Chapter 2

Niki straightened her school uniform as the elevator stopped on the 25th floor. She walked into the hall and passed the secretary who was talking to Kaiba through the intercom apparently telling him of her arrival.

She took a deep breath and entered the office and closed the door behind her, "Mr. Kaiba?"

Kaiba's cold eyes moved away from his laptop and locked on her, "sit."

Niki took her place at one of the chairs near his desk, "you wanted to see me?"

His eyes narrowed at her, "you know, I should fire you on account of that prank of yours today."

Niki held in a groan, "no offense, sir, but it was just a prank. Besides, I didn't even sabotage it. Two boys in class did it." 'for ME of course…'

His glare intensified, "so you say."

Niki frowned, "Sir, it was JUST a school prank! No need to get so serious!"

He stood up wit a growl, "if you haven't noticed, Miss Walker, I have a company to run! I have to be serious! Now, I'll overlook this if you drop the subject!"

Niki stood up, "and I appreciate that but you need to be more lenient, sir!"

He clenched his fists, "if you haven't noticed, I'm being lenient with you now. So I suggest you leave before I change my mind. Just be thankful you're one of my best workers. Now leave."

Niki stood up sharply and glared at him, "sir, with all due respect, why are you so cold-hearted?"

"I said GET OUT!" he snarled making Niki jump in fear. She narrowed her eyes and walked out the office trying with all her strength not to slam the door. Kaiba sighed and rubbed his forehead with his two forefingers, "why me? why does my best worker have to be the most stressful one to work with?"

Niki slammed her office door and took a deep breath to keep from screaming in frustration. Why had she snapped like that? She never had before. Was it from overwork? Lack of sleep? Either way she was exhausted to the point she could just drop to the floor and fall into a unconscious state.

She sat at her desk and sighed. She looked over to her phone and noticed two messages. She pressed the playback button and leaned back in her chair while playing with a pencil in her right hand.

"hey Niki, it's me." Came Joey's voice, "the gang and I were just wonderin' if ya wanted to hang at the arcade after you got off…" His voice seemed to trail off, "well…anyway…call me back when you get this message. Later."

She sighed as she heard the beep signaling the end of the message. Not only did she hate the egotistical bastard she called a 'boss' for making her work long hours, she hated him for keeping her from her social life. Her raven hair flew forward as she shot upright at the sound of the person in the next message.

"Miss Walk…um…Niki, can you stop by my office before you leave? I want to talk to you."

Curiosity, shock, and anger struck her as she recognized the voice to belong to Kaiba. She looked at the digital timer on her phone to see the call was from last night when she worked overtime. 10:56. She had left about ten minutes earlier that night.

'why on earth would he want to see me?' Niki thought, 'I thought he'd gone home last night…'

Niki groaned and looked at her watch. 5:25. She stood up and grabbed her suitcase packing it with all her necessary paperwork. She opened her door and walked out with her head down only to bump into something making her crash to the floor.

She brushed her raven hair out of her face and started to pick up her papers that fell from her suitcase. "I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking!" She apologized standing up with her messily stuffed suitcase in her arms.

"Apparently," a cold voice said making her stop in her tracks. Niki looked up to meet a pair of cold blue eyes.

"M-Mr. Kaiba! Sorry!" she apologized more direct this time, "I was just-"

"being careless," he interrupted, "why leaving so soon?"

Niki sighed and rubbed her forehead with her two forefingers (A/N: Deja vu! XD), "I'm not feeling all that well…I think I've just been pushing myself too hard…"

He stepped to the side his cold gaze never lifting, "get home and get some rest then."

Niki blinked and looked up at him. Her maroon eyes looked into his blue ones asking why he was being so nice. Unlike her soft, tired ones his were emotionless and cold not letting her find out her answer. "Thank you," were the only words she could mutter from being lost in his eyes. She turned away from him and continued her way to her car outside the building.