"Kaiba! What the hell is the meaning of this?!" You yelled across the room, making Roland as well as all other employees who were more or less peacefully doing their work at their computer flinch. At this point you didn't even care that you had cursed all morning, this was more than simply frustrating.

The CEO looked your way and his pokerface was soon replaced by a sadistic smirk. "Don't 'what the hell is the meaning of this' me. This way, I'll finally stop getting marriage proposals. It solves both of our problems."

"Didn't I tell you not to think too much of it?" Kaiba concluded, not seeming bothered in the slightest. Roland who stood next to you had a bad feeling about where this was going — so did the other workers, actually — but none of them dared to get themselves involved in this conversation. Perhaps mess was a more fitting description.

That was what he meant yesterday? It was an act all along? Just to benefit himself, just as one would expect. You felt your heart clench and had no idea how to reply to anything that had just been said. "I hope you rot in hell!" Grasping the newspaper you held in anger and making it wrinkle completely, you soon threw that piece of garbage in Kaiba's direction, storming out of the room the moment it was taken care of. "[Name], wait!"

As Roland called after you, you almost bumped into Mokuba on your way out. The raven-haired boy looked at you with a worried expression, since he had just now learned about what had happened. He would have run after you, but there was something he wanted to ask his older brother first. You were practically ditching your work, but there was no way you could show your face in the office after the heated exchange earlier.

There were employees wandering around everywhere, you just wanted to get to an isolated place and calm down for a bit. That's when the smoking area on the same floor came to mind. Many workers on this floor were young people who didn't consume tobacco, so it was most likely the case that there were no people in the smoking area, especially this early in the morning.

On your way there, you walked by many employees, most of them being young women. And it so happened that you also heard their 'secret conversations' on your journey. It wasn't like they were even trying to keep their voices down to begin with. "Hey, isn't that [Name], Mister Kaiba's assistant who was mentioned in today's newspaper?"

"Yeah, talk about sleeping your way up the ranks. She sure has some nerve, making out with the boss in public." The other girl 'whispered', both of them giving you one last disgusted look before they were out of your sight. Was that what people thought of you now? Or have they always been thinking of you that way?

None of it mattered as you finally reached your destination, and thankfully the smoking area really was empty. You entered the little room and sat down on the seat, leaning your head back. "What the hell... I'm so stupid..." You mumbled, bringing both your hands to your face and covering your eyes with them in order to prevent possible tears from spilling. "When did I even start getting my hopes up..."

Meanwhile in the main office, the atmosphere was more suffocating than ever before, even more so after you had left the room. Mokuba rushed to his big brother's desk and slammed his small hands on top of it, seemingly upset as he gained Seto's attention. "Did you and [Name] really kiss, Seto?"

"Yeah so?" The brunet retorted seemingly indifferently, slowly crossing his arms above his chest. Mokuba frowned slightly, soon continuing his interrogation. "Then, shouldn't you go cheer her up? She looked pretty upset! People are going to talk bad of her!"

"Well, what do you expect me to do? Apologise for having lessened her work?" The brunet questioned, his tone displaying his displeasure quite a bit. Mokuba wasn't sure if his elder brother was simply being rude, oblivious or if what he said had another meaning to it. "What do you mean?"

"You know that I couldn't care less of women wanting to marry me, but it's always [Name] who has to work overtime to take care of the proposals. And honestly, that's just irritating." Kaiba was pretty good at disguising his true intentions, but Mokuba being his little brother was made well aware of them once he heard his sibling's explanation. "Wait... so the whole thing was to stop marriage proposals from making [Name] overwork herself? You have to tell her that and clear up the misunderstanding!"

"You tell her if you're so into it, I don't have the time." Seto commented as soon as he heard his phone ring, feeling obliged to answer it. Mokuba who now understood the situation much better, wanted to make things good between you and his precious brother again, so he rushed out of the main office and started searching for you.

"Hii~ Kaiba Boy! You're quite the hot topic today! Did you read the news—?" It was none other than Maximillion Pegasus, one of the top people on Kaiba's non-physically-existent hate-list. The blue-eyed young man certainly didn't have the patience to listen to that obnoxious voice making fun of him, surely not after what had happened with you. "I'm hanging up."

"W-Wait, wait, wait, my boy! I called you for business matters today!" The long-haired male said in a rush, afraid that if he had been a second too slow, the younger CEO would have hung up on him. Which he actually would have. "What do you want?"

"Can you put me on the line with [Name]?" Pegasus requested, gaining a pair of rolled eyes from the brunet which he had no way of seeing. "She's not here right now." Kaiba stated bluntly, soon almost regretting having revealed that information to Industrial Illusions' CEO. "She's not? Honestly, I wouldn't be either if I were in her shoes—"

"I'm hanging up." Seto blurted out once more, again making Pegasus insist not to. The long-haired man on the other line then finally revealed the real purpose of his call which was indeed work-related. "The Schröder Corporation is hosting a Duel Monsters Tournament, and they requested a copy of Seto Kaiba's Deck as prize for the winner. I need your consent first, Kaiba boy.~"

"Who the hell runs the Schröder Corporation again?" The name did remind Kaiba of a corporation that in his eyes was most probably minor, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. His memory was refreshed quickly though. "How cold of you, my boy! Your bestest friend, Ziegfried von Schröder, runs the company!~"

"Then obviously I refuse. That mediocre, trying to get successful by using me? I don't think so!" No one knew if it was on purpose or not, but after shouting that, Kaiba ended the call by slamming the telephone back onto his desk. Not only did Pegasus call him to make fun of him because of the article, but he even brought up that pink-haired freak who once tried ruining Kaiba Corporation. Emphasis on the 'tried'.

