Chapter 32 – Napping
Tea walked into the main lobby and spotted the two elevators in the back next to the desk up front. She slowly walked towards the front counter to see a man dressed in a tuxedo behind a computer screen looking back and forth between a stack of papers and his keyboard. He smiled up at Tea as he saw her coming forward and asked, "Hello ma'am. Do you have an appointment for today?"
"No, not really," she answered, surprised at the man's kindness. "I just need to see Se…Mr. Kaiba."
"Let me phone up and see if he is busy," he stated as he picked up the phone and began dialing numbers. "What is your name, Miss?"
"Tea."
He nodded and held the phone up to his ear, waiting for the line to go through. After a few seconds passed, the man said, "Mr. Kaiba, there is a Tea here that wants to come up and see you. Does she have permission? ... Alright, I understand." Placing the phone back in the receiver, he smiled up at her and said, "You are welcome up to Mr. Kaiba's office anytime. Use the elevator on the left; that is the only one that has the button that goes up to his floor. Top button, should read C0. Have a good day now."
"You too," Tea replied, a little thrown off but deciding to put it on hold as she strolled over to the elevator. Pressing the up button, she waited until the doors opened and walked inside the empty elevator, which was all white with glass paneling. She then tapped the button reading C0 and waited as the doors closed, feeling the elevator begin its ascension. "I expected some whore to be working behind the counter, not a gentleman," Tea thought as she leaned against the wall. "I guess Seto really makes this place look professional, even if it is a gaming corporation."
The elevator soon came to a halt, and the doors opened to reveal a hallway with black tile flooring and white walls. Two wooden double doors at the end could be seen along with a little nameplate reading Mr. Seto Kaiba, CEO in cursive. She walked up to the double doors and knocked twice before hearing a muffled "Come in," escape. Opening the door, she tip-toed in and closed it behind her, hoping she wasn't interrupting anything.
"Hey there," she said as she looked up to see a full view of Seto's office. It had the same black tile floor and white walls, and a large television screen was hanging on the far right wall along with two white, leather couches facing it. Two glass desks were in the back forming a sort of corner, each with its own advanced computer sitting on it, and were accompanied with a black, leather, office chair behind them. A wooden table was set up along the left wall holding a printer and several stacks of blank, white paper. The rest was used as bookshelves. "This is a really nice place," she commented, looking around before her eyes landed on the CEO, who was sitting on one of the couches and sipping a cup of something.
"Thanks…" he whispered, setting the cup down on the black coffee table. "Mokuba comes here often, so I tried to make it like the office at home so that he doesn't get distracted."
"I see," she replied as she walked over and sat down next to him. "You shocked me today, though. Your receptionist seemed like quite the gentleman."
"I made sure to hire someone who not only does work, but acts professional and kind," Seto explained. "You see all these sluts behind counters these days, and there is no respect for them at all."
Nodding in agreement, she leaned forward to see what he was drinking. "What did you make? It doesn't look like coffee..."
"Soda," Seto answered. "You interrupted my nap, so I'm trying to wake up."
"Oh!" she exclaimed, quickly looking over at him. "I'm sorry. If I had known you were napping, I wouldn't have—"
"Don't worry about it," he interrupted, smiling faintly over at her. "Nobody knew I was taking a nap. Nothing to worry about."
"Any reason for the sudden occasion? I mean, you aren't known for taking naps during the day."
"Just a bad night last night," he answered, leaning forward and grabbing the cup to take another sip. "I hardly got any sleep, so instead I did some work. I decided it would be a good plan to take a quick nap when I got here."
"Wow…. Anything I can help with?"
"Not really." A sudden thought seemed to strike him, for his eyebrows knit together slightly, and he asked, "Aren't you supposed to be at the orphanage right now?"
Smirking, she answered, "Well, since somebody had to go and tell her about it, I—"
"Whoa, whoa, I did not tell her," Seto interrupted, a playful smile tugging his lips. "Mokuba did."
"Oh did he now?"
"Yes, he did."
"Well, anyways, she said I could take every other day off to spend time with you."
"Isn't she so nice?" he asked sarcastically as he took another sip of his soda. Groaning, he placed a hand on his forehead and let out a sigh.
"Does your head hurt?" Tea asked.
"Naturally. I always seem to have a headache. But I have to ask… What the hell did you exactly tell your friends?"
Tea's mouth parted slightly in shock, remembering the scene in the cafeteria. Finding the glass table suddenly interesting, she glanced over at it, and whispered, "I…I told them all about our relationship and how we have been seeing each other for the past couple of weeks. I didn't mention where or how it began; I just said you and I became good friends and that, after some consideration, we decided we could form a closer connection. But…Joey… He totally freaked out on me."
