Chapter 10 – After the rain
Vegeta opened the door for Bulma when she arrived at the apartment, and his heart was beating fast. He didn't know why. Under a drenched coat, a blue dress wrapped her beautiful body like a glove, wet and clinging to her, her hair flowed down her shoulders, now in a hairstyle visibly undone by the rain. Her eyes were red, injected with tears, and her make-up drained, leaving her looking devastated and sad. She was carrying her heels in her hand and looked lost like a puppy dog in the rain, and he felt like tucking her into his arms and telling her that everything was fine, but instead, he just spoke:
"Do you want to take a hot shower? Do you want some dry clothes?"
She opened her mouth, and no sound came out, Vegeta held out his hand to her, and she held it, and he said:
"Come, come in."
She went in, and he closed the door. At that hour, the apartment was mostly dark, with only a few lights on the mezzanine. He closed the door and saw Bulma standing before him, still looking devastated, and said:
"Go take a shower right now, woman. Before I throw you in the pool, so you wake up."
She looked at him and finally sketched a reaction, giving him a look of laughter. He smiled at her:
"Please react. I am terrible at comforting people."
"Okay, Vegeta... but I have nothing here but uniforms."
"I can get you something."
He went upstairs, and she followed him, she stopped, hesitantly, in front of the nursing room, and he said:
"You have underwear in there, don't you?"
"Yes," she said, feeling a bit pathetic.
"Take it. I'll wait."
"I can..."
"Come on. Don't worry, woman."
She went and returned with a towel and packed lingerie from the closet.
"Come," he said, and she followed him. He went into his room, and she followed him, hesitating. He opened a closet and took a long feminine nightgown and a fluffy pink robe from a drawer, and handed it to her, who stared, perplexed. "What is it?" he asked, and he replied, "There was a time when women forgot things here… you know."
She laughed for the first time.
"You can use my bathroom. I'll prepare the guest room for you."
"You will?" she laughed.
"It may not look it, but I don't have servants to clean up my mess 24 hours a day," he said, rolling his chair out of the room.
"Okay, boss," she said, and he shook his head.
Vegeta's suite was large, luxurious. A glass door led to a private bathroom with a shower, and a bathtub adapted to his condition, the tub was not a huge jacuzzi like the one at the spa, but she thought it was a good idea to get into it. Better than her pathetic shower that sometimes suddenly cooled the water.
When she was immersed in the tub using the bubbles she found on a shelf, she began to think about everything that had happened. Yamcha had been cheating on her; God knew since when. The shifts he covered, the calls he took too long to answer... tears came to her eyes again, but this time of anger. She had let herself get too much into that relationship. How long had it been since she had felt truly loved for the last time? That she no longer felt loved by him? It had even been easy to turn away and not come back. Her heart wasn't so much broken as it was wounded her feminine pride.
Thinking honestly, Yamcha had never been an ardent boyfriend, and neither had she. It had long been a cozy relationship. They were a cute couple...but nothing beyond that. She dipped her head into the tub. The warm, bubbling water was a delicious comfort. He scrubbed his face and removed what was left of his make-up, let down and untangled his hair. And relaxed, thinking only of herself and only of that moment for a moment.
Then, looking up at the ceiling, she thought, "why did I look for Vegeta?"
Why hadn't she looked for a friend? Lunch, Chichi, Suno, whom she hadn't seen in a while... of all the people who could help her, she had chosen him. Why had she seen his phone call? No, it hadn't just been that. And he had offered to help her, and above all, he had said those six words: "I will not take advantage of you. Only she knew how vulnerable and used she felt after the catch at Yamcha and his mistress in their almost acrobatic closet sex...the last thing she needed now was someone insinuating himself to her.
But Vegeta had instead just offered help and made it clear that it was out of gratitude.
She was leaning back, still looking at the ceiling, and surprised herself by thinking of Vegeta as a man. For a moment, she imagined what he must have been like before when he could still walk when he didn't have panic disorder or depression... and she censored herself for that immediately. Fantasizing about that man who no longer existed and who would probably never be interested in a mere silly nurse was a refuge from thinking about the current Vegeta, the one who was his patient.
A broken man. Wounded. With his pride more shattered than his injured spinal cord. A man who thought he was half a man but probably bigger and better as a person now than when he was just an heir. She shook her head suddenly. It was unethical to think of him that way. She couldn't confuse things.
