Well now that summer vacation is nearly ending sadly and school is going to start, I thought I should update. Thanks for all your lovely reviews and caring support! Hope I keep getting more! Wow...can't believe I'm so close to the end! I think I'll move on to the chapter now since I left the last chapter as a cliffhanger...don't want you guys to keep hanging any longer!

-Chapter 9-

-I-I-

"Seto...What are you talking about?" Anita asked with a baffled expression on her face as she looked into her husband's icy blue stare.

"Anita you know perfectly what I'm talking about," Kaiba replied sharply, "So stop pretending already...haven't you pretended enough to me?" Kaiba asked with his voice booming.

"Seto...I..." Anita started to say but lost all words as she could feel hot tears in her eyes threatening to fall any moment, "How do know about all this?" she finally asked holding back her tears from falling and knowing she couldn't hide from him any longer.

"I...I saw and heard you two in the hallway of the restaurant when I went looking for you," Kaiba replied loathly, "But I already had suspicions from before...especially after I came back from my business trip, you were acting completely different," Kaiba explained as Anita looked at the ground.

"You even lied to me about staying over at Mokuba's house the night of our anniversary," Kaiba continued as Anita kept silent, "I called Mokuba and he told me you didn't come but then he told me you probably slept over at a friend's place and I blindly believed him," Kaiba raged out.

"Seto its not what you're thinking," Anita said quietly, not meeting his gaze.

"You slept over at Sheniro's house didn't you?" Kaiba asked as he grasped Anita's upper arm tightly, "Tell me the truth!" Kaiba demanded as he shook her arm.

"Yes! I did! Because thanks to you, I felt a certain loneliness on that day which, I've never felt in my whole life! So I went to Sheniro for some comfort!" Anita burst out as she tried to free herself from his grasp.

"Did...did you sleep with him?" Kaiba asked openly with anger boiling inside of him as he kept his grasp on her arm tighter.

"Why would you care if I slept with him or not? You're way too busy with your business and company to give a damn about me!" Anita retorted back as she shook her arm free from his deathly grasp.

"Anita...honestly tell me...did you?" Kaiba asked and inhaled to cool his mind down slightly.

"Am I that low that you doubt me of sleeping with another man?" Anita questioned, "Besides, Sheniro is a completely different person who respects me, cares about me, spends time with me and really loves me..." Anita whispered the last few words softly.

"Do you love him?" Kaiba asked with the words falling out freely from his mouth while he felt something stabbing away at his heart as he said those words.

"I...I don't know..." Anita whispered truthfully as she looked away from Kaiba.

"Anita...all I want you to know is I'll do anything to save our marriage, our relationship and our love...I already promised you I was willing to change and spend more time with you as much as possible," Kaiba said softly as he held her shoulders and turned her around to face him.

"But if you really love Sheniro more than me and think our relationship meant nothing to you...then I won't get in between you two," Kaiba managed to say the last few words without breaking down as he looked at Anita's astonished expression on her face.

"Seto...are you suggesting...we part our ways...and end our relationship?" Anita said nearly choking on the words coming out of her mouth.

"Thats only if you want too...I'm willing to work this out between us and give each other another chance but I don't want to keep you trapped in our marriage if thats what you think," Kaiba replied with great magnitude in his eyes as his hands slipped off her shoulders.

"Are you telling me to make my decision right at this moment?" Anita asked as tears silently rolled down her cheeks.

"If you can then its fine with me...otherwise I'll give you time," Kaiba said turning away from her and hiding the immense pain he was feeling in his heart.

"I...I'll need...some time," Anita whispered as she tried to stop her flow of tears falling down.

"I'm going to sleep in the guest room from tonight until you make your final decision," Kaiba stated quietly, "You can stay here," he said with one final glance at Anita before leaving their bedroom.

'What have I done?' Anita thought as she flopped down on her bed with her tears continuing to pour down even harder.

-I-I-

Her hand was in his, held firmly together as both the woman and the young man walked across the shore of the beach, under the midnight sky. The heavy rain had stopped as the sky was beginning to clear up with few remaining clouds floating above. Big waves were rolling onto the shore and gently washing away after it collided with the sand. The young man kept stealing glances at the beautiful woman walking beside him and smiled to himself as he kept walking. The woman was looking ahead, wondering where her destiny was taking her as her mind was lost in a world of her own.

All of a sudden, both the woman and the man noticed a small dark tunnel up ahead of them. They looked at each other in confusion to whether walk through it or not, but finally decided to as they saw no harm. As they approached the dark tunnel, the wind began to pick up slowly. They both entered the tunnel a bit cautiously with their hands still firmly held together. As the woman and the man kept walking further into the small dark tunnel, the woman began to feel slightly afraid and intimidated by the dark atmosphere around them. The young man gave her hand a small squeeze to assure her they would be fine, as she stayed closer by the man's side.

