(a/n: Another edited chapter)

Nine Years

Chapter Two: Meeting my ex-boyfriend's brother

'The nerve of him to ask me if I still love him...'

The red head sighed, trying her very best to calm down. She had finished her presentation work and the talk she had earlier with Kaiba lingered in her mind.

'Why does he care how long I'm staying?'

Angry and curiosity fueled her train of thoughts. These thoughts were starting to give her a headache.

"Forget it, I just hope I don't meet him again, especially with Kari" She thought aloud quietly to herself. When she finally arrived at her hotel room, she flopped down her bed and felt something hard. She sat up and retrieved the device; it was her laptop.

"At least it's ok" she said in relief. She opened it to find messages for her, from Kari and Shaila.

"I'll read them later." Her headache was getting worse. She lay down and watched the white ceiling above her, hoping it would soon put her into a trance to sleep. It was working; her eyes drifted into a soft sleep. Minutes passed and soon hours. The sun slid through the cracks of the blinds but it wasn't enough to falter her sleep. A rude, bombastic knocking on her door did. She jolted straight up, startled.

"Serenity, come on open up!"

Calming herself down, she replied, "Coming!"

She stood up grudgingly, stretching herself before going to answer the door.

"What do you want" she said with edge.

"You're still sleeping?" asked Cherie in a tone that disapproved her doing.

Cherie was one of the people who worked in her department. She had dark, dark brown hair and dark brown eyes to match. Her eyes gave her a look that said she was demonic or emotionless because you couldn't see the pupils at a first glance. But Cherie was far from emotionless; she was enthusiastic and optimistic at times. They weren't the best of friends but they usually had lunch together and talked about anything random or whatever came to mind.

"No, I'm awake. I took a short nap" she replied, pausing herself to yawn.

"It's not short, it's evening already"

"What! I slept that long!" Serenity cried in amazement.

"You might still suffer from jet lag...anyway; we're going to find some place to go eat. Want to come?"

"Now that I think about it, I am little hungry. Let me just wash my face"

Five people from Serenity's department including her and Cherie were heading out. They went to eat at a sushi place called "Domino's Best".

'It truly is the best'

Serenity grinned as she grabbed the last sushi roll.

The evening soon turned into dusk.

After they finished eating they stayed and talked about how to persuade the company they were here to negotiate with. Serenity however was paying attention to a boy who looked very familiar. He had raven hair and it was tied up into a pony tail. She couldn't tell how tall he was because he was sitting down, but if she had to guess, more than 5'5''. His eyes were dark blue and it reminded her of an adorable little boy but couldn't remember. He was with some people also, and one of them referred to him as Mokuba.

'Mokuba! He looks so different and mature...kind of. He still has his adorable little eyes that can make anybody smile'

At the thought of this, she smiled.

"Serenity...Serenity, hello!" shouted Cherie.

The red head blinked twice before facing Cherie. "Sorry"

"What are you smiling about" Cherie asked with curiosity.

"Nothing important...just a thought" she replied back. "Are we done?"

"Yeah" she said.

Serenity looked over to where Mokuba was sitting. She saw that he too was about to leave.

'Why do I care' she thought.

"Ok, let's go... Actually, I'll catch up with you later; I need to go to the bathroom" she lied.

"Alright…" Cherie left with the others.

"Mokuba!" she said catching up with him.

"Serenity" he said a little bit of surprise in his voice. "What are you doing here?" He said perplexed. Serenity smiled softly at how much matured he had gotten; one thing changed, his adorable little voice was now masculine.

"What, am I not welcome here," she said back coolly.

"Uh...no, I mean..."

"I didn't come for Seto. I'm on a business trip." She answered as if reading his mind.

"Oh..." was his meek reply. He shot her a nervous smile. "It's good to see you, Serenity. I missed you. Really I did"

"That's sweet. So how's your life?"

"Ok, I'm still vice president of Kaiba corp."

"I can tell, though you still look a little mischievous."

They talked on more for a few minutes until it became really dark.

"I should be going" said Serenity. She looked up at the sky.

"Yeah me too"

He turned to leave but then said, "I can drop you off at your hotel, if you want."

"I'm ok. Bye."

She went down the street and then looked up at the sky. Half a moon was up and some stars were up also. She smiled again. She heard some shouting in a distance so she quickened up her pace. When she reached the hotel she went to check her messages. They were mostly from her daughter and Shaila. She read every single one of them and laughed at some of them. She then fell asleep.

When she woke up, she was again woken up by Cherie's loud knocking.

"Ugh...Serenity, open up!"

Serenity scowled and finally got up and went over to the door.

"What" she whined. "Let me sleep" she muttered.

"We're going to be late" Cherie shot back at her, her own anger rising.

"For what" Serenity blinked. "For what?" she asked, dumbfounded.

"We have a meeting today, remember" Cherie reprimanded.

"Oh"

"Oh...is that all you can say, hurry up, get ready!"

"Okay, okay"

They made their way through the crowds of Domino, shoving or doing anything to get through. Cherie even kicked a man.

"Why'd you go and do that!" Serenity yelled.

"I told him to move but he wouldn't sheesh!"

They went inside the busy building and finally reached the meeting room. Everyone was already seated. The looked at each other nervously. The people who worked with Serenity and Cherie were making gestures of sitting down or apologize.

"Sorry...we got caught up..." Cherie and Serenity said mumbling.

"Well now that we have everyone here, let's go over the deals..." said one of the workers they were trying to make a deal with.

The company was known as Takahashi Industries. They talked on for over an hour and a half and then the head, Mr. Takahashi himself, said, "We should make another meeting, because we have other companies to talk to, so uh... how about next week same time and same date."

They agreed because Serenity's department also had other companies to talk with. They got up and was about to leave when Takahashi called them back.

"There is a business party going on with other prestigious companies in Domino City. It takes place two weeks later, though. I suggest you come along. I'll give you an invite in the next meeting."

They finally left with Serenity wondering, 'I wonder if he's going to be there'