"Oh baby, your time is running out,
I won't let you turn around
And tell me now, I'm much too proud
All you do is fill me up with doubt."
Bulletproof by LA Roux
XXVI
It would've been easy if there was a book that described how relationships were supposed to work. Or rather, how they were supposed to end. Everything would've been easier if Kisara had a chance to process everything that happened within the month since her split with Seto. Unfortunately, between trying to find a job before summer was over and the pain she felt from having her heart broken, there wasn't any time to understand what happened. Most days, she spent her time drifting from one task to another, keeping her mind occupied so that she couldn't feel the pain that was weighing on her heart. She did anything and everything she could to keep herself from wandering back to the bottomless ache that seemed to infuse every silence and bring attention to the hole within her heart. At times when she could no longer stand the emptiness, she found herself calling her best friend.
"Hi Kisara," Cleopatra said within seconds of Kisara dialing her number.
"Cleo? How did you know it was me? I don't even think the phone rang once…"
"You usually call me around this time. Haven't you noticed?" Kisara wrapped one arm around her knees as she sat down on the floor, staring out the window at the sky above. The other arm was locked in place as it kept her hand holding the phone firmly against her ear. Kisara took a deep breath.
"I haven't noticed much of anything since Seto and I…" Kisara stopped herself mid-sentence. She didn't want to make the phone conversation about her again. Lately, Seto Kaiba was the only thing she ever talked about with Cleopatra. It was the only thing on her mind outside of trying to find a job… and failing miserably.
"Look, it's okay. I know you're upset and I'm your best friend. I want you to talk to me when you're upset." Kisara felt a single, solitary tear escape her eye, but quickly wiped it away, as if she were afraid someone was watching. No one was watching, though… she was alone in her apartment in the middle of the day. Her home seemed emptier than ever when she was on the phone with her best friend whom was miles away.
"I just wish I could get over him already, Cleo. I'm so tired of being sad all the time. I want to go back to the way things were… before I met Seto and after I had finally gotten over you know who." Kisara could hear Cleopatra chuckling on the other side of the phone. No matter how serious the issue was, Cleopatra always tried keeping conversations on the lighter side. She knew Kisara better than anyone which meant that she knew Kisara had the ability to worry herself into a coma and take things more seriously than they had to be. This was Cleopatra's way of helping… and at times, it wasn't always helpful.
"How do you know you were really over you know who?" Cleopatra joked, "Maybe Seto was just distracting you from the fact that you were never over him. I mean, the fact that you still call him 'you know who' makes me think you still have some major feelings for him." Kisara fell completely silent. Suddenly the stray tear that had fallen earlier was no longer alone, as Kisara's eyes began to flood with tears like fallen stars from the sky. Just the mere suggestion that she wasn't over the very man who made her afraid to ever love another human being was more hurtful than Cleopatra could ever understand. Kisara's body wracked with yet another sob, as she covered her mouth to stifle the noise. Between her complicated feelings for Seto and the lack of closure she had from her last relationship, Kisara simply couldn't handle it. She couldn't handle living in Japan on her own anymore, she couldn't bear the idea that she had run away from Egypt in the first place to escape from him, and she felt like she couldn't handle on this pain by herself. Kisara moved the phone away from her face as the sobs became stronger. Her body shook from the sheer anguish she felt from feeling so alone and having no one to hold her and tell her everything would be alright.
"…Kisara? Are you still there?" Cleopatra asked after several moments of silence, "Honey, are you okay?" Kisara tried to get a hold of herself. She placed the phone on the ground so that she could wipe away her tears, blow her nose, and give Cleopatra a confident answer. The last thing she wanted was for her best friend to know how much she had fallen apart. She knew telling Cleopatra this would basically mean telling her parents and telling her parents meant they would want her to come back home. Just as Kisara went to grab the phone, she heard a knock on the door.
"Hold on Cleo, I think someone's at the door. I'll be right back," Kisara said into the phone, successful covering up the crippling sorrow she felt moments earlier with curiosity. Kisara kept the phone in hand as she walked gingerly over to the door, cracking it open to see who was visiting her at noon on a weekday. In a single moment, her emotions snapped from overwhelming sorrow to utter bewilderment. The two of them stood there for a moment in complete silence, looking at one another, trying to make sense of the other's reaction. It was as though all the noise in the room stopped—even Kisara's thoughts had gone blank. There was no spoken word that could be heard save for Cleopatra's voice speaking from the small flip phone.