Finally as they came closer towards the end of the tunnel, a bright light blinded them just up ahead. The woman shut her eyes closed, waiting for the light to dim away slightly. She then opened her eyelids again to see a big heavy steel gate that was sealing the exit at the end of the tunnel. She looked at the young man's baffled reaction and then back at the large gate. Soon they both decided to go and take a look, to see if it was locked and blocking their exit out of the tunnel. As they came towards the steel gate, the young man noticed that the gate wasn't locked and that they could hopefully push it open and out of their way. The woman smiled at the young man beside her, glad that they would be able to get through and then looked through the steel bars of the gate. What she saw beyond the gate completely got her heart beating wildly.

"What's the matter?" the young man asked by the woman's strange reaction.

But the woman kept silent as her eyes were fixed upon who she was staring at beyond the gate. Even though the man's back was faced towards her, she could easily recognize him any way. It was her true lover, standing beyond the gate. The woman didn't know what to do at the moment. Should she run into the arms of her true beloved? Or should she stay with her new companion? So many new and complex thoughts were swimming in her mind. Crystal clear tears started running down her cheeks as she tried her very best to think and come to a final decision...whether to leave or to stay...

-I-I-

'I just have to tell him the truth...even if it hurts me...or...even if it is a risk in losing a good...friend...I just have to!' Anita thought as she made up her mind the best she could. 'I can't stall for time any longer!' She thought as her white pencil heels clicked down a small almost vacant hallway in the college.'In a fear of losing both Seto and Sheniro, I just lied to both of them and just ended up deceiving both' Anita thought as she mentally kicked herself for being so foolish. 'If I didn't hide anything from both of them and was more sensible enough I wouldn't be in this big mess!' She thought as she restrained some tears back, 'What on Earth was I thinking?' she questioned herself in her mind. As her head was busy spinning in her thoughts, she didn't realize where she was going as she bumped into someone real hard.

"I'm so sorry," Anita said quickly without even looking up who she bumped into, as she bent down to pick her books and papers she dropped from her hands.

"Its alright," Sheniro replied as he too bent down to help Anita as her head shot up at the sound of his voice.

"Thanks," Anita said for helping her pick her books up.

"No problem," Sheniro smiled and pretended to fix his white transparent short-sleeved shirt that was left unbuttoned over his white sleeveless muscle shirt, "Feels like I haven't seen you for the longest time," he finally said after a moment of silence as he stuffed his hands in the pockets of his black denim pants.

"I called you many times on your cell, but you weren't picking up," Sheniro continued as Anita kept silent and looked at the ground.

"I...I had it off I think..." Anita managed to say without glancing at him.

"Oh..." Sheniro replied, "You got back to the college three days ago right?" he asked.

"Yeah," Anita nodded her head.

"I saw you a couple of times during lunch and the breaks in between classes and I tried to get your attention but you probably didn't hear or notice me..." Sheniro stated a bit sullenly as he tried to catch her wandering gaze, "Is there something wrong?" he asked a bit dubiously.

"I...I have to go...I have another class," Anita promptly replied as she tried to brush past him.

"Anita...you don't have another class, I know your whole schedule," Sheniro said, a bit irritated by her strange behaviour as he grabbed her arm, "Why are you trying to avoid me like this?" he said sternly as he looked right into her eyes with his hand still gripping her arm tightly.

All Anita could do for a moment was to look right into his dark eyes which had turned from innocent and soft to a stern and serious look. 'Its the chance you've been waiting for, tell him the truth! Tell him now!' The little voice in Anita's mind screamed at her. But despite all the screaming going on in her mind, words were fumbling in her mouth and she didn't want them to come out all wrong. 'You idiot! What are you waiting for? Tell him!' the little voice echoed in her head again.

"Sheniro...I-" Anita stuttered but was interrupted.

"Anita I think we need to talk," Sheniro stated seriously as he let his grip off her arm go. 'That's funny, I think so too' Anita thought sarcastically as she finally nodded her head in agreement.

"Come on," Sheniro said as he held her hand in his and pulled Anita along behind him.

"Where are you taking me?" Anita asked curiously as she walked down the hallway with her hand being pulled along by him.

"I want to talk somewhere else," Sheniro replied quietly as he gripped her hand more firmly and kept walking.

"Alright," Anita agreed gently as they walked to a nearby exit of the college.

-I-I-

'I hope Anita makes the right decision' Kaiba thought as he looked expressionlessly out the window of his limo. The late afternoon sky had turned a bit dimmer since it was only an hour or so till sunset. Kaiba was on his way to visit Mokuba from work and him and his driver were on the middle of the road, stuck in a small traffic jam. Usually Kaiba would be quietly cursing away under his breath in this situation but right now his mind was completely lost in another world.

