Relena's Secret Admirers
By Megan
Vice Foreign Minister Relena Darlain-Peacecraft sat in her office at her desk. She was supposed to be typing up a progress report, but her attention kept turning back to the wallet-sized photograph taped to her computer monitor. A sullen young man stared out at her.
"Oh, Heero, where are you?" Relena sighed, running her fingertips across his face. The last time she had seen him was right after the Mariemaia incident, almost a year before. She could still feel him in her arms.
"I miss you so much," she whispered. Her intercom beeped, interrupting her thoughts. She reached over and pressed the talk button.
"Yes, Miss Tolkien(1)?" Relena asked.
"A package just arrived for you, Miss Relena," her secretary answered.
"Send it in." Relena ordered, shutting off the intercom. A minute later, her office door opened and blonde-haired, blue-eyed Misty Tolkien entered the room. She walked across the office and placed a small box on Relena's desk. The box was so pretty! It was decorated with life-like painted red roses.
"That will be all, Miss Tolkien." Relena said.
"Yes, Miss Relena." Misty bowed and left the room. As soon as Relena heard the door click shut, she pulled the box closer to her. She took off the lid and set it on the desk.
"Oh, my!" she gasped. Nestled among pink crushed velvet, lay a beautiful star-shaped diamond pendant attached to a long silver chain.
Relena carefully lifted the necklace out of the box. Sunlight streaming in from a window behind the desk, caught the charm and sent dazzling rainbows dancing across the desktop. Relena set the necklace aside and moved the velvet out of the box. Underneath the velvet, she found a folded up piece of paper. She unfolded it and read the note.
'For you, Relena, my darling. Love, Your Secret Admirer,' the note said in beautiful calligraphy.
"I have a secret admirer?" Relena cried. "Who could it be?" Her eyes moved from the note to Heero's picture. Could it be...?
"No," Relena decided. "This is too romantic to be from Heero. But, then...who..." The ringing of the telephone interrupted her.
"Hello?" Relena said into the phone.
"Hello, Relena. Did you like your present?" an obviously altered voice inquired.
"Yes, I love it. But who are you?"
"I can't tell you that, but I can tell you that you are very special to me," the voice replied. Relena was speechless. What did you say to someone you didn't know, who had just sent you an expensive diamond necklace?
"You needn't say anything," the voice said, as if he'd read her mind.
"Please, tell me who you are. Give me a hint. Anything!" Relena pleaded. The voice fell silent.
"Alright," he said finally. "Here's your hint-you know me. Now I must say goodbye."
"Goodbye?"
"Goodbye, darling."
"Wait!" Relena said, but she was too late for he had already hung up.
_____________________________________________________________________
The next morning when Relena got to work, she found another gift waiting for her on Misty's desk. This time it was a dozen 24 karat gold-dipped roses and a card simply signed. 'Your Admirer.'
"Oh, I wish I was you, Miss Relena!" Misty sighed.
"These had to have cost a fortune!" Relena gasped. Misty followed Relena into her office. Relena placed the roses on her desk.
"Hey, girls. What's up?" Duo Maxwell greeted them as he walked into the office.
"Hi, Duo." Relena said.
"Here, I think these are for you, Relena." Duo handed her a glass vase full of flowers. Arranged neatly were three each of gardenias, forget-me-nots, red tulips, and lavender roses, along with a few sprigs of baby's breath(2). Relena could tell that they were handpicked and the thorns on the roses had been carefully removed.
"I see you got your other flowers." Duo nodded at the gold roses. Relena glanced at them and then looked at Duo suspiciously.
"Do you know who sent these to me, Duo?" she demanded.
"Yeah, and they both wish to remain anonymous." Duo said.
"Both?!" Misty cried. "You mean Miss Relena has two secret admirers? Are you one of them?"
"Who, me? Nah, I'm just the delivery boy. Besides Relena's not really my type," Duo said. "Which reminds me, I have another delivery to make. Catch ya later!" He strolled out of the office.
"Hey, Relena, don't forget to check the envelope!" Duo called back to the girls. They heard the outer office door shut.
