Chapter Three: Flavored Coffee
So I took long in updating, sorry! It's just that I never knew so many people would review. Here's the chapter.
$*$*$*$*$*Serenity's Room$*$*$*$*$*
"Ok, Serenity, calm down. You don't want to look stressed on your first day of work." Serenity calmed herself as she examined herself in her mirror.
Her hair was nice and combed and smelled of citrus fruit. Her sand colored boots were nice and polished with not a single mark on them. Her pink collar shirt fit snugly around her and it was flawless: It had a single trace of a wrinkle. Her tan pants were pressed.
"I should look professional enough." and she glanced at the clock.
8:13
"Oh man, I have to eat breakfast quickly or else I won't get a good seat on the bus." and she raced downstairs.
$*$*$*$*$*The Kitchen$*$*$*$*$*
Joey sat patiently at the kitchen table. He wasn't in the mood for eating.
"Hi, Joey." Serenity greeted as she raced to the fridge and got some orange juice. Then she noticed the look on his face.
"What's wrong?"
"Oh nothing! I'm just waiting here for my sister who's gonna start work today at the place which my greatest enemy owns. I'm just peachy! I don't have to worry about my sister, I don't have to worry about the fact that my enemy will control you for the whole day. I'm just gonna sit here and watch TV." Joey sarcastically explained as he shot a sharp look in Serenity's direction.
"Joey, we went over this yesterday." Serenity complained as she poured herself a glass of orange juice, being careful not to splash a single drop on her ensemble.
"You're not going." Joey firmly stated.
"Why not?" Serenity whined.
"Because, Mr. Moneybags is a mean, snobby, arrogant, ego-headed jerk who'll probably make you call him 'master', and that's the least of my problems."
"He'll probably be in business meetings all day." Serenity reminded.
"Seren, I just don't want an officer at my door at night saying that you've been hurt."
"Joey, I am hurt. You keep treating me like a little girl! Give me some space, please! I can take care of myself, now if you don't mind, I have a job to get to." she snapped as she left for the door.
$*$*$*$*$*The Front Door$*$*$*$*$*
Serenity, who was in a bad mood already because of the fact that her brother thinks she is too irresponsible to work at KaibaCorp, opened the door to find Tristan.
"Tristan? What are you doing here?" Serenity asked.
"And hello to you too, Serenity."
"Sorry...I'm kind of mad at my brother." Serenity shyly admitted.
"You have no reason to be." Tristan said.
"Why not?" Serenity asked as she wondered whether Tristan and Joey had some conspiracy going on.
"Because, he's worried that Seto Kaiba's gonna hurt you, and I'm worried too." Tristan blushed as he said the last part.
Serenity took in a deep breath.
"Tristan, I'm not a little girl anymore. Please let me leave so I can go to work."
"But just last night you were telling us how big of a jerk Kaiba is."
"But that's before I got the job." Serenity explained.
"But he'll hurt you." came Joey's voice as he entered the conversation.
"No he won't. I can protect myself, if he tries anything funny, which I think he probably won't."
"I wouldn't put it past him." Joey and Tristan murmured.
Serenity rolled her eyes. "I gotta go." she said as she tried to gain passage to the outside world, but Tristan blocked her way.
"Tristan!" Serenity groaned.
"You're going to work in my car, so I can assure you get there safely."
"Joey! Do something!" Serenity whined.
"Serenity, I think Tristan's doing this for your own good."
Serenity rolled her eyes once again. "Fine" 'at least it will beat sitting on a crowded bus.'
$*$*$*$*$*Tristan's Car$*$*$*$*$*
Tristan kept blushing every time he eyed Serenity sitting in his passenger seat. He was enjoying this ride because for once, Duke wasn't around to keep him from her, and Joey was nowhere in sight, so there was no "Stay away from ma sista!!!" being heard.
'Joey and Tristan have a conspiracy. They're H-O-P-I-N-G to hurt Serenity.' Serenity hummed to herself in the tune of "Sitting In A Tree". She was NOT enjoying this ride. "First comes mistrust, then comes the damage, then comes Serenity in a baby carriage." She mumbled this loud enough for Tristan to hear, but he was too wrapped up in his fantasies about his wedding day, with beautiful Serenity as his bride.
"Why can't I be trusted?" she suddenly asked the spellbound Tristan.
"Huh?" Tristan asked as he came out of his trance. He blushed very much thinking of how he just made an idiotic fool of himself.
"(Groan) Why don't you and Joey trust me?"
"We do trust you, Serenity, honest. It's that Kaiba jerk we don't like."