"Master Kaiba, if I'm not mistaken, I think I see Madam a bit up ahead of us sitting in a red sports car," the driver informed Kaiba.

"Anita? Where?" Kaiba asked, snapping out of his thoughts as he looked outside his window and a bit up ahead on the road.

Kaiba recognized his wife right away and sure enough it was Anita, sitting in the small red sports car beside the driver who Kaiba supposed was Sheniro. 'Where's she going with him at this time?' Kaiba thought curiously as he kept his eyes on Anita. 'Has she already made her decision?' Kaiba thought as he felt his heart sink down.

"Was I correct Master Kaiba? Is that Madam?" the driver asked to be assure, as the cars finally began to move.

"Yes," Kaiba answered, "I want you to follow that red sports car," he ordered.

"But Master I thought we were going-" the driver said confusingly.

"Just follow them," Kaiba interrupted as he leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms.

"As you wish," the driver replied as he obeyed his order and started following the car.

"Don't follow too closely, I don't want Anita spotting us," Kaiba grunted at his driver.

"Don't worry Master," the driver responded back as he kept his eyes on the car and followed the way his Master told him too.

-I-I-

The sun was setting lower in the sky as Anita and Sheniro walked side-by-side on the soft sand of a beach Sheniro had brought them to. A cool lake breeze swept over them as Anita brought her arms around her body to make warmth and kept walking the same pace as Sheniro. Sheniro's hands were stuffed in his denim pant pockets as he kept looking at the sandy ground and at the shimmering blue lake back and forth. Both were keeping silent ever since they had parked Sheniro's car and had gotten out to walk on the beach. They were also secretly stealing glances at each other when the other person was looking somewhere else and waiting for the other person to say something. 'Come on Anita say something!' the little voice echoed in Anita's mind. 'I don't know what to say' Anita replied back to the little voice in her head.

"Did I mention, that the outfit you're wearing Anita really brings out your eyes?" Sheniro stated, breaking the uncomfortable silence between them as he paused and looked at her.

"It does?" Anita asked a few seconds later as she paused and blinked at him, slightly taken back by the random compliment.

"Yeah," Sheniro replied as he continued gazing at her.

"Umm...thanks," Anita responded hesitantly and looked down at her outfit.

She was wearing a teal blue thin-strapped tank-top, covered with an ivory coloured netted shrug top over it which had two silk ribbons in front of the shrug and were tied in a bow right under her chest. She was also wearing a cream white silk skirt that was knee-length, with pale teal coloured chiffon fabric attached separately to the skirt which, cascaded down into nice layers below the knee. Her hair was straightened and pulled and tied back high on her head. To finish the ensemble, a long matching pale teal chiffon scarf that hung loosely around her neck, silver hoop earrings and white sandals on her feet.

"So...why did you bring me here?" Anita asked casually, without direct eye contact.

"Just wanted to talk things out between us," Sheniro mumbled slightly.

"Well this is a really nice place to talk...I guess..." Anita replied nervously.

"Its one of my favourite places...makes me feel calm and relaxed," Sheniro responded.

"I can see why," Anita replied as she admired the surrounding beauty around her.

This place seemed very familiar to Anita, as if she'd been here before. The soft sand she was walking on, the shimmering lake, the waves rolling on to the shore, the cool breeze blowing, it just all seemed like Anita had felt and seen all this. 'Wait a minute...I have seen this place before' Anita thought suddenly, 'I haven't seen it in reality like now...but its always been in my recent dreams I keep having...Its the same place' Anita thought as she recovered from the image of the beach in her dream. Anita looked around again, observing every detail and connecting it back to her dreams. 'This is just too weird' she thought as she looked out on the lake.

-I-I-

"Wait right here, I'll be back soon," Kaiba told his driver as he walked out of his limo and onto

the pavement of the small parking lot.

"Yes Master," the driver replied back as Kaiba closed the car door behind him.

'The beach? Why did Sheniro bring her here?' Kaiba thought curiously as he looked at his surroundings. 'I don't even know why I bothered to follow them here' Kaiba thought as he spotted the red sports car parked nearby. 'I gave Anita the freedom to choose whoever she preferred to be with and I would accept it no matter what' Kaiba thought as he stepped onto a small sidewalk right beside the sandy beach, 'But if she chooses Sheniro over me, I don't know If I'll be able to accept it completely' he thought as he looked at the ground and put his hands in his pockets.

