Chapter 26 – Here, Forever

Among the stack of paperwork, Trunks Briefs was at his desk, his forehead resting on the palm of his hands as worked. Life was strange. It moved forward, not waiting for anyone to cope with the emotional pain that needed to be dwelt. It was as if nothing had happened. And to the untrained eye, no one would have suspected anything different about him. His employees at work never mentioned Marron, as they suspected they shouldn't bother asking. They were afraid it had something to do with business complications and they weren't ranked in a high enough status to know about any of it. Besides, they were too busy. And so was he. The piles of paperwork blocked his view of the door opposite of him. His stack of work increased since she wasn't around.

He caught himself staring at the words in front of him, pen poised, ready to sign his name but he wasn't really reading any of it. He was staring at the words but he wasn't processing them in his mind. Trunks closed his eyes and he felt his nose tingle and the tears accumulating at the corners of his eyes. He was thinking about her again.

"Mr. Briefs?"

The sound of a female employee's voice brought him back to business. He quickly sat up straight, his fingers going up to his eyes and rubbing them. He appeared to be rubbing away the sleepiness, but in truth, he was getting rid of the proof of his small breakdown. He cleared his throat and spoke. "Yes?"

"Ms. Chestnut's possessions were still at her desk so we put it in a box. Do you want me to throw it away?"

He leaned to his right so he could face the person speaking, and his eyes caught sight of the box of Marron's belongings. "No, leave it here. I'll take a look at it later."

"Alright. By the way, you have a meeting at 1:00."

"Thanks." He waited until she left, closing the door behind her, before he got up from his chair and took the box from the floor. His hands shook as he carried it over to his desk, and he placed the box on his lap, as there was no space on his desk. He hesitantly grabbed hold of the lid. Did he really want to see what was in there and risk having another breakdown? Then again, there might be something she wanted him to see. That was enough for him to reveal what was in the box. His eyes caught sight of an envelope with his name on the front.

It appeared to be some sort of business letter, probably to fool any employees who might have caught sight of the letter, but he knew it couldn't regard the company. She would have given it to him if that were so. His fingers grazed the indented area where the pen pressed against the paper as she wrote is name, as if to memorize her handwriting. He opened the letter after a while of making sure he had enough self-composure left in him to be able to read what she wrote to him without feeling the need to cry. He prepared himself, taking a deep breath before actually reading, his hands trembling slightly as he held it.

'Trunks,

There's not enough apologizes I can say or write to make up for everything I did. I kept my illness a secret until the end, but it's not only that. I feel guilty all the time, even when our time together was wonderful. I know I should've let you know that I was aware that our relationship wouldn't have lasted anyway - That I could tell you had feelings for another woman, even before we were together. I guess I just hoped that maybe, just maybe, you could learn to love me. But as I spent more time with you, I became aware that nothing could be changed. So instead of breaking it off just like that, I wanted to let you know for yourself as I distanced myself from you. I wasn't expecting my illness to take me that quickly, but it's all right now. I learned to accept it.

I hope you understand everything now; everything that I've been hinting all along. You say you're not lonely, but are you really? Is there anything missing – something… Someone… That's truly important in your life? Do you feel that gaping dark hole in your heart everyday when you wake up? When I look at you, your eyes show the pain your heart feels, and I don't know if you're aware of this, but if you are, don't ignore it. Don't make the mistake of shutting her out of your life.

- Marron'

For a moment, he just stared at her signature, wondering how on earth she knew these things. Then he reread the letter, her voice echoing in his mind as if she was really speaking to him.

Don't make the mistake of shutting her out of your life.

He glanced at his watch. It was 12:00, his lunch break. He got up from his chair and exited his office, leaving the letter safely in his drawer, locked. As he walked through the hallway, he could hear people whispering, spreading rumors about his former secretary who they knew was his girlfriend. He wanted to tell them to shut up and get back to work but he couldn't. His display of anger would only set them off more and who knows, someone just might have enough guts to write an article about him and Marron and publish it in a magazine.

Once he was out of the building, he walked across the street to the café, in hopes to find someone: the woman who stayed with him despite her previous efforts to commit suicide, and not just once, but twice. He didn't catch sight of her there. He turned around, walking towards the corner where he had bumped into her before, hoping there would be another freak coincidence, but when he turned around in the corner, she wasn't there either. He sighed, running his hands through his hair. Maybe this was for the best, he thought. It would probably be too awkward anyway, if they were to see each other this soon after he saved her from killing herself.

He walked to a nearby grocery store, hands in his pockets. When customers shouted his name, knowing very well who he was, he gave them a smile. He stopped by the deli area, looking at the display of sandwiches available. Just when he was about to grab one, his eyes caught sight of a girl with dark hair, who had turned in a corner across from him. Before he knew what he was doing, he was running toward her and when he caught up to her, he grabbed her hand. The girl turned around, a frightened look on her face, and he realized that she wasn't who he was looking for. "I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else," he apologized, and the girl smiled.

"You're Trunks Briefs?" she asked when he let go of her.

"Yeah."

"Can I have your autograph?" she asked excitedly, and he sighed softly but smiled.

"Sure. I'm sorry I scared you earlier." He grabbed the pen she held out to him and signed a picture of him that she handed him. He wasn't surprised that she had his picture; many of his fans had them, prepared to get it signed if they ever saw him. He handed the girl the picture, now with his autograph and her pen. Then he said his goodbyes and turned back to the deli section. Once he bought it, he walked out of the grocery store, eating his sandwich along the way back to the café. He ate there, after buying himself a cup of coffee.

He glanced at his watch. He didn't have much time left before his lunch break ended, but he wasn't in too much hurry. Five minutes wasn't a big deal. He sat there, thinking about Marron's letter. She had changed so much since the day he hired her as his secretary. She was really a great person. It was unfair that she had to be the one to be diagnosed with the illness. Couldn't the Gods see how much she has changed? He closed his eyes. It's so frustrating. And Pan was dealing with twice as much pain he was feeling, he knew. She lost both of her parents and she had to deal with keeping such a huge secret from him about Marron because of a promise.

He knew he probably would have tried to commit suicide too if he were in her situation. But would that solve anything? Wouldn't it just cause more pain to those who were still living? If he hadn't followed her out of that hospital, she would be gone, just like Marron. What would he have done then? He was sure he wouldn't be here, finishing his sandwich and coffee at his lunch break.

12:35. It was time to head back to work.

When he opened his office door, he noticed something was different. His chair wasn't facing the door as he had left it earlier before his lunch break. He leaned a little to the left and caught sight of an arm, and before he could speak, the chair swiveled around and his mouth nearly fell open when he caught sight of the person. His heart skipped a beat.

"You're five minutes late, Mr. Briefs," she spoke, a smile that he missed terribly set on her lips.

It was then that he knew that she was here to stay. They wouldn't let anything get in the way of ruining what they had left, and as he walked over to her and enveloped her in a warm embrace, he whispered beside her ear, "Welcome back, Pan." He was aware of the scabs she had on the side of her neck but he knew they weren't new ones. She was going to go through this with him. And he was thankful for that.

A/N: Yeah, I know, its short. But it was a fast update! … Well.. fast enough for you guys I hope. Thanks for the reviews, you guys. I really do appreciate each and every one of them. I'm pretty sure the next chapter will be the last one (finally, after 26 chapters, huh?) I'm sure you guys are tired of me making it hard for Trunks and Pan to get together and you just want to get them together already and move on, so I hope I can do that without making it too cliché. I think the hardest part of writing a story is writing a good ending, so I'll try my hardest!