that she ever would. Her mind was spinning with pictures of the latest events, words said by her or Seto, moments that she would love to recall for the rest of her life it this would turn out to its best.
She just felt good and tried to concentrate on her heart rather than her mind. And so, Serenity smiled.
"Quick," Seto said shoving Serenity with his hand on her back when they were making their way out of the building. "There's the old lady again!"
Serenity turned to see the teacher they had spoken to two hours ago, her gray-rimmed glasses firmly sitting on her nose. A clacking noise filled the almost empty halls of Domino High as she was making her way towards them. Serenity shifted her eyes at Seto who pulled on her hand, a desperate look to get away crossing his face.
A giggle escaped the girl as she was dragged inside the Corvette and Seto sped off, taking a glance in the mirror as if the old lady would follow them.
"I thought you liked dragons." Serenity laughed at his behavior and received a small glare from the man next to her. "What do we do now?"
"What, now? You presume our date not to be over yet?" He teased, a slight glint of mischief playing within his eyes.
"If our date was over yet, Seto, then I'd have been beyond doubt a bad teacher." She retorted but she honestly wasn't sure if she had been a good teacher. So far, it had seemed that way… "You haven't even invited me out for dinner."
Seto smirked amused, not replying anything at all. He just drove straight to Kaiba Corporation.
Serenity's eyes narrowed slightly in puzzlement as she saw the building of Seto's company ahead of her. He would not drive with her to work, would he? Oh my gosh, he would… What the hell was that supposed to mean? Quirking a suspicious, slightly annoyed eyebrow at the CEO of Kaiba Corporation, Serenity awaited an answer without questioning him.
But Seto simply climbed out of the car and gazed at her expectantly. She didn't want him to open the passenger's door for her, did she? That was not the fierce, redheaded witch he used to know. "Well?"
"Yeah, well?" She responded climbing out of the car. Then she slammed the door shut and put her hands on her hips. "What are we doing at your company? Hello! This is a date if I recall correctly."
At first Kaiba was confused, then a bit shocked at her sudden demeanor but at last he simply chuckled. "I guess you simply have to trust me. Now c'mon."
Reluctantly Serenity followed. She had no clue what could be here that suited any rendezvous in the world. Stepping next to Seto in the lift she looked at the many lights blinking for each floor they were passing. Not too many people were still here. Only a guard down at the entrance had seen them so far. What was on Kaiba's dirty, perverted mind?
Serenity shook her head. Now wasn't the best time to think of his DVD collection!
Ping! The doors slid open to reveal the roof. Immediately her eyebrows shot up as she stared at the scene in front of her than back at Seto. There was only a man, grinning stupidly and bowing. His gray-bluish hair stood almost like Tristan's—as far as Serenity knew he wasn't related to anyone working for Seto.
"Mr. Kaiba, you arrived." The man stated the obvious. "I hope we've prepared everything to your fullest approval."
Seto nodded curtly at the goon within his black suit and took hold of Serenity's hand, pulling her along with him. "I wanted to go with you something special but I didn't want you to feel the need to change clothes. I couldn't come up with anything else."
She gasped, clasping a hand over her mouth as she saw what he had done. After passing by the small pyramid of glass windows in the middle of the roof, there was a small table set for two. Candlelight was burning upon it, in the middle was a vase with a single red rose and a waiter was standing there, only waiting for them to make themselves comfortable.
"Impressed?" He asked and turned to look at her. Doubts were playing within his mind. After all, he was no genius when it came to special ideas and he didn't like trust other people's ideas. "Or it is inadequate?"
"It's…" She didn't quite know what to think of it. There was no word that suited to answer his question. In fact, she could hardly believe that he had come up with this. "…romantic."
Her smile took away some of his doubts and he simply shrugged. "Do you like it?"
Now that was a question she could reply to with certainty. "Yes, I do. Of course, I do. I'm kinda… overwhelmed. No one has ever done something like this for me."
"I was hoping so." He muttered and guided the girl to the table, trying his best to be a gentleman when he pulled the chair out for her to sit down.
Once both of them had settled down, they ordered something to drink. Only few time later the waiter brought their mineral water as well as a bottle of wine.
Serenity lifted her brows. "Wine?"
