Sorry for taking so long to update! And sorry this chapter's not the most exciting thing. It just puts Natalie in a position where she'll soon be seeing a whole lot more of Kaiba and kind of moves things along. Look for some real action next chapter though!
I wasn't particularly excited to come into work on Monday morning. The quarter was ending soon and there was still so much to do.
As I was riding the crowded elevator up, I thought back to my conversation with Kaiba last Friday. So weird…yet in some ways, it had gone better than I had originally thought it would. I mean yeah, Kaiba wasn't exactly great company. In fact, he was pretty much the biggest dick I'd ever met. But he was certainly more than pleasant to look at. Those eyes, that body…
Aaand that's when I started feeling guilty about Tom. My boyfriend. I always feel a little bit guilty when I think about other guys like that, even though I know it's completely innocent. This feeling was probably amplified by the fact that I'd literally been too busy this weekend to talk to him even once. It wasn't like I didn't miss him like crazy – I mean, the last time I'd even seen him in person was over five months ago. My demanding job and that time difference of thirteen hours were just making the whole situation really difficult.
I walked into the office and handed my stack of papers to Olivia, the receptionist. "Can you make sure these get to Mr. Takamatsu? He said he wanted them by 9:00, but I have to go get started on something else. So, when he comes in…?"
"Actually, Mr. Takamatsu won't be coming in today, Natalie." I had started to walk away, but then turned back around. Olivia had the phone to her ear. "I have a message that he's not to be expected, and that you're to go up to see the CEO as soon as you get in. It's from Elizabeth Sherling… Mr. Kaiba's personal assistant."
Uhhh, what? "I'm to see Kaiba?"
Olivia nodded. "That's what it sounds like."
I'm pretty sure I looked confused, and possibly a little freaked out, because Olivia then said, "Sorry honey, I really don't know what it's about."
"Hmm. Okay, thanks." I turned back around and headed for the elevators.
Ugh. Had Kaiba changed his mind? Was I really not qualified for my job? No. I knew I was. I mean, I'd been doing pretty awesome at it so far… Also, Seto Kaiba wouldn't need to fire me in person himself. He could just have had his assistant leave that message instead.
I stepped out of the elevators at the top of the KaibaCorp building. Up here everything looked much different from the comparably drab offices downstairs; the walls were lined with huge windows that let in massive amounts of light. And from up this high, the view of Domino City was absolutely amazing. The windows I looked out of faced east, so you could see almost the entire expanse of the city. The sun had only risen maybe half an hour ago, and the sky was still flooded with warm, orange light. The clouds were coated in light drapes of pink. I was mesmerized... But after a short while I started down the hall towards Kaiba's office.
There weren't too many people there this early, so it seemed like my heels were clicking really loudly on the floor. Anyone I did pass was dressed in expensive-looking business clothes and didn't seem to even notice me. The hallway didn't have any windows, which made it awfully dark, and the sound I made when I walked echoed off the walls and was almost oppressively loud. The hallway appeared to be unnecessarily long, which of course gave me plenty of time to think about whatever it might be that Kaiba wanted to see me for. But before I could come up with anything that was halfway reasonable, I reached the end.
By the time I got to Kaiba's office I was thoroughly confused. And right before I was about to knock, I heard someone start to yell inside.
"I don't know what to think, Seto! All I know is that Takamatsu disagrees with you on this one issue on Friday, and now he's gone! Listen…" whoever was speaking said something too quiet for me to hear. It kind of sounded like Rathbone, the Chief Financial Officer. And it would make sense for it to be him, from what I'd just heard. Rathbone and I had met briefly several times, only at company functions or galas. But his voice was very distinct; it had a nasally tone to it that wasn't totally cancelled out by its low pitch.
I thought I heard a lull in their conversation, and I had been told to come up here as soon as I got in…so I knocked.
"Come in," called Seto Kaiba.
I opened the door. Kaiba sat at his giant desk in front of a wall of huge glass window panes that stretched the entire expanse of the office. His office was…definitely bigger than my apartment, and full of sunlight. Rathbone sat in a chair in front of Kaiba's desk. They were scowling at each other. I stepped in, anxiously. It was scary in there! I mean they'd just finished yelling their heads off at each other like ten seconds ago. "I uh, I hope I'm not interrupting anything?"
