Summary:

"You are such an idiot!" Cagalli said as she lightly punched Athrun's cheek. "Yeah, I'm an idiot for falling for an idiot like you…" haha, summary sucks. but please read :D CxA

Rent

Chapter 1: The Beginning

"CAGALLI!" A loud cry echoed through the hallway.

Cagalli who was still sleeping literally jumped out of her bed upon hearing the sound. Not even minding the way her blonde hair was sticking out of her head, she immediately ran out of her room and looked for the source of the voice. She hurriedly dashed down the stairs to the living room and finally to the kitchen. "What's wrong?" A worried tone exited her mouth.

"The.. The.. There's a bee!" The voice's owner said as he dove under one of the countertops to avoid the said insect.

Cagalli watched as he (the owner of the voice a.k.a his boss) was pathetically squirming for his dear life.

"Don't just stand there! Kill it!" He demanded.

Cagalli folded her arms. Merciless as usual. With a big sigh, Cagalli walked towards the window and opened it. Fortunately, the small creature went out and Cagalli managed to shut the window tight. Meanwhile, her boss, who was peeking to see if the wretched thing was out of sight finally gained back his composure and walked out of the kitchen like nothing happened.

"Hey, don't tell me you woke me up just to drive that bee away!" Cagalli sent him a glare and followed him all the way to the living room. Cagalli, who was never a morning person, felt the irritation crawling up her spine. With this she could probably send him a flying kick. She sighed. This was stupid, she felt like a mother nagging to her son. Losing her cool very early in the morning might and absolutely will ruin her day. Cagalli might have let it off the hook if only he hadn't worried her like that.

She was waiting for a response. A simple 'sorry' (from him) would make the situation better. Cagalli was also planning that if ever he would apologize she won't mind being called a slave or serving him like an idiot all day.

"A maid should always be ready to serve her master at anytime and any day, right?" He said. "Why the hell am I paying you?"

Cagalli auburn eyes widened. She can't believe what she just heard. He was the most irritating person she has ever met. Cagalli stared at his boss' back while he was walking away from her. She could feel the heat rising up on her cheeks and with a sadistic smile appearing on her face, she knew what should be done.

"Athrun Zala." She called out. Athrun, who was walking on the stairs stopped.

"And who told you to call me by my name?" He asked.

Cagalli smirked. She was so annoyed right now she wouldn't even care if she didn't get her paycheck for the month or get fired.

"I'm asking you a question." Athrun folded his arms.

Cagalli still did not respond. She was now walking towards Athrun, with only two steps away; she clenched her fist and prepared for a punch that Athrun will sure regret in his whole life. She could almost picture Athrun's beautiful face (especially his perfect nose) deformed, and her saying "That's what you get for waking me up. Stupid ass, can't even make a small insect disappear."

Cagalli smiled wickedly, but suddenly her evil thoughts vanished upon hearing Athrun's voice again.

"Do you want to get fired?" He asked.

Cagali's eyes widened. The word 'fired' hit her like a ten-wheeler truck. "No, sir… I... was just trying to ask if you were okay. You are allergic to bees right? I was just making sure that you didn't get any allergic reactions or something…" She panicked and chuckled nervously while making a 'no' kind of gesture with her hand and head.

Athrun stared at Cagalli. "You're lucky; I'm in a good mood."

"I'll be leaving in a while. Make sure you do your job properly." And with that, Athrun quietly made his way to his room.

Cagalli on the other hand was breathing heavily. "Whew. That was close, when you get fired, it's all over." Cagalli whispered as she mind-slapped herself for the thought of punching Athrun, her boss in the face.

Cagalli frowned as she went back into her room. Why the hell am I even in this situation? She asked herself. A month ago she was enjoying her vacation, well not actually 'enjoying' because she had to work, but the fact that she had the freedom to still join her friends for vacation was so much better than being a maid in her own house .

A loud sigh exited her lips. She scanned through her room and saw a familiar thing. It was a picture frame; in it was a picture of a six-year old Cagalli and middle aged man. They were both smiling widely; the man had long grey reaching his shoulders and a beard. He wore a waiter's outfit while Cagalli on the other hand had a wooden spatula and a toque on her head. It was those days when she and her father were playing dress-up.

