Chapter Six

The next day, Delia was a woman with a mission.

It was a day much like the one before. She was still motivated to do her work, so she finished half of her lessons about two hours into the day. Kaiba was, as usual, sitting in his chair, working. He hadn't moved from his spot since the day began. Apparently, from the way he kept running his hand through his hair, he was frustrated about something. He had a frown on his face as he stared at the computer screen in front of him. He didn't notice at all that Delia was looking at him with a contemplative gaze.

Delia stretched in her chair and then stood up. She walked around the room, examining the various decorations hanging on the walls. She kept walking back and forth, sometimes looking at the paintings on the wall and other times examining the books lining the bookshelf. All the while she was planning on how to best accomplish her mission.

Finally, about ten minutes later, Kaiba noticed her movements and looked up from what he was doing with a frown even larger than the one before, if that was possible. Last night Delia had feared that Kaiba would wear a smile on his face the entire day, while today she feared that the frown would never disappear. She couldn't quite make up her mind which one she would actually prefer. Maybe the frown. It somehow suited him more in her opinion.

"What are you doing?" he asked, annoyed.

"What? I'm taking a break. Don't you know it's not good for your health to sit for the entire day? You should get up and move around more," Delia replied blithely with a warm smile.

Kaiba looked at her suspiciously. "You've done your relaxing. Now get back to work."

Normally, Delia would've returned to her chair with some grumbling, but today, she was feeling rather rebellious, at least more so than usual. Not to mention, she had something else on her mind today, and the thought of accomplishing it made her feel…She wasn't sure what. Giddy. Yes, she felt giddy. Thus, she walked behind his desk and invaded his usual personal space. Kaiba didn't say anything but observed her with watchful eyes, following her every movement.

"You know, I've been thinking," Delia started, speaking in a very friendly tone of voice.

"About what?" His wary expression made her feel like giggling.

Delia didn't want to tell him yet. Instead, she spun his chair around so that he once again faced the front. Before he could move, she had her hands on his shoulders and started kneading.

Kaiba stiffened. "What are you doing?"

"What does it feel like I'm doing? I'm giving you a massage," Delia said crossly. Almost as an afterthought, she added, "Man, you're really tense. Just relax."

Surprising, he did, sitting back in his chair and letting her do as she pleased. "Is there a reason you're being so magnanimous today?" he asked.

"Wow, magnanimous, such a big word." Kaiba didn't respond to her jibe, but she could imagine the scowl that must be on his face. "Not really," she replied to his original question.

"Am I to believe that you don't have any ulterior motives?"

"What? Can't I just feel like being nice?"

His silence was answer enough to her questions. As Delia continued to massage his shoulders, she found herself noticing just how nice he felt under her hands. When she suddenly felt the urge to explore his body further with her hands, and not just massaging his shoulders, she spoke quickly to distract her wayward thoughts. "Well, I do have something to say."

"I knew it." He sounded very much triumphant.

She frowned. So what if she had an ulterior motive? Who didn't in this world? "Hara told me you took her to dinner with your associates."

"Yes, what of it?"

"What of it?" Frustrated, she whirled the chair around so that they once again faced one another. "You don't take a girl to meet your business associates on your first date!"

Kaiba had an amused expression on his handsome face that she wanted to wipe off. He crossed his legs and said, "Who said that I was taking Hara to a date?"

"If that wasn't a date, then are you leading her on purposely?"

This time, he actually looked confused. His brows drew together. "I don't see how I am leading her on. I simply needed a woman to eat dinner with a very important business associate of mine. Hara is intelligent and good at what she does. I thought she made a fitting candidate. That's why I asked her."

"So you never meant it as a date?"

"No."

"Then you shouldn't have bought her flowers! And you shouldn't have kissed her on the forehead!"

He lifted an elegant eyebrow. "So you were spying?"

Delia realized her mistake at once. However, she had to force her way through this blunder. "So what if I saw? You were on the doorstep and I was inside the house. It's not like I purposely watched you kiss Hara."

"I didn't exactly kiss Hara."

"Oh? Then what do you call that?"

Kaiba didn't answer her question. He suddenly tugged her arm so that she fell forward. Then she found herself half sprawled on his lap.

"What are you doing?" she asked, her voice coming out in a squeak. She tried to stand up, but Kaiba had a strong grip on her shoulder so that she couldn't. Instead, her back was against the hard armrest of his chair, her hip sitting on his lap.

Kaiba had a smirk as he leaned over her. Her heartbeat picked up as if expecting what was going to happen next. "I'm going to show you a real kiss. Then you'll know what I give Hara wasn't a kiss at all," he said, his voice smooth like dark velvet, sliding over her skin and raising goose bumps.

