Disclaimer: I do not and will never own Yu-Gi-Oh.
Note: Change of plan: I decided to add more chapters to this story, so it will probably go over 10 chapters. Thanks a bunch for the reviews, they brightened my gloomy work-only day.
Wahaha… you will find out how Seto treats Serenity in this chapter. Isn't that exciting? Now let's go on with the story!
Winter Love
Chapter 2
Sweet Moments
In a well decorated mall, people were walking slowly, glancing here and there at all the items displayed in the glass shelves. Couples walked hand in hand with a smile on their faces. Family chatted while walking down the halls as the father and mother holding onto their children. Noises filled the mall, giving signs of life to the well-lit mall.
Angrily stomping through Domino Mall, Serenity vented all her anger from the argument with Joey into shopping. Forgetting that their economic status was pretty bad, and therefore she shouldn't be venting anger into crazily buying items in a mall, Serenity was carrying several bags of shopping bags on her two hands.
She had bought everything necessary for the trip: lotion, toothbrushes, toothpastes, snacks, more winter clothes, hats, earmuffs, gloves and mittens, warmer socks, other necessities, and even Christmas presents for all her friends. Getting tired, she walked towards a chair next to a man-made pond inside the mall. She put down all the shopping bags and plopped down on the chair, totally exhausted.
After several minutes of rest and a blank mind, realization finally hit her. She had just spent one month's part-time-job's salary in a couple of hours! And what had she done? Out of her mind, she was angrily shopping without realizing what she had been doing!
"Aww… what have I done?" Serenity moaned painfully. "My one-month salary wasted! How can I be so stupid? I can't afford to buy all these things! Stupid Serenity! Stupid, stupid, stupid!" She stomped her feet while angrily scolding herself aloud, clearly very upset at her own behavior. The other people around her stared at her strangely before moving on to their destinations.
"It's all Joey's fault!" Serenity finally pouted. Her feet were tired, her arms were sore, and her body was exhausted. Staring blankly at the shopping bags, her head started to hurt. "How am I going to bring all these bags home?" She wondered out loud once again.
Simple, she isn't. She can easily take out her cell-phone, either call Seto, or call one of her friends to come to the mall and pick her up. However, there was one person she would not call – Joey. She wasn't in the mood to talk to him right now, not after such a big fight with him. Although she rarely fights with anyone, correction, rarely speaks too loudly and disrespectful to anyone, a fight or two per year is still unavoidable considering she is a human after all.
Reaching into her white jacket's pocket, she suddenly scowled. Her phone wasn't in her pocket! Then, Serenity finally remembered that she had left her phone on the table in her room before leaving hurriedly. She then took out her wallet and looked for coins. Public phone will work just fine like a cell-phone, no big deal. Rummaging inside her wallet, the scowl on her face deepened and she looked like she was about to either cry or explode.
"You've got to be kidding me… no more coins? This can't be happening!" Serenity weakly put her wallet away. "Argh, such bad luck today!"
Sulking about her bad day, Serenity finally gathered some strength to stand up. She had to get home before the sun sets. Packing her luggage and getting enough sleep so she can get up tomorrow morning was her priority. Giving one last glance to all her shopping bags, Serenity sighed and picked them up one by one. With six bags on her right hand and seven bags on her left hand, she walked tiredly towards the exit of the mall. It's time to go home.
It was still snowing… And that means she will have to walk back home alone, with all these heavy bags, in the snow with cold weather. Sighing, Serenity had no choice but to force her exhausted body to move towards home…
In the middle of a luxurious office sat a man in white business suit. His cerulean eyes scanned the laptop while talking on the phone with his employees. Putting down the phone, he suddenly shut off the laptop. After calling the Wheeler residence, he could no longer concentrate on his work, which was rare for the well-known workaholic C.E.O. of Kaiba Corp.
The cause of his inability to concentrate was the mutt's sister, Serenity Wheeler. He had been calling her at least two hundred times earlier today, but she didn't pick up her cell-phone. A little later, he found out from Joey that she left her cell-phone at home and went out somewhere. Unable to find her had irritated him. He had specifically told her to always bring the cell-phone he gave her with her, all the times, so that he can find her whenever he wanted to. Apparently, she didn't listen to him, whether purposefully or carelessly.
