Chapter three:

Red tape and hot chocolate

Tea opened the door to her apartment feeling a little more angry than depressed. She slammed the door shut with her foot and headed to the kitchen to put away the stuff she had bought at the supermarket. She looked at the clock .It was 10.00am. The paper she was going through earlier that morning was still sprawled out on the counter. After putting everything away she took another look at the vacancies she had circled. Just then there was a knock on her door.

Who on earth could that be?

A little surprised, she walked to the door. Just to be on the safe side she opened the peep hole and peered into it.

She couldn't believe her eyes .The anger that had died down a few minutes ago started bubbling right back up to the surface again. She swung the door open and found herself staring at Kaiba. She made sure that Mokuba was no where in sight before opening her mouth to speak.

"What the hell are you doing here Kaiba?"

"Is that any way to greet a friend?"

"We're not friends."

Kaiba was starting to get impatient. He was a busy man after all.

Sighing he stepped in a little closer to the doorway.

"Look, are you going to let me in or not."

Tea couldn't stand him but she wasn't one to be impolite. She stepped aside so that he could come in.

She closed the door and watched as he surveyed the small living room with his arms folded. He looked like he was in the real estate business. She didn't expect him to say anything nice about her place seeing that he was one of the richest guys on the planet. Her entire apartment must have looked like cheap storage space to him.

Tea also folded her arms as she put her back against the door. She was staring at him with an accusing look.

"Now can I ask what this is all about? And by the way, how do you even know where I live?"

Kaiba turned to face her.

God why did he have to be so incredibly hot? She couldn't help but feel a little uneasy with him standing in her living room staring at her like that.

"I followed you." he said simply.

"You followed me?"

"It was Mokuba's idea."

"Well I guess that makes it okay then."

Her sarcasm didn't bother Kaiba in the slightest; He enjoyed seeing her work herself up way too much to be bothered by any of the things she said to him.

Kaiba shoved his hands into his pockets as he looked at her. It wasn't something that he would ever admit to anyone but he had always found Tea to be extremely attractive. She looked so cute standing there with that pout on her lips.

Pulling himself out of his stupor he decided to get to the point of him coming to see her.

"Look Gardner I came to offer you the position you and Mokuba were discussing earlier."

"Oh you mean the honorable position of being your own personal slave."

Kaiba's patience had just about run out, he promised Mokuba that he would help her but he wasn't willing to take any of her lip.

"Just cut the bullshit Gardner, you want the job or not? I wouldn't have wasted my time to come up here if I knew you would be this difficult to deal with. Without a job in this city you might as well be living on the streets. I'm just doing you a favor here. So it's pretty much up to you; take it or leave it."

Tea didn't say anything. She knew when she was boxed in and she wasn't too stubborn to admit it. He was right; she needed this job if she wanted to keep her apartment. And more importantly, if she wanted to stay away from her uncle.

Kaiba watched as she pondered his words and by the look on her face he knew he had won. She finally opened her mouth to speak.

"Fine I'll take it."

"Took you long enough."

He walked over to her, another one of his trademark smirks puling over his lips.

"You'll have to sign a few things before you start though. I'll come and drop the forms off tomorrow, you start Monday morning at 8.00am but I'll fill you in a little more tomorrow."

She knew that smug smirk meant that he was glad that he had an edge over her but she decided to keep her mouth shut about it. Bottom line she was grateful to him and that was all that mattered at the moment. He looked pretty smug leaving her apartment that morning and if she knew anything about Kaiba he was going to rub this situation in her face every chance that he got.

Tea spent the rest of the day cleaning her apartment and trying to clear her thoughts. At least she didn't have to worry about finding a job anymore.

That night while getting ready to go to bed she couldn't help but think of Yami. She wasn't too pleased about it but she knew she was still pretty hung up on him. How could he have changed so drastically? He had hurt her so badly, but her feelings never seemed to go away. She pulled the covers up to her chin wishing she could see him again.

Sunday 7.00am

Tea was in the shower enjoying the soothing feel of the water soaking through her hair when there was a loud knock on the door. What the hell?

She hurriedly pulled on her pink robe and stepped out of the bathroom. With her hair still dripping wet she headed to the door to see who was at her door at such an ungodly hour. Once again she peered into the peep hole and once again she was annoyed to see who was standing there.

She hesitated, making sure that her robe was properly wrapped around her body. When she opened the door Kaiba's heart skipped a beat, he wasn't expecting her to be dripping wet with nothing but a robe between her and her bare skin. She looked super sexy. Luckily he wasn't the kind of guy to let his feelings show or he'd practically be drooling.

