Hello? Is this thing on? Right. Sorry for no other author notes, but the computer kept on eating it, so I gave up. Now I found out what I was doing wrong! HAHA! Well, hope you like the story so far and thanks to everyone who reviewed. I really appreciate it and it helps motivate me to write the story. Oh, I'm sorry for not updating sooner, but I've been really busy. I'll try to speed up the others. Thank you! Baka-green

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The short walk to Kaiba's office seemed to be three times as long as it usually would.

Oh, god. Oh, god. I'm going to be fired for sure. Were the only words that echoed through her mind. I have to think positive. Right. What did I do that would make me get fired anyway? Just take a deep breath and keep on walking.

The door was coming closer, but seemed scarier than any other door Mai had ever seen. She felt small when standing in front of the door to Kaiba's office. She raised her hand and listened to the three hollow knocks.

"Come in." Mai let out the breath that she didn't even know she was holding when she heard the cold voice. No sign of mercy or kindness in it at all.

Mai slowly opened the door and peeked inside. It was rather orderly. Shelves lined the walls filled with books and notebooks. The back wall was not a wall at all, but a window overlooking the city below. In front of the very large window was a desk piled with papers, notebooks and a computer sat on the corner. The man sitting behind the desk was obviously a businessman.

He had rough features from his cold hazel eyes to his big hands. Locks of his slightly long brown hair fell in front of his eyes.

"Mai Valentine, I presume." His cold voice said, breaking the silence.

Mai stepped in and closed the door behind her before giving a quick bow and saying, "Yes, I am."

"Please, have a seat, Ms. Valentine." He said, gesturing to the seat on the opposite side of the desk that he sat at.

Mai nodded and hurried over to the chair. She wanted to know why he had called her here, but her throat was too dry to say anything.

"I know that you have much to do, so I will just get to the point. Kaiba Corp. is opening a whole new line of products. Like all new products, they need to be tested and we do not have enough workers in that department. I was hoping that you would take the job." Kai folded his hands and rested his elbows on the desk.

Mai was surprised by his offer, but grateful that she wasn't about to get fired. "I-I would be honored, Mr. Kaiba." She managed to say despite her dry throat.

"Good. You can start tomorrow. Go to the front desk and ask Mrs. Ogata for the details. You are free to go." He said that as if he was happy to have her out of his sight. Mai, not wanting to get on his bad side, got to her feet and hurried to the door. Before exiting, she gave a quick bow and left.

A couple of people glanced at Mai and a few of her friends asked her what all that was for. She would just smile and say, "No more boring job for me." And be on her way leaving the others confused.

She hurried down the stairs, and didn't even bother to count them as in her regular schedule. With every step she took, she thought, No more sitting in a cubicle all day. No more filling out paperwork.

She was so caught up in her cheerful thoughts, she barely knew what was happening when she felt a quick pain on her shoulder and found herself on the floor. She suddenly forgot what she was so happy about and started to yell. "Why don't you watch where your going, you jerk! Don't you have any-" She cut off when she realized who she was talking to. "It's you!" She said pointing to the blonde haired punk from this morning.

He looked like he was about to yell, but restrained himself from doing so. "Sorry, but I'm not 'you'." He held out a hand to her. "Names Joey Wheeler."

Mai was a little reluctant to take his hand and pull herself to her feet. "Mai-"

"Mai Valentine." Joey finished for her. "You look like you're in a hurry, but I wanted to apologize for this morning, and I guess now." He began to blush. "Would you like to go out for diner sometime?" He stared down at his feet, expecting to be rejected.

Mai, who was surprised by his question, was about to simply say 'no', but couldn't when she saw the look on his face. "I-I'm a bit busy right now. Let me check my schedule and I'll get back to you. I should have my schedule planned out by tomorrow." She said quickly. She felt better to see the surprised yet excited look on Joey's face, but didn't feel to good about her answer. She had just agreed to a date with an almost total stranger.

A grin crept across Joey's face and his blushing began to decrease. "What time do you get off work?"

"Five o' clock." She answered.

"Ok. I'll see you tomorrow at five o' clock at the entrance of this building." He said and turned to continue to run up the stairs. He turned to waves to her and almost tripped over his feet. Mai smiled and weakly waved back, but as soon as his back was turn, her smile faded and was replaced with a frown and her cheeks turned a bright red.

"Oh no! What am I going to do?" She grew lost in thought about what she was going to do. How she was going to get out of this mess.

A small clap snapped her out of her thought and she remembered what she was supposed to be doing. She sped down the stairs as fast as she could, occasionally skipping a few.

She nearly skids on the tiled floor as she came to a stop at the front desk.

The lady at the desk looked above her glasses at Mai then looked back down at her papers, continuing to write. "Ms. Valentine, I presume."

"Yes." She said, trying to catch her breath.

Without looking up, Mrs. Ogata picked up a stack of papers and handed it to Mai. "This has all the details to your new job. If you have any questions, please answer by tomorrow."

"I have to read all of this by tomorrow?" Mai asked, a little shocked by how much she was being expected to read in one night.

Mrs. Ogata glanced up at her. "Yes. Unless you prefer to walk around all day without knowing what to do, I would advise that."

Not wanting to cause a scene, she nodded. "Thank you, Mrs. Ogata." She gave a small bow and turned to leave for the employee dressing room. She expected for Mrs. Ogata to stop her, but she never did.

She waited until she turned the corner before she began to run. Mai clenched the papers to her chest, wondering what could be within it. She rushed into the room, slowing her pace but still going considerably fast pace, and hurried to her locker.

She was halfway through changing when Julie came up beside her.

"Well…Is there something you want to tell me?" She asked expectantly.

Mai looked up at her. "No…Why?"

"Come on. You can tell me." Julie insisted.

"What are you talking about?"

"Come on! I saw you with that boy! So, who is he?"

"Oh, that was Joey Wheeler. You know, the guy I was talking about this morning." Mai had totally forgotten about her encounter with Joey. Just thinking about it made her blush.

"I see that you're blushing. What happened?"

"Nothing happened…" Mai said quietly, lost in her own thoughts.

"Mai. I am your friend and by accepting my friendship, you agreed to tell em everything. What happened?" Julie asked sternly.

A little confused because she never agreed to that, she cleared her throat and said, "He asked me out."

"Out? Like on a date?" Julie asked, sounding surprised.

Mai felt her cheeks begin to grow hot. "Yeah…"

"Well…what did you say?"

"I said I wasn't sure, so I would get back to him…"

"You have to say yes."

"What? I barely even know him."

"Mai. You are still hanging on to that boy from fifteen years ago. Let him go. If you go out with this 'Joey' guy, you might forget about him. It's for your own sake and you don't have a choice in the matter." Julie stuck her tongue out at Mai. "You don't have to really like him. Just go on a few dates and dump him."

Mai thought for a moment and a smile crept across her face. "I guess that you're right. I'll just dump him."

Julie patted Mai on the back. "Good to see you back to your senses."