It was the usual late hours of the day and the usual things were happening: Everyone else was wrapping up while you were stuck with your work at the computer. Though today might have been a bit your fault, given how you wasted much of your precious time that could have been spent differently by sulking.

At some point it was just you and Kaiba in the office, in other words, awkward.

"You're not firing me?" You blurted out, tapping away on the keyboard as your eyes never left the bright screen. Seto, who was sorting out some documents he rather preferred burning, raised his gaze, shooting it your way. Despite the look on his face, he was glad — to say the least — that you had finally spoken to him, even if it was something like this. "Trying to get away from your work again?"

"Yeah, guess no one else but me and Roland would be able to handle you and your attitude." You muttered under your breath, but loud enough for your boss sitting at his own desk to hear. You weren't trying to give yourself special credit or anything, but the mention of Roland reminded you of a daily occurrence that hadn't happened yet today. You stopped your tapping for a moment and scooted back a bit with your chair, in oder to face your boss properly. "How come you haven't asked where Roland is by now?"

"I'm his employer, so it's obvious that I know what he has to do and where he has to be." Kaiba retorted quite cockily for it to be mostly just empty words he used to spout on a daily basis. You rolled your eyes and hummed a 'yeah yeah' before returning to your prior task. The true reason as to why Kaiba didn't ask for his other assistant's whereabouts today was that he actually did know where he was. That, of course, was because he himself entrusted Roland with a very important task — or however Mokuba decided to label it.

The CEO had sent both his male assistant and younger brother home earlier after having held that 'important' conversation with the latter in the smoking area. They were to arrange the Kaiba mansion, or at least the kitchen and living room, so that it would have a fitting atmosphere once Seto and his mysterious guest would return from the company.

The time his two helpers have had until now must have been enough, and Kaiba could also feel a silent grumbling of his own stomach. That was certainly a sign for him to start getting going. Not only him, of course. "[Name], we're leaving."

"This again?" You groaned, referring to your boss' sudden and blunt command. There was still so much individual work you needed to take care of, not to mention that you needed to find a way to handle the media and reporters after the scandal yesterday evening and the consequences of it this morning.

Despite your complaining and quite obvious lack of motivation, you saved all your progress and turned off all electronic devices you had used in the last two hours. Once all of that was done, you found your boss waiting for you at the office's door, even holding your jacket for you. "This is rich, even coming from you."

"I am rich, what do you expect me to do?" Not even surprised at Kaiba's flexibility in sassing you in any kind of scenario, you accepted the man's gesture and allowed yourself to be helped into your jacket. Still not quite over this morning's incident, you made as less body contact with the brunet as possible and avoided having to look him in the eyes directly at all costs.

Soon enough, the two of you found your ways out of the Kaiba Corporation building and onto the large parking area, more precisely to the interior of the usual company car. What was odd though, was the fact that the one behind the steering wheel wasn't you, but the CEO himself. For a moment you thought he was going to really make an effort to make up for what had happened with the media and drive you home as an apology, but that fantasy was squashed as soon as he took a few signature turns which would eventually lead to his own mansion.

What was this, the third consecutive day that you had spent the night over at your boss' place? Wasn't this a really bad idea? Especially since news reporters could still be on the hunt for more juicy details of your apparent and fake relationship with Seto Kaiba. "Kaiba, I should go home for today. What if that crazy woman does something more than slap me the next time she learns something about us. I-I mean, not that there really is something or that I'm scared of her or anything, it's just—"

"Be quiet. You want to go home? I'm even driving you there, so at least try to show some gratitude." The brown-haired CEO interrupted you, rolling his eyes while pretty much still keeping them fixed on the road ahead. Perhaps you should have emphasized your home somewhat better — then again, Seto was just acting cheeky to get on your nerves even more.

What else could you do but get out of the car once you had reached the obvious destination? Kaiba was the one to lead the way to the front door of his mansion, and you were more than just a little surprised to see the interior of it once he opened the door. You had been in here this morning, but the aura of the whole place had changed drastically.

The interior was dim, only lighted by candles that didn't have just pretty little flames to show off, but released a sweet and soothing fragrance as well. The dining table was already set, fancily at that, while the cutlery and plates were even surrounded by what seemed to be red rose petals. Similar ones were scattered all over the living room and kitchen. It was no exaggeration to say that this had an extremely romantic setting to it. "W-What's the meaning of all of this?"

