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Kaiba palmed the ring box nervously in his blazer pocket, his appetite poor, his palms damp while he waited for dessert to land. 

He stared at Kisara’s dyed white-blond hair across the table, his heart flipping in his stomach as she sipped her wine with a delicate air and gave him a soft smile that made his stomach turn even more. 

This was it. He was proposing.

Seven years with her and she was the perfect girlfriend.

The waiter came by with the thin slice of tiramisu, so Kaiba leaned back to let the cake land under his chin before he slipped the ring box out of his pocket and silently pushed it across the table, past the flowers, past the candle, and right up to the base of her wine glass. 

His ears burned with white-hot anticipation as she stared at it blankly and set her fork down with a firm motion, giving him a long, silent look of shock.

W-Was it that shocking?

He’d done all the things right: flown her out to a nice city as a surprise, gotten a restaurant with a nice view, and bought a really large suite with honeymoon services offered–premium decor, premium liquor, massages, constant room service.

“You want to try asking properly?” She asked with a sligh flush to her cheeks as she patted the napkin across her beautiful lips and nodded, sitting back in her chair with her shoulders squared back. “Ready now.”

Kaiba drew a blank and he stared at her for a minute before she nudged him under the table with her foot and leaned in to say, “...in a romantic way?! Like down on one knee?”

Right, right, Kaiba stood slowly out of his seat and edged around the table to kneel before her, and she parted her mouth to huff derisively, glancing over her shoulder at the ring box on the table.

Fuck! I– Kaiba stood up to snatch the ring box up, his sleeve almost catching on fire from brushing the candle, and he knelt again, seeing her sigh, roll her eyes with a flutter of her eyelashes and offer her hand out to him with a serious nod. 

“Kisara, I’m a huge fuck up. You know this,” Kaiba said evenly as he tried to crack a shaky smile, resting his hand atop her knee, feeling her silky dress underneath his damp palm. He hastily withdrew and pried the box open with a careful, practiced motion he’d done in the mirror several times. “I hope you’ll want to continue putting up with me and my lifestyle choices. Please marry me.”

Applause rang out in the dining room behind them, and Kaiba ignored it all, his face steadily heating up with embarrassment, wondering why she wasn’t even smiling.

She gingerly picked the box up out of his hands and angled it in the light, and wrinkled her nose. 

Kaiba was crushed. His heart pounded in his ears and his knees weakened so much, he couldn’t find the energy to stand again. S-She didn’t like it? Too gaudy? Too… What? It was silver, and it had a halo surround of tiny diamonds around one single, larger stone.

It was ‘classic trendy’.

Girl magazines said so! 

The internet forums, and secretaries on three different floors said so! He’d picked the most clear color even though he wanted to go with blue. 

M-Maybe he should’ve gone with a blue stone?! The nose-wrinkle was making him spiral!

“It’s very small,” she said with finality, plucking the ring out of the cushion and sliding it onto her finger herself, leaning back to inspect her hand with a tilt of her head. “You could do better, Seto.” She took it off, set it back into the box, and closed it, handing it back to him with a calm nod. “I love you, and know you can do better. I’ll say ‘yes’ then.”

Kaiba stared at her mouth moving, but only heard a few words.

“....You can do better…” Yeah. Something in his gut said he ought to run. 

A girl who only stayed with him for money and knew that he could buy her a multitude of different rocks in all shapes and sizes any time, but held him to that standard with the very first ring of many…was a bad sign.

“I can buy you many more after this. This is symbolic,” Kaiba said, still on his knees and unable to stand while he stared into her pretty face for what he felt like was the last time. “I don’t want to propose with a flashy 8 million yen ring. I thought this was small and cute. Everyone said so–”

“Because you’re frugal? Or because you think I don’t deserve a bigger ring when you propose?” Her eyes flashed dangerously as her fork hovered over her cake which she was still trying to eat. “Who is ‘everyone’?” She continued, her tone dropping into derisiveness, Kaiba felt a crushing pang in his chest, hurting him with every breath while she stabbed him with her harsh words. “Everyone you pay? They’re obligated to say they like it. I hate it. You could really do better.”

