Chapter 8: Deserving Forgiveness
A month and a half had gone by since that horrible incident at the mall. Bulma had nightmares upon nightmares about that day. She couldn't get the agonized look on his face, and his unexpected reaction, out of her head. He haunted her. Everyday, every night, when she was awake, and when she was sleeping. Her stomach was beginning to really show and every night she cried herself to sleep thinking of the wrong she had done to the father of her baby.
Bulma was in bed one afternoon, not having the strength to get up, when she heard her phone ringing. She sighed heavily, knowing it was her parents since they were the only ones with the house number, and reached for the cordless phone on the table beside her bed.
"Hello?" she said dully.
There was no answer on the other line, so she repeated herself.
"Hello?" she said more forcefully. "Listen, I'm not in the mood for any pranks, now call me when you actually have something to say-"
"Shut up woman."
Pause. Woman? Pause…
"Vegeta??"
"Who else would it be?" he asked impatiently.
"How... How…did you get this number??" her confusion evident in her voice.
"I live with the only people that have this number woman. It was only a matter of time before I found out." he stated matter of factly.
"Oh… what do you-"
"Enough talking woman. I'm doing the talking now, and I have a lot to say to you. But it cannot be said over the phone. You're mother was kind enough to tell me the where abouts of your new home. Ill be there in exactly one hour." Then he hung up.
"What the.." she said to no one, after hanging up the phone on the receiver. Thanks a lot mom… she added in her head.
Bulma looked over to the clock on her desk, it read 2:43pm. Exactly one hour.. And then Vegeta's going to be here.. Oh shit! What am I gonna wear?? Forget that.. What am I gonna say??! She started panicking and thought over in her head what she was going to say to him. She was showing now, there was no way she could hide her stomach. How was she going to explain that?
You did this to yourself Bulma. You have to face the consequences of your rash actions. Oh Kami, now I'm starting to really sound like a mother.
Bulma showered quickly, brushed out her blue locks, and put on a maternity dress she bought awhile ago.
"ok.. It's 3:35pm. He should be here soon. Ok, what to say.. What to say..?" Bulma walked over to the full length mirror in her bathroom and took a real good look at herself. "ok Bulma, you can do this. We'll start off with, 'Hey Vegeta! I'm really sorry for the other day at the mall. Obviously you can see that I didn't have an abortion. I just lied to you.' Damn it Bulma! You can at least sound sincere about the apology!" she chided herself. She thought again about what to say when she came to realize there just was no excuse for the way she lied to him. Well, no excuse for not even coming out with the truth after she saw how hurt he was at the thought of their child not existing. And she just wasn't ready to explain herself either.
3:41pm.
Any minute now. Bulma walked to the front door of her home and opened it. The sunlight blinded her for a second, not being used to the sunlight after locking herself away in her room for the past month and a half. She looked down at her watch.
3:42pm.
She looked up to the sky and saw a speck approaching her. She looked down at her watch again. Right as the time switched to 3:43pm, Vegeta's boots touched the lawn of the front yard. That's when she looked up towards him.
Vegeta looked at Bulma. Then down at her stomach. He took in the large roundness of her stomach. Not understanding why it was like that, he didn't approach her . He thought for a minute.
For the past month and a half, he hurt. He was in agony and he couldn't understand why. He tortured and strained his body with vigorous training, trying desperately to make the pain in his heart leave and be replaced with physical pain. He knew how to handle physical pain. Knew it well. It has been with him since he became a slave of Freeza all those years ago. Vegeta thought long and hard about the cause of all this new and unfamiliar pain. It was Bulma.
She left him. She hid from him. She lied to him. And now as he stood before her, it became evident that she hid his child from him too.
He had no idea why he had to see her. But he needed to. Upon realizing Bulma was the one hurting him, he figured out he was the one causing this pain on her all the time before this. He made her hurt the way he was hurting. And he wasn't stupid, he knew that Bulma did what she did because he pushed her. She's a strong woman and she did what she thought she had to do to survive.
During Vegeta's thoughts, Bulma had walked closer to him. Now standing in front of him, he snapped out of his thoughts and looked into her eyes. She was crying. And talking.
"Vegeta.. I'm so sorry.." she whispered. "you must really hate me, but please let me explain myself."
A moment's pause. "No."
Her eyes widened and her heart was breaking again.
"Please Vegeta! You have to let me explain! I never meant for things to get this out of hand-"
"I said 'no' woman." he stated again. But he wasn't being cruel. Just commanding.
"Are you mad?" she asked tentatively.
He thought for a minute. "No."
"No? But I-"
"No, woman. I'm not mad anymore. You and I are creatures so alike sometimes." he smirked at the cruel irony. Then he looked into her eyes, "I have a lot to talk to you about. And yes, you do have some explaining to do," he added while looking down at her stomach. "but there's plenty of time for your explanation. Right now it's my turn."
She nodded and turned around heading back to her home, Vegeta following close behind.
