Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Stress ❯ Chapter Two ( Chapter 2 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

“Well, well, well,” came a long droll as my office door opened up.

I was used to it. I didn’t look up. “Mokuba…”

Mokuba had grown up quite a bit. He had shot up like a plant the year before, and, though his hair had been cut, his bangs still hung in his eyes. He hardly dressed professionally - baggy pants, ripped jackets, t-shirts…. Most people found it very hard to believe that he and I were even related. But I would never be ashamed of him, no matter how ridiculous he looked.

“Another new secretary,” he said, leaning on my desk. “What did the other one do?”

“It doesn’t matter. I didn’t like her.”

Mokuba half-scoffed, half-snickered. “You don’t like anybody.”

“I like you enough,” I said, continuing to type on my computer. I had one-hundred-and-eighty-seven emails to answer. (And yes, I wanted to die.)

“This one’s a Wheeler, Seto. A Wheeler! I don’t mind her, but I’m a little shocked that you don’t.”

“She’s a good worker. She’s quiet. I have a Wheeler working below me. Seems good enough for me.”

He grinned. “Ah, Seto. You’re such a prick.”

“Watch it,” I looked up then, a warning look.

He laughed. “Okay, okay. Sorry. You want me to wash my mouth out with soap?”

“That could be entertaining,” I said, moving my chair to the other side of the desk to grab a stack of forms that I needed.

There was moment of silence as I continued to work, the only sound the tap-tap-tapping of my fingers on the keys.

“How late are you working tonight?”

I sighed, suddenly feeling fatigued at the thought. “I… don’t know.”

“Seto, you’re working too hard. You haven’t been home in a couple of days. You’re going to start growing into your chair.”

“I know, Mokuba. I hate it, too. But if this company goes under, I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do.”

I rubbed my temples. His joking face turned to one of brotherly sympathy, one that reminded me far too much of our mother. I couldn’t look at him.

“Seto, try to take a break once in awhile.”

“I can’t, Mokuba. If I put this in anyone else’s hands-”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ve heard it all before. People will try to take over the company when you have a heart attack and die at twenty-one too.”

He raised a skeptical eyebrow. I returned it.

“Don’t you have homework to do?”

He sighed. “You’re not going to listen to me are you?”

I shook my head. “Mokuba, I… I’ve just got to do this, okay?”

He sighed. “Alright. I’ll see you in twenty years.”

He sloughed off and out of the office, closing the door behind him. I felt somewhat ashamed. I hated that I couldn’t spend time with him anymore. I felt as if all my hard work was going to nothing, and yet I couldn’t stop doing it. It was all I knew. Work, work, work. I finished an email, sent off the reply, and deleted it.

One-hundred-and-eighty-six emails to go.

“Kaiba Corporation, please hold. Kaiba Corporation, please hold. Kaiba Corporation, please hold.” I sighed, hitting the hold button for line six.

This job was nothing like my last secretarial positions. It was ridiculous. I couldn’t even begin to wonder what Kaiba went through every day. I’d begun to notice that he never came out of his office. Sometimes I wondered if he lived in there. Sometimes, when I would come to work and see him wearing yesterday’s clothing, he did. I sent the phones over to their prospective departments then paused.

I had made muffins that morning. I made them every once in awhile, even though Joey and I were hurting for money. They were one of life’s little pleasures. I’d sent half a dozen with Joey to work and taken two with me. I still had one left. I reached into my bag and pulled out a blueberry muffin which I had wrapped in cellophane, then poured a glass of juice and headed to Seto Kaiba’s office. He hadn’t left his office in two days, so I supposed a good breakfast might do him good. I knocked.

“What?” came his answer. I swallowed and entered.

“Um… Mr. Kaiba?” I questioned.

He was surrounded with work, constantly moving, fidgety. He’d had far too much coffee.

“What is it?”

“I… er… I made muffins this morning…. I thought… you might want one.”

He paused in the middle of typing, then looked over the black rims of his glasses at me. I held my ground, no matter how tempted I was to look way from his icy gaze.

“What?”

“Um… it’s just breakfast.” I set it on his desk with the juice. “I brought you juice instead of coffee. All that caffeine’s bad for you…. You don’t have to eat it, but I’ll leave it here if you want it. You… also have a call on line three.”