"Dinner. Since you payed for ours yesterday, I don't want you to feel like I owe you anything." Kaiba's was obviously just a petty excuse that in the end didn't even overlap with the truth which you of course pointed out as soon as you were perfectly certain of it. "Actually, you were the one who payed yesterday—"

"How bothersome... Just sit down before I reconsider." The CEO truly seemed like he was a bit flustered, even if only in the slightest as he ran his hand though his gorgeous brown hair. You still couldn't believe Kaiba had prepared all of this, or made someone prepare it just for this occasion, so the small smile on your face was inevitable. "Stop grinning like a dork."

You quickly slipped out of your shoes and jacket, rushing closer to the dining table where you almost instantly took a seat at your usual spot. From the entrance you couldn't even see how much food there actually was on display, but now that you sat right in front of it, this all certainly made concurrence to meals of luxury restaurants and hotels all over Domino City.

There was your plate and across it Kaiba's of course, both being filled with the same dishes and amount of them. The salad screamed Italian kitchen, or at least it did at first glance. Not too tinily chopped lettuce, grape tomatoes typically from Naples and petite Mozzarella balls, all dressed in Balsamic vinegar. The main course was actually a rather simple beef fillet, one of Kaiba's favorites foods, already sliced and garnished with parsley potatoes.

So much food was ready and still warm, you started to wonder how it had stayed that way and didn't go to ruin with the passing of time. While you were still awestruck by the delicious-looking and quite alluring meal, Kaiba slowly poured some red wine into your glass first, then in his own. The sound of the liquid hitting the fragile material of the glass was enough to get your attention away from the food temporarily and to the usually cold CEO. "Kaiba, I..."

"Hm?" The brunet raised a brow as he finally put down the probably very expensive bottle of wine on the table, on a spot that wouldn't stand between the two of you. You gulped and swallowed your pride if there even was a need to, deciding you should be the first one to apologize since maybe what Mokuba told you today really could have been true. "I'm really sorry for having acted so childishly today."

"And for having told you to rot in hell. I didn't mean it." You said a bit more silently, your eyes travelling from Kaiba's ocean blue ones lower to the table. The brunet would have usually told you something like "So even you can be bribed with food, huh?" but didn't today, one reason being because his younger brother had told him not to ruin the good mood with his rude remarks no matter how tempted he would be. "Whatever, it's not like it ever bothered me."

Kaiba then carefully took the wine glass into his dominant hand, raising it a little and giving you an almost demanding look. Not having been able to tell since he wasn't expressing himself with words, it took you a while to realize that the CEO was actually waiting to toast with you. You imitated his gesture and your glasses were soon gently reunited, their impact resulting in a small sound, accompanied by your hum. "Cheers.~"

You brought the edge of the glass to your lips, soon tilting it downwards slightly so that the red liquid flew into your mouth. You weren't one that drank wine regularly, but tasting it every now and then was a nice change of pace, especially in today's situation. It tasted somewhat acidic and you would file it under the medium-body category if you had to choose by just a little taste.

But that wasn't the only thing you tasted. Soon enough, you were cutting the beef fillet into even smaller pieces before you gave it, along with a cube-formed potato, a try. It was to be expected, after all, it was something Kaiba made someone prepare, but the food was indeed exceptionally delicious.

You and Kaiba spent the evening away eating in pleasant silence, occasionally throwing in a few comments. But that as well had to come to an end, sadly enough, as soon as the food ran out.

"Thanks so much, Kaiba. It was delicious." You said, giving the young man across you another soft look. Kaiba wasn't really used to you being so kind to him, given how the two of you would usually only be bickering with each other, so he had a hard time replying. "Yeah..."

Thinking it was the least you could do, you took the empty and dirty plates and brought them to the sink, simply placing them inside so that you or someone else could wash them properly tomorrow morning. The only source of light were still the aromatic candles, which was perhaps the reason behind your heart beating so quickly. You would have simply ignored it, but Kaiba just needed to sneak up behind you and surprise you as soon as you turned around, your face almost colliding with his own.

"W-What are you doing? You surprised me..."

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My note to you:
The next one is the last chapter! :3

Thank You for Reading!