Mend my Heart - Chapter 3
The sun hit against Gohan's back as he walked along the wide streets of West City. Every now and again he would glance up at the skyscrapers that dominated West City's skyline. He briefly wondered what it would be like to visit one of the other major cities in the world that displayed more traditional architecture. As he walked the streets began to transition from the business district to the shopping one.
As Gohan passed through Designer Row, its name unapologetically obvious, due to the many famous clothing shops there, a familiar face spotted him.
"Gohan? Is that you?"
Gohan turns to see a beautiful woman with long blonde hair and big green eyes. Her arms are filled with shopping bags.
"Erasa?" He asks surprised. It had been years since the two last spoke to one another.
"Oh Gohan, it is you!" The blonde squealed before letting the bags fall and pulling him into a crushing hug.
The half Saiyan smiled. Erasa had been the first person he met when he began high school, the specific point in his life when he had to start interacting with normal people on a regular basis. She had always had a warm personality and a big heart.
"Yeah, how have you been?" Gohan asked pulling away from her and helping her retrieve all of her bags.
"I'm visiting for work, some of my clients are based here."
Gohan quickly scanned his memory. The last time he had spoken to Erasa was when they were both in university and she was studying to be an interior designer.
"Oh wow, are you running your own firm now?" He asked visibly impressed.
Erasa bit her lip and flushed at Gohan's question. It was a rare sight as she was never one to be embarrassed.
"No, not quite, but I am working towards that… what about you? What do you do at Capsule corp? Hmm?" She teased as she tugged at Gohan's work identification card. All Capsule corporation employees were required to wear one. Erasa had never been one for respecting people's personal space.
He had forgotten he was wearing it. It was a flimsy card wrapped in plastic attached to a clip. Dealing with it was annoying.
"Oh, I'm just a research assistant…" his voice trailed as now he felt embarrassed, but more by his lack of accomplishment work wise.
Erasa's brow furrowed. "Assistant?" She couldn't help but ask, Gohan's academic abilities had not been a secret to anyone.
However, she was not one for awkward silences and sensing one was coming she shook her head and moved the conversation onwards.
"Are you still with…" she lingered pretending not to remember her name knowing that Gohan would be none the wiser.
"Pepper… no, that ended about...two years ago now." Gohan finished for her as he bit the inside of his cheek slightly. Pepper was a subject he did not want to talk about. He had a notoriously bad history with women and the less said about it the better.
Erasa pouted attempting to look sad, but on the inside she was relieved. She had never been fond of Pepper and was good news to hear the two hadn't lasted. Not that she would ever tell Gohan that.
"Oh that's too bad, I liked her…" Lying to keep face she continued, "Anyway… do you ever go back to Satan City?"
Stopping himself from entering a cycle of self-loathing due to being reminded of his ex Gohan felt caught off guard by the question. He didn't usually go back to Satan City since he graduated, but he had spent time there due to his father having gone to the hospital there a few weeks ago. He then remembered that he would have to go back for his own tests soon as well.
"Uh, yeah, I guess I've been a few times." he tried to answer casually.
Erasa smiled. "Well, if that's the case, you should come to my birthday party!" She prodded at him again.
Gohan grimaced feeling uncomfortable. He wasn't much of a partier.
Erasa's mouth opened wide seeing this. "Gohan!" She began scolding him. "You have to go! Do you know how many birthday parties of mine you've turned down?"
"Uh…" he tried to count. In the past his mother never let him attend any social events outside of his studies. He had been okay with this at the time, but now looking back on it he should have socialized more.
"Too many!" Erasa finished for him. "Plus Sharpener will be there, I'm sure you wouldn't mind catching up with him right?"
She wasn't wrong, Sharpener was another classmate Gohan had met in high school. Gohan had not found Sharpener as friendly as Erasa but the two did eventually become friends.
"Yeah, I would want to," Gohan responded but unfortunately for the blonde, he still didn't appear very excited.
"Well, maybe you can meet some new people! Like my friend Vivvy from Oldtown! She's moved permanently to Satan City now! Have I ever told you about her?" Erasa pursed her lips together as she stared Gohan down.
She had told Gohan about her many times. Vivvy was a friend of Erasa's who seemed to randomly pop up socially. Erasa used to go on and on about her, how she was foreign and how close the two of them were. Gohan always just imagined another Erasa with an accent and since he had never attended one of these birthday parties he had never actually met the girl. It just didn't seem important.
"Oh right…" he responded his voice absent of any enthusiasm.
Erasa scowled. "Come on, you can't still claim that your mother won't let you go now!" She exclaimed before breaking out into laughter, she was joking of course.