Rathbone turned around in his chair and smiled. "Oh, no, no of course not." He was that kind of smarmy, fake charming guy, I remembered now. He stood up to shake my hand. "Miss Natalie Minor. I do believe we've met before, perhaps?" Uhh, yeah, only on like five separate occasions. "William Rathbone. I'm certain I've seen you about the office plenty of times."
I wasn't a big Rathbone fan, personally. He had always kind of put me off. He leered at some of the women in the office when they weren't looking… I'd never seen it happen to me, but who knows. And he insisted on smoking his big fat Cuban cigars in his office, so when anyone opened the door the smoke would flood out into the hall. People who knew him personally called him Billy. I wondered what Kaiba called him?
Legend has it (or rather, I'd heard from my coworkers) that Rathbone had been at KaibaCorp for what would soon be forty-five years. Which was over twice as long as Seto Kaiba had been alive. Billy Rathbone knew the company inside and out…and was the only one in the company Kaiba couldn't bully into doing what he wanted. Unconfirmed, of course, but that's what I had heard.
I smiled and nodded when he shook my hand. Bleh, gross. He had some seriously sweaty palms. I took the liberty of wiping my hands off on my skirt when he sat back down.
Kaiba definitely saw me do that; he smirked. He had been watching me since I stepped in the room…gauging my reaction to things? I wasn't sure. Now he stood up to shake my hand as well. Actually, it was probably a good thing he saw me wipe my palms; I wouldn't want him to think I had sweaty hands. Or that being around him made me sweat, even though…it kind of did.
I mean come on. I hadn't seen my boyfriend in five months. That means…no sex. In five months. And not to make things weird or anything, but I had led a pretty regular sex life before this long-distance relationship business. Like…I had gone from sixty to zero during my time in Domino City. And I of course knew that who I was really missing was Tom. But there was no way I could deny that Kaiba was hot. Smokin', even.
"Miss Minor." His eyes were shining…he was definitely in a good mood, for reasons I couldn't imagine. Because he was definitely pissed at Rathbone. So…what was this all about?
"For reasons I'm sure you just heard Mr. Rathbone here noting, your Department Director Seichi Takamatsu is no longer employed by KaibaCorp. As his Deputy Director, you are now the head of Finance, Risk Management, and Operations."
I was shocked. I mean, I had practically just become the deputy director, and now I was running the whole department? This was nothing short of amazing! Of course, Rathbone's expression when Kaiba said that was somewhat worrying…but whatever.
I tried to stay in control, but I couldn't stop myself from breaking into a huge grin. Fuck professionalism, this was incredible! Kaiba's eyes lit up all over again when he saw me smile. I could only assume he was silently laughing at my lack of compsure.
"Wow…thank you sir!" I looked back and forth at each of them excitedly, unsure of whom I should really be addressing.
Rathbone frowned when he looked at me, and said, "Yes, well. It is an honor. Especially with you being so young and inexperienced…"
Kaiba looked at him, eyes narrowed, and said, "I'll remind you that I am only two years older than Miss Minor. Age is no bar to professional success. It is ability that makes us all capable of doing our jobs, Mr. Rathbone."
I was somewhat disturbed by the dynamic these two had. It was weird seeing them interact, for reasons I wasn't sure I understood. It might have had something to do with the way it looked like Kaiba had some respect for this man. He was tactfully disagreeing with him rather than outright insulting him. Also, I had heard Kaiba called "Seto" when I was standing outside the door, but Kaiba would only call the CFO "Mr. Rathbone."
Despite Kaiba's polite, only mildly threatening response, Rathbone was livid. He looked personally insulted. "I'll be leaving now." He stood up. "Natalie, you'll be meeting me in my office later. We have things to discuss."
I moved out of his way as he walked by and slammed the door behind him.
Kaiba was drumming his fingers on his desk. "Have a seat," he said, gesturing at the chair Rathbone had vacated.
Yes, Natalie does have a boyfriend! Someone messaged me saying they didn't like that... But you'll see soon enough that it really just makes it all the more interesting. ;)
Review, please!