He stared at me with wide, emotionless eyes. I could see dark crescents under his eyes and he looked so much older in his exhaustion. I felt terrible for him. No matter how harsh he had the tendency to be, it was quite a shame that he had so much to do.

“…Thank you…” he said, looking almost surprised with himself. He picked up the phone. “This is Seto Kaiba.”

He never specified what he thanked me for, but I like to think it was for the breakfast. When I returned later with a pile of forms, the cellophane was in the trash with the plastic cup.

Mokuba Kaiba was a delight when I was at work. He reminded me so much of Joey, it was uncanny. His wide grin and rough stature was almost loveable. He seemed to like being around me, too. He was always so kind and warm-hearted, and someone to talk to when all the work was being done elsewhere.

“Mokuba, what are you doing on my computer?” I asked.

“Solitaire,” he said. “What do you do on it?”

I smiled. “I tend to work. But otherwise, solitaire.”

He returned it. “I like you, Serenity. You’re the one secretary that’s actually nice. None of the other secretaries are ever friendly.”

I blinked, surprised. “Why?”

“Why? Because of my brother, that’s why. He works so much…. He gets stressed really easily, and… well, he’s not very easy to work with. So it rubs off on them and they end up not being easy to work with. Problem for them is that they get fired if they’re not easy to work with. Seto’s the boss. He can be as big of a jerk that he wants.”

So I’ve noticed, I thought.

“Sometimes I wonder how you two even ended up related, Mokuba. You’re so kind and sweet…”

He gazed sadly at the computer screen, double-clicking the Ace of Hearts. “He’s not so bad. It’s just… you don’t know him, you know?”

I felt guilty for saying something like that. “I’m sorry, Mokuba. I didn’t mean that…”

“No… you’re right. The more the work piles on, the meaner and more aloof he gets. It’s just everything he’s learned. He never told me why he got that way. He didn’t used to be, but something’s up in his head. I don’t know…”

“Haven’t you ever asked?”

“No. He wouldn’t tell me anyway.”

For weeks I did my job at Kaiba Corporation, and every day I came home to Joey complaining about it. I knew he didn’t like it, and it bothered me that he had to voice his opinion on it at every free opportunity, but I was bringing home good money and we actually got some food besides ramen. I noticed he didn’t complain as much on Fridays when I brought home my paychecks.

I took a little bit of the money to buy some new work clothes - after all, Seto Kaiba continuously and bluntly critiqued my outfit almost every morning. I figured that if he was going to continue to keep me on his staff, I owed him to at least dress as well as his other workers. Besides, I finally had the money for it. I hardly saw the man, however. It seemed as the weeks went on, he spent more and more time in the office. One morning, I stepped into the room to find him practically buried in work.

“Serenity,” he said, rapidly moving through different forms and emails and designs for new technology. “ I need you to run to my house.”

“What? Why?” I asked, surprised by his request.

He looked up at me with cold, frighteningly azure eyes. “I need some clothes. I have a meeting in twenty minutes and I can’t be wearing the same thing I’ve been wearing for two days. Here.” He tossed me some car keys. “Take the Mercedes. It’s silver. Parking garage, 2-03.”

I was dumbfounded. I don’t think I had ever held something so expensive in my hands, and they were just keys! “Y-yes… sir. Anything in particular?”

“No. Just something nice. Get going. If you’re late getting back, you’re fired.”

“Right!” I yelped, rushing out the door.

God, the man was so intimidating! I had to take off my high heels to rush across the parking garage. Other workers gawked at me as if I was crazy. I was so ridiculously blue-collar sometimes, but at least I had painted my toes recently. When I got to Kaiba’s car, I had to take a moment to breathe.

It was probably the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

It was a gorgeous silver with a small blue pinstripe outlining certain features on the car. I opened the door to find a dark leather interior and all the latest technology. Yes, I was going to enjoy driving that little baby. I turned on the GPS, and a woman’s voice came through.

“Where to?” The computer asked.

“Seto Kaiba’s home,” I said.

“Right away.”

I drove out of the parking garage and out onto the street. The GPS was leading me straight to his home.

I’ve never been inside his home before… I thought idly as I wheeled into the driveway.

Something told me that going inside his home might very well let me take a peek into the withdrawn CEO’s life. So, perhaps, I thought, that my trip would end up more interesting than I first imagined.

And besides, if driving a Mercedes was part of my job, I wasn’t quitting any time soon.