"Kisara? Kisara, are you okay? Who is it?" Cleopatra's voice snapped Kisara's mind and body out of shock all at once. Her overwhelming sorrow was now replaced with an uncontrollable rage by the person standing before her. She had never felt so much rage in her entire life, and she was worried she might do something drastic if she let herself say exactly what was on her mind. Instead, all she said were two words.
"Seto Kaiba," Kisara hissed, a sense of utter loathing permeating every syllable, "I'll call you back." With that, Kisara closed her phone, her eyes never leaving Seto's. Her hand clenched the flip phone as if it were the ledge of a cliff that kept her from plunging to her death—she was worried the slightest loosen of her grip would cause the phone to go flying into Seto's face and she wasn't prepared to go to court for assault. Seto took a step forward.
"Kisara… I need to talk you—"
"And I need you to get the hell out of my apartment building before I call the cops." Kisara grabbed the door and attempted to slam it shut in Seto's face. Seto quickly wedged his foot in front of him to stop the door from closing. This only made Kisara angrier, causing her to start slamming the door over and over onto his foot, hoping eventually it would break. Her worries about not assaulting Seto went completely out the window.
"Please, just let me explain myself! And stop slamming the door on me!" Seto placed his hands on the door to keep it open. Kisara took a step back and held up her phone.
"I'm telling you right now, if you don't leave, I'm going to call the cops and have you arrested. This is breaking and entering. I may not be from Japan, but I know my rights!" Kisara screamed, knowing that the louder she screamed, the more attention she would bring to the other neighbors. "I mean it!" Kisara flipped open her cell phone to begin dialing when another figure appeared from behind Seto.
"Wait, don't do it! Don't arrest my brother! He forgot to bring you these!" Mokuba pleaded, holding up a huge bouquet of roses over his head for Kisara to see. Kisara shut her phone, staring at Mokuba for a moment before turning to glare at Seto. Seto held up his hands defensively in front of him, worried that Kisara still might chuck the cell phone at him.
"You dragged your little brother into this?" The contempt in her voice was audible.
"I didn't drag him anywhere, he insisted on coming because he cares about you. We both do." Kisara's eyes narrowed as she switched from glaring at Seto to staring at Mokuba, then vice versa. Kisara was trying to make sense of how she wanted to react to Seto now knowing that his younger brother was present to make Seto seem endearing. Fortunately, the phone rang once more, giving her a moment to think. Mokuba rushed over and held up the flowers for Kisara to take.
"Please don't have my brother arrested. He's the only family I have." Kisara reluctantly grabbed the flowers from Mokuba, knowing full well that the only reason she was accepting them was because Seto's irresistibly adorable brother was handing them to her. She looked down at the phone to see it was Cleopatra calling her back. Kisara looked back up.
"I have to take this. You two, wait outside."
"Will you not let us back in if we leave?" Mokuba asked, his eyes wide with wonder and hope that Kisara would give Seto a chance to talk. She gritted her teeth, wanting desperately to lie and say no without having any intention of opening the door again, but she simply couldn't resist Mokuba's face. Despite how much she hated Seto for what he had done, she didn't hate Mokuba and couldn't say 'no' to him.
"Yes, I'll let you two back in. I just need to answer this phone call and I'd like some privacy while I do it." Seto and Mokuba nodded their heads with understanding and obediently stepped out as Kisara answered the phone.
"Kisara, are you okay? You didn't call me back and I was so worried some crazy person had showed up at your house to murder you!" Cleopatra frantically said the moment Kisara picked up the phone.
"Yes, I'm fine. Believe me, I would've been happier greeting a crazy murderer than the person standing outside of my apartment right now." Kisara stood by the door and peaked through the peep hole, watching Seto and Mokuba anxiously wait outside.
"Why? Who's at your apartment right now?"
"Seto Kaiba," Kisara was annoyed just saying his name. She almost wished she hadn't promised Mokuba she would let them back in. Seto was the last person she wanted to see or talk to ever again. Hadn't he taken the hint when she hadn't picked up the twenty-five missed calls from him? Or better yet, when she didn't reply to the thirty-two text messages he sent?
"Uw, sounds like someone has decided to come back around to apologize. I was wondering when that was going to happen. I can't believe it took him an entire month to realize he messed up the greatest thing he ever had!"
"Yeah, maybe, but what do I do? I may still have… you know, feelings for him or whatever, but it's not like I wanna take him back either. He really hurt me," Kisara paused, not wanting to become overly emotional again over the phone, especially not with Seto lurking outside, waiting to talk to her, "What makes him think he can waltz back into my life and just take me back after what he did?"
"You're absolutely right, he can't just waltz back into your life after not talking to you for a month and think it's okay…" Cleopatra stated, "That's why I propose you put him through the ultimate test."
