Love and Rivalry

Chapter 10

Kaiba stormed into his secretary's office, slamming the door against the wall. "Make sure that I am not disturbed," he barked at her as he thrust open the next door into his office. He stomped over to his desk and harshly fell into his chair. He put his head into his hands trying to collect his usually cool demeanor.

My future could be ruined by engaging in this...summer dalliance.

"Gah!" Kaiba cried as Aria's words reverberated through his mind. In a fit of rage, he shoved everything off his desk and onto the floor. Unable to sit still any longer, he got up from his desk and started to pace around the room. How could a mere girl say no to him, Seto Kaiba? The one time he put himself out there and he got rejected!

Running his hands through his hair in frustration, Kaiba tried to think of what went wrong with Aria. He was sure she felt the connection that seemed to spark between them. But apparently to her, it was nothing serious, that he was just using her as a distraction for the summer. Didn't she realize that he could have gone to any woman for a "distraction"? Maybe he should have stuck to those women instead, and saved himself the headache.

Still too restless to even think about working, Kaiba sauntered over to his piano and began lightly playing a few notes. The notes eventually grew into more complicated melodies, until Kaiba was soon pounding out a movement from Beethoven. The ferocious composition matched Kaiba's mood. As the tempo grew faster, Aria's words continued to plague him.

I'm sorry if I lead you on in any way. It was not my intention.

Not her intention. Was it all just a ruse then? His fingers froze as a new thought invaded his mind. Did she do it to secure her spot on the team? CLANG! Kaiba slammed his fists down on the keys, making the whole keyboard rattle.

"I wouldn't go in there Mr. Mokuba," Kaiba heard his secretary say.

Mokuba immediately froze upon seeing the mess that covered the floor of Kaiba's office. Papers were scattered everywhere, even Kaiba's computer laid face down in a heap. "What happened here?" asked Mokuba.

"Now is not a good time Mokuba," Kaiba said severely.

"I can see that," Mokuba answered.

"Then why don't you leave?" Kaiba snapped. "I need to be alone."

Mokuba's brow furrowed, as if trying to figure out what could have caused his brother to act out so violently. Then comprehension dawned on his face. "It was Aria, wasn't it?"

Kaiba shoved away from the piano, and walked over to the window behind his desk, staring out onto Domino City. "I don't want to talk about it." Talking out loud about what happened would only augment the fact that he had been rejected. By the only girl that he ever actually liked enough to ask out. He had never felt so humiliated.

"What happened? Did you have a fight?"

"Please," Kaiba said, "Couples have fights. What we had was a clarification of her position as an employee of this company."

"You mean...she turned you down?"

Kaiba scowled. "Women don't turn me down."

Mokuba rolled his eyes. "Whatever, the question is, what are you going to do about it?"

Kaiba turned around, giving Mokuba an annoyed look. "Nothing. She was just a wanna-be programmer who was trying to further her career goals."

"That's not true and you know it!" Mokuba said. "Aria is a good person."

"We hardly know her!" returned Kaiba. "She's not to be trusted."

Mokuba's eyes flashed. "I think you're just sore that she didn't fall at your feet like every other girl. Don't you see that's why she's special?"