"No! D…"

Her protest died as his lips touched hers softly, tentatively. Her eyes, traitors they were, fluttered shut of their own accord. His lips were smooth and firm. The tender way he kissed her almost felt like he was exploring. Yet, slowly, the fire of passion ignited somewhere deep in her womb and spread to the rest of her body as he embraced her tighter so that she could feel every hard line of his body under his clothes. All thoughts of resistance left her mind. Her hands, which earlier she had raised to push him away, now buried themselves in his luxurious hair.

When his tongue gently probed against her mouth, she let him in. He tasted her like some delicacy specifically made for him. She kissed him back, her tongue dueling with his. Somewhere in her mind, she heard the little bit of noises she was making, little hums and moans. His smell surrounded her completely, some sort of cologne that was purely male and called out to every feminine part of her, urging her to move against him provocatively.

Then, all of a sudden, he stopped and lifted his head. Delia whimpered. "Now, that was a kiss," he said through clenched teeth, his smirk gone.

She just stared at him, uncomprehending. Then everything came rushing back like a wave.

Smack!

"How dare you?" She yelled and leaped out of his lap. Her hand burned from the slap. She hoped his cheek hurt even more.

No emotion showed on his face, although the fires of passion lit up his usual cool eyes. He looked at her, as collected as ever, as if waiting for her storm to blow over. It was a small satisfaction she felt when he rubbed his cheek that was swiftly turning red. "I don't see why you are so upset."

"Why? Do you even have to ask? I didn't need you to show me what a kiss was. And what about Hara? How is she going to feel if she finds out?" Her voice had gone beyond yelling to screaming at this point. She was suffering from one of those times when she was so blinded by fury that she no longer thought about what she was saying. Words just came pouring out of her mouth.

"You are overreacting," he pointed out evenly. "Is it because you enjoyed it?"

His words somehow penetrated the red haze of fury blinding her. She found herself spattering excuses, "I…I didn't…How…"

Whatever she was about to say was interrupted by the knock on the door.

"Come in," Kaiba called, as if he hadn't been facing a murderous female just minutes ago.

Hara walked in and stopped. Her gaze flickered from Delia to Kaiba. She doubtlessly sensed the tension in the atmosphere as she inquired, "Is everything all right?"

"Yes. Did you need something?" Kaiba's composure was flawless as he spoke. Delia wanted to smash in his handsome face. Instead, she avoided looking at Hara and strode back to her desk. As of now, guilt was starting to grow and gnaw at her insides, even though what had happened wasn't really her fault.

But, why did he kiss her? Was it only to show her a real kiss, as he had said? Yet, that was way out of line of him. She didn't need him to show her a real kiss. She had kissed plenty of the opposite sex in her eighteen years of life, thank you very much. In fact, he had no right to do what he did. How could he kiss her when he knew exactly how Hara felt about him?

Yet, the most disturbing part of it was that she really enjoyed it. No matter how she tried to hide it, she couldn't deny that fact. If Kaiba hadn't stopped when he had, that little display would've gone a lot farther than just a mere kiss. Even now, she could still feel his warm breath whispering against her skin and his body imprinted against hers.

Oh god, she must be insane. How could she find pleasure in a kiss with a man whom she didn't even like one bit? In fact, she despised him. He was arrogant and rude. He insulted her with every chance he had. She couldn't possibly have any feelings for him.

And lastly, there was Hara, who was in love with the bastard. She couldn't do this to Hara. Not again.

Ahh!! Why? Why? Delia screamed in her head. She glared at Kaiba, who was deeply engrossed in his talk with Hara. Ever since she'd met him, her life had gone down the drain. She was absolutely convinced that he was Devil's incarnate sent to punish her, for what she wasn't sure. No other reason made sense.

Since she couldn't really do anything about the kiss, and nothing perturbed Kaiba, Delia focused her frustrations elsewhere. She attacked her work zealously, like a woman possessed. She pushed everything else to the corner of her mind, never to be brought up again, and concentrated on studying. Once again, she finished reading her textbooks two hours earlier than usual. She didn't even say one word as she left the office to join Hara next door.

However, if she thought staying in the same room with Kaiba was bad, she had another thing coming. The next three hours was the worst three hours of her life. For the life of her, she couldn't act normal around Hara. Every time Hara even moved anywhere near to her, she would flinch unconsciously. She almost screamed out what had happened a dozen times or so in those three hours, but every time the words stuck in her throat.

She couldn't risk it. She couldn't hurt Hara. She didn't want Hara to hate her, nor did she want Hara to hate Kaiba. Talking about being stuck between a rock and a hard place.