Maybe it was that she challenged him with those exact words, but Gohan cringed. It was bad enough that he had to move back to his parents two years ago, but in many ways, his mother was still controlling a lot of his life. He had considered throwing in the towel and was going to move out and was about to announce it, but his Dad had gotten sick.
Perhaps going to this would be a nice break from his family Gohan reasoned to himself as he conceded to Erasa's relentless pushing.
"Okay Erasa, I'll go to your party. When and where is it?"
Walking into his home Gohan narrowed his eyes as he became suspicious, it felt too quiet.
"Mom? Dad? Goten?" He called as he stepped in and out of various rooms.
Where was everyone? Did they go to Bulma's and not invite him? It was Friday night…
Letting his body collapse onto his mattress he tried to relax. Usually, he longed to have the house to himself, but as he tossed and turned he became even more restless.
Thinking back to his encounter with Erasa only an hour ago he wondered what his life would be like if things had worked out with Pepper. Normally he chased any thoughts of her away as their breakup had left him shaken in so many ways. Ever since he was convinced that relationships weren't meant for him and that he had no choice but to remain as a bachelor forever. He kept this to himself as his family would have been horrified by this conclusion. The first year had been easy on his own and it flew by, as he was continuously challenged having to put his life back together.
But now, laying there, he began to realize something. He was lonely. Not just right now as he was literally alone in the house tonight, but every night. Even when the house was full. Something in his heart felt empty.
The sound of someone knocking his door snapped him out of these thoughts.
"Gohan are you awake?" It was his mother.
He brought his watch up to his face, an hour had passed since he walked in.
"I'm going to be making dinner soon… but if you're going out…" her tone obviously showing that she wished her implications were true.
Gohan couldn't help but roll his eyes as he heard that. When he was in high school and even the first years of university, his mother had forbidden him from ever going out with his peers. And now it seemed she had formed this highly ironic opinion about him staying in.
"No, I'm not going out…" he said feeling defeated, but not wanting to go on this way he continued, "I will come help with dinner in a minute."
An hour later the table had been set and the Son family were having their evening meal.
"Where were you guys anyway?" Gohan asked as he pushed his empty plates forward. He had not been that hungry and only had a modest ten helpings.
"We were in Satan City for your brother's tests," ChiChi responded.
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," Gohan said realizing his own appointment would be soon. The two couldn't go on the same day due to having different schedules.
"Do you want me to accompany you to your appointment Gohan?" His mother offered.
Gohan couldn't think of anything worse. He was nearly thirty!
"No, Mom, I'll be okay. I will be coming from work anyway." He said quickly as he looked to his younger brother to keep his mother from pressing him, "how was it?"
Goten was mid-chew and swallowed before answering "it was okay, we had that nurse man that mom thought was a doctor before."
ChiChi looked uncomfortable but wasn't going to admit to anything.
Goten then rolled up his sleeve revealing a tiny bandage on the inside of his elbow and grinned cheekily before moving closer and closer to his father. "Look, dad, they took blood from me here...with a needle!"
Goku turned green for a minute but kept eating.
"Honestly Goten stop, I've had enough of having to deal with your horseplay and torturing others." ChiChi chastised her youngest. Goten loved messing with people.
"Okay okay, I'll stop," Goten said as he moved back into his seat, but he hadn't meant the words at all. "The actual tests weren't too bad, but I had to take my shirt off and that nurse put those sticky things on…he was touching me and stuff" he recalled looking disappointed.
Gohan laughed a little, "well what did you expect?"
Raising his eyebrow at his brother Goten smirked, "That hot doctor with the accent!"
"Goten!" ChiChi exclaimed slamming her fists on the table.
The teenager grinned at her reaction, "What mom, its true! Dad, isn't Dr. Satan good looking?"
Goku who was still eating gave a thumbs up with his free hand. He liked the doctor, she had been nice during their limited interactions.
Goten's eyes then narrowed in on the one target he had yet to torment during this meal who was being suspiciously quiet. "Yeah mom, Dad agrees, what about you Gohan? Do you think is good looking?"
"I-I don't think you should talk about her like that." The older of the two brothers concluded before getting up from the table and taking many dirty dishes with him hiding his reddened face as he left.
But he couldn't deny that he too would rather have her looking after him than the guy nurse though.
Many days later, Gohan was back in the horrid waiting room of Satan City General's cardiology unit. This time, however, he was back for less urgent reasons. He was back to take the tests that Dr. Satan had recommended.
"Mr. Son, we're ready for you now," a familiar voice called snapping Gohan out of his recollection.