"I'm gonna work for him, and that's only until I can pay my tuition fees. It's not like this is a permanent job or anything." she explained.
"Still, Joey asked me to walk you in on your first day of work, and that's a promise that I'm gonna keep." Tristan said.
"When did he ask you to walk me in?" Serenity angrily asked.
"Last night."
"Why?"
"I keep on telling you this, Serenity, we care for you and don't want you to get hurt."
'The last time someone walked me to my destination was when I was in Preschool. Honestly! What do they think Kaiba is capable of? They think me working for him is like leaving a baby with a serial murderer.' Serenity thought to herself.
Serenity remained quiet the rest of the car ride.
$*$*$*$*$*KaibaCorp$*$*$*$*$*
Tristan grabbed Serenity's hands and led her inside the lobby, blushing madly. They came to an abrupt stop.
There stood Seto Kaiba, with a curious look on his face. Mokuba, standing right next to him, beamed with joy to see his new favorite secretary. Kaiba noticed this and rolled his eyes.
"Well, Serenity, I guess you were smart enough not to bring your brother, so there's no need for the lecture on pets not being allowed."
"Hey! Serenity's doing you a favor by working here! You don't even deserve to be in her presence, you dragon!" Tristan yelled.
"Tristan, please..." Serenity tried to calm as she put her face behind his body. How could she look at the man who controlled her paychecks (From Monday-Friday 8:00 am to 4:00 am and from noon to five on Saturdays.) when Tristan was making a scene out of everything?
"Yes, Tristan please, I must show my new secretary her duties." Kaiba said.
"I'm not leaving." Tristan declared as he clenched his fists.
"Tristan, you said you'd walk me in and you did so...." Serenity began.
"Leave." Kaiba snapped and finished.
"You better do what he says." Mokuba whispered to Tristan. Mokuba just wanted to get Kaiba and Serenity alone: Cut Tristan out of the picture.
"I heard that, Mokuba." Kaiba said as his flawless trench coat flowed out of the room.
"Sorry, big brother." Mokuba timidly said back knowing that Kaiba controlled another important paycheck: His allowance.
"Serenity, are you actually going to go with that creep?" Tristan asked.
"Tristan, it's just a job. I need the money for college, you know that."
"Yeah but.....I'm worried about you."
"You're so sweet, but I can take care of myself." Serenity reassured.
Tristan blushed like a cherry in July.
"Ahem.." Mokuba cleared his throat as he tried to break apart this little conversation.
'My brother never had to compete for anything in his life (Ok, maybe except against Yugi, but only in duel monsters) and he won't start now.' Mokuba thought to himself.
$*$*$*$*$*Serenity's Office$*$*$*$*$*
Serenity finally reassured Tristan that she could handle herself, and Kaiba if needed. So after she watched Tristan drive away, she hurriedly followed Kaiba down the long halls to a another hallway, but this one was different.
It had cerulean tiles, and pure white ceilings. Beautiful glass doors with a Blue Eyes White Dragon sketched within them. Serenity looked through the glass doors and wondered if that was her new office.
"You're lucky, Serenity, not everybody gets an office like this." Kaiba said answering her question.
Outside the doors was a little white box.
"Have you ever heard of Biometrics, Serenity?" Kaiba asked.
"No, Kaiba." Serenity simply responded.
"It's the science of using a person's voice, fingerprints, and retinas to identify them, and it's 'Master' during working hours."
Serenity looked up at Kaiba with a blank face. "Excuse me?" she humbly asked.
"Seto!!!" Mokuba tried to scold.
Kaiba was amused by Mokuba's crush on the Wheeler girl, so he decided to be generous.
"Fine, Serenity?"
"Yes?"
"You call me Mr. Kaiba."
Fair enough since that was his name and you had to give your boss some respect, so neither Mokuba nor Serenity objected.
"Put your eye in front of the green circle." Kaiba commanded.
Serenity was a little anxious at first. She looked at the white box that had a few number keys and a green radar-like circle on it.
"What for?" she asked.
"You'll see."
Serenity id as she was told and put her left eye in front of the circle. Kaiba pressed a few buttons on the number pad and then finally a gust of air came with a clicking into Serenity's eyes.
"Relax, it was just air and it only took a picture of your retina. For security reasons." Kaiba explained as the sketched doors to Serenity's office opened.
The office looked was onyx. Beautiful onyx desks, bookshelves, and even an onyx black couch. The desk and the bookshelves were trimmed with gold. The shimmering black tiles held only one gray rug under Serenity's desk. The back of the office had a HUGE window that took up the whole wall giving Serenity a view not of the industrialized city, but of an old park nearby. Serenity pressed the couch and her finger was practically absorbed! If her couch was this comfy, Serenity really wanted to sit in that leather chair that was perched silently behind the desk.
