To the random guest who commented on my story, thank you. I am glad you like my writing style and since you have read and commented on my other stories, I will update your favorite one very soon! By the way, you don't have to sign anonymously. Even if I when I do receive bad feedback, I just message the person to find out how they feel I can improve the story.

….

The next day was uncomfortable for everyone. Mokuba sat in the dining room watching Tea and Seto eating in an uncomfortable silence. Mokuba tried to start up a conversation, but Tea only gave single word answers (like yes and no) and Seto merely grunted in acknowledgement.

Despite his silence, Kaiba knew he had to do something if he wanted any chance of getting along with Tea. He thought about what he saw other guys doing around the university. He saw Joey bringing Mai flowers once. If Joey managed to keep Mai this long, he must be doing something right. He remembered seeing a football player buy his girlfriend a designer perfume for the girl's birthday. Another time he saw a woman kiss her boyfriend for commenting on the way she looked. Or social convention dictates that having dinner at a restaurant makes girls happy.

Kaiba thought over his current options and decided that buying her a gift would require the least effort. He sent a text to Margaret to pick out a beautiful present for his fiancé and leave it on the bed.

The head maid, Margaret, was a 73-year-old woman who had been with the Kaiba family longer than Seto and Mokuba were. She was kept around after Gozaburo's, Kaiba and Mokuba's stepfather, death because despite the cruelty their stepfather inflicted, she was always there to help mend their injuries. She even stayed past her paid hours one night to comfort Seto as a child. The maid went searching through Tea and Seto's room trying to find something that would hint what type of things she liked. Unfortunately, she couldn't find anything of the girl's. She was about to give up and go to the store to pick out a stuffed animal or something when she saw a piece of dirty laundry on the floor that gave her an idea…

Kaiba had to go to the office. So, Tea had to pick Mokuba up from school that day. When they got home that evening, Tea wanted to take a nap before dinner. It had been a long day and she had a lot of school work to catch up on. When she entered the bedroom, she saw a fancy gift bag sitting on the bed. She walked over curiously and saw a card sticking out the bag. The card read, "To my darling fiancé: Tea." The card was a bit impersonal, but she didn't expect much more from Kaiba. She opened her bag and pulled out…

After Kaiba finished up at his office he was actually looking forward to going home. He had high hopes that the maid's gift would put him on steadier ground with Tea. When he entered the home he called out, "Mokuba, Tea, I am home."

He looked up the winding staircase and saw Tea walking down the stairs with his arms crossed. In one of her hands the gift bag dangled. But to his surprise she wasn't smiling; she looked furious! Kaiba raised his eyebrow thinking, 'Wow, who pissed in her cheerios?"

Once she reached the bottom step, she didn't walk over to meet him. She waited for him to approach her. Cautiously he did approach her and asked, "Do you like your present?"

To his surprise she handed him the bag and struggled with trying not to smack him. Mokuba ran down the stairs and Tea realized that giving Kaiba a piece of her mind right now was not an option. With a voice dripping with sarcasm she replied, "I love the present. But, I feel like this is much too luxurious for a simple girl like me." She handed him the bag and said, "Actually, I think it would look much better on you." She then headed into the kitchen to grab dinner.

Kaiba looked at her incredulously and reached into the bag. To his horror and Mokuba's delight he pulled out a red lace bra with a matching thong. Mokuba laughed so hard he just about passed out due to lack of oxygen. Kaiba lowered his head in embarrassment and suddenly started to chuckle. Truthfully the chuckle was a nervous reaction. He followed her into the kitchen and said, "I can explain."

"You don't have to explain anything Mr. Kaiba. I got your message loud and clear." She replied irritably

Kaiba explained, "I didn't buy you the gift…Well technically I paid for it but I didn't know what it was."

Tea looked at him with a mixture of anger and confusion and asked, "What?"

Kaiba rubbed the back of his neck and said, "I asked my maid to pick you out a nice gift. I had hoped it would make you feel more…comfortable around me and your new home."

Tea snorted appearing slightly humored, "I can see that worked well." She walked towards the dining room and sat down with her plate. Kaiba grabbed himself a plate and followed her. He sat across from her and saw that she was avoiding eye contact with him.

Kaiba frowned and explained, "I had no idea she was buying lingerie. I figured she would buy you a nice purse or something."

Tea finally looked up and her irritated gaze softened. She said, "Regardless of your intentions, if you wanted to give me something you should have picked it out. A gift means nothing if it doesn't come from the heart."

Kaiba took note of what she just said. Hopefully it would be enough to keep him out of trouble the next time he tried to give her something.

