Chapter 2
She momentarily stopped reaching for the doorknob. Then she turned slowly. Just like a beauty queen contestant on her quarter turn, locks of black hair fell on her face.
"E-excuse me? I didn't catch your name," she said softly, more like she was just only murmuring.
"Akihiro Matsumoto is your immediate boss, Miss Matsui. He would have been the one conducting interviews but he called sick so, I took over. My name's Trunks Briefs. I'm the current President of Capsule Corporation…"
"T-Trunks Briefs..." She totally lost her voice, only the name was shaped on her lips.
"Mr. Matsumoto is the Vice President for Operations," he continued. "The laboratory building is at the back where you will be assigned as Junior Analyst. You will be under probationary period of at least, three months. If your performance is good enough, then, we will have to-"
He stopped going on the details. Aiko Matsui was staring at him in those wide cinnamon eyes. Her eyes were clouded as if she was going to cry.
"Are you alright, Miss Matsui?" It was his turn to ask the same question.
"Y-yes!" She answered quickly. "I-I'm sorry, Mr. Briefs. I thought you were Mr. Matsumoto. I mean…" She looked as if she was about to faint.
Trunks stood up. "Sure you're all right? You seem to have lost your color. Please have a seat for a while." He pointed the long sofa on the other side of his office.
She barely looked at the sofa. "I am… all right, thank you."
"You look as if you could use a cup of coffee," he continued. "I'll ask my secretary to—"
"No… no. Please. Thank you." She refused. "I-it's your name. I don't understand but it sounds so familiar. And I was trying to recall but…" Her voice trailed off.
Trunks saw the shock when she said that. He knew that Aiko wasn't able to suppress on saying it. He felt his muscles clenched but he remained calm.
"Does my name sound familiar to you, Miss Matsui?" he asked with mild sarcasm.
"Yes. No!" She closed her eyes momentarily then opened them again. She gently rubbed her temple as the initial pain started to slowly creep. "I-I don't recall hearing your name. Yet it sounds so familiar. I am sorry. Of course, we haven't met until now."
"Of course. You may go now. I'll see you on Monday."
She reluctantly nodded, confusion was on her face. Then she drew her brows together as if in pain. And before he could ask her, she was on her back and fumbled for the doorknob hurriedly. She immediately went out of his office.
He was in deep thought when Mika knocked and peeked on the door. "Sir, shall I send in the next applicant?"
"Send them to the personnel." He commanded, "Tell Akiko to interview them for future reference. Don't fail to tell her that I have just hired Miss Matsui."
Mika arched her brows. Smiled a little and shook her head. "Well, she didn't look like as if she was just hired," she commented.
"What do you mean?" he asked, deadpan.
"It was as if the devil's after her…" she smiled and shrugged her shoulders, "so to speak." And immediately closed the door.
His mother, Bulma, managed Capsule Corporation until she retired and passed to him the responsibility three years ago. It was the reason why he came back from California. He was thirty-one when he was appointed as the President and left his position at their branch in LA.
He reluctantly left the house at West Hollywood that he and Pan bought right after their marriage. And he couldn't dispose the house without Pan's signature. Though in actuality, he doubted if he ever wanted to sell the property. The house was full of their memories together. In the first three years of his wife's disappearance, he hadn't stopped searching for her. Even when he came back to Japan, he just didn't want to stop. Her family also never stopped searching for her. He wanted closure. He wanted to know what really happened. He hired private investigators, but no luck on finding her. They weren't even able to locate her ki, even outside the earth. Gohan blamed him for her disappearance that somehow made the gap on their friendship. Videl, Chi-Chi and Bulma were inconsolable at first. Goten and Bra were neutral, both hurt for what happened but remained on his back. Vegeta had no opinion but concern was apparent on him. The Z Fighters finally made an opinion that Pan might have been long dead.
But he couldn't accept that it was just all that. He continued on paying investigators to find his wife's remains, hoping for the good news. Last year, he stopped searching for his wife. His worry and desperation on her disappearance were replaced by anger. Anger that she might have run with another guy as what Sofia kept telling him. He couldn't just ignore the possibilities of why she disappeared. But looking back, unless Pan was a good actress, he couldn't remember a time when his wife was discontented with him.
True, Pan was young. And it was too painful to think that she did run away to free herself from him. And he was such a fool to hang on her memories. But God, he loved her. Really loved her. In the last five years or so, he had kept her in his heart. Nurtured her memories. And when she saw Aiko Matsui, he realized that his wife would be forever on his memory.
He reached for his mobile phone and dialed a number. "I'm sure this time your people would be able to gather information about a certain Aiko Matsui..." He paused and listened for a moment. "I'll send you the details."
Aiko immediately ran out of the building. Suddenly her head was like going to burst out. She was almost running by the time she had left the building. The headache almost made her forget where she was. She looked for her car and quickly got inside. She fumbled for her bag and took the pain reliever.
She rested on the headrest and closed her eyes. She needed to will away the pain before she moved out her car. She was used to have the recurrence of severe headache but it was mostly in the late afternoon or at night or when she was on deep thinking. And all those were just mild attacks.
This was the first time that the pain was almost unbearable. And it was all because of the name Trunks Briefs. The moment the man said his name, something flashed in her mind, a hollow image that was so strong for a memory. The man was breathtakingly gorgeous. He was tall and well built. When hard-corded muscles flexed beneath his dark skin, Aiko found herself overcome with a strange and disturbing shiver of awareness. She was convincing herself that it was a sheer attraction that made her tremble. And when he shook her hand, she hadn't just felt the jolt of sensation in her hand but someplace deeper, someplace inside her.
She had to shake her head mentally at the foolish thought. But when he said his name, she was really shocked. A painful memory wanted to unleash. It was as if she already heard his name for several times. Then, flashes of memories suddenly occurred. She was murmuring his name.
Trunks… Trunks...
It was absurd. She had only met the man today. She was sure of that. Or maybe, he was one of those people she met previously. An acquaintance she totally forgot.
That was plausible. But if he was just an acquaintance, why the effect was unfathomable? Was it because of his looks? Was he a previous teenage crush? Still, she had met different men in her college days that were also good-looking. But the impact this Trunks Briefs with her was something she couldn't explain. It was more than just his good looks. It was as if when he spoke, she felt a certain longing. That there was something more she couldn't comprehend.
The medicine was slowly taking effect. She smoothly eased her way out of the parking lot. She was driving a new Porsche Boxster, the latest model. Its color was incredibly taunting, powder blue in metallic base paint. It was her parent's gift when she graduated from college few months ago.
While driving, her mind was occupied by Trunk Briefs. She wanted to think that Trunks was shocked when he saw her. Or it was just her imagination? And then, he asked about her whereabouts five years ago? There was nothing wrong in the question but she just couldn't understand why he needed to ask that. But if he would ask where and what was she doing before her college days, she was certainly couldn't answer that.
Her memory was only during her college years and some were filled in by her parents and grandmother. She was confined in a hospital in LA for five months. She had blood cancer and was in coma for several weeks. But she had survived her illness and recovered. The complications of her illness made her to suffer memory loss. She had pictures and videos taken from her hospital bed with her parents, all were smiling and happy despite the sadness in her parents' eyes. Some of the photographs were taken a few days after her confinement.
She calmed herself. It was no big deal. She didn't need to bother herself about it. She could be a writer and not a chemist. Talking about her job, she was now a chemist to one of the biggest companies in Japan. And she was just too excited to start her job.
Moments later, she was entering their driveway. Their house had been actually renovated to what it was today. It was actually her grandparents' house. She stopped her car and went out.
"Hi, Mom."
