Chapter 22

It was Monday morning, and Yugi, Joey, and the others were already in the classroom, just talking and waiting for class to start. As they were catching up on what they did over the weekend, Alex and Kaiba suddenly entered. Although others had seen them hanging out more often for a while now, there was definitely something different. It was as though Alex and Kaiba were only focused on each other, just talking. Joey saw them and frowning, he muttered,

"There's something wrong with this."

Yugi sighed and replied, "That's what you've been saying for the past few days now. It isn't that strange to see them hanging out anymore."

Joey replied, "I know that, but there's something even more off."

Tea looked at Alex and Kaiba and immediately, she understood what Joey meant. For one, Kaiba seemed more relaxed. As for Alex, it was as though she was glowing, and Tea had a pretty good guess what that could mean. She commented,

"I think Joey's onto something."

Joey nodded and replied, "Yeah, Tea gets it. Kaiba definitely must have done something to Alex."

He looked like he was ready to confront Kaiba when Tristan held him by the arm and said,

"Too early in the morning."

Tea added, "Let's stick with the plan. I'll talk to Alex around lunchtime and convince her to hang out with just me. I'll find out what's going on."

Joey calmed down and nodding, he replied, "Thanks, Tea."

The atmosphere around them got calmer, and soon afterwards, the homeroom teacher entered to start off classes for the day.

The bell to signal the start of lunchtime rang, and Yugi and the others (except for Tea) headed out of the classroom to their usual spot on the roof. Meanwhile, Alex and Kaiba were talking, preparing to go over a few new ideas Alex had come up with yesterday in regards to locating the hacker. However, Tea approached them and said,

"Hey, Alex. I know this is sudden, but can we hang out? Just the two of us?"

Alex was about to reply when Kaiba said, "Gardner, you're not stealing Ms. Lawrence away from me."

Immediately, Alex blushed upon hearing Kaiba's reply, and seeing Alex's face, Kaiba coughed and added,

"I meant that I know you're scheming something. You want to give Wheeler another chance."

Tea sighed and replied, "I swear, Kaiba, that isn't it. I really do just want to talk to Alex alone. We'll have lunch here, and if you want to be sure, you can go up on the roof and watch Joey the entire time."

Kaiba was about to reply again when Alex looked at him and said, "It's ok. I would rather discuss work, but I guess that can wait? We can talk about it in your office later."

Kaiba sighed and replied, "I suppose that will have to do." He glared at Tea and added, "If I hear of any scheming, I won't hold back."

Tea rolled her eyes and replied, "Yeah, yeah."

Kaiba was about to leave when Alex touched his arm and said, "Wait a minute, please."

She took out a lunch box from her bag and handing it to him, she said, "I hope it's ok. I wanted to thank you for the other day, and I think you'll like what's inside. I had planned for us to eat together, but I guess this will have to do."

Kaiba took the lunchbox and took a quick look inside. He smiled for a moment, as he could see what Alex meant. His face returned to its neutral expression, and he said,

"Thank you. I'll see you later then."

Alex smiled, and Kaiba then left the classroom. Tea then sat down where Yugi normally sat and she commented,

"Finally. I thought he'd never leave."

As Alex took out her lunchbox, she smiled a bit and replied, "He's not so bad."

Tea looked at Alex, wondering how to bring up what she wanted to say. Alex looked back at her and said,

"Ok, I know you didn't just want to have girl talk. What's going on?"

Alex figured that it was best to get right to the point rather than beat around the bush. Tea replied,

"I guess it's best to be direct. What's going on between you and Kaiba?"

Alex replied, "What do you mean? Kaiba's my boss, so I have to talk to him. But I can't talk about any work-related things."

Tea replied, "Alex, that's not what I meant. Something's going on between you two. What is it?"

Alex looked confused and replied, "I don't know what you mean."

Tea replied, "Ok, then let me put this another way. Did you dump Joey for Kaiba?"

Alex was surprised by the question and replied, "What? I am not that kind of person, and I'm insulted that you'd imply otherwise."

Tea replied, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way. I guess we've all been stressed out because Joey can't stop talking about the two of you. So I offered to talk to you and find out what's going on."

Alex nodded, finally starting to understand the situation. She replied, "I suppose it doesn't help that Kaiba and I have been hanging out a lot together, even though it's about work."

Tea nodded and replied, "That's right. We miss hanging out with you. It's not just about Joey."

Alex replied, "I understand. I can't explain everything, but let's just say that Kaiba and I may have had our misunderstandings in the beginning. But I've gotten to know him, and I guess working for him has gotten me to know him even more. He's really not a bad person, and I can see how good he is to Mokuba. I know he doesn't have many friends, but the same can be said of me back home. I know that's hard to believe, but it's true. In some ways, I can relate to him."

Tea looked thoughtful for a minute as she ate and then replied, "Well, maybe I can see your point. Kaiba isn't a totally bad person."

She thought about that one time when Kaiba saved her life, back on Domino Pier. She continued,

"Ok, but I hope you'll forgive me for what I'm about to ask. Are you falling for him?"

Alex was thrown off by the question and had to take a few moments to recover. She then shook her head and smiling, she replied,

"Of course not. Listen. I know Kaiba isn't a bad person, but that doesn't mean I'm going to fall head over heels for him. It would certainly complicate things."

Alex added to herself,

For many reasons that I cannot disclose.

Tea looked relieved and replied, "That's good. For a moment, I thought you had, but I guess I was wrong. Of course, you're free to like whoever you want, and you don't have to go back to Joey, even though that's what he wants. But just be careful when hanging out with Kaiba. I know you haven't been around as long, so you don't know this, but we haven't had the best history with him. Well, it's pretty complicated, but you get the idea."