Kaiba thought back to the list of things that might help him with Tea and decided to try to compliment her. After the lingerie fiasco, he couldn't really compliment her appearance coming off as a pervert. So he focused on her face. The one thing that had always stood out to him was her breathtaking smile.

He swallowed hard and nervously said, "You have nice teeth."

Tea almost choked on her food trying not to laugh. She realized that he was trying to compliment her… but his social skills were definitely lacking. Regardless she replied, "Thank you." Part of her was happy that he thought she had a pretty smile.

She had finished her meal and picked up her dishes to carry into the kitchen. Before she left, she said, "Kaiba, I meant what I said, when I told you that you would look better in that gift than me." Kaiba smirked and she left the room. Kaiba let out a sigh of relief, 'At least, that went well. He thought to himself.'

Mokuba entered the room with a mischievous grin on his face. "So did you try on her gift yet?" he asked.

"Ha ha. Very funny Mokuba," Kaiba responded, feeling slightly peeved. "What do you want Mokuba?" he asked.

Mokuba beamed, "I want to help you big brother. So you don't have another screw up like this." He pulled the small lace thong out of the bag to make his point. He then asked, "What are you going to do next?"

Kaiba thought maybe it would be safer to run the plans by Mokuba before he tried anything. Although the kid had never been on a date, he definitely had better people skills in general. "I thought I might take her out for dinner one night."

Mokuba nodded and said, "That sound's great. I could spend the night at a friend's house that night so you two can have a real date."

Kaiba shrugged and replied, "If you want… I am not going to just abandon you over a date."

Mokuba rolled his eyes and left to do his homework.

After Kaiba finished his dinner. He searched the house and found Tea practicing ballet in his ballroom. He entered the room and said, "Tomorrow evening be dressed for 6:00. We are going out to eat."

Tea stopped dancing and asked, "Was that a request or a command?" Kaiba looked confused by her question so she continued, "You are supposed to ask a girl to join you in a restaurant. You don't bark it out as if it were an order."

Kaiba realized his mistake and rephrased his comment, "I have a dinner reservation at 7:00, would you care to join me."

She smiled and said, "That's better and I would be honored." She then realized something, "Seto, I don't have anything to wear."

'How could he not have thought of that before?' he thought to himself. All she had the past few day was the clothes on her back. He saw her borrowing his pajama tops to sleep in so she could wash her clothes. He shook his head, "No problem, I will have one of the maids pick something out for you. I will bring you shopping the next day."

Tea looked down at her feet feeling slightly embarrassed and asked, "Actually, would you mind letting me go shopping with Mai. We have some catching up to do."

Kaiba shook his head and replied, "That would be fine."

After she accepted, Kaiba walked to his office. He was relieved that she accepted, but that brought on a new challenge. He didn't know much about dating, but he knew that people generally talk to each other when they are on a date. This brought up the question, what would he talk about? To try to prevent himself from looking like a complete fool, he wrote a list of topics and questions to take with him in case the date took a turn for the worse.

It was almost 6:00. Kaiba emerged from his office with his list and a bouquet of flowers. He heard Tea coming downstairs and looked up to her. She was wearing a royal blue wrap dress with black heels. She looked elegant. Once she reached the bottom step, Kaiba remembered the flowers he picked for her and walked up to hand them to her.

She gratefully accepted them and said, "Thank…achoo."

He was glad to see her smile and replied, "You're welcome."

She was about to say something else when she started to sneeze again. Achoo…achoo…achoo

Kaiba looked at her curiously. She looked fine only moments ago, not a sniffle in sight. But now…achoo…she was sneezing all over the place. "Go lay down," he instructed, "I am going to call the doctor."

She nodded and handed him the flowers, "Put these in a…achoo…vase for me please."

He nodded and carried them into the kitchen. After he called the doctor, he carried the flowers upstairs in an old Chinese vase. According to his stepfather, it was centuries old and from the Ming Dynasty.

He sat the flowers on her night stand and found that she had changed into one of his shirts to sleep in. He sat on the bed and waited for the doctor.

Tea had begun to regret acting as she had towards him the past few days. She acted that way because she felt like he thought he owned her, like a piece of property. But now, seeing how he called things off when she was ill instead of forcing her to go proved to her that he was trying to be courteous towards her. Even now, when he could be working at his computer, he stayed with her and waited.

When the doctor finally arrived she evaluated Tea and said, "It appears that you have some sort of allergy. Did you recently get a new pet or try a new perfume."