Suddenly Kaiba spotted his wife and Sheniro from a short distance and quickly stepped into the shadows of the trees lined close by. He decided to get a little closer so he'd be able to at least hear them speak. As he got closer, he quickly hid behind a tree so he wouldn't be seen by his wife. Kaiba focused his ears on their conversation even though he felt slightly awkward eavesdropping like this. He slightly peeked out from behind the tree, just enough to see them from his distance.

-I-I-

"Anita can I ask you something?" Sheniro asked as he glanced at Anita.

"Uh...sure," Anita replied anxiously.

"Why do you run away and avoid me at times?" Sheniro asked simply.

"Um...its because...I-" Anita started off as her heart paced faster as she tried to spill the truth but was cut off.

"Is it because you think its weird to have a relationship with a man, few years younger than yourself?" Sheniro questioned.

"Well not really, its because-" Anita tried once again to confess, but again got interrupted.

"Or is it because you doubt my love for you?" Sheniro continued to guess another reason.

"No I don't doubt your love Sheniro," Anita answered softly as she decided to spill at another given moment.

"Glad to know," Sheniro responded with a smile.

Tranquility surrounded both of them as they kept quiet for a few moment and just stared out at the clear lake. They were both sitting on big grey rocks near the shoreline and observing the alluring scenery. The almost setting sun was casting a light orange glow on lake, causing it to gleam even more. The sky had tinges of orange near the horizon and violet up above. Everything right now in the scenery blended in so celestially. 'Why am I still stalling to confess to Sheniro?' Anita thought, 'I'm trying to tell him but he just keeps interrupting, but no matter what, I have to tell him today!' she thought decidedly. 'Even if I might...break his heart...' Anita thought apprehensively.

"Look at the lovely sunset," Sheniro commented.

"Its very beautiful," Anita responded softly as her eyes watched the sun slowly sinking down.

"Not as beautiful compared to you," Sheniro replied gently as he turned away from the sunset and looked at Anita.

"You always compliment my beauty, but how am I beautiful to you?" Anita asked frankly.

"There are certain features about you that make you different from other women and I think those features you possess are beautiful," Sheniro replied as he shifted closer to Anita, as she just kept silent.

"Don't you want to know what these special features you possess make you beautiful?" Sheniro asked flirtatiously.

"What?" Anita asked quietly, not making direct eye contact.

"First of all, these beautiful mysterious blue-grey eyes of yours that hold so much innocence in them but also hide deep secrets," Sheniro began as he slipped a finger under her chin and tilted it up to look into her eyes, "Then your cheeks, that blush into a soft pink for no reason," he said softly, caressing her cheek lightly as Anita kept silent.

"Your soft dark hair that blows gently in the wind and sometimes strands that fall on your face," Sheniro proceeded as his hand ran down through a few of her side bangs, "Your childish yet genuine laugh that you break into at times," he smiled as Anita still kept silent and just listened.

"The way you shy away at times and keep yourself within your limits," Sheniro continued to express her beauty he saw in his eyes, "And most attractive feature of all, your lips..." he whispered and stressed the last word as his finger traced her lips, "The way they curve up to that pure natural smile of yours..." he finally finished off, with his finger lingering at her lips as Anita brushed it away.

"And now you know..." Sheniro murmured.

'Wow...that was pretty poetic I got to say' Anita thought as she decided not to comment. 'I have to admit that was pretty flattering, makes me feel more guilty now though...' Anita thought as her heart and mind began to race again. 'Its going to be pretty hard to confess and leave him like this...but there's nothing else I can do' Anita thought again deeply. 'I totally regret not telling him from the beginning' Anita kept thinking, 'Maybe it wouldn't have been this hard then...'

"Anita," Sheniro called while his hand reached into his pocket, "I want you to see this," he said as he took out a small black velvet box.

"What is it?" Anita asked curiously as he opened the box.

"Oh my God..." Anita gasped as the velvet box revealed a silver banded ring with a pale blue aquamarine stone in the middle and two small diamonds on either side of it, "Its beautiful but why-" Anita was about to question Sheniro, hoping it was not what she was thinking for it to be.

"Its something I bought for you, that I'm going to keep with me till the day you say...you're ready for it," Sheniro smiled softly as he whispered the last two words and looked at her reaction, "Unless...you're ready at this moment," he said gently with a hopeful expression on his face as he waited for a reply.

"I...I can't take this...ever..." Anita choked back tears, trying to swallow her guilt that was building up in her throat and was going to explode any moment.

"But...why?" Sheniro asked with a look of concern as he put a hand over hers.

"Because..." Anita said hesitantly as her heart pounded against her chest, "I...I'm...married..." she finally spilled out as hot tears began to fall down her lashes and all she could see was the velvet box with the ring slip out of Sheniro's hand and land on the rocky surface.