Alex nodded and replied, "Yeah, I get it. You don't have to worry. I'll be careful, and if it helps, I will try to get things resolved with Joey soon. I thought he'd let things go, but I guess I'm going to have to talk to him again."

Tea looked thoughtful and replied, "I have an idea. I assume that Kaiba's going to continue wanting to have lunch with you, so how about this? Let's all hang out this Saturday. We really haven't had a chance to do that, and you and Joey can get some time to work things out, too. How about it?"

Alex looked thoughtful and nodding, she replied, "That'll work. If I'm not asked to come into work this Saturday, we can hang out. I'd like that, and I've missed you all, too."

Tea smiled and replied, "Awesome. Let's finish up our lunch then."

Alex nodded happily in agreement, and the two of them continued to eat and chat.

As Tea returned to her seat and Alex cleaned up her desk, they noticed Yugi and the others return. In particular, they noticed that Joey looked ready for a fight while Kaiba had his usual smirk. As Kaiba returned to his seat, Alex looked at him and asked,

"What happened?"

Kaiba replied, "Are you referring to Wheeler's behavior?"

Alex nodded and replied, "Yes, exactly. You didn't provoke him, did you?"

Kaiba replied, "I just ate lunch with those dweebs, but Wheeler might have noticed the cookies you made."

Alex replied, "Oh, I see. Yeah, I guess that would set him off although we were originally supposed to have lunch together."

Kaiba replied, "Speaking of that, what did Gardner want to talk to you about?"

Alex wondered how much she should tell Kaiba, and she knew that lying to him wouldn't work, so she replied,

"You can take a good guess."

Kaiba replied, "She probably tried to convince you to go back to Wheeler."

Alex replied, "Tea brought it up, but you already know how I feel about that. I think she understands although she wants me to work things out with Joey. I get where she's coming from."

Kaiba looked carefully at Alex and asked, "Anything else?"

It was as though Kaiba suspected that Alex was holding something back, and she replied, "Tea also mentioned that they miss hanging out with me. But we're going to get that resolved this weekend, so it's all good."

Kaiba was about to reply when the English teacher entered, so any other questions would have to be put on hold for now. For that, Alex was grateful.

The rest of the afternoon classes went by quickly although Alex couldn't get that conversation with Tea out of her head, particularly the part about Alex falling for Kaiba. Although Alex was able to persuade Tea that wasn't the case, Alex had to ask herself if she was. Thoughts raced through her head.

Alex, get a grip. You aren't falling for Kaiba. That would complicate your mission. He was only being nice and apologetic that one time. It doesn't mean anything.

"Ms. Lawrence."

Alex snapped out of her thoughts as she heard Kaiba addressing her. She looked at him and asked,

"Oh, do we need to get going already?"

Kaiba sighed and replied, "Yes. I've been calling out your name a few times already. I didn't take you for an airhead."

Alex scowled and replied, "I apologize, sir."

She addressed him almost coldly and quickly went about packing up her things. Kaiba stood up and watched as Alex got ready although he wondered what was up with her behavior. Once Alex finished gathering her things, she headed out of the classroom quickly, waving goodbye to Yugi and the others, not bothering to wait for Kaiba to catch up.

Meanwhile, Kaiba hadn't realized that Alex had already left, seeing how quickly she got her things and then left the classroom. Yugi noticed him standing there and said,

"Kaiba, Alex already left, so if you want to catch up to her-"

Kaiba quickly dashed out of the classroom, and Yugi shook his head. Joey was about to ask why Yugi helped Kaiba just now although Tea then said,

"Let's get out of here, too."

Right outside the front doors of the school, Alex stood there, waiting for her ride. A part of her regretted how she addressed Kaiba just now. She knew that she shouldn't have spaced out like that, and Kaiba had every right to be annoyed. But she didn't appreciate the insult, all the same. Along with what Tea told her about being careful around Kaiba, it was like Alex couldn't help putting her walls back up.

Kaiba had caught up with Alex. Although his first instinct was to get angry at her for going on ahead without him, he didn't want to annoy her even more. He took a breath and then said,

"I'm sorry. For calling you an airhead."

Alex glanced at Kaiba and quietly replied, "It's fine. I did space out, so you had every right to be annoyed. It was unprofessional of me."

The limo arrived just then and Alex and Kaiba got inside. Once the driver took off, Kaiba said,

"What else did Gardner tell you?"

Alex looked curiously at Kaiba and replied, "What do you mean? You already guessed the gist of our conversation."

Kaiba replied, "Yes, but I suspect she said something else and that's why you've been bothered. Did she tell you not to trust me?"

Although that wasn't Tea's exact warning to Alex, Alex knew that Kaiba had pretty much hit the nail on the head. She looked away from him, not wanting to answer his question. Kaiba sighed and replied,

"You're an intelligent woman, Alex. I trust that you know yourself best and not what those dweebs tell you."

Alex muttered, "They're just looking out for me."

Kaiba didn't like this turn of events, seeing Alex like that. He took a seat next to Alex and reached out to touch her arm. The sudden contact surprised Alex, making her look straight into his eyes. Seeing that he had her attention, Kaiba said,

"You can trust me, Alex. I thought we had made this clear on our date, but I'm saying it, so there's no misunderstandings between us. Whatever is bothering you, you can tell me. But I won't push you to tell me things."

Alex nodded and smiling a bit, she replied, "Ok, thanks. I guess what Tea said bothered me, but it's not like I always listen to what other people want."

Kaiba smirked and replied, "It's good that you have your own mind."

Alex replied, "Of course."

The limo arrived outside of Kaiba Corp. Seeing that they arrived at their destination, Kaiba then said,

"Shall we go to work, Ms. Lawrence?"

Alex smiled and replied, "Yes, of course."

The two of them got out of the limo and then headed inside the building.