Love and Rivalry

Chapter 18

Aria's heart hammered in her chest. There was a part of her that didn't want to turn around but she was too startled to have had time to think about it. She was just about to scream when she caught sight of who had entered.

"Seto!" she exclaimed, clutching her chest and collapsing against the desk in relief. "I'm so happy you're here, you need to see this," Aria said, motioning towards Langley's computer. But when Kaiba didn't move, Aria looked at him in confusion. "What's wrong?" It was then she noticed that he looked a bit pale, and his hands were clenched at his sides. "Seto..." she said again, walking towards him.

Kaiba put up a hand to stop her from coming any closer. He looked down and noticed the data stick lying on the floor. "We need to talk up in my office. Now."

Aria stared at him in astonishment. "But-"

"Now!" Kaiba barked.

Aria nodded numbly, too hurt and scared to try and argue any further, she walked out the door past him. Kaiba picked up the data stick off the floor before following her out.

The silence between them was deafening as they walked down the hallway and up the elevator. Aria's mind churned with thoughts and questions. Was he angry with me for going down to Langley's desk alone? What if Langley was running off with the plans now? Shouldn't they be going after him? Aria imagined she would get the answers to these questions soon. But as she glanced over at Kaiba and saw that he had put his expressionless mask on, she had a feeling she wasn't going to like the answers.

Arriving at the top floor, Aria quietly followed Kaiba to his office. Standing outside the doors was a man in shades and a suit. Aria surmised that this must be Roland who Kaiba mentioned. However, it was Langley standing beside him, shooting daggers as she walked by that filled her with dread.

Kaiba walked straight past without acknowledging either of them and went to stand behind his desk, looking out onto the city. Aria followed him, blushing at the sight of the piano as she walked past. She would give anything to have that Kaiba back right now.

Standing in front of his desk, Aria waited nervously for him to begin speaking. A part of her wanted to get the yelling done and over with so they could get back to what was important; catching the bad guys. Didn't Kaiba see there were more important matters to deal with right now? How could he stand there so calmly when someone might be making off with his beloved project?

Finally, Kaiba turned around. But he didn't look at her as he leaned over his desk and inserted the data stick into his computer. Aria jerked in alarm when he plugged it in, worried that the data stick was what was used to infect the mainframe in the first place. But Kaiba's face remained impassive as he typed and clicked. Once he had finished did he finally look at Aria. She didn't think it was possible, but it seemed his face looked even colder than it had before. The back of her neck began to prickle. Something was definitely off.

"Seto..." she began, trying to think of something to say to help diffuse the situation.

"I believe you have lost that right to call me that," he replied curtly.

Aria recoiled as if he had physically slapped her. "Why are you acting like this?" she whispered. Her voice seemed to have lost all of its strength.

"Are you really going to keep playing the victim here Miss Ito?"

"What are you talking about?" she said a little louder this time. "Yes, I went into Langley's office after hours because I heard that him and Jim were meeting-"

"Mr. Langley was down in the mainframe with me," he said coolly. "It was with his help that we were able to isolate the virus."

"So you were able to stop it?" Aria asked hopefully.