"Yes. Wine simply belongs to a good dinner. You don't have to drink it, if you don't like any."
"No, I'd like a glass of wine, please." She told the waiter with a friendly smile. Then he filled Seto's glass as well.
"Don't get drunk again." Kaiba stated flatly. "This date is supposed to be perfect. It's going to be the perfect date."
She took a deep breath and regarded the always so determined and resolute CEO. "There's this saying, Seto. We want to be good—not perfect. I think a date should revolve around that saying."
Kaiba stared at her for a moment, then said, "That makes no sense. What's wrong with being perfect?"
"Nothing." Serenity shrugged and fidgeted with the fork that was lying in front of her. "Except for, well, one thing actually." She lifted her gaze to look at Seto. "Have you ever considered that perfection wouldn't have left us being here today?"
"Oh?" Kaiba crossed his arms, building physically a supporting back up.
"If you had been perfect in your flirting skills, I'd wouldn't have seen a different side of you." She put it nicely with 'not been perfect' and smiled. "And I'm not perfect either."
Seto was at a loss of words. True. He would have never considered her helping him, if he himself hadn't been a creep with the matter of chatting up—it had been humiliating! But Serenity-sensei had been humiliating as well—just with a bit more fun… and she was cute… no, no, no!Cuteness didn't exist in Kaiba's world.
Serenity was just… someone he cared about.
Oh dear, the whole day had been so good and now, for the first time in fact, Seto longed for a little smoke… just one.
"May I serve the dinner, sir? Madam?" The waiter looked at them with a smile and Kaiba snapped out of his sinful thoughts. The waiter lifted the bowls one after one. "There we have a classical curry rice Indian style, which I recommend eating with the duck á la orange."
Serenity raised an eyebrow. Duck á la orange? What the--- eeek, she'd rather eat English food—and she meant from England! Brrr…
"Then we have chicken aubergine and a delicate zucchini risotto and…"
"That's enough." Serenity held up her hand and smiled politely. "Just leave us the trolley here and we'll look what might taste delicious, you know?"
The waiter gave her a puzzled, weird look and glanced for reassurance to his employer for the evening. Kaiba smirked and winked at the boy, waving him off. With a nod the waiter bowed and left.
Serenity sighed in relief and stood up, taking Seto's plate with her. "So, what do you like?"
"I--" He rubbed the bridge of his nose and shook his head afterwards. "It's not supposed to be like that. You definitely shouldn't serve me."
"My treat." Serenity grinned, teasing him with her attitude; she pretty well knew that. "Relax, and don't try to be perfect. Just tell me what you'd like to eat before I have to eat everything myself."
His eyes narrowed thoughtful. "You wouldn't be able to eat all this." In response she laughed at him and shook her head no. He sighed in relief, then shrugged. "I take duck and risotto."
Seto's gaze left his plate more than once, taking a glimpse of the girl opposite. She seemed to be enjoying their date, at the moment slurping on of the broccoli spaghetti inside of her mouth. The penny had dropped and he had finally realized whom he wanted to date frequently. Still, the thought of why he liked her weird habits was beyond his imagination. She wasn't perfect after all.
Caroline Jones had been perfect. And yet so exhausting. Seto had to work hard to establish, showing off his freshly leant skills in dating, but all in all he wasn't himself. A headache was growing slowly during the time he spent with Caroline.
With Serenity… well, this was another case. This whole day long he had proved to her that Seto Kaiba could be a gentleman, someone to hang around with, a guy with manners, giving her a wonderful time. But, the fact was, he couldn't keep this up for the rest of his life. He had a company to lead and couldn't spent everyday like this one. He just hoped Serenity would understand.
And yes, he really, truly hoped, something he rarely did. If you look for uncertainty in your life… That's what Serenity had once told him, and now he guessed it was true. But the other things she told him were true as well. Someone you care about… he cared about her.
"What are you staring at?" Serenity raised an eyebrow at Seto, who seemed to be dozing off. "I didn't accidentally teach you to daydream, did I?"
Blue eyes blinked, the CEO's mind snapping out of his thoughts. He stared at her for a moment before he could come up with something to say. "Is the food okay?"