Kaiba felt himself arguing back even though inside, he was screaming at himself to shut up, “if you don’t want me for my money, why do you want a bigger ring?!”

“Because! It means you care for me, more than that tiny, booger-sized ring. You’re doing this to test me, and I’m angry. This gesture is so insulting coming from someone like you, Seto.” Kisara pushed her chair back and stood up to leave, not wanting to cause a scene in the nice, quiet restaurant where all eyes were suddenly on them, because Seto still hadn’t stood up…as if he was really begging–as if! She’d given this man 7 years!

It wasn’t worth at least 1 million yen per year?! Towards the ring?! 

Seto was a fucking billionaire for fuck’s sake! So insulting! Rude! Inconsiderate! And she even had to tell him to get on his knees. Absolutely terrible proposal.

Speechless, Kaiba watched her step around him and walk away, leaving him humiliated by the tableside, still on his knees.

W-WOWWWWWWWWWWW–

Was he deficient?! Was he…a horrible, insufferable person if it weren’t for his money?! 

Her storming off told him all he needed to know.

She was mad at the ‘booger-sized’ ring, huh?! 

So she could see it was 0.33 of a carat and was measuring already!

She wanted his money and had been biding her time! Her actions said so!

Money was all he had to offer anyway! ……

Was he stupid for thinking anyone stuck around for a reason otherwise?! 

Numb with disbelief, Kaiba couldn’t find the will to stand.

What if he was dirt poor and this was the only ring he could afford?! That thought kept rattling around in his head and he was unable to stand, aware that people might still be staring at him, but he didn’t care.

A few tables away, Yami snickered and toasted Isis across from him. She smirked and raised her glass, her eyes following the pretty woman with long white hair as she stormed off. Hilarious!

“Okay. You win,” Isis said calmly, tossing the champagne back with a graceful tilt of her head, her dark hair swinging down past her shoulders when she set the glass back down onto the table. “You’re right. The drama of the upper dining suites are the best. Do you think she even likes him? Some people would stay to talk it out.”

“We could approach,” Yami hummed, eyeing the back of the man’s neat brown hair. He so badly wanted to mess it up by running his hands through it. “Send Mai after her in the casino downstairs. See if she’ll take the bait.”

Isis shrugged happily and poured herself another glass, picking it up and staring at the handsome man in the suit who was still kneeling by the empty table. Awww… Smelled like a sad client!

“Friendly wager. 20% of your earnings for one night if I can get him into a room in 30 minutes,” Isis said smoothly, standing up with her glass of wine and shrugging her dress lower down across her shoulders, baring her collarbones and cleavage. “How is it?”

“Lower,” Yami said flatly without even looking, keeping his eyes fixed on the stiff, white collar of the man’s suit. “If you fail, he’s mine next.”

Isis huffed and swept her glass off the table and took it, whispering over her shoulder, “we’re not at a club. Any lower and it’ll be trashy.” 

Suit yourself, Yami sang as he sipped his champagne and glanced down at his watch. 

30 minutes starting now. 

20% of his earnings for one of his nights was a lot!

Isis sat down in the empty seat the woman had just vacated, and her breath caught when she stared into the stranger’s handsome face. PRETTY! 

“Hello, I’m–” she barely got a word out before the man snapped out of his trance, his blue eyes sharpening when he scanned her face, her bare shoulders, her low cut dress, and growled at her.

“Get out. No. Fuck off.” She looked like an escort!

Ah! Isis grit her teeth and tried one last time.

“Just lending a friendly ear,” she said coolly, trying to settle into the seat, but the man stood unsteadily and snarled at her. 

“I said… fuck off before I call security. Who let you in?” Kaiba hissed, aware that an ugly side was coming out of him real fast, but he didn’t care. 