Glancing at the clock, noting that it was only four o'clock in the afternoon, Kaiba decided to leave early for once. Putting the laptop in his silver suitcase, he took it along with his trench coat and walked towards his private elevator, ready to leave.
Knowing the workaholic C.E.O., he had never left work early, only late. However, his inability to concentrate, irritation of not able to find Serenity, and an upcoming trip tomorrow finally led to his decision to leave earlier. It was even rarer for him to take a two-week vacation with a girlfriend during Christmas. If he left for vacation, what about his precious corporation? Easy, let his kid-brother handle it. Mokuba was very smart and very capable of substituting him in the corporation for two weeks. He didn't even have to worry about anything. Besides, his so called "kid-brother" was already eighteen years old by now, a senior in Domino High.
Ding. The elevator door opened. He stepped into it. In a mere few seconds, he arrived at the ground floor of Kaiba Corp. Walking out into the lobby, his employees bowed at him in surprise to see their young boss leaving early for once since they started working here. Ignoring his employees' weird stares, Kaiba walked elegantly out of his corporation to the parked limo.
The chauffer hurriedly opened the door when he spotted Kaiba, and then bowed in respect when Kaiba approached the limo. After Kaiba stepped into the limo, the chauffer closed the door and rushed back to the driver's seat.
"Go to Wheeler residence." Kaiba ordered succinctly and then turned his head towards the window, observing the snow scene as the limo began to move forward, toward the apartment unit belonging to Joey and Serenity.
The scenes outside the car window were flying backward as the limo advanced forward. In the busy Domino streets, thousands of people were walking hurriedly in the snow, most with umbrella, and a few without umbrella. High skyscrapers surrounded the streets, with glass windows reflecting the other high buildings. Not taking much interest on the snow scene in Domino, Kaiba glanced randomly out the window out of boredom. He wasn't in the mood to take out his laptop and start typing once again, since he couldn't concentrate.
The limo gradually stopped, as the traffic light had just turned red. The people on the streets started crossing the street. Lazily looking out the window, suddenly someone caught his eyes. Kaiba narrowed his cerulean eyes as anger started boiling.
Standing at a street intersection, a pretty girl with long auburn hair seemed tired and deep in thought. She didn't even realize that it was the turn for the people to cross the streets when others just past by her, moving across the street filled with cars. Her white jacket and pink scarf with the snowy background made her looked like an angel lost in a busy city. Without a hat and an umbrella, snow was accumulating on her hair and shoulders. She was also carrying what seemed to be more than ten shopping bags her hands.
"What is she doing in the snow without an umbrella?" Kaiba murmured not-so-happily under his breathe. Opening the limo door, he threw an order to the chauffer to pick them up at the next intersection, and hurriedly rushed over to the girl with an auburn hair.
The chauffer was left a bit shock that his boss just rushed out of the limo into the snow without an umbrella or any reasons, as far as he could see. Unknown to the driver, the reason his boss rushed out of the limo so abruptly was the sight of his fragile girlfriend standing idly at an intersection in the snow. Shrugging, upon the green traffic light, the chauffer started driving towards the next intersection as he was instructed…
Too tired, Serenity just fixed her hazel eyes somewhere across the street, waiting like the other people for the green light to cross the busy street. She didn't realize the traffic light had turned red for the cars and turned green for the people, and didn't realize all the people around her had already crossed the street. She wasn't particularly thinking about anything, but her mind just went blank on her out of no where.
On the street, a tall young man practically rushed out of the black limo, and was speeding towards her direction. However, she didn't notice. She was just standing there while other people passed by her. Suddenly, a strong hand gripped her arm and turned her around. Totally surprised, Serenity gasped and dropped all her shopping bags onto the snow-covered sidewalk.