"Oh," She laughed, blushing. "It tastes fantastic! You should try the spaghetti!"
And before Kaiba was even slightly able to reply, Serenity had shoved a fork full with broccoli spaghetti in the direction of his mouth, stopping there abruptly at the closed opening. He stared into her hazel eyes, the nod of her head reassuring him to take a bite, and finally our big boy opened his mouth and chewed on the spaghetti slowly.
Serenity giggled. She could imagine no one had ever even tried to feed the young man, probably never in his entire life. He needed to loosen up! "How does it taste? Do you like it?"
Kaiba just nodded, not knowing how to answer without stuttering. Not only did she dare to feed him, which was childish and stupid, but she also didn't realize! And now, here he sat, not knowing what to tell her. To her, she simply had fun. And if he admitted it, though just to himself, he guessed he had fun as well. Kinda… The corner of his mouth twisted into a smile.
Serenity broadly smiled at him—damn, she wanted to hug the cuteness out of him!
After the dessert Serenity stretched lazily, cat-like, and Seto chuckled. That was certainly a bit of the mutt's influence, but he couldn't help but be amused. "Say, did you always live with the mutt—sorry, your brother?"
"No, why?" Serenity shrugged, the question having caught her unexpected. "I moved in with Joey when my Mom married again two years ago."
"Just wondering. I've never seen you again after Battle City and then you sort of crossed my path often with Yugi's fan group." He crossed his legs and leant back. "What will you do when your brother is married? Even though the thought lets me shudder I suppose he wants to start a family."
"I don't know, yet." She grinned at his curiosity. "As long as I'm still attending university, I can always live on the campus. But I hope to graduate first and then I'll move into my own apartment."
He smiled a little. He liked the thought of Serenity having her own apartment. He could secretly sneak away from the office and spend hours of making out with her when she would be officially his girlfriend. Yes, that was the plan. He just had to convince her to stay with him for the rest of her life… sigh.
Serenity looked upwards into the sky. The night crept slowly forward, erasing daylight and drowning the world little by little into darkness. The sky was clear but the nights were fortunately warm enough, so you could stay out for a long time. So far up from the ground one might think she would be able to touch the stars from here.
Seto suddenly cleared his throat. "Would you like to dance?"
Surprised the girl gaped at him. "Here?"
"Sure. What's the problem?" He shrugged and made his way over to where Serenity was sitting, taking her hand and pulling her up.
"What about music?" She asked when Seto lead her to their "dance floor", the roof of Kaiba Corporation.
With a small smirk Kaiba's eyes only wandered to his 'right hand', that guy with the Tristan-hair-cut, who was never far away from him. Maybe he was his bodyguard or something, Serenity pondered as the goon took off and the music started to play. Seto immediately took the girl's hand into his and wrapped one arm carefully around her waist.
"Isn't that the CD you played for me once?" She looked up into his eyes, her cheeks starting to burn from the sudden closeness.
"Yes." He had chosen this one not to show off his interests—this time. He had chosen it as it was the slowest of rock music he even knew. And so far he liked the effect it resulted: closeness.
Serenity pondered on why he had chosen this kind of music, yet she undoubtedly was glad about it. This way they could dance as close as that time in the club. The music played only lowly as they swayed to the soft rhythm and she almost could hear his heartbeat, increasing as she looked up into his blue eyes.
She smiled a little, a blush rising on her cheeks when he returned her gaze. Truly beautiful was what he held in his arms and he wouldn't be stupid enough to let go ever again. He should have tried to date her in the first place, that much he knew now.
Mere inches separated their faces from each other, and there was no way Seto was able to take his gaze away from the girl's pretty hazel eyes and her pinkish, moist lips. An unknown want to kiss her filled him, and before he even had the time to debate in his mind if it was the right time, their lips met.
Oh, how wonderful she tasted! So soft and warm… A hunger rose within him.
Serenity wasn't that surprised about the kiss. She had wanted him to kiss her, wanted to kiss him! And now she was surprised by one fact only: that boy truly knew how to kiss. He wasn't lying when he snapped at her. And now she wanted to feel more!
But all of a sudden Seto broke the kiss, letting go of Serenity. His eyes had narrowed as he stared at her in shock, shaking his head. He had backed away from the girl and rubbed his temples, almost glaring at her.