Half an hour had passed since you had isolated yourself in the smoking area, and you had finally snapped out of whatever was making you feel so down. Your eyes were slightly puffy due to the not so many tears that were released, but other than that, nothing was wrong and you were ready to return to work.

Just when you were about to stand up, the door was slammed open, startling you momentarily. You quickly looked at it only to be greeted by a panting Mokuba who had most probably run all the way here, searching for you. "[Name]! I finally found you..."

"Did something happen?" You couldn't help but instantly think of the worst scenario possible, given that the raven-haired boy seemed to have been in such rush, but he soon shook his head. "No, not really... I was just looking for you. I want to talk to you about something." Only those words alone already gave away what the young Kaiba meant, and you couldn't stop yourself from sighing.

Of course, Mokuba was Seto's younger sibling and probably the most shocked one to find out that his beloved elder brother made out with his most trusted assistant in public. Perhaps the boy was repulsed by it, since he seemed to look up to you a lot, and was now deeply disappointed. But all your negative assumptions were proven wrong by the young boy himself. "I know that big brother Seto isn't good at expressing himself and that he probably hurt you somehow, but that really wasn't his intention!"

You froze for a moment before smiling at Mokuba, grateful for his attempt at making you feel better. "Thanks for cheering me up, Mokuba, but I'm fine. I'm sorry if that photo in the article surprised you, but it was only to get women to back off from your brother, so please don't worry—"

"You're wrong!" Mokuba exclaimed, cutting you off mid-sentence and almost causing you to jump slightly. His sudden outburst took you so aback that even your eyes went a little wide. The raven-haired boy was panting from the for him overwhelming situation before he decided he should continue his proper explanation to you. "I know Seto can say hurtful things sometimes, a lot of times, but he doesn't mean them! He just doesn't know how to express himself properly!"

"The article... It wasn't to get the ladies to back away from him for his sake! You seemed to be having a lot of overtime-work lately, so Seto was worried about you... He likes you!" Mokuba had so many informations which led to him not knowing how to put everything into words properly and instead ending up just rambling nervously. Kaiba worrying about you? And liking you? You would have gently denied the younger sibling if it weren't for him adding something. "Please give my brother another chance!"

Not knowing how exactly to answer to such earnestness, you decided to at least try giving it a shot, so that Mokuba wouldn't feel bad. Yes, that was definitely the reason why you were willing to forgive Seto, not because you actually believed that he was attempting to be considerate of you. "Alright, I'll give it my best. But I'm more than sure that I'm the one who needs another chance here..."

"What do you mean?" Mokuba asked just as he was about to rejoice due to your surprisingly positive answer. A small sigh rolled off your lips as you hid your face in both palms of your hands. "I might have done it this time... I'm sure I'll get fired for this..." The raven-haired boy gasped, shocked that you would even think about that after what he had just told you. "No way! Seto would never fire you!"

"I've caused a scene at the office." You stated bluntly, peeking through the web that you had created with your fingers. Mokuba looked at you for a moment before nonchalantly shrugging. "So? Big brother does that everyday and look where he is." Of course there might have been a tiny difference in your ranks and positions, but the younger Kaiba wasn't necessarily wrong. "Well, I also told my boss that I hoped he'd rot in hell."

Mokuba seemed a bit more surprised by your next comment, and wasn't able to reply right away. Once he had regained his composure, he made sure to make his comeback with a joke that wasn't exactly suited for the situation. "You should have told him 'the Shadow Realm' instead of hell or something like that. It would have been funnier."

"I'm just kidding!" The boy hummed defensively as soon as he saw your deprived expression, grinning sheepishly. He proceeded to cheer you up some more and gave you further motivation not to give up so easily. "Thanks Mokuba, you're such a sweetheart. I really needed that."

"But it's time for me to head back. And hope that I won't be getting sent to the Shadow Realm." You let out a deep breath as you slowly stood back up on your feet, smirking at the younger Kaiba when you made a reference to his prior joke, the boy grinning at the return of your usual attitude. "Let's go then—"

Just when you were about to exit the smoking area with Mokuba following you, you bumped into none other than the boss you had called names and avoided until now. What great timing, just when you had gotten your courage back, too. The raven-haired boy noticed the tension and managed to get you out of the tricky situation. "O-Oh, Seto! I need to tell you something important!"

And just like that, you were allowed to quickly leave Kaiba without the scenario having to turn out too obvious or disrespectful.

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My note to you:
I wanted to thank you guys for all of the nice comments so far! <3

Thank You for Reading!