In the next few days, in order to avoid Kaiba, Delia would get to the office before sunrise and finish her study for the day, so that by the time Kaiba arrived she was already in the office with Hara. She still didn't know what to say to him. A silent fury burned inside of her, but she didn't know how to get rid of it. Slapping Kaiba hadn't helped. Maybe if she threw him out of the window? Then again, he wasn't worth going to jail for.

Hara was completely oblivious to everything around her. She still mooned over Kaiba every day. Delia found that with a little practice she could act a lot more normal in front of her twin than in front of Kaiba, who by the way, was still as cool as ever. Delia was seriously beginning to suspect that he really just kissed her for the sake of showing her a real kiss. No strings attached.

She should be happy if that was true. Then why did she often feel disappointed whenever that thought came up?

Ironically, throughout all this, she found solace in all the work that Kaiba piled upon her. If she just concentrated on the work, she didn't need to think about anything else, so that was exactly what she did. She got up early every morning and worked late every night so that by the time she went to bed, she was so tired that she didn't even have to strength to think about anything but sleep.

Sadly, this couldn't last very long. Delia was exhausted mentally and physically when Friday rolled around. She even had dark circles under her eyes.

"Delia, I'm leaving. You coming?" Hara asked her Friday night around six.

Delia looked up from her computer screen. Wow, she had totally lost track of time. Although she was dying to crawl in bed and get some much needed sleep, she still needed to finish what she was doing. Surprisingly, when she really applied herself to the work, she found herself enjoying it. "No. You go ahead. I want to finish this before I leave."

"Delia, are you all right? You've been acting weird this entire week. Did something happen?"

If only you know. "No, I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

"If you say so," Hara said slowly and left the room, shutting the door behind her.

Delia returned to her work, focusing on the dimensions, the colors, and the layers of the design until it was perfect. She finally finished it about an hour later. With a satisfied smile, she turned off the computer and stretched.

"You're still here?"

Kaiba's voice startled her. "What are you doing here?" Delia asked accusingly.

"My secretary had to leave early, but she received a message that you need to catch a plane to England tonight."

"England? Why?"

"Something about a party."

"In England?"

Delia stared at him, dumbfound. She would've thought that this was a bad joke of some kind if she wasn't talking with Kaiba, who probably couldn't crack a joke to save his life. Then her cellphone rang. She fumbled in her purse for her phone. When she finally found it, she saw that it was Hara.

"Hey Hara, what's up?"

"Delia, where are you?" Hara shouted so loudly from the other end that Delia had to move the phone away from her ear.

"I'm still at Kaiba Corp, why?"

"Haven't Mom told you about the party Dad's having tomorrow at London? The one where the British royal family will show up?"

"Really? I don't remember." Delia seriously didn't remember. She was probably zoned out when her mom told her anyway. However, she was used to this rush before one of her dad's parties when she just go where her parents tell her to go.

"Well, now you know! Hurry up! The last plane of the night for England leaves in two hours!"

Hara hang up before Delia could say anything else. "Well, I guess I'll be spending my weekend in England meeting the royal family." Delia shrugged as she slid the phone back into her purse. She should be excited. She'd always wanted to meet Prince William and Prince Henry, but she couldn't seem to muster any enthusiasm.

"I can take you to the airport."

She glanced at Kaiba and wondered where this hospitality was coming from. This was the first time they'd exchanged more than a "hello" since the kiss a few days ago.

She shook her head. "My convertible will be faster than your limo," she said with a smile and strolled past him toward the elevator. "Oh, and I found something wrong with the last section of designs on the portable arena. You might want to check it out."

She savored the shocked look on Kaiba's face as the elevator arrived. "Have a good weekend, Kaiba." She waved and stepped into the elevator.

Delia rubbed her forehead as a killing headache set in. When she got in the car, she sat there for ten minutes, waiting for the worst of the headache to pass. She finally started the car when she could once again focus her thoughts on something other than the pain. She really needed to sleep more. Three hours of sleep everyday was just not enough for her.

She pulled out of the parking lot and headed home. However, halfway there she suddenly realized that she was supposed to head to the airport and catch a plane to London. She pulled over to the side of the highway and checked her GPS. The airport was actually on the other side of town. Damn it!

Turning around, Delia forced herself to keep her eyes open as she drove. She was just so damned tired she could've fallen asleep right there with no problem. Maybe she should've accepted Kaiba's offer after all.

As she drove, she was thinking about just how nice it would feel to snuggle under her blanket in her bed after a long relaxing bath. That sounds so good.

She yawned as she turned left.

The next few seconds flashed by like lightning.

She was all of a sudden blinded by the light that shone straight in her eyes. Before she could utter a sound, her head slammed into the steering wheel. The sound of the car horn blaring and the screech of car brakes never registered in her mind.

Instantly, everything turned black as she lost consciousness.

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