"Wow, Miss Relena, you are soo lucky!" Misty squealed before returning to work. Relena sat down behind her desk and searched through the vase of flowers. She found a white envelope and opened it. She turned it upside down and dumped out puzzle pieces.
"What is this?" Relena whispered. She put the puzzle together and it turned out to be a beautiful blonde-haired angel dressed in a shimmering pink gown. On the corner of the picture, it said,'Turn over.' Relena carefully turned it over and found a poem.
HEAVEN SENT
YOU TIPTOED INTO MY DREAM
LIKE THE SWEET FRAGRANCE OF SPRING
YOU WHISPERED SWEET LULLABIES
THE SONGS THAT ANGELS SING
YOU GAVE YOURSELF SO FREELY
ASKING NOTHING IN RETURN
YOU ARE THE EXAMPLE
A LESSON FOR ME TO LEARN
YOUR SPIRIT ROAMS THE STARS
LIKE A COMET IN THE SKY
YOU GAVE AWAY THE ANSWERS
WHEN I ASKED YOU TO REPLY
YOU OPENED UP YOUR HEART
AND SHARED YOUR GIFT OF LOVE
TO ME YOU ARE NOT A WOMAN
BUT AN ANGEL FROM ABOVE
I CANNOT PUT INTO WORDS
JUST WHAT YOU MEAN TO ME
YOU ARE MORE CLOSE TO HEAVEN
THAN I COULD EVER BE
SO IF YOU EVER NEED A FRIEND
JUST CALL AND I'LL BE THERE
YOU ARE AWESOME, SWEETHEART
MY ANGEL UNAWARE(3)
All My Heart,
Your Secret Admirer
Relena wiped tears away as she reread the neatly written poem. She took the puzzle apart and placed the pieces back into the envelope.
"Who could have sent me such a sweet poem?" she wondered aloud.
_________________________________________
Somehow Relena managed to get through the rest of the day. After work, she gathered up her stuff and met Misty in the outer office. They left the office together and walked out to where Relena's car was parked.
"Now don't forget about the party tomorrow night, Miss Relena." Misty reminded Relena as she was getting into her car.
"Don't worry, Miss Tolkien. I won't forget, and you can always remind me about it tomorrow." Relena assured her. She shut her car door, started the car and drove home. When she got home, she went inside her mansion.
"Hello!" she called before she remembered that she'd given the servants the week off and her brother was away on Preventer business. She headed for the kitchen and got herself something to drink. Then she went into the den and flopped onto the couch. She grabbed a book off the coffee table and started reading.
An hour later, someone knocked on her door. Relena folded down the corner of her book and set it down. She got up and hurried to the front door just as another knock sounded. She looked out the peephole and saw a blue violet-colored eye looking back at her.
"Hi, Duo," she said as she opened the door.
"What up, Relena? I have come bearing gifts," he joked.
"More?" Relena raised an eyebrow.
"Yep. Here's one from your first admirer," Duo gave her a big flat envelope. "And here's one from your second admirer." He handed her a smaller envelope.
"Why don't you come in, Duo?" Relena offered.
"Sorry, but I gotta get back and tell them I delivered their gifts." Duo said. He headed down the porch.
"Bye, Duo." Relena said. He waved over his shoulder. Relena watched until he was gone and then she shut the door. She went back to her couch and sat down. She set the smaller envelope down on the coffee table and opened the larger one. Inside she found a note and a stack of papers.
'I wanted to name a star after you, so I bought all the stars they had. Love, Your 1st Admirer,' the note read.
"Does he really think that my love can be bought?" she asked, disgusted. She discarded the papers, note, and envelope. She reached for the smaller envelope. She felt a shiver of excitement as she picked it up. She opened it and pulled out a folded sheet of notebook paper. She unfolded it and saw a rough drawing of a rose and another poem.