"What's wrong with yo…" About to yell at the crazy person who grabbed her for no reason, she stopped her angry outburst when her hazel eyes met the familiar, but angry cerulean eyes. "Oh… hi Seto. What are you doing here at this time of day?" The frown immediately disappeared as Serenity cheerfully grabbed onto Seto's arms, forgetting all the shopping bags she had dropped. It was so rare to see her boyfriend on the street due to coincidence.
"That's what I'm going to ask you! What is wrong with you? Standing idly in the street without an umbrella in this kind of weather?" Seto scolded her as she winced slightly for being scolded. "Look at you! All covered in snow!" Seto muttered angrily.
He moved his hands up to her hair and gently brushed off the snow that had accumulated on top of her head. His eyes focused on getting the snow off of her hair like he was doing something very important. Serenity just stood there quietly since she had just been scolded. However, she wasn't angry or sad, since she knew he was only concerned about her health. She peeked at Seto from the corner of her eyes, a smile slightly climbed up her face as she noted how serious Seto looked right now, trying to brush off the snow on her head.
Getting rid of the snow on her hair, Kaiba proceed to sweeping the snow on her shoulders off. Noticing that her scarf wasn't tied around her neck perfectly, leaving spots for cold air to blow into her jacket, Kaiba adjusted her scarf, tightening it around her neck to keep her warm. To other people on the street, they looked like a deeply in love couple. When he was finally done, he noticed Serenity was blushing lightly with a sweet smile on her face.
"Thank you, Seto." Serenity happily gave Seto a small embrace. He just grunted under his breathe without really replying, still a little mad at her for not taking good care of herself. However, facing such a sweet and innocent smiling face, he couldn't stay mad at her for too long. Sighing, he finally noticed all the shopping bags she had dropped earlier lying on the street.
"You were shopping?" He asked with a raised eye-brow. He knew that the mutt wasn't too well-off financially. That means Serenity usually don't spend too much money on unnecessary items, and definitely don't walk around the mall area with tons of shopping bags. "You bought … all of these?"
Her smiling face suddenly collapsed a little at the thought of all the money she had spent today. "Don't remind me about that…" She said rather unenthusiastically. Then, she bent down and started picking up her shopping bags when someone pulled her up again.
Kaiba took all the bags she had picked up, and bent down himself to pick the remaining bags up from the ground. Serenity looked so fragile, how could he let her carry all these shopping bags on her own? Of course he couldn't!
"I can take some of them." Serenity tapped Kaiba's shoulder, wanting to carry some bags too. Ignoring her, Kaiba continue picking up the bags. After all the shopping bags were picked up, he stood up and motioned Serenity to follow him.
"Come, I'm taking you home." Kaiba said to her as he started moving towards the next intersection. Serenity walked next to him joyfully, since she originally was thinking to ask someone to help her carry some of the bags home. No need for that now, since her boyfriend had showed up at the right time.
They walked in silence on the busy streets. Serenity slid one hand around Kaiba's arm while crossing the street. It was rare for her to be able to hang out with him on the street, since he was always busily burying his head into the pile of work he could never finish in his office. As they approached the next intersection, they saw the black limo and the chauffer waiting for them.
The chauffer opened the trunk of the limo and helped Kaiba put all the shopping bags into it. By the time he was done, Kaiba had already gone into the limo with Serenity. The chauffer smiled knowingly as he finally understood his boss's action earlier. It was his girlfriend; no wonder he suddenly rushed out of the limo.
Inside the warm limo, Kaiba had already got hold of the tissue and was wiping the melted snow on Serenity's slightly wet hair. Serenity was also busying herself with the same task of drying the melted snow on Kaiba's hair. The limo began to move without their notice.
"So why are you here? Isn't it too early for you to leave your office?" Serenity asked as she finished drying Kaiba's hair. He, on the other hand, had already thrown out the tissue, and was just brushing her auburn hair with his fingers gently.
"It's your fault." He said out of no where.
"Huh? Me?" Serenity looked up at him, puzzled. What had she done wrong?
"Why didn't you bring your cell-phone? I've been calling you at least two hundred times already!" He said somewhat with an accusing tone.