"Ok, Serenity, this is what you'll have to do............" and Kaiba continued telling Serenity about filing and taking down appointments and something about getting him coffee everyday, but Serenity was too wrapped up in her new office that all she could do was try to pay attention and simply smile and nod.
$*$*$*$*$*An Hour Later$*$*$*$*$*
Serenity squirmed in her leather chair. It was so comfy! She swiveled it jauntily as she falsely typed documents onto her onyx black computer. (AN: DELL all the way! I wish I had one. *Sighs*)
Then the clock struck twelve.
"Mr. Kaiba's coffee break." Serenity told herself as she went down to the cafeteria to get some coffee for Kaiba.
$*$*$*$*$*The Cafeteria$*$*$*$*$*
Serenity was allowed to get some coffee for herself. After she got two cups of Java, she looked at the condiments: Creme, little packets of milk, sugar, that Equal fake sugar stuff, and...
"Lemons!" Serenity gasped. Lemons were what her mother used to put in her tea when she was little and oh how it pleased her! There they were, sitting all sliced up in a little glass bowl.
After Serenity squeezed some lemon into her coffee, she grabbed the two cups and started heading upstairs when she stumbled into someone.
"Umm...hello." she quietly squeaked.
"Are you the new secretary?" a high pitched voice asked.
"Uhh....yeah." Serenity said looking up to see a woman dressed in a black business dress with black hair tied tightly back in a ponytail.
"Well, hello, my name's Marie, former assistant to the chief marketing producer." the woman said extending her hands.
"My name's Serenity." Serenity answered easing up a bit and returning the handshake.
"Boy, do I feel sorry for you. Being a secretary or an assistant is murder." Marie said taking pride in her new job.
"What do you do now?" Serenity asked.
"Well, I was an assistant til one day I showed my boss some of my ideas for advertising this new product. Anyway, when they saw my ideas, they went ecstatic, so now my old boss is now my co-boss, and you wanna know how really I got that job?"
"How?"
"Well, I always put perfectly sharpened pencils on my boss's desk."
"And?" Serenity asked feeling a little confused.
"My dear, it's never too late to learn the fine art of sucking-up. Sharpening the pencils was one of those little things that count with you boss."
"Oh, ok." said Serenity "Well, I gotta get going and deliver this coffee to my boss." she said das she sped off upstairs to Kaiba's office.
$*$*$*$*$*Kaiba's Office$*$*$*$*$*
After dropping off her coffee at her desk, Serenity entered Kaiba's office and put his coffee on his desk.
Kaiba looked up at her from his laptop. "You actually remembered that I asked you to bring me coffee everyday?"
"Ummm...yeah. Didn't the other secretaries?"
"My only previous secretary could barely climb the stairs to the cafeteria, so no."
"Oh, well I'll be leaving now." Serenity said trying to exit the office.
"Wait, Serenity..." Kaiba called just as she was about to leave the office.
"Yes, Mr. Kaiba?"
"What did you put in my coffee?"
"Nothing, sir."
"It tastes...sour."
'Oh no!' Serenity thought.
"Uhh.. I can explain, Mr. Kaiba-"
"What for, Serenity, this actually tastes good." Kaiba said sipping his coffee some more.
"Really?"
"I said I did, didn't I?"
"Oh, that's great, but I should be leaving now." Serenity said as she tried to once again exit.
"Serenity?"
"Yes, sir?"
"Could you make coffee like this everyday?"
"Yes, sir." and Serenity finally exited the room.
$*$*$*$*$*Serenity's Office$*$*$*$*$*
"Maybe, the lemon flavored coffee is one of those little things that Marie was talking about. Maybe I could get a promotion and in no time, pay for college!" Serenity said to herself.
"You don't need coffee to get a promotion." Mokuba said as he played his Game Boy on the black couch.
"I don't?"
"Nope, didn't you notice?"
"Notice what?"
"My brother called you 'Serenity' not Wheeler or another one of those nicknames he has for you and your friends."
"I never thought about that....."
Serenity was left thinking about that single term used for her all day.
$*$*$*$*$*$*$*$*$*$*$*$*$*$*$*$*$*$*$*$*
Sorry I took so long in updating, it's just that I'm not exactly a Seto/Serenity fan anymore, I'm a Seto/Kisara. But don't worry, I'll still continue this fic.
Tootles,
Celestial Night