BEAUTIFUL LOVE
RELENA, SINCE WE MET I HAVEN'T BEEN THE SAME
TO SEE YOUR FACE JUST LIGHTS UP MY DAY
RELENA, SINCE WE MET YOU'RE ALWAYS ON MY MIND
TO BE WITH YOU IS A FEELING I CAN'T SAY
I THINK OF YOU EVERYDAY
I WANNA SEE YOU AGAIN AND AGAIN
I WANT YOU
IT'S SO HARD TO BE AWAY FROM YOU
I WANNA BE WITH YOU MORE AND MORE
IN YOUR ARMS IS WHERE I LONG TO BE
RELENA, I'M SO GLAD YOU CAME INTO MY LIFE
YOU MAKE ME SMILE
WHAT ELSE CAN I SAY
I THINK OF YOU EVERYDAY
I WANNA BE WITH YOU MORE AND MORE
I CAN'T BELIEVE I FEEL THIS WAY
I WANNA BE MORE THAN FRIENDS
I WANT YOU
RELENA, THIS POEM IS FOR YOU
AND I HOPE YOU FEEL THE SAME TOO
NOW I KNOW THERE'S NO ONE QUITE LIKE YOU
I CAN HARDLY WAIT TO SEE YOU
TIME FLIES WHEN I'M WITH YOU
I THINK OF YOU EVERYDAY
I WANNA SEE YOU AGAIN AND AGAIN
I CAN'T BELIEVE I FEEL THIS WAY
I WANNA BE MORE THAN FRIENDS
I WANT YOU(4)
Love Always,
Your Secret Admirer
Relena sighed happily and leaned against the couch. Now that was the way to her heart. For the umpteenth time, she wondered who her admirers were. She knew it wasn't Duo and she was positive that it wasn't Wufei. That left Heero, Quatre, and Trowa, or really any other guy. But if that were true, why would Duo be delivering the gifts? Heero, Trowa, or Quatre, who could it be? Even though she wished it with all her heart, she knew it wasn't Heero. He just wasn't the romantic type.
Relena laid down. That meant her admirers were Trowa and Quatre. She figured Quatre was the one sending her the expensive stuff. Which meant Trowa was the one sweeping her off her feet.
"Would I be happy with Trowa?" she murmered sleepily. She shut her eyes and quickly fell asleep.
____________________________________________
The next evening, Relena rushed around trying to finish up the week's work. She wanted to get done soon, so she could go home and take a nice warm, long bath before she had to start getting ready for the party. As soon as she finished, she grabbed her stuff and left the office. She locked the office door. Usually that was Misty's job, but Relena had sent her home early. Relena raced down the hallway, turned a corner, and ran smack into Duo.
"Whoa! Where's the fire?" Duo laughed.
"Sorry, Duo. I'm just in a hurry to get home." Relena explained.
"I got something for you." He held out a small blue bottle.
"From my admirers?" She took the bottle from him.
"It's from both of them." Duo said. Relena opened the bottle and pulled out a rolled up piece of paper. She unrolled it and read it. Duo looked over her shoulder and read it too.
'Tonight's the night, our dear Relena! For the last three days, you have received gifts from us. Now it's time for you to choose one of us. If you choose Admirer #1, meet him, at the party, by the food table at 8. If you choose #2, meet him, at the party, on the balcony at 8. Love, Admirers #1 & #2.'
"Who are you going to choose?" Duo asked. Relena rolled the note back up and stuck it back in the bottle. She dropped the bottle into her purse.
"I don't know," she said finally. Duo walked her to her car and she gave him a ride home.
"I'll see you tonight," he said as he got out of the car. She nodded and drove off. She parked her car in her garage and went inside. She went straight to her bathroom and turned on the faucets. She watched her pink jaccuzzi fill up with water. She undressed and slid into the warm water. She closed her eyes and sighed.
'Who am I going to choose?' she thought. 'Quatre or Trowa? Whoever I choose, I'm going to end up hurting the other.' Suddenly she sat straight up.
"I'm not going!" Relena announced to her bathroom. "I don't love either of them and it wouldn't be fair to them. Good thing the party isn't mandatory." Having made a decision, she found herself relaxing. She stayed in the tub for two more hours. When she got out, she dressed in a pair of worn-out blue jeans and a blue tank top.
