Chapter One

That morning, Relena knocked on the door to the apartment room. She did her best to stay calm, but couldn't help but let the urge of her reason for being here come through. A little. She debated inside her mind if she should be here or not, but when the door opened, she tried to act normal.

"Relena? Hi, come in. You should let me know you're coming first" Heero greeted her and opened the door further for her to come in. Although Heero's apartment was fairly modest, it wasn't too lacking in space and basic furniture was available. But he wasn't too much of a home-decorative person it seemed."Go on, sit down. Can I get you anything to drink?"

"No, thanks Heero" Relena said as she sat down. Heero was often polite and considerate to others although he sometimes did seem indifferent. But as they gradually got to know each other, he began to feel more at ease when they were around each other.

Together.

He took a seat across from her on a chair.

"Alright, so what is it? Can I help you with something?" he asked her.

"Heero… I need to ask you something…" Relena began. "Over this past year since we met… what have….what have you come to think of me?"

"Hmmm… what do you mean by that?"

"Heero, please. Is there anything that comes to mind?"

He thought for a few moments and then finally answered "Ok… I think you are a nice, pleasant woman… you're responsible, polite, and considerate… and very friendly?" he said as though he were unsure of himself. She assumed that either he really didn't understand her or was just not telling the truth. At least not fully."Relena, why are you asking me this?"

Since he had answered her question, she thought it was only fair that she answered his. But how should she explain or say it?

"If you… were to choose who you wanted to be with in life, what do you think of that?"

"Well I'm not really sure, but if that's what a person thinks then I don't think you should question their belief."

"Yes, but what do you think, Heero?"

He thought for a moment then finally said "I don't care about it really. Never have or needed to. My parents already found-"

"If you told them you… were in love with someone else, then would they understand?"

"Relena, why? What is with all these questions?"

She remained silent for a second before finding the courage to speak.

"Heero… I'm not sure how to tell you this but… I've come to find you to be a nice, hard-working man and at the same time I know that you have feelings inside though you're very discreet about revealing them so I don't know whether you feel the same about me but… I…love you Heero" Relena said letting the words flow as they came out and as she was doing so, some of the nervousness and anxiety fell off her. The most difficult/ worst part was now over.

Heero's facial expression certainly changed. He was now rather surprised and caught off guard although he didn't fully give it away.

"… Relena… I didn't know that…"

"Now please… tell me… do you share any of the feelings I have for you?" she asked and with her question, some of the nervousness she just felt earlier very recently came back.

Heero, now with his casual expression, answered "No, Relena. I'm sorry… I only think of you as a friend."

Relena literally felt as though a knife had pierced her heart.

There was more she wanted to ask him. But she restrained herself. It wasn't her place to question him and she already gotten what she came for.

"Alright, Heero" she said wanting to accept the humiliation gracefully and tried to put on a slight, but yet genuine smile but had trouble doing so. "I just needed to get that out of my mind… I… I should be going now…" Relena said getting up from the couch and doing her best to suppress any emerging emotions. She hadn't done anything wrong had she? Did she do the right thing? Of course, she told him how she felt about him and there wasn't anything else she could do.

But if that was true, why… why did she feel like she really did do something wrong? If that were so, then what could it be? Falling in love with him? Telling him the truth? She wasn't sure. No, nevermind that. She didn't know at all.

Oh, Heero…

One week ago…

Relena went on one of her typical morning jog in the city park. It was a nice, sunny day so she was enjoying herself. After she was nearly out of breath, she slowed down to walking speed and took a few sips from her water bottle. Out of coincidence, she caught sight of her colleague and friend Heero sitting down on a bench. He was sitting with other people, two of which were considerably older than he was and a woman around his age. Relena guessed that it must be his family visiting. Consisting of his parents and sister she guessedMaybe it would be a good idea to get introduced to his family

"Good morning, Heero" she called coming over. "I didn't know that you were here this morning. Is this your family?"

"Oh, hi there Relena Yes, you're right. This is my family visiting from Korea" Heero explained. "Everyone this is Relena, my co-worker. This my father Hi and mother Eun-Ju…" he began.

She waved her hand at them who returned it with smiles and greeted her back. She allowed herself for the briefest moment to gaze upon Heero

"… and this is my fiancee Sango."

Fian- , what?Did he say 'financial advisor'? No, there just couldn't be any doubt about it. Relena heard it loud and clear. Since when was Heero getting married

"…F-Fiancee I didn't know that you were getting married" Relena tried to say as if she were actually, pleasantly surprised but hid the rush of emotions emerging from inside her.

"Well my parents just told me they found a suitable woman and right now we're just going to see if it works out between us."

So was this what an arranged marriage was? She had heard about them before and thought that it was simply a practice put behind in the past. Did Koreans still practice it? …Why Wouldn't it be so much better if you could choose who you wanted to be with?

"Congratulations…uh…" Relena tried to say to Heero'sfiancee but realized she had already forgotten her name.

"My name is Sango" the young woman said forgivingly. "And it's nice to meet you Miss Relena."

"And the same to you as well.And please, just call me Relena"

"Relena we were just going to eat at that nice restaurant downtown. Would you care to join us?" Heero offered.

But there was just no way Relena could accept it. Not after learning Heero was about to be engaged… How could she not know this? When she had first met Heero, she had never met any Koreans before and part of what made him interesting to her was how he was different from most men here… And now she wished she knew better from the start.

"No thanks Heero… I have to…to go to see my eye doctor for an appointment in a little while" she lied to him. "And it was also nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Yuy."

And so she left them.

To be continued…