"Oh yeah… I was looking for my phone in the mall too… I forgot it at home; otherwise I would've called you or one of my friends to give me a hand with all those shopping bags!" Serenity whined, explaining the reason she didn't pick up the phone. Knowing the possessive nature of her boyfriend, not picking up the phone on purpose would definitely infuriate him. "But… that still doesn't explain why you are not in your office."
"… I want to leave earlier today to get ready for the trip tomorrow." He said after a few seconds of silence. He would not admit to her that couldn't find her whereabouts had irritated him to the point of unable to concentrate. "It's not like you to shop that much, did something happened?" He suddenly asked, curious of her abnormal behavior.
"It's… Joey. I had an argument with him. By the time I realized what I was doing, all those shopping bags were already on my hands…" She answered with a sigh, very dispirited.
"Ha, an argument with the mutt? You?" Kaiba snicker lightly. "What did he do this time?"
"Seto. How many times did I tell you before? Don't call my brother that!" Serenity protested for her brother for the nth times over their three-month-long relationship. She looked into his cerulean eyes without any trace of fear for standing up for her brother.
"… Whatever…" Kaiba grunted. Every time he called Joey "mutt," Serenity would defend Joey for sure. Directing the conversation back on track, Kaiba asked again, "So what did he do to anger our quiet Serenity?"
Serenity turned her head and looked out the window, deciding how she could tell him about the embarrassing things Joey had blurted out. She couldn't just tell him that Joey accused her of wanting to sleep with him. Biting her lips lightly, Serenity was still looking at the snow scene outside the limo. The skyscrapers seemed to fly towards the back when the limo advanced forward at an average speed.
"Well… He said-" Serenity began slowly, still haven't decided what to say.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Kaiba cut her off after seeing her uncertainty of what to say. He didn't want to seem like he was prying into her private life, and definitely didn't want to force her to tell him anything she didn't feel comfortable telling him. "But if anything bad happened, don't hide it from me, okay?"
"Sure." Serenity answered, her smile returning to her face. Kaiba smile genuinely at her as he pulled her closer to him, letting her head rest on his shoulder. It was the rare genuine smile that he never showed to anyone else besides his little brother Mokuba, and now his girlfriend Serenity. There was no calculation behind his smile, it was a true smile.
The limo continued flying forward, inching towards the apartment Serenity shared with Joey. The rest of the ride was spent in silence. It was enough to know that the person they loved was right next to them, no words were needed to ruin the peaceful mood.
As the limo came to a stop, the chauffer got off and opened the door. Kaiba lowered his head to Serenity's ear and asked her in a whisper, "If you just had an argument with your brother, do you want to start the vacation fifteen hours earlier? We can leave now instead of tomorrow morning at eight."
Serenity's eyes widened a little at his suggestion. Could she? Could she leave a little bit earlier with him? If she did that, Joey would definitely yell at her when she gets back… But that sounds fun, it sounds exciting! She could start the vacation earlier! And talk to Joey after the trip, so he can have some time to cool down. It was a great idea.
"What? You don't want to?" Kaiba looked at her surprised hazel eyes. He waved one of his hands, ordering the chauffer to go back to the driver's seat first, no need to stand outside their door waiting. "I'm not a wolf, so I'm not going to eat you." He said jokingly.
"I… Um, why not." Serenity nodded her head and smiled. "Wait here, I'll finish packing my luggage and come out in fifteen minutes!" With that said, she flew out of limo with a beaming smile.
Kaiba got off the limo, opened the trunk, grabbed all her shopping bags, and followed her into her apartment. By the time he got into the apartment, Serenity had already run back into her room. He looked around the dark living room, noticing that the mutt wasn't around, and smirked. Good thing he didn't need to confront the loud-mouth mutt. He then walked into her room with the shopping bags still in his hands.
When he entered her girlish-looking room with pink walls, pink bed sheets, and stuffed animals on the bed, he saw the girl sitting on the floor folding some clothes into a big suitcase. He put down the shopping bags and closed the door.