Just as what Goten had reported it was that same male nurse. He could've sworn he saw a smirk come on the nurse's face but shook it off as his imagination playing games. The nurse led him into an examination room and instructed him to remove his shirt as they would perform an echocardiogram and would need to access his bare chest. He passed him a hospital robe and left the room.
Gohan quickly took off his shirt and put the provided hospital gown on. The fabric was thin and it felt cool to the touch. He left the front open for easy access. As usual with hospitals, he was left to wait for what felt like an eternity. He briefly wondered if Dr. Satan was here today and what it would be like he could see her again.
"Hello Mr. Son, are you alright?"
Gohan's eyes widened at the familiar voice, apparently, his wish had been answered.
"Oh, h-hello Dr. Satan, w-what are you doing here?" Gohan stammered as he wrapped the hospital robe around himself tightly to help compose his shock and vulnerability.
"I'm taking over for Kero, I believe he let you in...let's see what you have going on today." She began flipping through some papers.
Gohan inspected her as she got up to speed on his file. Unlike before, she wasn't wearing a dress and heels, but more practical hospital wear. Scrubs that were that pale green color and trainers. Her hair was pulled into a low ponytail that ran down her back. He then looked towards her face and even with the more casual clothes, she still looked very pretty.
"Okay, so…" she began as she put on some disposable gloves, a loud pop sound coming off as she finished. "There are three things we need to do, take your blood pressure, take a sample, and lastly take an EKG"
Gohan briefly thought that the way she pronounced her t-sounds was amazing. But why was she here? Shouldn't it be one of her nurses? Surely these tasks were beneath her expertise.
Collecting enough courage, he finally just asked while tightly grasping the thin fabric covering him. "Sorry, doctor...but why are you doing this?"
She sighed as she rolled the only chair in the room next to him.
"Well...I was supposed to be inserting a pacemaker in someone today..." her voice lingered with a hint of disappointment as she moved around the room setting various tools and instruments.
Even in his humiliation, Gohan couldn't help but be impressed that she was a practicing heart surgeon. It really didn't make sense for her to be here.
"...but that patient decided to eat beforehand so that surgery will have to wait. It happens a lot actually." Pulling up a chair she motioned for him to lie back which meant Gohan couldn't clutch the hospital gown for safety anymore.
"So, since I'm all suited up for hands-on work, I gave Kero the rest of the day off. Nurses deserve it more than any other staff here." She said matter of factly still not looking at him as she prepared a blood pressure cuff.
He blinked as he took in her humble words.
"Okay, routine question time…" She began as she rolled her chair close to him.
His heart rate quickened.
"Do you smoke?"
"No."
"Do you drink excessively, more than three units a week regularly?"
"No."
"Do you have any irregularities in your medical history I should take note of?"
Gohan gulped. Well, there was the little factor of being half-alien and the many near-fatal injuries he had gone through over the course of his lifetime. He was about to say no and more than likely come off as awkward when she responded.
"Obviously your father having the modern heart disease…" she said dismissing the question, probably assuming that was what had been keeping him from answering.
He began to chew on his lower lip if only that was it.
"Your arm please" she directed, calmly and firmly.
Gohan raised his arm to her and looked up at the ceiling as he felt her petite hands put the cuff on him. He tried to focus on the cuff tightening around his forearm rather than the awkward coincidence of being around 'the hot doctor' again.
The cuff eventually deflated and Silence fell upon the two as the doctor determined Gohan's pulse and blood pressure looking back and forth several times.
"Um…"
Curious Gohan leaned over slightly to look at her expression. It was conflicted.
"I'm sorry Mr. Son…" Dr. Satan began her tone full of disappointment at herself "it's been a while since I've done this, you'll have to forgive me, I'm going to have to do it again." She sighed defeatedly.
"I-its all right…" Gohan said becoming flustered at how honest and sincere she was coming off as.
She performed the test again.
"Oh...okay, never mind, it was right, an exact one hundred and ten over seventy-five." she recited as she took note of this.
Looking up at him her eyes gleaming with curiosity she began to speak positively, "That's the best blood pressure reading I've ever taken, are you a runner?" Athletes tended to have lower blood pressure.
He blushed slightly now having to look into her big blue eyes noticing, "N-no, I'm in terrible shape."
Instantly he regretted those words. Why on earth did he say that? Looking away he winced. That was a terrible lie and he knew she saw the numbers. She was a professional after all.
"Oh, okay…" She said wrinkling her nose and obviously not believing him. "I'm going to take some blood now, you will feel a slight sting but nothing to worry about."