She went to the kitchen and raided her chocolate stash. She picked out a sack of Hershey's Kisses and went to her room. Then she put on her favorite CD and cranked up the volume. She sprawled on her bed and opened the chocolate. She popped a kiss in her mouth and smiled.
"Ah, true bliss," she sighed.
________________________________________
Secret admirer #2 paced the balcony. It was 20 minutes past 8 and Relena still hadn't showed up. Where was Relena? The young man stopped pacing. Maybe she had chosen her other admirer! #2 looked into the ballroom through a window. He could see his rival standing at the food table, talking to Duo.
"If Relena's not with him, then..." His instinct kicked in. "She must be in trouble!" He hurried into the ballroom and across the crowded room to the table.
"Quatre, where's Relena?" he demanded. Secret admirer #1 turned to look at him.
"I thought she was with you!" Quatre said.
"Well she's not!" #2 snapped.
"Geez, calm down." Quatre ordered.
"Calm down? How can I calm down when the woman I love is missing? Besides, I thought you loved her too. Shouldn't you be a little more worried about her?"
"I never loved her." Quatre revealed.
"What?!"
"I felt sorry for Miss Relena because she always looked so sad. So I decided to send her that necklace. When I saw how jealous it made you, I kept it up. But I knew that she could never love me." Quatre explained.
"So you did it just to make me jealous?" Quatre nodded. #2 thought about that for a minute before remembering that Relena was still missing.
"I have to find Relena!" he exclaimed. He dashed out of the huge mansion, praying that he wasn't too late.
_____________________________________________
Relena sang along with the CD player as she looked through her fingernail polish collection. She picked out a dark blue color that reminded her of Heero's eyes. She sat on the floor and started carefully painting her toenails. The music was so loud and she was so absorbed in what she was doing, that she didn't hear the front door close or the footsteps on the stairs. She was staring so intently at her toes that she didn't notice her company standing in the doorway.
He watched her from the doorway. He didn't think he'd ever seen her look more beautiful. She was dressed in old jeans and a tank top. Her long hair was pulled back in a sad excuse for a bun and she was all folded up, painting her toenails. As the CD ended, Relena screwed the top back on her nail polish. She looked up and for the first time she saw her visitor. She gasped and the bottle fell out of her hand.
"Heero, what are you doing here?" she asked, scrambling to her feet. He crossed over to her.
"You weren't at the party, so I came to make sure you were okay." Heero answered.
"I'm fine. Just hangin' out." She wouldn't meet his gaze.
"Why didn't you come to the party?"
"Well..." Relena bit her bottom lip. "Uhm, you see, it's like this. I have two sorta secret admirers who have been sending me gifts for three days and tonight I was supposed to choose one of them. It didn't take me long to figure out who they were and I don't love either of them."
"Them?"
"Quatre and Trowa."
"How did you decide it was those two?"
"Quatre was easy to figure out. #2 wasn't so easy. I knew it wasn't Duo or Wufei, so that left you and Trowa. I knew it couldn't be you..."
"Why not?" Heero interrupted.
"Because you're just not the romantic type." Relena said. Heero stepped closer to her. He tipped her chin up and met her eyes.
"What if I told you that I am your 2nd admirer?"
"You?" Relena exclaimed, hope flooding through her.
"Yes, Relena. Me."
"I didn't know you could write such beautiful poetry, Heero."
"Uh, technically I didn't write it. Duo did. I just told him how I felt and he turned it into poetry." Heero explained.
"So did you mean all that stuff?" Relena inquired. Instead of replying, Heero pulled her into his arms.
"I love you, Relena," he whispered into her ear.
"I love you too, Heero," she whispered back.
THE END
Extra notes:
(1) I got her name from the author of THE LORD OF THE RINGS
(2) Each of the flowers have a special meaning:
Gardenia: Secret love
Forget-Me-Not: True love
Red Tulip: Declaration of love
Lavender Rose: Pure love
Baby's Breath: Everlasting love
(3) This is an actual poem. It's written, and owned, by Tony Brooks and you can find it at tonysills.tripod.com/poems/harbour_lights.html
(4) This is actually a song that I fixed. I can't remember now where I found it, but I don't own it.