"Yeah, no kidding," Seto replied as he set the cup down and stood up off the couch. Walking over to the desk, he pressed a button on his phone, and a sudden voice came on, stating that one old message was saved. Pressing another button, Tea listened to the familiar voice of Joey.
"Yo, Kaiba, I don't know what the fuck you did to Tea, but you better get away from her right now! I couldn't believe what I heard today! Who in the world would love a guy like you, Moneybags? You're never nice to any of us, and I'm sick and tired of dealing with your attitude. If I find out you hurt Tea in any way, shape, or form, I swear to God I'll make sure to rip your fucking throat out, you got it!?"
Hearing the click signaling the message was done, Tea just sat in shock for a few seconds before rolling her eyes. "I can't believe him… I'll talk to him tomorrow about it. There's no need for him to be yelling at you like that."
"Alright…and…Tea?" She looked over to see Seto staring at her, his eyes filled with an unknown sadness, as his lips parted slightly, indicating he was almost at a loss for words. "I…I promise I won't let anything happen to you."
Smiling, she stood up and walked over to him before wrapping her arms around his waist. "I know you won't," she replied, feeling his arms slowly wrap around her. "I trust you, Seto. I'll discuss this with Joey tomorrow and tell him to either accept us or leave us. I don't really care at this point."
"You'd throw away a friend that you've had for years just to be with me?" he asked skeptically as he let his hand begin playing with her hair.
"Seto, he's not a friend if he doesn't accept some of the choices I make in life. That's the way I have to look at it. Sure it hurts; I've never known Joey to act like this. But…if worst comes to worst…"
Hearing the CEO groan again, she looked up to see a pained expression on his face. "You'd better lay down," she instructed, unwrapping her arms and watching as he slowly nodded his head and walked back over to the couch. Lying down, he let out a sigh and placed a hand on his forehead.
"I'm sorry about this," he stated as she followed him and sat down in front of the couch so that the two were eye-level with one another. "I just…"
"Hey, it's okay. Seriously, though, how much sleep did you get last night?"
"Maybe forty minutes at the most."
"Forty minutes?" she asked in horror. "That's it?!"
"Yeah… I know, I know, it's unhealthy. But… Like I said, it was just a really bad night."
"Seto…"
"Don't worry about it; that's why I'm trying to get some sleep now. I'll take a nap, do some work, and then head home. I'll be fine by tomorrow."
"Promise?"
He slowly turned his head around to face her, a small smile forming on his face. "Promise," he whispered back.
"What caused it to be such a bad night?" she questioned, already knowing the answer but wanting to see what Seto said.
"Just a nightmare…"
"Just a nightmare?" Tea repeated. "Just a nightmare doesn't mean forty minutes of sleep at the most."
"No… It doesn't. I'm telling the truth, though. Some nightmares are just…darker than others."
Deciding to let the matter drop, she cupped the side of his face and smiled. "Hey, I'll be here to scare away all those nightmares, alright? That way you can sleep better."
Seto chuckled at this and turned his head back towards the ceiling. "I'm sure you will…"
"How did you make it through the day on only forty minutes of sleep, though?"
"I didn't. I'm surprised you didn't see me. I was sleeping all morning, but then I woke up with a start. Luckily we were in the library again today, so nobody saw me freak out. I just chose to read a book after that."
"You freaked out?"
"Yeah…" He shivered slightly, as those a sudden breeze had blown through the room, leaving Tea nervous.
"Is there seriously anything I can do for you?"
"No, Tea… Just get your mutt friend off my back for me, okay?" Chuckling, Tea nodded her head in agreement and went to stand up when she felt Seto grasp her hand. Looking down at him, she saw him staring back up at her. "Hey, I know I'm going to be napping for a little bit, but could you stay up here for awhile? It will make them think I'm actually doing work if somebody is here with me."
"Oh, am I now being used to cover up your laziness?" she asked jokingly, receiving a smirk from her boyfriend.
"Sure, why not?" he remarked. "You can watch the television if you want to. The remotes are over there on the shelf. If you stay, maybe I'll take you out to dinner."
"Oooh, the CEO of KaibaCorp going out to eat! What an exciting adventure that sounds like!"
"Oh, but it is," he replied. "After all, nobody knows that it's me."
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Come on, Tea. Do you think I wear this attire when I go out to public places? It draws way too much publicity. I usually wear the same clothes that I wear to the orphanage when I go out to eat."
"I see…"
"So will you stay?"
Pretending to think about it for a moment, she shrugged her shoulders and said in an exasperated tone, "I guess I could, but just for you…" That small smile returned to the CEO's lips as she grabbed the remote controller and began flipping through the channels. Once she had gone through nearly all of them, she asked, "Hey Seto, what channel is—" But as she turned around, she saw her boyfriend's chest slowly rising and falling, the smile wiped clean off his face. He was already fast asleep.