She gave him a grimace and took her wine glass with her. 

Kaiba sank back into his seat and stared blankly at the spot across from him, the candlelight burning into his retinas while his eyes heated up with furious tears.

This city was full of vultures. It was a place where people came to party, to drink, to gamble, to get married on a whim, to celebrate a long love, and have bachelorette parties, so he thought bringing Kisara here would give them a peek at their honeymoon city!

She always enjoyed a good ‘party capital vacation’ like Ibiza and Berlin, so how was Las Vegas any different?  It’s not the city, Kaiba realized heavily, reaching for the glass of alcohol Kisara had left and took a sip. He even held out on drinking all night so he could propose sober. 

He wanted her to know he was serious.

What did she do? Wrinkle her nose in his face. He’d spent months researching a ring! She was probably waiting upstairs in their suite and he couldn’t face her.

“You failed,” Yami grinned at Isis, standing up to smooth his tie down his front. “My turn. He’s gay. 20% of your nightly earnings if he is.”

“He is not,” Isis said poisonously, gripping her wine stem harder. “Stop thinking every man you lay your eyes on is gay. That’s unhealthy.”

“Or I’m just predicting our future together,” Yami pouted comically, winked, and took his wine glass to confront the man sulking by the tall windows that displayed the glittering city beyond.

He approached the candlelit table and pulled the chair out, sinking into the spot and offering his arm out in a closed fist for a fist bump, his heart leaping when he stared into the man’s dejected face. Sad but handsome. He had almond eyes that were lined with nice lashes, and a striking jaw, framing pretty, high-cheekbones where his neat brown hair was cut right at an angle, resting above his ears in a tight-laced way that made Yami’s heart race. 

Maybe a lawyer or a doctor. He guessed based on the haircut.

Kaiba barely moved when another person sat down in the empty seat, and he gave up trying to shoo the prostitutes away. They could all smell money. He knew that. Maybe he could just pretend he didn’t speak English. 

That usually did it–nope, they would just try to con him further. And this one was a man. Maybe he was that lady’s pimp. 

“Hey man,” Yami said with a catty smile, his arm getting a bit tired from hanging in the middle of the table. “I have a present for you.” “No.” Kaiba replied, and he sipped his wine, feeling nauseous because his lips touched a part of the glass where Kisara’s mouth may have just been. Oh god, he was so put off by…everything. The world could burn right now and he’d be happy. Love was dead. Money was the only thing he was to other people. 

Might as well embrace it. The pushy stranger sitting across from him lowered his fist and placed a tiny purple circular pill atop the white tablecloth beside the black ring box, lifting up the champagne bottle to bring the edge down onto it, breaking it in half with a deft motion.

“It’s E,” Yami said casually, taking his half and wondering if he should split it again. “More where that came from later. Want to? You and I can have a good time in the city together. Forget her. Let me help you out. I saw that whole thing. It was brutal.”

Kaiba stared at the tinted powder left behind atop the table, the blood rushing in his ears. Awesome. Doing drugs to deal with heartbreak. Doing drugs to escape this horrible night. Yeah, ‘brutal’ was how he was feeling right now. Kisara kept him sober and serious. 

He always strived to be the best for her, and the moment he wanted to do something his way, she stomped on his feelings and refused to hear him out about it. Well if she didn’t want him for his personality, everyone else wanted him, especially the money-hungry sex workers who prowled every inch of the city, somehow even managing to get into 5-star restaurants. 

Maybe they’re 5-star hookers, Kaiba thought derisively as he slowly reached for the purple pill and bit back a laugh. 5-star prostitutes and 5-star drugs…here I fucking come!

He placed the pill on his tongue and threw it back with the rest of the champagne in Kisara’s glass as an extra ‘fuck you’. He always knew he had a shitty personality. 

Why pretend like he was a hardworking saint? Especially when all his efforts went to waste when he could’ve just thrown money at her. It would’ve been nice if she asked for money straight-up at the start. 