He grimaced as she was right, there was a slight sting as the needle entered through his skin. Thankfully, he didn't share the same fear of needles like his father otherwise he'd humiliate himself even further. It was over in an instant though and she gently applied a bandage to the area exactly like Goten's.
"Okay that's done, now just give me two seconds and we can do the EKG. Just stay laying down please." She instructed as she left the room blood sample in hand.
Gohan put his hands over his face when he heard the door close behind her. This was mortifying and he wasn't even sure as to why.
True to her word, she was back quickly not giving Gohan much of a reprieve. He cursed that she was, out of all of the hospital staff he had ever interacted with in his lifetime, supremely efficient.
"Okay Mr. Son…" she began again pulling the chair too close to him causing his cheeks to turn a tinge of red.
He just kept staring at the ceiling trying to calm himself and reason that it should all be over quickly.
"I'm going to need to place these sensors on your chest, so if you don't mind.." she said as her accent shone through her words and made her sound extremely polite.
Gohan closed his eyes tightly out of utter humiliation. Dr. Satan slowly pulled his robe back and he heard her inhale sharply.
"O-oh." She said quietly but not enough for him to miss it.
Gohan's face became crimson as he kept his eyes shut an decided that this would be the perfect moment to die. Combined with the blood pressure readings, she definitely now knows he lied about being in good shape. All she asked is if he ran, people run all the time, why did he not just say yes?
Clearing her throat Gohan snapped out of his self-loathing.
"Okay, I'm going to use a sterilizing solution and then apply these now if that is alright?" Her voice still sounded quieter, almost restrained somehow.
"Y-yeah" he answered. Internally he was kicking himself for that lie. There goes any chance of friendship for the two of them.
She began applying the sensors. All of the points of contact tingled as she not only had to apply the sticky things but put pressure on them resulting in her literally petting him. He couldn't help but notice how delicate and deliberate her touch was, no wonder she was a surgeon.
Surely he was going to fail these tests because his heart was pounding like crazy.
As the machine made several beeps the young doctor decided to make small talk. "So….are you doing anything this weekend Mr. Son?"
"U-um, yeah, I have to go to a friend's birthday party…" Gohan answered his voice an octave higher than usual. Being half naked in front of a woman he found attractive in so many ways made speaking hard for him.
"Oh really?" She asked as she inspected what the machine was reporting and tweaked a few things. "I actually have to go to a birthday party as well."
Gohan knew he should have said something, anything, to be polite but nothing was coming to mind. A normal person would have asked if the birthday party she was attending was here or back home. Or if she was excited. And to make matters worse, she began to touch him again as she was removing the sensors now. Unfortunately for him, they were harder to get off than on and his skin was sensitive to the sensation of her gloved hands. Sometimes she would have to lean closer to his exposed chest as well, it was all unbearable.
"Is this for a close friend or family member?" She asked casually as she was only a few inches away. How many of these stupid sensors were there?
"F-friend, someone I knew from high school. W-what about yours?" That's it, he could do this, be normal and have a pleasant conversation.
"The same, a friend of mine. Probably the oldest friend I've got. I actually don't want to go, but she guilts me into it. You can sit up now." She stated before she finally finished and began moving away from Gohan and arranging supplies.
"Sounds like my friend too." He said as he sat up the relief radiating throughout his body. He wondered if she would fly out tonight, naturally assuming this friend of hers would be back in Kingsland if she had known her long before she moved here.
"Alright, so, if we find anything abnormal we will call you and have you come back in, but I really doubt this will be the case." She concluded as her eyes swept around the room as she thoroughly checked everything was in order as she removed and disposed of the gloves she had worn.
"S-sounds good…" Gohan responded as he stood now with his shirt back on, but still feeling self-conscious.
She smiled and held her hand out for him. Gohan stared at it for a second before enclosing his around hers and shaking it. Her hand felt so small in his and unlike earlier he could feel the softness of her skin and the warmth coming off of it. And now as he stood he felt like he was towering over her. She was actually surprisingly petite and it just made her more alluring to him.
"See you around then." She said as a farewell releasing his hand and motioning him to the door.
As he made his way through the hospital, he felt a pang of sadness. This without a doubt would be the last time he would ever see her.
The rest of the week flew by and Gohan found himself in Satan City again. Smoothing out his shirt he entered the bar where Erasa's party would take place. He was nervous. This always happened to him on social occasions, he had to warm himself up to them.
He glanced around the busy establishment to see any familiar faces. The music was booming. Finally seeing a long blond ponytail on a clearly male build he walked over.
"Gohan!" The blond man said having turned and recognizing him.
"Sharpener," Gohan responded before the two shook hands eagerly.
