Resignation has reached 100 reviews, 47 followers and 35 favourites. Thank you all for staying with me.
I hope you all enjoy the final chapter.
Kaiya did wonderful work keeping Serenity out of the media's attention, and while she was in school it wasn't too difficult to do. However once she graduated and we were seen spending time together often paparazzi started to take note. It got even worse after Serenity attended a benefit as my date.
She wore a long empire waist blue gown and a simple bun. I had offered to buy her a gown, but she had proudly bought it herself and wanted to silently make the statement that she was not with me for my money. Why else would she wear a dress that cost less than 10 000 yen?
She was poised and dignified the entire time, answering questions in ways I can only imagine her mother had taught her was appropriate when dealing with reporters.
Even when they caught her out to lunch with Mai and Téa she kept her cool, smiling politely before calmly asking them if they could leave her to enjoy her friends' company. Eventually they tired of her. She wasn't tabloid worthy, she never fought or hid her face when the paparazzi showed up and even when she had her hair in a messy bun and no makeup she glowed with a natural beauty.
In the summer after our fourth year of dating I asked her to move in with me.
Joey, Yugi and even Tristan insisted on doing the moving, not that she had much to bring. I cleared out the largest guest room with the best view of the garden to be made into her studio.
While she, Mai and Téa dictated what went where and began talking about possibly painting and adding some life to the mansion I shared a drink with Joey.
We were hardly what I would consider friends, but we had what I liked to call shared moments in time where we mutually agreed not to try and kill one another.
"I was wrong about you," Joey said, idly picking at the label on his bottle of coke. He never drank alcohol, and when he was around neither did I.
"You're wrong about many things, but then again so am I."
Joey smirked, glancing over at where the girls chatted. Serenity caught my eye for a second a smiled, which I of course returned.
"You bring out the best in her, you know. And she smooths out the worst in you."
"Truer words were never spoken," I laugh.
"What about this one?" Mokuba asked, pointing at the display.
"No, too big," I shook my head, we had been there for two hours already and I had a feeling the shop owner was getting annoyed. "Mokuba, I don't think a big name store is the right way to go. It's just not her personality."
My brother thanked the salespeople for their time and we left, heading towards the Starbucks across the street. "Are you sure you don't want to use-?"
"I'm sure," I cut him off before placing my order; a venti five pump with drizzle double blended mocha frappuccino. It was a once in a blue moon treat that Serenity had introduced to me. I was thankful today Mokuba and I were incognito, jeans and tshirts, so it was unlikely I would be noticed buying such a girlish and out of character drink.
"Really, I don't mind," he assured me, placing his own order.
"I know you don't, but you're the youngest. It wouldn't be fair for me to have them."
"If you say so," he shrugged. "Are you heading home now or going to keep shopping?"
"I'll keep looking, but if you have somewhere you need to be go ahead. We took two cars for a reason." Mokuba reminded me that dinner was at seven and then left me to finish my drink alone.
I went into many shops, but nothing seemed quite right. Why did this have to be the hard part? It was easy to figure out how I was going to give it to her, she had been hinting at getting a puppy ever since she made the decision that Kisa should stay with her mother to keep her company.
Finally, it was time to declare defeat for the day. I was hungry and tired of looking. As with all things, the best come when you least expect them.
Her birthday we did a big dinner with friends and family, we also celebrated the rise in her career; the small business she worked for had gotten a lot of notice after she had begun doing art for new Duel Monsters cards.
Everyone laughed and took pictures when she was forced to wear the birthday hat and stand on her chair while they sang to her. She absolutely glowed, cementing my belief that the perfect gift was waiting at home for her.
Mokuba and Rebecca chose to go see a movie after, leaving Serenity and I alone.
"I had such a wonderful time, best birthday yet," she gushed.
"I've got one more present for you," I told her, gently pulling her to sit next to me on the couch. I whistled and in came bounding a white and ginger puppy, tail wagging happily as he jumped up on her lap.
"Oh aren't you the sweetest thing!" Serenity cried scratching behind his ears.
"He's an Akita, the same breed as Hachikō," I told her, proud that I had done my research. They're a strong, independent and dominant breed. Commonly aloof with strangers but affectionate with family members." They sounded a lot like me, and I had to admit that they looked pretty adorable.
"He's perfect Seto. Do you have a name?" she asked turning to the puppy and looking for his collar. Her breath caught as she finally noticed the small, gold ring with a sapphire centre stone and three small diamonds on either side.
A knock on the door pulls me out of my memories, I glance at the clock. Where had the day gone?
"Come in," I call. Kaiya smiles and closes the door behind her.
"Hello Mr. Kaiba, I just wanted to give you my resignation."
"What?" I ask surprised. How could Kaiya resign? I had promoted her years back to personal assistant and given her a generous raise. "Why?"
"It has nothing to do with you, sir. I've just come to the conclusion that with your relationship with my daughter it is not longer appropriate for me to continue to work for you."
I stare at her in shock, to which she smiles and pats my cheek.
"I'll see you tomorrow. Don't even think about being late." She lays her resignation notice on my desk and begins to head out, turning back once she reaches the door. "Now go home, after all Seto, you're getting married in the morning."
And that is why this story has always been called Resignation.
If there are any final questions please feel free to ask in the reviews, I will either PM a reply or if I get a lot I will post a "chapter" answering them. There's a lot that happened to Seto and Serenity in my head, that just never seemed to make it into the story.