Then he wouldn’t waste his TIME too!

The tablet dissolved on his tongue as it slid into his throat, the alcohol stinging his nose.

Yep. He’d fucked up his own happiness by proposing with well thought-out effort instead of just letting his money do the talking, like everything else in his life.  Yami watched the man take a practiced shot with the champagne glass, and his eyes widened. Score. Was Isis seeing this?

He raised two fingers to wave playfully at her, and she rolled her eyes furiously, looking away fast. Yep. She was the loser, and he was about to be much richer tonight with Mr. Heartbreak over here! These ones always opened their wallets the fastest.

Kaiba slammed the champagne glass down onto the table, his heart racing as he stared at the pretty face across from him, his anger running high while his blood boiled. The guy had pretty, angular eyes, a delicate face, and a sharp jaw. His lips were plump, and 

he looked like a playboy fuckhead pimp who could rake in girls if they hung out together. That was the con, wasn’t it?

“Bankrupt me,” he said flatly, pushing the ring box towards the man and wishing the drug would take effect sooner. “And give me more where that came from. Trade you a white rock for white powder.”

“Oh for me?” Yami feigned a dramatic gasp and pocketed the ring without even looking at it, pulling out a small dime bag of cocaine to push it across the table, hiding it from view with the top of his hand but keeping it pinched between his middle and index finger. “What an amazing trade! I think we can go to the bathroom together–”

Kaiba snatched the tiny bag of white powder out of the man’s fingers and stood up to find the bathroom. Yes, time to get triple fucked up. He had billions. No one could bankrupt him even if they tried. Even he couldn’t do it, and he had tried! He’d calculated it before. 

He’d have to spend 100k USD every day to be somewhat poor.

Yami stood to follow and hurried past his table to drop the ring off to Isis, lowering his voice to mutter, “try it with a few pawn shops. See if it's real and how much.”

“Probably trash based on her reaction,” she smirked, taking the box from him and opening it, laughing with a huff and turning it around to show him. “Not even 1 carat. You have to squint to see it. Have fun with him. It might be CZ.” She plucked it out of the cushion and stuck it on her middle finger. Perfect fit, and…cute?! 

She might keep this even if it was a fake.

This was one of the more tasteful ones. She put it on her forefinger with a smirk. Cuuute!

Yami shook his head in exasperation and hurried off to find his target in the bathroom, hoping Mr. Heartbreak wouldn’t do the whole bag of coke without him.

He hurried around the long corridor and elbowed his way into the men’s bathroom, shocked to see the tall man bent over the top of the hand dryers, already leaning down to hit a line up his nose, and Yami opened his mouth to protest, but then saw…a black card hanging from slim, pale fingertips. !!! So he had money!! 

Or he came to the party city with party money, since everyone knew a black card opened doors…only until the client could afford it. He knew a thing or two about how black cards could be maxed. “Give it to me,” Yami snatched the card out of the man’s hand, read the name off the front, memorizing the numbers…and used it to pile half a line of cocaine a bit neater for himself, leaning down to hit it up his nose before handing the card back.  

“Keep it,” Kaiba pinched his nose while his eyes watered. Ow. Then he bent over the sink to wash his face to make sure no white power clung to his face. He was done trying to pretend like he was a good guy. People wanted him for money? Fine! 

They’d realize it was all he was good for.

Kind, handsome, and generous? Marry me instead! Yami grinned and pocketed the black card. 

“Okay… Seto,” Yami tried the first name tentatively, and when he got no answer, he nodded and used the corner of the card to sweep the rest of the powder back into the edge of the small bag, wiping the top of the dryer off with a paper towel. “Let’s go clubbing and have a lot of wild sex.”

Kaiba nodded and followed the spiky-haired man out of the bathroom, still waiting for the mix of drugs to kick in. Yeah, his night better be wild and filled with partying and sex, the best his money could buy.