By Megan
Vice Foreign Minister Relena Darlain-Peacecraft sat in her office at her desk. She was supposed to be typing up a progress report, but her attention kept turning back to the wallet-sized photograph taped to her computer monitor. A sullen young man stared out at her.
"Oh, Heero, where are you?" Relena sighed, running her fingertips across his face. The last time she had seen him was right after the Mariemaia incident, almost a year before. She could still feel him in her arms.
"I miss you so much," she whispered. Her intercom beeped, interrupting her thoughts. She reached over and pressed the talk button.
"Yes, Miss Tolkien(1)?" Relena asked.
"A package just arrived for you, Miss Relena," her secretary answered.
"Send it in." Relena ordered, shutting off the intercom. A minute later, her office door opened and blonde-haired, blue-eyed Misty Tolkien entered the room. She walked across the office and placed a small box on Relena's desk. The box was so pretty! It was decorated with life-like painted red roses.
"That will be all, Miss Tolkien." Relena said.
"Yes, Miss Relena." Misty bowed and left the room. As soon as Relena heard the door click shut, she pulled the box closer to her. She took off the lid and set it on the desk.
"Oh, my!" she gasped. Nestled among pink crushed velvet, lay a beautiful star-shaped diamond pendant attached to a long silver chain.
Relena carefully lifted the necklace out of the box. Sunlight streaming in from a window behind the desk, caught the charm and sent dazzling rainbows dancing across the desktop. Relena set the necklace aside and moved the velvet out of the box. Underneath the velvet, she found a folded up piece of paper. She unfolded it and read the note.
'For you, Relena, my darling. Love, Your Secret Admirer,' the note said in beautiful calligraphy.
"I have a secret admirer?" Relena cried. "Who could it be?" Her eyes moved from the note to Heero's picture. Could it be...?
"No," Relena decided. "This is too romantic to be from Heero. But, then...who..." The ringing of the telephone interrupted her.
"Hello?" Relena said into the phone.
"Hello, Relena. Did you like your present?" an obviously altered voice inquired.
"Yes, I love it. But who are you?"
"I can't tell you that, but I can tell you that you are very special to me," the voice replied. Relena was speechless. What did you say to someone you didn't know, who had just sent you an expensive diamond necklace?
"You needn't say anything," the voice said, as if he'd read her mind.
"Please, tell me who you are. Give me a hint. Anything!" Relena pleaded. The voice fell silent.
"Alright," he said finally. "Here's your hint-you know me. Now I must say goodbye."
"Goodbye?"
"Goodbye, darling."
"Wait!" Relena said, but she was too late for he had already hung up.
_____________________________________________________________________
The next morning when Relena got to work, she found another gift waiting for her on Misty's desk. This time it was a dozen 24 karat gold-dipped roses and a card simply signed. 'Your Admirer.'
"Oh, I wish I was you, Miss Relena!" Misty sighed.
"These had to have cost a fortune!" Relena gasped. Misty followed Relena into her office. Relena placed the roses on her desk.
"Hey, girls. What's up?" Duo Maxwell greeted them as he walked into the office.
"Hi, Duo." Relena said.
"Here, I think these are for you, Relena." Duo handed her a glass vase full of flowers. Arranged neatly were three each of gardenias, forget-me-nots, red tulips, and lavender roses, along with a few sprigs of baby's breath(2). Relena could tell that they were handpicked and the thorns on the roses had been carefully removed.
"I see you got your other flowers." Duo nodded at the gold roses. Relena glanced at them and then looked at Duo suspiciously.
"Do you know who sent these to me, Duo?" she demanded.
"Yeah, and they both wish to remain anonymous." Duo said.
"Both?!" Misty cried. "You mean Miss Relena has two secret admirers? Are you one of them?"
"Who, me? Nah, I'm just the delivery boy. Besides Relena's not really my type," Duo said. "Which reminds me, I have another delivery to make. Catch ya later!" He strolled out of the office.
"Hey, Relena, don't forget to check the envelope!" Duo called back to the girls. They heard the outer office door shut.
