Chapter 77

A Great Surprise

After Seto's confession of why he didn't like Christmas, Ana decided not to bring it up again. She was a little disappointed that they wouldn't be doing any of the normal couple things for Christmas Eve, but she wasn't going to be a royal ass about not getting to go on a date on that one specific day. Besides, she ended up being too busy to even sulk about it.

That night when Ana headed home after their arcade date, she found her mother and sister at the kitchen table planning something.

Aiko was biting her thumbnail as she argued with her mother over the color of what looked like cloth napkins. When her sister heard Ana enter, she looked up at her and asked, "Purple or lilac?"

Ana looked at the napkins and noticed that there wasn't a vast difference between them other than the shade. She knew that look on her sister's face, though, and answered seriously. "Lilac, if it's a spring event, purple if it's winter."

"Ah, yes. That's good. Let's go with purple, then." Aiko wrote something down and went back to looking at the napkins.

"Ok." Ana treaded carefully as she asked, "Winter event, then? What event is it? I haven't heard about anything lately."

Her mother looked up and grinned. "It's all very last minute. Aiko's engagement party is on Christmas Eve and the wedding will be in February."

Ana froze as she looked at Aiko. Her sister blushed deeply. Ana finally spoke when she got over her initial shock. "Oh, congratulations."

"Thanks," Aiko smiled bashfully.

Ana couldn't help herself. "This is sudden and fast. Are we having a shotgun wedding?"

The room grew quiet as no one said anything. What? I was just kidding, but why do they look so serious?

Her mother nodded to Aiko. Her sister took a deep breath, then looked at Ana and said, "I'm six weeks along."

"Oh." Ana blinked a few times. "OOOOHHH!"

Her mother burst out laughing at Ana's reaction and her sister smiled, but it was strained.

Aiko requested quietly, "Please don't tell anyone, though. It's really early."

"Right, right. I won't! Wow, congratulations, again." Ana was a little shocked at the whole thing. That Hoyhi moves fast.

Aiko looked at Ana and smiled. "You don't need to come to the engagement party since it's on Christmas Eve. I'm sure you and Kaiba-san—"

Ana cut her off. "I wouldn't miss the party for the world. Where's it being held?"

Aiko raised an eyebrow at her. "Where the Hoyhi's normally hold their parties here in town. At the Hoyhi mansion."

"That makes sense. How can I help? What else do you need to pick besides napkins?" Ana sat down at the table and drew her mother's and sisters' attention back to the planning. Ana coaxed them easily, successfully avoiding being asked why she wasn't going on a date with Seto on Christmas Eve.

During the time until Christmas break started, Ana helped with the party and when she got the chance to look through the invitations, she pulled Seto's invitation out and threw it away. No reason to bother him with this. She was so busy she didn't have time to do much else. After Seto left for Domino City, he'd messaged her a few times, but every time she started writing him back, her mother or sister would call her for help, making her responses much shorter than she wanted. Well, I'm sure he's busy. It should be fine.

Finally, Christmas Eve came, and Ana got ready for the party. She picked a simple full length dark blue gown and lightly curled her hair. This was her sister's party, so she had no intention of standing out. Ana arrived with her mother to help finish up the last-minute touches for the party. Hoyhi was zipping around in a simple black suit that fit him nicely. When he ran into Ana, he grinned like a doofus.

"I'm glad to see your wardrobe choices have improved. It's much easier to look at you now," Ana joked.

"Ha ha. By the way, where is your date? I find it unlikely that Kaiba Seto would allow his girlfriend to attend an event like this alone. Or really any event that other men attend." Hoyhi returned her teasing, but Ana didn't respond. "What? Did you two get in a fight—"

"Jordan!" Aiko called out.

"Looks like your fiancé is calling for you." Ana smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. He frowned at her, but went to Aiko.

Ana could feel a small throbbing in her chest. It's fine. The party soon started, which was enough to distract her for a while. After the opening speech, people took turns dancing and giving Hoyhi and Aiko their congratulations. Ana found a quiet corner to stand in. She was thankful that this time she'd chosen flats that didn't hurt her feet.

"May I have this dance?"

Ana's heart skipped a beat until she turned around and found a young man from one of the prominent local families. He wasn't one of the weird ones, and she could tell he was just being nice.

"Oh, no thank you. I'm not feeling that well tonight." Ana politely turned him down, though there was some truth to her words. He smiled awkwardly and went back to his group of friends. Ana sighed. She really didn't want to be here. Of course, she was happy for her sister, but she felt empty and lonely surrounded by all these people. The contradiction made her chuckle, but her smile faded. Ana looked around and found that her family was preoccupied with other people. I should have invited Sanae, but I think she really wanted to spend more time with her father this Christmas. Near-death experiences do make you appreciate what you have more.

Ana looked over at her sister giggling next to Hoyhi and felt a pang of jealousy. This is silly. She quietly slipped out of the hall and made her way out into the garden. She started shivering immediately and regretted not grabbing her coat. Ana rubbed her arms as she walked through the hedge lined garden. It was lit up with sparkling lights for the festivities, but everyone was inside enjoying the drink, food, and dance. Ana made her way to the fountain she'd gone to with Seto one time. When she got there, she recalled how she'd pushed him into the fountain and chuckled at the memory.