"What?" She couldn't help asking. Did her breath smell? Why was he behaving like a complete moron now? She was confused and angry at the same time!
"This was not supposed to happen!" He said matter of fact, almost growling his response.
"Wha--? Are you kidding me? Where did you think a date might lead? Or have you suddenly changed your mind, like when you were with Caroline? You can always go back to her! But don't you dare ever ask me anything again, Kaiba!" She was pointing an accusing finger at him now as she yelled at him in a fit of rage.
"That's not it, Wheeler!" He shot back, angry with her and himself. It wasn't that he didn't like the kiss. "It was not supposed to happen now!"
"What the hell are you on about?" The once trustful big hazel eyes had formed into slits of pure anger. "Are you freaking or what?"
"No!" He yelled at her, regretting it the second he did. Taking a deep breath he tried to calm himself and looked at her, forcing his eyes to soften. "It wasn't the right time to kiss you. I wanted this to be perfect. That kiss should have happened when I would have brought you home, traditional, like you taught me."
"Wha--?" Again her words seemed to get stuck within her mouth. Confused she looked back at him, trying to figure out what was on his mind. He wanted to be perfect! To do everything the way she had taught him… "Oh my God."
"I don't want this to go too fast. I want it to go smooth and just like it should be. I…" His eyes shifted left and right, hoping to find words that would describe how serious he was about Serenity. He did care a lot for her. "I want this to be your perfect date! I don't intent to fail with this…"
Serenity heard what he said and slowly it dawned on her. She wasn't angry with him anymore, but he was a fool to believe she wanted him still to be perfect.
"Will you stop trying to be perfect, stupid boy!" With another yell she cut him off, making his words become stuck in the back of his throat. Her voice had softened and she looked at him almost pitiful. "Why would you do such thing at all?"
Seto grunted. Couldn't she see? "After everything you taught me, I thought the only way to impress you would be perfection. That's what I've learnt during all our lessons."
"Perfection?" Serenity scoffed. He was a hard case. "No, I don't want perfection. What I've seen from Seto Kaiba during the last week was anything but perfection. 'Cause that's the Seto I fell in love with."
"I've been---" anything but perfect? That was how his sentence should have ended with. But his mind stopped again abruptly as it pondered over what she had said. "Wait a second... fell in love? Does that mean...?"
Serenity rolled her eyes. "Figures."
He couldn't take his eyes off of her. She fell in love with him even before he had asked her out? She fell for the man who received punches whenever he tried to chat up a woman? He couldn't quite believe it. She didn't want him to be perfect.
"So, you like me." Slowly he walked to close the gap between them. The corner of his mouth twitched, a little bit of mischief building in his mind. "Why didn't you tell me that before I made the effort to chat up Caroline? You have no clue what torture I've gone through. I might have ended up with serious brain damage from trying to be nice."
Serenity reached out to take his hands with hers and pull him closer. "Will you just shut up now and kiss me again?"
A smile rose on his face, the proper one who had melted Serenity's heart days ago. She lovingly smiled back at him before she touched his lips with hers.
And so they stood, on the roof of Kaiba Corporation, kissing. The amount of time that passed by was the last thing on their mind. What mattered was only the two of them. Nothing else. When the music from the CD ended and the stillness of the night took over, Serenity broke their connection, looking at Seto with a smile that he returned without hesitation. As his arms brushed down her back, leaving the place they had settled before, she shivered.
"What time is it, Seto?"
"Almost eleven. Time to bring you home." He took her hand into his as she nodded solemnly and together they walked back to the lift.
"Seto?"
"Hm?"
"Honestly, who helped you figure out how to spend the day with me?" She smiled at him, pretty well sure he would have been at a loss of ideas that had not come directly from Serenity herself.
Seto shrugged, pretending innocence. "What gives you that idea?"
Serenity just quirked an eyebrow at him, grinning knowingly, about to voice out her greatest fear. "Was it Caroline?"
"No. Certainly not." He almost laughed at this. "If there's no way to avoid telling you, then thank my brother."
"He came up with his?" The lift stopped and they stepped out into the empty hall of Kaiba Corp. Still, Seto was holding Serenity's hand. "My respect. That boy surely knows how to romance."