"Wow, Miss Relena, you are soo lucky!" Misty squealed before returning to work. Relena sat down behind her desk and searched through the vase of flowers. She found a white envelope and opened it. She turned it upside down and dumped out puzzle pieces.
"What is this?" Relena whispered. She put the puzzle together and it turned out to be a beautiful blonde-haired angel dressed in a shimmering pink gown. On the corner of the picture, it said,'Turn over.' Relena carefully turned it over and found a poem.
HEAVEN SENT
YOU TIPTOED INTO MY DREAM
LIKE THE SWEET FRAGRANCE OF SPRING
YOU WHISPERED SWEET LULLABIES
THE SONGS THAT ANGELS SING
YOU GAVE YOURSELF SO FREELY
ASKING NOTHING IN RETURN
YOU ARE THE EXAMPLE
A LESSON FOR ME TO LEARN
YOUR SPIRIT ROAMS THE STARS
LIKE A COMET IN THE SKY
YOU GAVE AWAY THE ANSWERS
WHEN I ASKED YOU TO REPLY
YOU OPENED UP YOUR HEART
AND SHARED YOUR GIFT OF LOVE
TO ME YOU ARE NOT A WOMAN
BUT AN ANGEL FROM ABOVE
I CANNOT PUT INTO WORDS
JUST WHAT YOU MEAN TO ME
YOU ARE MORE CLOSE TO HEAVEN
THAN I COULD EVER BE
SO IF YOU EVER NEED A FRIEND
JUST CALL AND I'LL BE THERE
YOU ARE AWESOME, SWEETHEART
MY ANGEL UNAWARE(3)
All My Heart,
Your Secret Admirer
Relena wiped tears away as she reread the neatly written poem. She took the puzzle apart and placed the pieces back into the envelope.
"Who could have sent me such a sweet poem?" she wondered aloud.
_________________________________________
Somehow Relena managed to get through the rest of the day. After work, she gathered up her stuff and met Misty in the outer office. They left the office together and walked out to where Relena's car was parked.
"Now don't forget about the party tomorrow night, Miss Relena." Misty reminded Relena as she was getting into her car.
"Don't worry, Miss Tolkien. I won't forget, and you can always remind me about it tomorrow." Relena assured her. She shut her car door, started the car and drove home. When she got home, she went inside her mansion.
"Hello!" she called before she remembered that she'd given the servants the week off and her brother was away on Preventer business. She headed for the kitchen and got herself something to drink. Then she went into the den and flopped onto the couch. She grabbed a book off the coffee table and started reading.
An hour later, someone knocked on her door. Relena folded down the corner of her book and set it down. She got up and hurried to the front door just as another knock sounded. She looked out the peephole and saw a blue violet-colored eye looking back at her.
"Hi, Duo," she said as she opened the door.
"What up, Relena? I have come bearing gifts," he joked.
"More?" Relena raised an eyebrow.
"Yep. Here's one from your first admirer," Duo gave her a big flat envelope. "And here's one from your second admirer." He handed her a smaller envelope.
"Why don't you come in, Duo?" Relena offered.
"Sorry, but I gotta get back and tell them I delivered their gifts." Duo said. He headed down the porch.
"Bye, Duo." Relena said. He waved over his shoulder. Relena watched until he was gone and then she shut the door. She went back to her couch and sat down. She set the smaller envelope down on the coffee table and opened the larger one. Inside she found a note and a stack of papers.
'I wanted to name a star after you, so I bought all the stars they had. Love, Your 1st Admirer,' the note read.
"Does he really think that my love can be bought?" she asked, disgusted. She discarded the papers, note, and envelope. She reached for the smaller envelope. She felt a shiver of excitement as she picked it up. She opened it and pulled out a folded sheet of notebook paper. She unfolded it and saw a rough drawing of a rose and another poem.