Sitting down on the edge of the fountain, she shivered again. The quiet was nice, but the loneliness she felt amplified. However, she felt less drained than when she was dealing with people inside. She pulled her phone out of her hidden dress pocket and fiddled with it. She wanted to talk to Seto. It is Christmas Eve, though, and this is supposed to be his busiest time of the year. Would calling him upset him? Ana decided a text would probably be ok.

Ana: I hope work's going well.

She sent it, and a moment later, she heard a ping behind her. Ana jumped up and spun around. Standing on the other side of the fountain was Seto. He was dressed in a long, heavy, black wool coat and was reading the message on his phone. When he finished, he looked up at her and smirked.

"It's going." He answered her out loud.

Ana stared at him, confused. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to abduct you." He paused when Ana frowned at him and seemed to realize he'd said something wrong. "I mean, I came to pick you up."

"Pick me up? I'm kind of at my sister's engagement party right now." Ana shivered as a gust of icy wind blew across her skin.

Seto sighed. He walked around the fountain, took off his coat, and wrapped it around her shoulders. "Yeah, you look like you're having a blast out here in the cold by yourself."

Ana didn't like how the sparkling lights made Seto's blue eyes shine as he smirked. Her heart skipped one too many beats at the gesture.

"I was taking a break from the crowd. I can't exactly leave. That would be rude to my sister." Ana retorted.

Seto held up his phone to show her a message. It was from her grandfather.

Gido: Ana, you're free to go. Aiko said she wants you to go too.

She glared up at Seto. "Did you plan this in advance?"

He paused at the question. "No..."

"Then what are you doing here?" She pushed.

"Like I said. I'm here to pick you up."

"For what?"

"A date."

She stared at him blankly, then frowned sadly. "You told me you don't celebrate Christmas."

"I don't." His eyes narrowed angrily. "That's tomorrow, not today."

"Today is Christmas Eve."

"Right, which is why I'm taking you on a date," he said flatly. "And my statement still stands. It's not Christmas day."

There was a moment of silence as Ana processed this. Slowly, a thought occurred to her.

"Amin-chan, you're a planner. This is rather spontaneous of you." A small smirk was forming on her lips.

He seemed to catch her teasing tone and growled. "So? Do you not want to go on the date?"

"It crossed my mind that you don't care about public opinion or holidays. Did you even know Christmas Eve was a date day for couples?"

The look of annoyance and embarrassment on his face confirmed her suspicions. She burst out laughing. "Don't tell me you thought I'd dump you if you didn't take me out on a date today?"

"No!" He snapped, but his ears turning red didn't really support his answer.

Ana huffed loudly. "I can't believe you thought I would be so petty as to break up with you just because you didn't take me out on Christmas Eve."

"I—I didn't think you would, but I didn't know how mad you be about it," he grumbled.

Ana put her hand over her mouth and laughed. His ears turned even redder. She had to admit she was really, really happy to see him. His phone lit up. Seto growled at it. He started typing furiously.

"Something wrong?" she asked.

"Just someone trying to hack into my company's systems. It's the usual shit during this time of year." Seto's eyes narrowed as he focused on his phone.

"Ah…" Her heart sank. She steeled herself and smiled at him. "Seto, I'm not going to break up with you just because you didn't take me on a date on Christmas Eve. I know you're extremely busy with work right now. I do appreciate the gesture, though. I'm going to go back to the party now. I'll see you after Christmas break is over."

She turned to go, but remembered that she had his coat. Before she could take it off, Seto's arms wrapped around her slowly, and he rested his chin on her shoulder. He was still typing like a madman on his phone. He was too close. She could feel his breath against her neck. It tickled and sent shivers down her back.

"Ana, I didn't just fly economy with a plane full of screaming toddlers to get rejected. I want to take you out on a date. I missed you." The entire time he was saying this, he was also fighting the hacker. Ana tried not to laugh. Asking someone on a date while working was just such a Kaiba Seto thing to do. "I admit I will need to work on this date. There are just too many hackers that try to break in this time of the year and not enough staff to take care of it. I'm…sorry I can't give you my full attention, but I really did want to see you. So, will you go on a date with me?"

"You flew economy?" Ana asked in disbelief.

"Frick'. Yes, I did."

"What about your jet?"

He sighed. "All our planes are under maintenance this time of the year. So, yes, I had to ride with the plebeians."

"Pfff, haha." Ana couldn't hold back the laughter. The idea of Seto being crammed into a plane with a bunch of screaming kids was hilarious. "My goodness. You must like me a lot."

Seto blew into her ear, sending more cold shivers down her back. She glared at him, and he smirked.

"I did try really hard to bride people out of their first-class seats, but for the first time ever no one would take my money." He frowned, looking confused.

"Really? That's mind boggling. Who in their right mind wouldn't take your money?"