"Father…"

Two weeks ago in a near café…

"I'm sorry Cagalli, I couldn't do anything" Mr. Johnson, Cagalli's father's friend and company lawyer said.

Cagalli stared at him for a while. He had his necktie neatly fixed on his collar, while his messy silver hair was all over his forehead, almost covering half of his horned-rimmed glasses and his deep blue eyes. He looked at Cagalli with pity and regret.

"It's okay Mr. Johnson." Cagalli gave him a reassuring smile. "You really don't have to worry about me, I'll be fine."

Mr. Johnson made a huge sigh. "I promised your father that I will take care of you."

"Thanks you, sir but you really shouldn't trouble yourself. Besides, Ms. Ramius already told me that I could stay at their place until I want to!" It was a lie but she made it really sound convincing so Mr. Johnson wouldn't suspect.

Another sigh went out of Mr. Johnson's mouth. "Very well, if you say so… " He made a very long pause.

"If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask me" He smiled.

"Yes sir!" Cagalli chuckled, trying to lighten up the mood.

"Anyway, here are the documents you need to sign." He said while grabbing a long brown envelope inside his suitcase. "We already have a buyer and wants the house today." He continued.

"Today? But I haven't moved our things yet." Cagalli managed to say while reading the documents Mr. Johnson gave her.

"By the way, how much did he buy it?" A random question popped out of her mind. At the back of her mind, she was already planning to reclaim their house.

Mr. Johnson grabbed a couple of table napkins and began writing something. "$75,000,000" Cagalli gulped. If she was sipping her coffee, she would have already splattered it to the person in front of her. She couldn't even speak at that moment.

"Se..Se..seventy-five million?!" She finally managed to get a hold of her words. "But, isn't that a bit too much?"

"It is too much. But since the new owner is too generous, I accepted his offer." Mr. Johnson folded his arms. He was proud that he was able to sell her father's house for seventy-five million.

Cagalli scratched her head. How the hell am I going to buy our house back? Seventy-five million is too big. Even if she lived for two life times, she wouldn't be able to buy their house back.

"You see Cagalli, the excess money would be yours. Not all of it will be for your father's debt." Mr. Johnson's face became serious.

"I see…" Cagalli made a long pause. She remembered that before her father died, he made her promise to take care of their house and never sell it to anyone. It was the only thing that her father can give her since they were not that rich.

She smiled. "I think I'll get going now, Mr. Johnson. I have to get our things…" Cagalli stood up and bowed to Mr. Johnson.

"Thanks for everything that you've done for us. I'll leave everything in your hands Mr. Johnson."

Mr. Johnson nodded and waved Cagalli goodbye.

Cagalli walked towards their house. I'm going to miss you, she thought. It was rather a big house. Her father told her that it was an ancestral house and was passed down to him from his great grandfather. It has two floors, three bedrooms, a library, a living room, a kitchen and a bathroom on each floor. Traces of old Japanese architecture can be found on the bedrooms, while Spanish architecture dominated the first floor. It was a weird yet unique house. Leaving it would be depressing, but Cagalli had no choice.

---

Ullen Yula Attha, his father was a struggling business man. Cagalli never really paid attention about his father's business. Well that's because she had never seen her father do business work inside their house. Whenever she would come home from school, Cagalli and her father would play around all day and invent new cooking recipes. She thought everything was doing okay.

Until last year, when his father died in a heart attack that's when she found out that his father wasn't doing fine at all. First of all, his father never bothered to tell her that his business wasn't doing fine. It was until Mr. Johnson went to their house telling her that her father had a large debt on some company. Also, his father did not tell her about his medical condition. He hated his father for that, or was it that she was just too apathetic?

Cagalli later realized that tears were already flowing from her eyes. Why did his father have to die? If only she paid more attention, she could have done something about it. But it was already too late. She already regretted it. Now, all she can do is get back the house that her father entrusted to her.

Cagalli wiped her tears away and made a last good look on their house.

"Whatever happens, I'll get you back."

"I promise."