disclaimer: "i do not own yugioh."

"talk"

'thoughts'

"Dammit. Damn it all to hell." Seto growled as he threw the files away. He couldn't concentrate at all.

Ever since his little fight with tea yesterday, things hadn't been so good for the CEO. He had sent her away out of sheer anger, but didn't know he would regret his decision the next day.

'She deserved it.' he tried to assure himself, but then why did he feel bad. Maybe he should have given her a chance to explain herself.

'And make up more lies.' He thought. No. What he did was right. She lied to him. All this time, she had lied to him and would have continued to, if he hadn't found out.

The very beginning of their so-called "relationship" was a lie. He thought she was single and she told him she was. A lie. She was dating that marik creep, but she hid it from him. And what a fool he was to believe her. Then, he married her, thinking she loved him. Another lie. She never loved him. She was playing with him all along. While he poured his feelings out for her, she laughed at him behind his back.

'But she doesn't seem that kind of person.' He reasoned with himself.

But how could he be sure? No nice girl would keep a relationship with an old boyfriend after marriage. And tea did. That's why marik came back for her. He should have figured something was wrong when marik appeared at his office. And the look of love he gave tea was a screaming proof. And seto was too blind to notice that. Tea's behavior changed dramatically after her meeting with marik. Then the party where she disappeared for a while. She said she used the bathroom, but now he knew marik was in there with her.

All this time, she loved another man but stayed with him nonetheless. Now he knew what that reason was. She wanted to destroy him, his company and his reputation. And she had succeeded in doing all that. She had made a fool out of him, thus ruining his reputation. She had done quite some damage to his company and it's reputation. And as for him, she had hurt him the most.

He had loved her more then anything in the world. He had trusted her with his heart and she broke it. He cared for her and was willing to do anything for her happiness. And what hurt the most is that he still loved her. He still wanted to make her smile, make her laugh and wanted her to be happy. And if her happiness lied with marik, so be it. If she would rather be with marik then him, then he wouldn't' stand in their way.

He was shaken out of his thoughts by a knock on the door. He quickly fixed his appearance that resembled that of a defeated man, put on his cold stare and said come in. the door opened and tea's father came in.

"Hello Mr. Gardner." Seto said in a businessman manner.

"Yes, hello." The older man said. "Do you mind if I take a seat. Our discussion might take long."

"Of course." Seto said, pointing to a chair in front of him. He was well aware of their topic of discussion.

"Tea… she told me about…" the man began but couldn't find words to describe the situation.

Tea had called him as soon as she stepped in her old house. Upon hearing the seriousness of the situation, her father cancelled the rest of the trip and flew back home. He was a bit furious at tea for hiding it form seto for so long, and not telling him about marik even when he came back. But her tear streaked face and puffy red eyes melted his heart. He knew she was hurt and part of it was his fault. So he was here to make amends.

"It's not entirely her fault. You see, I was the one who asked her to marry you. And to honor my wish, she married you. And--." But seto cut him off.

"So the you forced her to marry me." this was even worst the he thought.

"No, no." her father quickly said. Seto glared and he sighed. "Well, kind of, yes. But--." He was cut off, yet again.

"Thank you for coming here Mr. Gardner. But I think this discussion is over." Seto said coldly.

"You have to listen to me. She—."

"I don't want to listen to anything. Please leave so I can get back to my work." Seto said and started working, signaling the end of their meting. Her father sighed, and got up.

"She loves you," her father said before leaving. Seto's form stiffened but he didn't look up. "She hasn't eaten anything since yesterday and has been crying non stop. She is sorry and--."

"Mr. Gardner… please." Seto said, trying to keep his voice cold and emotionless. Her father bowed his head and walked out of the room.

Seto closed his eyes, thinking about what he just heard. She hadn't eaten anything since yesterday. Was she crazy? She would get sick and weak if she kept that up. And she had been crying as well. What if she collapsed of exhaustion? Why was he thinking all that? He didn't care what happened to her? Then why did he have the strong urge to se her and make sure she was okay?