"I know, right—you're just teasing me right now, aren't you?" Seto sighed as Ana laughed as her answer. "Do you want to go on a date or not?"

"What if I said I don't?" Ana asked. She enjoyed the look of confusion and shock on Seto's face. She decided, though, that it was best not to tease him too much. "But lucky for you, I would love that."

"Oh, good." Seto finally released her.

"I just need to grab my stuff—"

"You won't need it." Seto took her hand while still typing away with the other. He led her through the garden and to a side road where a taxi was waiting for them. Ana played along and got in. Seto didn't tell the driver where to go, but he took off without asking. It wasn't long before the taxi had taken them to the local park. Seto got out and opened the door for her, helping her out. The taxi driver sped away, leaving them alone in the park.

"Seto?" Ana raised an eyebrow in confusion, but he didn't say a word as he led the way.

It was the park where they'd had a couple of dates on the top of the mountain. He did indeed lead them past the no trespassing sign and started up the stairs.

"I'm really curious now. I don't see you carrying a duffle bag with a heater in it this time. It's kind of freezing outside. What's your plan?" Ana asked, feeling a little nervous. Seto's coat was warm, but not meant for long, wintery hikes.

"You'll see."

She sighed, but up the stairs they went. When they made it to the top, Ana expected to see the bench that Seto had installed when he'd bought the property. There indeed was still the bench, but now there was a small building near it. The tiny hut was wooden with massive glass windows on three sides. Seto strolled over to the building and put his hand on some sort of scanner. A beep sounded and the glass door swung open. He held it open for her, grinning at her reaction.

She went inside. The building wasn't large. If anything, could be considered cozy, with two installed wooden benches on either side of a block, metal table. It was more of a small sitting area than anything else. The place was well lit and bright inside. The back wall was mostly wood except for a black glass rectangular panel. Ana sat down on one of the benches. They were padded and covered in soft, black leather with small, throw pillows to lean against. Seto went to the back and placed his hand on the panel. It lit up blue. He pressed some buttons on the panel and a slit in the center table opened. A fire started from the slit and burned pleasantly, making it much warmer.

Seto pressed a few more buttons, and a hidden wooden panel opened on the back wall. Two cups dropped down and started filling with brown liquid. Ana could smell coffee and chocolate. When the cups were full, the liquid turned off and Seto brought the cups over. He handed her the one full of hot chocolate.

"All I've had installed so far is coffee and hot chocolate, so you'll have to make do. I have snacks though, if you're hungry." After handing her the cup, he sat down next to her and started furiously typing on his phone again.

"When did you have this built?"

"Hmm? I had it ordered after the fall festival. Everything's not fully installed yet." He answered her question without looking at her.

"Why did you build this?"

"Well, if we ever went on a date again up here during the end of the year, I thought it would be a pain to bring a heater every time. Plus, it's freezing during late winter, so I thought it might not be enough for you."

Ana felt her breath catch in her mouth. "You built this for me just because I'm not good with the cold?"

"Something like that." Seto was concentrating extra hard on his phone and didn't look at her. "I thought about building a cabin, but I figured that might be excessive and that you wouldn't have liked that."

Ana's heart was pounding loudly in her chest as she looked at Seto. It felt like her stomach was doing flips. She wanted to say something snarky about a small, tech filled hut being excessive to build just because you didn't want your girlfriend to get cold, but honestly, she felt touched. There was no hidden calculation in Seto's actions. He'd merely wanted her to be more comfortable. Ana looked around the small room. It was simple, but cozy and relaxing. She liked the tiny hut. She felt peaceful and since Seto was here too, not lonely. Ana glanced back over at Seto and felt a strange feeling. She was uncomfortable, nervous, and happy all at the same time. Extremely happy. She was so glad he'd come to see her, even if he was having to fight a hackathon at the same time.

"Amin-chan."

"Hmm?" Seto didn't take his eyes off his phone.

"You're adorable. I love you."

Author Note:

Hi everyone! No six-month hiatus this time, but I sure left you on a cliff hanger again, hehe. I will be rather busy going into this season. For multiple reasons. Christmas is one, but because I'm going to publish another book!

Actually, this will be Volume two in a new series I started. I published the first one about a month ago. If anyone is interested in reading my original works, you can check them out on Amazon.

This new series I started is a drama fantasy called Among the Palace Flowers. It's a novella series that I wrote for people who don't have a lot of time to read but want to finish a book quickly. Plus, when you have editors, your writing is waaay more refined than your fanfictions. ;)

Here's the synopsis if you're curious:

Mei has led a comfortable life as a low-level noble thanks to her loving family and her father's business savvy. When her family's fabric business falls on hard times, her now bankrupt parents send Mei to Fúyú Palace in the capital city. She joins the Dandelion Palace as the lowest level maid intent on restoring her family's business.

With no money or power to her name, Mei must fight her way up in the ranks. Armed with only her intelligence, she'll need to navigate her way through the harsh world of backstabbing nobles to succeed. Will she be able to survive among the palace flowers?

The link below is where you can find it.

Among-Palace-Flowers-Vol-1/dp/B0CHL3MBCH

Until next time!