Tea shook her head and looked over to Kaiba. The doctor asked Kaiba if he had a new cologne and he also answered no. That was when it hit him, Kaiba opened the window, grabbed the vase full of flowers, and flung it out of the window.

Achoo! Tea looked up in surprise and asked, "What the hell…achoo…was that for?"

"It's the flowers that you are allergic to. You didn't start sneezing until I gave them to you." He explained.

Tea realized he was right but one thing was still bugging her. "You could have just taken the flowers out… achoo…of the vase and throw them away. Why did you ruin the vase?" Achoo.

"I hated that vase," he explained.

She rolled her eyes and the doctor handed her 2 Benadryl tablets. "These pills will help you feel better, but they will also help you sleep." She then turned to Kaiba and said, "Try not to disturb her."

He handed the doctor a check and she left the room.

Kaiba then handed Tea a card and she looked at it mildly confused. "I am not sure if you are still going to go. But, you said that you were going to go shopping with Mai tomorrow. I had a credit card made with both of our names on it. Don't worry about the cost. Get whatever you want, but make sure you stop by Isabell's Formal Attire. There is a business party coming up and you will need a fancy dress to attend." He explained.

Tea sneezed again, she would have reprimanded him over him telling her about the party instead of asking her to go with him, but she didn't have the energy. She simply nodded and sleepily whispered, "Good night, Seto." With that, she was asleep.

Kaiba stood there stunned for a moment, no one had called him by his first name, other than his brother. He wasn't upset over it…just shocked. Was she trying to tell him something by calling him by his first name, or was it just a slip up. Kaiba shut the door behind him and decided to go Kaiba corp to get some work done.

….

The next morning, Tea was feeling much better she turned her head and didn't see Seto at his desk. So, she went to check and see if he was on the couch. Seeing he was not there either she went and searched each of the rooms in the house. Of course, he was nowhere to be found. Her stomach tied into a knot, where was he? The doorbell rang and she went to answer it. When she opened the door, she found Mai smiling at her.

Mai greeted her, "Hey girl, how are you liking living in the lap of luxury."

Tea ignored her comment and said, "Just have a seat Mai, I have to take care of something."

Mai looked her up and down and replied, "I'll say, you aren't even dressed. You can't seriously thinking about going in that. Although, I am sure Seto didn't mind seeing what was under there last night"

Tea looked down in confusion and blushed. She shook her head and replied, "No, I don't have hardly any clothes. That is why I called you. We haven't had a day to hang out in so long. Shopping sounded like the perfect way to catch up."

Tea then saw a maid come out of the kitchen. The name tag read Margaret. "Pardon me Miss Margaret," Tea called out.

Margaret turned towards her and beamed, "Hello dear, are you Ms. Tea Gardener?" Tea nodded and the old lady asked, "It is an honor finally to meet you miss. Did you and Kaiba enjoy the present I picked out?"

Tea's cheeks turned red and Mai quickly picked up that there was a story behind it. Tea didn't answer her question. Instead she asked, "Where's Kaiba?"

Margaret looked at her in confusion and thought, 'Why wouldn't she call him Seto if she was going to be wed to him soon?' Regardless, she answered, "He left home last night and I don't remember seeing him come home."

Tea's face turned to panic and she asked, "Do you know his cellphone number?"

Once again, Margaret looked puzzled, 'Why didn't she know his cellphone number?' She pulled out her cellphone and pressed call. Tea pressed the phone to her ear and suddenly she heard a buzzing noise. She looked over to the coffee table and screamed, "F***!" She grabbed her dress she wore from the night earlier and was changing as she walked out the door. A neighbor from the other side of the street got a lovely view of her duel monster undies.

She handed Margaret back her phone and said, "Mai, come on we need to go find him."

"Why? He is a grown man Tea. He can take care of himself," Mai replied.

Tea nodded and replied, "I know, but he could have gotten into a wreck or something! Please, we need to go now!"

Mai walked to the car slightly annoyed that Kaiba had ruined her day with Tea. They drove around searching for any sign of his limo but to no avail. Suddenly the Kaiba Corp skyscraper came into view and she wondered if he was in his office.

Mai waited in the car while Tea ran through the doors of the Kaiba corp building. She went to the front desk and asked, "Where is Seto Kaiba's office?"

The woman behind the desk laughed and said, "Do you really think I would tell you where Mr. Kaiba is? Stupid tramp, who do you think you are?"

…..

As Seto came out the elevator, he felt exhausted. He spent the whole night working in the office to take his mind off of his confusion with her calling him Seto last night. Eventually he fell asleep at his desk and woke up with a terrible headache. Suddenly he heard a deranged woman scream, "Do you really think I would tell you where Mr. Kaiba is? Stupid tramp, who do you think you are?"