He tuned his chair towards the glass window behind him. He stared at his reflection in the glass. Suddenly, tea's face appeared besides his. She was smiling, her face radiating with beauty and joy. But then it turned sad and tears fell from her crystal eyes. Unconsciously, seto reached forward with his hand and attempted to wipe the tear away, but only touched cold glass.

Another knock on the door signified the presence of someone. Seto already knew who it was. So he didn't turn around.

"Mr. Gardner, I respect you because you're tea's father, but I refuse to listen to anything else you have to say." Seto said coldly.

"What about respect for your own father seto?" came a different, but familiar voice. Seto's eyes widened in realization. But it was impossible. He wouldn't have… only one way to make sure. He swiftly turned around and faced the same man he thought he got rid of many years of.

He hadn't forgotten those cold blue eyes, or that hateful face of the man who had adopted him years ago. He stood there, wearing his old red suit, smiling at seto's disbelief. Gozoburo kaiba, seto's stepfather.

"Surprised to se me son? Haven't you realized by now that you can never be rid of me." gozoburo said, causally walking into the office.

"I'm not your son." Seto growled.

"You proved that a long time ago." Gozoburo said coldly and took the seat tea's father had previously occupied.

"What do you want old man?" seto demanded. Gozoburo smirked.

"Always demanding, aren't you seto? Proving your power over others." Gozoburo said.

"Answer me." seto said through seethed teeth.

"You're the owner of kaiba corp. surely you know what I want seto."

"If you want kaiba corp. back, don't think I'll just hand it to you." seto said.

"And I don't expect anything less from you. I want you to struggle and squirm when I snatch it from you."

"And how are you going to do that?" seto said smiling superiorly.

"The same way you did seto."

"I had money and influence, enough to get your dogs to eat out of my hands. But you, you have none. You don't have any money or power. You have been away for too long old man.

"On the contrary seto, I have everything." Seto stared at him in disbelief so he explained. "When you hi8miated me and took my company away from me, I was devastated. I went into hiding, not wanting to show anyone my defeated face. But the fire of revenge burnt deep in me. And it was hat fire that motivated me to begin again. I started from scratch and now I have everything I had before. I have a company and am the owner of almost half of the shared of kaiba corp. soon, I will own it fully."

"You're not the owner of 40 of kaiba corp. shares. G. Corp. is." Seto said. Gozoburo smirked.

"And what do you think G. corp. stands for seto?" gozoburo asked. Then it hit him. "G" stood for gozoburo.

"Gozoburo corp." seto said in shock.

"And once I take over kaiba corp. I'll finally regain my true identity, the one that you stole from me. I'll finally be gozoburo kaiba."

"I won't let it happen." Seto said determinedly. And gozoburo laughed.

"I'm half done seto. You can't do anything to stop me."

"What about marik? How did you get him to join you?" seto asked.

"Marik was a poor, worthless man, much like you, before I found him. I saw in his what I saw in you years ago, determination to go all the way. So I did what I did years ago. I took him in and trained him. I taught him all that I taught you. And just like you, he had one weakness that I exploited. You had your little brother and he had his little girlfriend."

"So basically, you used marik and hid yourself in shadows." Seto summarized.

"Yes my son. I did use him. And he proved to be of good use. I wanted to keep myself hidden and surprise you on the day of takeover, but some complications arose."

"What complications?" seto demanded. It better not have anything with tea, or…

"You see, when I took marik, he only wanted tea back and had no interest in the company. We made a deal; he'd gladly give up the company to me if the plan doesn't hurt tea in any way." gozoburo explained.

"And let me guess, you didn't keep your part of the deal." Seto said coldly.

"You know me too well." gozoburo smirked. "I told your old friend duke to stalk her. I wanted to ruin you, like you ruined me. And what better way then to start with your family. And if my resources are right, tea is not living with you anymore. You kicked her out."

"Shut up." seto yelled. Hoe dares he? Gozoburo had no right.

"I told duke to feed you all the lies."

"What?" seto was surprised. Lies? What lies did he mean?

"Do you remember how all this started seto? With a simple game of chess. Now, I've set the stage again, with live humans as pawns. The board is set. The pawns are in motion. I have made my move and already have you cornered seto. Now let's see how you get out of this one. Make your move or it'll be check mate for you."

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