BEAUTIFUL LOVE
RELENA, SINCE WE MET I HAVEN'T BEEN THE SAME
TO SEE YOUR FACE JUST LIGHTS UP MY DAY
RELENA, SINCE WE MET YOU'RE ALWAYS ON MY MIND
TO BE WITH YOU IS A FEELING I CAN'T SAY
I THINK OF YOU EVERYDAY
I WANNA SEE YOU AGAIN AND AGAIN
I WANT YOU
IT'S SO HARD TO BE AWAY FROM YOU
I WANNA BE WITH YOU MORE AND MORE
IN YOUR ARMS IS WHERE I LONG TO BE
RELENA, I'M SO GLAD YOU CAME INTO MY LIFE
YOU MAKE ME SMILE
WHAT ELSE CAN I SAY
I THINK OF YOU EVERYDAY
I WANNA BE WITH YOU MORE AND MORE
I CAN'T BELIEVE I FEEL THIS WAY
I WANNA BE MORE THAN FRIENDS
I WANT YOU
RELENA, THIS POEM IS FOR YOU
AND I HOPE YOU FEEL THE SAME TOO
NOW I KNOW THERE'S NO ONE QUITE LIKE YOU
I CAN HARDLY WAIT TO SEE YOU
TIME FLIES WHEN I'M WITH YOU
I THINK OF YOU EVERYDAY
I WANNA SEE YOU AGAIN AND AGAIN
I CAN'T BELIEVE I FEEL THIS WAY
I WANNA BE MORE THAN FRIENDS
I WANT YOU(4)
Love Always,
Your Secret Admirer
Relena sighed happily and leaned against the couch. Now that was the way to her heart. For the umpteenth time, she wondered who her admirers were. She knew it wasn't Duo and she was positive that it wasn't Wufei. That left Heero, Quatre, and Trowa, or really any other guy. But if that were true, why would Duo be delivering the gifts? Heero, Trowa, or Quatre, who could it be? Even though she wished it with all her heart, she knew it wasn't Heero. He just wasn't the romantic type.
Relena laid down. That meant her admirers were Trowa and Quatre. She figured Quatre was the one sending her the expensive stuff. Which meant Trowa was the one sweeping her off her feet.
"Would I be happy with Trowa?" she murmered sleepily. She shut her eyes and quickly fell asleep.
____________________________________________
The next evening, Relena rushed around trying to finish up the week's work. She wanted to get done soon, so she could go home and take a nice warm, long bath before she had to start getting ready for the party. As soon as she finished, she grabbed her stuff and left the office. She locked the office door. Usually that was Misty's job, but Relena had sent her home early. Relena raced down the hallway, turned a corner, and ran smack into Duo.
"Whoa! Where's the fire?" Duo laughed.
"Sorry, Duo. I'm just in a hurry to get home." Relena explained.
"I got something for you." He held out a small blue bottle.
"From my admirers?" She took the bottle from him.
"It's from both of them." Duo said. Relena opened the bottle and pulled out a rolled up piece of paper. She unrolled it and read it. Duo looked over her shoulder and read it too.
'Tonight's the night, our dear Relena! For the last three days, you have received gifts from us. Now it's time for you to choose one of us. If you choose Admirer #1, meet him, at the party, by the food table at 8. If you choose #2, meet him, at the party, on the balcony at 8. Love, Admirers #1 & #2.'
"Who are you going to choose?" Duo asked. Relena rolled the note back up and stuck it back in the bottle. She dropped the bottle into her purse.
"I don't know," she said finally. Duo walked her to her car and she gave him a ride home.
"I'll see you tonight," he said as he got out of the car. She nodded and drove off. She parked her car in her garage and went inside. She went straight to her bathroom and turned on the faucets. She watched her pink jaccuzzi fill up with water. She undressed and slid into the warm water. She closed her eyes and sighed.
'Who am I going to choose?' she thought. 'Quatre or Trowa? Whoever I choose, I'm going to end up hurting the other.' Suddenly she sat straight up.
"I'm not going!" Relena announced to her bathroom. "I don't love either of them and it wouldn't be fair to them. Good thing the party isn't mandatory." Having made a decision, she found herself relaxing. She stayed in the tub for two more hours. When she got out, she dressed in a pair of worn-out blue jeans and a blue tank top.