Kaiba approached the desk and harshly said, "This "Stupid Tramp" just so happens to be my fiancé." A few people on the floor gasped and stopped what they were doing. The office became so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Kaiba rolled his eyes at their reactions and said, "Miss Webster, you're fired!" Tears welled up in the woman's eyes and she was about to leave when Tea grabbed her hand.

Tea suddenly said, "Kaiba please, firing her is unnecessary. No harm was done." Miss Webster looked shocked but looked over to him hopefully.

Kaiba gave an irritated grunt and raised his voice, "Fine, but if any one dares disrespects my "tramp" again, there will be serious repercussions." A few people in the office giggled, but Tea simply shot him an irritated glare. Kaiba smirked and said, "Come to my office so we can have privacy."

Tea followed with her arms crossed and watched as he placed his key into the elevator. The key unlocked the top floor where his office was located.

When they reached the door, she stepped out and he asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you!" she screamed, "I searched the entire house for you this morning and you were nowhere to be found. Then, I asked your maid if she had seen you, and she tells me that you never came home last night. I was horrified you were in an accident or something. You couldn't have left a note or given me a call to let me know where you were going?"

Kaiba's eyes narrowed and he said, "Would you please stop screaming? I have a splitting headache. Also, I didn't plan to stay out that late. I accidentally fell asleep at my desk. I woke up about 15 minutes ago when the mail was delivered."

Tea sighed and replied, "Fine, just please don't do that to me again. You had me so worried."

Kaiba then remembered, "Oh I have you something." He walked over to his desk and pulled out a small velvet box. He handed her the box and continued, "That business party is coming up and I remembered that I hadn't picked you out an engagement ring yet. So last night picked one out that I thought you might like and had him deliver it to me this morning."

She hesitantly opened the box and saw a beautiful white-gold ring. It had a heart shaped pink sapphire as the centerpiece and several white diamonds surrounding the heart and going down the band.

Kaiba looked at her expression and was unable to decipher what she was feeling. Nervously he said, "If you don't like it, I can return it and get something else. Or if you don't feel comfortable calling it an engagement ring, you could call it a promise ring."

Tea looked at the ring and was surprised at how much thought he put into the ring. She smiled and threw her arms around his waist and almost made him lose his balance. She then whispered, "It's perfect, and would be honored to wear it Seto." Kaiba reached up to caress her face when she did something shocked him.

Suddenly, she realized what she just said and pushed herself away from him. Her back hit the wall and she looked up at him with fearful eyes. She said, "I am sorry Kaiba, I didn't mean to call you that. I meant no disrespect."

After she apologized, Kaiba saw her eyes were filled with fear. He was slightly disheartened by her reaction and asked, "Tea, have I ever given you any reason to believe that I would hurt you."

Tea's breath hitched in her throat and she shook her head. He started to walk towards her and when she got really close, she shut her eyes. He was close enough now to see that she was trembling. He reached down and pulled the ring gently out of the box in her hand and slid the ring on her hand. Timidly she dared to open her eyes and saw hurt in his eyes. "I don't mind if you call me Seto. Since you are going to be family soon, I would actually prefer it if you did."

Tea seemed a little more at ease after he said that, but he could tell she was still nervous. She swallowed hard and said, "I have to go. Mai is waiting for me in the car."

Kaiba nodded and picked up his briefcase. He opened the door for her and as she was walking out the door he said, "I am getting ready to go home. I finished everything I had to do for today, last night. So, I am going to catch up on some sleep."

Tea smirked and said, "You're going to sleep? Good, I was under the impression you were a vampire."

Kaiba chuckled softly and the doors of the elevator opened. He walked Tea to Mai's car and said, "Don't worry about money when you go shopping. Get anything you want or need."

He opened the car door for her and she replied, "Okay, I will see you when I get home."

He shut the door and watched her leave. After she left, his true emotions began to show and walked to the limo.

The minute he got home, he opened the door and threw his briefcase across the room. Mokuba walked downstairs when he heard something crash and saw his older brother, who was now trying to clean up the glass coffee table he had just broke. Mokuba put shoes on and came down the stairs. "What's wrong Seto? Did your date last night not go well?"

Kaiba shook his head at him and said, "No, The flowers I bought her made her get sick."

Mokuba looked at him incredulously and asked, "And that is why you are mad? Seto she can't help it if she gets sick."

Kaiba shook his head and said, "It's not about that and I am not mad. I am just..."

Mokuba let him take his time and he explained everything that had been going on….