Serenity noticed his presence and saw the shopping bags from the corner of her eyes. "Thanks, Seto." She said, not looking at him as she started rummaging through the shopping bags, pulling out the lotions, hats, earmuffs, gloves, mittens, toothbrushes, toothpastes, and some other stuff they might need for the trip. Kaiba sat on her bed and watched her silently.
"You are very prepared." He observed, learning a little more about her as he spent more time with her. She may be quiet, but she was certainly very thoughtful in many ways, always so kind and caring towards others.
"Of course! It's my first skiing trip after all!" She said merrily as she took out another backpack and stuffed all the snacks she bought into it. After ten minutes, she had finished all her packing. She stood up and walked towards her desk. She took out a piece of paper and a pen from her drawer, and wrote something on the paper, most like a message to her brother about leaving early for the trip.
Then, Serenity picked up all the remaining shopping bags, which held the presents, already nicely wrapped and labeled, for her friends. She took the presents out and put them neatly on her desk. Since she was going to leave before Christmas either she leave today or tomorrow, she had originally planned to ask Joey to give all these gifts to the gang for her. So, no change of plan.
"Seto, can you help me get this big suitcase to the limo? I'll be out in a second." She turned around and pointed to the suitcase on the floor. Nodding, Kaiba stood up and picked up the suitcase. Giving her another glance, he went out of her room.
Serenity smirked. She grabbed two of the gifts in the pile of presents on her table, and stuffed them into her snacks-filled backpack. Satisfied, she picked up the note she had written earlier and went into the living room. She put the note for Joey on the dining table, knowing he would be hungry at night and would definitely see the note there. With another glance at the empty apartment, she went outside with her backpack and locked the door. Joey, who was still sleeping soundly in his own room, had no idea his little sister came back with Kaiba and then left again.
Kaiba had put the suitcase into the limo trunk, and was waiting for her in the limo. Serenity came out of the apartment building, jogging towards the limo in the snow. She climbed into the limo and closed the door with a thud. The limo started moving the moment she closed the door.
"Can we stop by your house, Seto?" Serenity asked. One of the gifts in her backpack need to arrive in his mansion so it will get to Mokuba on the day of Christmas.
"We are going back to my mansion." Kaiba told her. Looking at her puzzled look, he explained, "All my luggages are still at home. Plus… I'll be driving for the trip. It will be…" He paused, pressing the button to raise the special glass that blocks out everything in the back form the driver's view. "… just the two of us." He finished with a smirk.
"Oh." Serenity muttered. Kaiba didn't tell her any details about the trip, it was a total surprise when he told her last night. And all he said last night through the phone was, "I'm bringing you on a skiing trip to Furano City the day after tomorrow. Be prepared."
Looking at her surprised reaction, Kaiba laughed out loud, loving her cute expression on her face. Serenity protested that he shouldn't laugh at her since he was the one who didn't tell her anything, but her protest was suddenly silenced with a seal on her lips, by him.
Kaiba pulled her closer and pressed his lips harder onto hers, savoring her sweet lips. Serenity was totally caught by surprise, but quickly closed her eyes. He deepened the kiss, nipping at her bottom lips. She opened her mouth and allowed him to enter. The temperature in the limo seemed to rise as their lips continued to lock… It was cold outside the limo, yet it was so warm in it…
The limo flew back towards the Kaiba mansion at a fast, but safe pace. Kaiba and Serenity's adventure of snow skiing was about to begin in a few hours, after everything was settled in his mansion first…
Note: Hooray, second chapter done! Well, after seeing how Kaiba treats Serenity, what's your bet? He loves her or not? As for will he be mean to Serenity, you'll just need to find out in the future chapters ;) And I will promise you, this will not be a simple skiing trip. There will be danger ahead of them. Muahaha, but I will not reveal more than this.
About the pace I will be updating… This is a problem… I'm really busy with schoolwork; I'm addicted to animes; and I'm suppose to give priority to my first story "The Spirit of the Sword" on my update list (because I really want to finish that story first, I'm almost done with it, just a few more chapters). So, in conclusion, please be patient with me. The earliest time I can update may be during Spring break in April, since more midterms are coming up these following weeks. I'll apologize for my slow progress right now.
Other than that, please do review ;)