"Kaiba, it's 7.00 in the morning."

"I specifically remember telling you that I was coming back today to drop off the paper work Gardner, what are you suffering from short term memory loss?"

"I knew you were coming back but I didn't think you meant at the crack of dawn."

"I keep early hours and I thought I'd give you a taste of what it means to be working for me. This is your first lesson. Always expect the unexpected."

Sighing tea stepped aside to let him in. She closed the door and gestured for him to have a seat on the couch.

Looking extremely irritated she started heading to the bedroom.

"Just give me a minute."

She locked the door behind her so that he couldn't see into the room. Kaiba tried his best to push his suddenly perverted imagination aside as he watched her disappear behind her bedroom door. When she came back into the living room she was wearing a short blue skirt and a simple white t-shirt with a picture of three puppies on the front. He noted that her hair was still damp but she had pulled it back into a pony tail. He had to scold himself before his thoughts went wild again.

"Can I get you something?"

"You got anything hot?" besides you

What the hell was wrong with him today? He needed to pull himself together before he said something he wasn't supposed to.

"How about some hot chocolate?"

"That's fine I guess."

She headed into the kitchen to fix him a cup as he took the time to look around. He noticed a picture of her and her parents which was obviously taken a long time ago-Tea didn't look much older than ten years old in it.

After a few minutes she emerged from the kitchen holding a steaming cup of hot chocolate. She handed it to him feeling a bit awkward serving him as if they were more than what they actually were.

She watched him take the first sip. He looked different today, much more casual. He was wearing a black short sleeved shirt with a pair of blue jeans. Talk about hot.

He noticed her staring at him when he lowered the cup to rest it onto the table in front of him.

"Is something wrong?"

"Huh, oh no nothings wrong."

"Whatever, let's just get this over with."

He opened his briefcase and took out a few sheets of important looking documents. He handed them to her and pulled a pen out of his pocket.

"Make sure you understand everything you read before you sign, if you have any questions just ask-and try to make it snappy."

Tea flipped through the papers. There had to be about five sheets in the entire wad.

"I didn't know working for you would be so complicated."

He handed her the pen he was holding.

"This is Kaiba corp. you're talking about not some piece of shit small town organization-get used to the bureaucracy."

She shook her head and took a seat next to him. Kaiba couldn't help but feel kind of weird sitting so close to her and not in a bad way. She smelled like vanilla and soap, intoxicatingly innocent; an innocence that seemed to be driving him insane. He didn't like feeling this way, not one bit; it was against everything that he was. And he definitely wasn't the mushy misty eyed type of guy. He decided to take his mind off her.

"You mind if I put on the T.V while you take your sweet time reading that thing."

"Oh no go ahead."

Tea didn't even look up; she was too busy concentrating on the forms in front of her.

Kaiba reached for the remote that was sitting on the table. He switched the T.V on and immediately started flipping through the channels searching for something that might grab his attention.

Why did it feel so damn good sitting with her like this?

He was becoming pretty annoyed with himself by now. The T.V was obviously not helping his situation. He decided to strike up a conversation instead.

"So why'd you decide to move to the city Gardner?"

The question shook her back into a not so pleasant memory, one that she wasn't willing to share with him or anyone else.

When she hesitated he turned to look at her. She was still staring down at the papers but her expression had changed a bit. Anyone else wouldn't have noticed but Kaiba was an expert at reading faces and she was definitely trying to hide something.

"..I just wanted a change in my life that's all."

He sensed that she was telling the truth but there was something about the way she said it that made him feel that there was a piece of her explanation that was missing.

He decided to let her off the hook and keep his mouth shut from then on. Instead, he concentrated on finishing his surprisingly delicious hot chocolate.

By the time he had drained the last of it Tea was on the last page.

Just then there was a knock on the door. Tea looked up from the paper confused.

"Who could that be?"

"Maybe it's your lover boy Yami."

Tea flashed a sarcastic smile at Kaiba as she got up to answer the door. He obviously didn't know that she and Yami were no longer a couple.

When she peered into the peephole what she saw almost made her want to faint. She couldn't believe her eyes. Oh my god it is Yami! Tea put her hand to her chest in astonishment. What is he doing here?

She took a few deep breaths and summed up her courage. She cautiously opened the door. She stared up at him through slightly nervous eyes.

"Yami?"