"My god man, it has been a while! Do you have a drink?" Sharpener asked beginning a catch up which would involve several pints of beer.
After graduating, Sharpener had attended university abroad in Oldtown. Oldtown was another city on the Southern Continent but was drastically different from Kingsland where Dr. Satan was from. As its namesake, Oldtown was more traditional and historical. Sharpener had studied law there and had returned to Satan City a few years ago to be a practicing lawyer.
Luckily for Gohan, Sharpener had always enjoyed talking, so the half Saiyan didn't have to speak of his own life too much.
"Have you seen Erasa yet? Or anyone else from school?" Gohan asked, Sharpener having just finished telling him a funny story from his time in law school. He was a few beers in, which had helped him to loosen up. He wanted to thank Erasa for inviting him, this was turning out to be a great decision. He had not realized how badly he needed to get out.
"I did earlier, but who knows where she's gone. Vivvy was with her and…" He then made a face implying that Vivvy was well, attractive.
Due to having his guard down and being around a man his age that could appropriately make comments like that and not be horrifying, unlike his little brother, Gohan smiled. Sharpener had always hit on Vivvy behind Erasa's back and sometimes directly in front of her, but his intentions were always pure so over time Gohan found it all amusing.
"If you were in Oldtown all those years, did you spend a lot of time with her? Vivvy?" Gohan asked Sharpener genuinely curious. Erasa having told him that Vivvy was born in Oldtown countless times.
"Nah, she went to university in Kingsland. I never saw her. I wish…" Sharpener elated his cheeks turning red, the beer starting to get to him.
Gohan chuckled with an expression of cynicism on his face. He sincerely doubted Vivvy was as half as attractive as Sharpener made her out to be. Plus the two men really didn't share the same taste in women. Now instead of picturing Erasa with an accent, it was the type of woman Sharpener preferred which Gohan didn't in the slightest. The kind that dressed too revealingly with too much makeup on.
Sharpener read the look on Gohan's face and his eyes widened. "No, man, I know what you're thinking, but listen to me, she is gorgeous in a real way!"
Breaking out into a hearty laugh and wrongly assuming Sharpener did not know what he was thinking, Gohan mocked him. "In a real way?"
"Yes… she is genuinely…" Sharpener stumbled a bit, "attractive."
"She cannot be THAT attractive Sharpener, get a hold of yourself." Gohan challenged him now grinning and laughing.
"Who can't be that attractive?" A familiar voice chimed in behind Gohan spooking him.
He jumped and turned around, it was Erasa. He quickly laughed and gave her a friendly hug as a form of greeting. She accepted absolutely delighted to see that Gohan was having such a good time.
"He thinks Vivvy can't be Erasa, he's bonkers." Sharpener said before finishing his half-full glass and motioning the waitstaff to bring him another.
"Oh…" Erasa said grinning ear to ear as she eyed Gohan's expression.
"Yeah, there's no way." Gohan established confidently before pressing his own glass to his lips intending to drink all of it in one go.
"Erasa, why did you leave me back there?" A feminine voice called behind Gohan, he could barely hear it above the music.
Erasa and Sharpener both lit up seeing who it was. Gohan realized that this must be the famous Vivvy. Just as he removed the glass from his lips and was about to swallow he turned around to finally meet this woman.
And an unmistakable pair of blue eyes met his. It was Dr. Satan. Both of them were taken aback.
Now in complete shock, he managed to swallow that last mouthful of beer and not spit it out everywhere, but he was left coughing roughly. Slamming his fist against his chest forcefully as he struggled, he looked away from her, his face glowing bright red with embarrassment. What was she doing here?!
Still struggling with his coughs Sharpener patted him on the back, "there-there Son, trying too hard to keep up with me." He said as he winked at the doctor taking the opportunity to look cool in an attempt to impress her.
"Gohan…" Erasa said appearing at his side as she placed a hand on his shoulder gently "I'd like to introduce you to-"
But she didn't need to finish. Vivvy...Videl. Gohan had figured it out.
The ex-girlfriend, Pepper is named after Gohan's other girlfriend Pepper in Gue22's amazing story Still, which I would highly recommend and definitely has inspired my writing. Secondly, the whole Southern Continent area is basically a Dragonball Europe/Australia for no reason other than I just wanted it to be. Kingsland is a play on England and Queensland, Australia, and Videl's accent is probably something similar to those or whatever you want to imagine it to be. Lastly, Oldtown is definitely taken from Game of Thrones and/or most major European cities that have an area that's considered to be the 'old town'.
Thanks for reading and review your thoughts if you wish. Happy new year everyone!