"That's why I keep him." He smirked satisfied with his joke. "After my mind was clear and I knew that it was you I wanted, the quickest way to come up with something that would impress you, was to call Mokuba. I honestly didn't know how much of a danger he'll become for the female population."
"If he's got anything good from his big brother, I'm sure he'll do the right things." She squeezed Seto's hand before she let go to shift inside the car, as they had walked outside in the parking lot.
"I hope you're right, Serenity." He said and started the engine.
After a twenty minute ride back to where Serenity lived, they walked up the stairs into the building in silence, still holding hands almost timidly. Kaiba stopped in front of the entrance and looked down at the girl who smiled at him, then sighed.
"And there seems to end a wonderful day."
"I was hoping to repeat it some time." Kaiba had to know about if she wanted to see him again, and most of all when. "Of course, not the whole ordeal. I…" His eyes turned serious as he struggled to find words. "You know I'm quite busy at Kaiba Corporation most of the time. There's not much time for me to spend days like this, though I certainly enjoyed it."
"Are you admitting that you had fun?" Serenity grinned as she took both of his hands with her own.
"I'd be a fool not to." He replied smartly as he slid his hands around her waist, pulling her closer. "I'd like to see you again, more often, but…"
"I'm sure we find a way." She smiled, understanding that he still was the hard-working CEO of a huge company. "Just give me a call whenever you'll find ten minutes between all your work." She winked at him and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"That's good. Very good." Softly he let his lips brush against hers, joining yet another tender kiss.
Voices from inside the apartment tore them apart. Serenity raised her eyebrows embarrassed as Kaiba narrowed his eyes, facing the door.
"I can hear Serenity outside with that rich boy."
"I'm sure she's fine."
"I swear if he harmed one hair of hers, then I'm going to kill him!"
"Joey, will you stop peeking trough the key hole!"
"I can't see anything. What if he rapes her?"
"In front of our door? Do you already need the straightjacket?"
"That's enough. I'm going to go outside!"
"Joey!"
"Hey! The fucking door won't open! Moneybags, I dare you!"
Kaiba smirked as Joey pounded on the door with his fists heavily. Seto hadn't expected anything else than the mutt trying to run out and ruin their goodnight kiss. No way! Thinking quickly. Kaiba took hold of the door handle firmly and smirked when Serenity's brother tried to open it without success.
Serenity sighed, embarrassed for her brother. "Sorry Seto, I better get going inside before he throws a fit and hurts himself."
Seto nodded, knowing sooner or later she would go inside anyway, if he wanted or not. "But not without a goodnight kiss."
She chuckled at his demanding tone and kissed his lips briefly before she shrugging. "Goodnight Seto."
"Goodnight." Kaiba stepped back and was about to leave when he turned once again and looked at the girl in front of the yanked open door, in which Joey was standing and glaring daggers at Kaiba. "I'm going to call you."
With a promising smile he left and made his way outside.
"Will you stand there for the rest of the night or will you let me in, Joey?" Serenity tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for entry.
"Huh?" Joey snapped out of his trance and gazed at his sister suspiciously. "Have you spent the whole day with Kaiba? Did he threaten you to do that? Has he done anything to you? Are you okay, Serenity? Did he harass you? What were you two doing out here? Where have you been the whole day? Did I already ask you if you were okay?"
"Goodnight, Joey." Serenity pecked her brother the cheek and left for her bedroom. She had a lot of thinking to do. Or maybe it was fantasizing… or recalling… or just grinning stupidly.
Who would have thought that something that started out of pity and moneymaking would turn into something like love?
Serenity yawned as she fell down on her bed and smiled, thinking of a certain brunette.
At the other side of Domino Seto Kaiba entered his quiet mansion and steered up the stairs to be in private as soon as possible. He made a mental note to thank Mokuba for his ideas about where to spend the day. But that would have to wait until tomorrow. Now he just wanted to be alone and dream about his very first real girlfriend: Serenity Wheeler.
-
End of chapter eleven.
-
A/N: Please review! I'd like to know what you think. It was more difficult for me to write 'the date' than their arguing—believe me. Reviews appreciated!