She went to the kitchen and raided her chocolate stash. She picked out a sack of Hershey's Kisses and went to her room. Then she put on her favorite CD and cranked up the volume. She sprawled on her bed and opened the chocolate. She popped a kiss in her mouth and smiled.
"Ah, true bliss," she sighed.
________________________________________
Secret admirer #2 paced the balcony. It was 20 minutes past 8 and Relena still hadn't showed up. Where was Relena? The young man stopped pacing. Maybe she had chosen her other admirer! #2 looked into the ballroom through a window. He could see his rival standing at the food table, talking to Duo.
"If Relena's not with him, then..." His instinct kicked in. "She must be in trouble!" He hurried into the ballroom and across the crowded room to the table.
"Quatre, where's Relena?" he demanded. Secret admirer #1 turned to look at him.
"I thought she was with you!" Quatre said.
"Well she's not!" #2 snapped.
"Geez, calm down." Quatre ordered.
"Calm down? How can I calm down when the woman I love is missing? Besides, I thought you loved her too. Shouldn't you be a little more worried about her?"
"I never loved her." Quatre revealed.
"What?!"
"I felt sorry for Miss Relena because she always looked so sad. So I decided to send her that necklace. When I saw how jealous it made you, I kept it up. But I knew that she could never love me." Quatre explained.
"So you did it just to make me jealous?" Quatre nodded. #2 thought about that for a minute before remembering that Relena was still missing.
"I have to find Relena!" he exclaimed. He dashed out of the huge mansion, praying that he wasn't too late.
_____________________________________________
Relena sang along with the CD player as she looked through her fingernail polish collection. She picked out a dark blue color that reminded her of Heero's eyes. She sat on the floor and started carefully painting her toenails. The music was so loud and she was so absorbed in what she was doing, that she didn't hear the front door close or the footsteps on the stairs. She was staring so intently at her toes that she didn't notice her company standing in the doorway.
He watched her from the doorway. He didn't think he'd ever seen her look more beautiful. She was dressed in old jeans and a tank top. Her long hair was pulled back in a sad excuse for a bun and she was all folded up, painting her toenails. As the CD ended, Relena screwed the top back on her nail polish. She looked up and for the first time she saw her visitor. She gasped and the bottle fell out of her hand.
"Heero, what are you doing here?" she asked, scrambling to her feet. He crossed over to her.
"You weren't at the party, so I came to make sure you were okay." Heero answered.
"I'm fine. Just hangin' out." She wouldn't meet his gaze.
"Why didn't you come to the party?"
"Well..." Relena bit her bottom lip. "Uhm, you see, it's like this. I have two sorta secret admirers who have been sending me gifts for three days and tonight I was supposed to choose one of them. It didn't take me long to figure out who they were and I don't love either of them."
"Them?"
"Quatre and Trowa."
"How did you decide it was those two?"
"Quatre was easy to figure out. #2 wasn't so easy. I knew it wasn't Duo or Wufei, so that left you and Trowa. I knew it couldn't be you..."
"Why not?" Heero interrupted.
"Because you're just not the romantic type." Relena said. Heero stepped closer to her. He tipped her chin up and met her eyes.
"What if I told you that I am your 2nd admirer?"
"You?" Relena exclaimed, hope flooding through her.
"Yes, Relena. Me."
"I didn't know you could write such beautiful poetry, Heero."
"Uh, technically I didn't write it. Duo did. I just told him how I felt and he turned it into poetry." Heero explained.
"So did you mean all that stuff?" Relena inquired. Instead of replying, Heero pulled her into his arms.
"I love you, Relena," he whispered into her ear.
"I love you too, Heero," she whispered back.
THE END
Extra notes:
(1) I got her name from the author of THE LORD OF THE RINGS
(2) Each of the flowers have a special meaning:
Gardenia: Secret love
Forget-Me-Not: True love
Red Tulip: Declaration of love
Lavender Rose: Pure love
Baby's Breath: Everlasting love
(3) This is an actual poem. It's written, and owned, by Tony Brooks and you can find it at tonysills.tripod.com/poems/harbour_lights.html
(4) This is actually a song that I fixed. I can't remember now where I found it, but I don't own it.