"Oh yeah, and what's that?"
"Make him do a boyfriend interview. I read about it in a magazine somewhere," Cleopatra explained, "This one girl wrote an article about how her boyfriend abruptly dumped her for no good reason and then six months later randomly showed up, asking her back. Before she took him back, though, she set up this interview—much like one you would go through if you were applying for a job—only it was as if he were applying to be her boyfriend. It was positively brilliant! I think you should do that before you consider wasting anymore of your breath on him." Kisara was little hesitant to say 'yes' to something that sounded so strange. She could see why it would be an appealing story but she felt weird about asking Seto to do it.
"I don't know, won't Seto think it's weird?"
"Who cares what he thinks? He dumped you! Now he's come crawling back, thinking you'll take him back, and because of what? Because he's the CEO of a company you wanted to work at? Screw that! Put him through a boyfriend interview. Make him sweat!"
"I don't know. How do I explain to him that's what I want to do?"
"You don't. You should have him show up and think he's about to take you out on a date when really, you're about to conduct an interview. It'll catch him off-guard, but it'll mean his answers will be authentic because it'll be on the spot." While the original concept of the boyfriend interview seemed downright absurd, she liked the idea of getting straight answers from Seto. He was a celebrity after all—he could put on a face and give a good answer to anyone with enough time to think of it. If this was a way to get him to speak truthfully to her from the heart, a place Seto was rarely in tune with, perhaps the boyfriend interview would be a good place to start.
"Thanks Cleo. You know, I think I will do that. I'll call you back later this week and let you know how it goes."
"Yes! Definitely let me know how it goes and make sure to ask him the hardest questions in the world. Make him squirm." Kisara laughed.
"You got it, talk to you later. Love you!"
"Love you too!" Kisara closed the phone with a newfound confidence about the situation as she went over to open the door. This was no longer about being angry but rather discovering the real reasoning behind what would make Seto accuse Kisara for something she didn't do and dump her as a result. Sure, putting him on the spot with a surprise interview wouldn't be as immediately gratifying as launching her cell phone into his face and breaking his nose, but it would create context for his actions and that was all Kisara really wanted. She wasn't even sure she wanted to get back together with him… she just wanted answers.
"Can we come in now?" Seto asked, after Kisara opened the door.
"Nope."
"Hey, you promised!" Mokuba shouted in an accusatory fashion.
"Look, you two showed up completely unannounced and that was rude. I'll still hear you out, Seto, but I'll hear you out tomorrow. I want you to be here at noon, dressed in your very best and have an even bigger bouquet of flowers for me. If you do that, THEN we'll talk," Kisara stated, then turning towards Mokuba she added, "Oh, and I only want Seto to come, okay Mokuba?" Mokuba crossed his arms.
"No fair! I wanted to see you guys make up."
"Sorry buddy, but this is between your brother and I. You know that," Kisara said, giving Mokuba a reassuring smile, "It was still nice to see you, though." Kisara shot a glare at Seto. "Your brother, not you."
"I figured as much," Seto said with a sigh, "Either way, I'll be here tomorrow at noon and I appreciate you giving me a chance to explain myself." Kisara nodded.
"I'll see you then." Kisara quickly shut the door and waited to hear Seto and Mokuba walk away before finally being able to relax. Despite all the rage and apprehension towards Seto, deep down, although she wouldn't admit it out load… she was incredibly happy to have seen him. He was terrible to have dumped her, but seeing him reminded her of the intense, underlying chemistry between the two. She had, after all, missed him in their time apart. There was no denying that she still had very strong feelings towards him.
Nevertheless, she wasn't going to let her heart be played with again. Even though she still cared for him, she cared enough about herself to not want to be put through the trials of another break-up, if he were to randomly call her a criminal again and drop her like a rock. She shook her head from those thoughts… she needed to spend her time plotting out her questions for tomorrow. Tomorrow was when all her questions would be answered.
A/N: Hey everybody! Kari and Kura here, presenting you with the latest installment of "For Love's Sake." Kura is the one you should be thanking for this slightly early update as she was available to help me write this all weekend and get this to be what you're reading right now (the first stab at this was a total mess, but I figured it out, thankfully!). School has been insane but next month around this time it should be coming to an end. Not sure when my finals are yet but hopefully it won't interfere too much with my update schedule, as most of you know, I try to update once a month. In addition to that, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Kura and I worked really hard on it, drew large portions of it from our own personal experience, and created it with love in response to all of your reviews and support. Thanks again for reading, commenting, and just being an awesome crowd of people. See you all in a month!—Kura and Kari