She got out of the tub, calmer now, and dried herself off. She put on her lingerie and the long semitransparent sweater that was a pale lilac and must have belonged to a woman taller than her because it almost dragged on the floor. She put her robe on and felt a bit ridiculous. After emptying the tub, her hair was wrapped in a towel, and she left the bathroom like this. The floor was not cold, but she found a pair of fuzzy slippers on the bathroom door and smiled. Vegeta had left them there for her. She went out into the living room and found him sitting in a corner, holding a guitar and looking thoughtful.
"Vegeta?" she called out. "do you play guitar?
"A little," he said. "I was playing when you called me.
"Really?"
"Yes... You know… I need a hobby, as any normal man."
"I never imagined that..."
"Not only you, almost no one who knows me can imagine. Practically only Kakarotto and my brother know. We were kind of stupid when we were 14, 15 years old, and wanted to start a band. "he laughed. "Me on guitar, Kakarotto on drums, Raditz played bass and was the vocalist. There was another guy, Turles, he was the bass guitar, and I was the soloist. But, frankly, we were pretty bad. The women didn't care too much. After all, there was a handsome hairy guy on vocals..."
Bulma laughed and said:
"I'd like to meet this Raditz you guys talk so much about."
"Of course you would," he said grumpily, "All girls always want to meet the hairy guy..."
"That's not why, you fool," she laughed. "Nowadays, the last thing I want is to meet or get involved with someone."
"I wonder..."
"You know what the most annoying thing is, Vegeta?"
"What?"
"Me finding out that ending this relationship is bad, but a relief."
Vegeta's fingers were playing on the guitar strings, but not making any sound when he said:
"Believe me, I know how you feel... although... you know when something like that happened to me, I felt more destroyed than relieved. But then... then I saw that it was better not to be someone's burden... and I felt relieved that I didn't have a woman being with me just out of a sentimental obligation to the Vegeta from before... funny I talked about that relief with Whis this week..."
"This is the brother of the woman Yamcha was cheating on me with..."
"Doctor Vados? I only know his sister by name. She's a heart surgeon."
"She," Bulma sighed, "very tall, very thin, very beautiful...and very married to the director of the hospital..."
She then told the whole story of the dinner, and when she finished, her eyes filled with tears, and said that it must have been her fault for not realizing it before.
"Hey, stop it," he said, "stop diminishing yourself because of that worm's betrayal. He's the bastard."
She looked at him and smiled:
"You used to tell me funny things about dating, remember? That you worked too hard, that you ended up not paying attention to the girls."
He sighed.
"Yes, that's true. I never got involved with women who 'picked on me. They had to accept my lifestyle, but that's not hard when you're a playboy. The problem is that one day you might need something that is not so superficial..."
"What do you want to tell me, Vegeta?"
He stared at her and said:
"Do you know how I got like this, stuck at home? You're the first person I've felt like talking to about this, after Whis..."
After a long sigh, very slowly, he told her the whole story of how Andy had abandoned him in the park, alone, and he had felt lost, terrified, panicked. And that after that, he had never been the same.
"It took five years, five long years to even feel like fixing the damage," he said, "but I honestly don't blame her. The man I was at that time would have done the same with her. If it was the other way around, he would have made a good excuse and left. I was such an asshole... I didn't know what it was to compromise, to share... I wouldn't know how to take care of a wounded woman, I don't think I knew how to love."
"Hey," said Bulma, "now you have to stop beating yourself up."
"What a nice duo we are, huh? "he laughed "two cats wet from the rain, shivering with cold. Scared to risk again."
"Time will help..."
"It didn't help me much," he said.
"Maybe you haven't found the right girl. "she stood up and asked: "which is the guest room?"
"The white door in the middle, between two black ones."
She looked at him and smiled, then came closer and kissed the top of his head, saying, almost in a whisper.
"Thank you, Vegeta... "It was better than going home and brooding over my loneliness."
She was getting up, and he said:
"You can stay here as long as you want, Bulma... if you don't want to be lonely. I know you don't want to be alone in that apartment... you can stay here, you can live here. I promise to make you comfortable. And that's not because I've dismissed the night nurses. It's because I think you ... you deserve it, for all you do for me."
She looked at him with deep gratitude in her eyes. He knew her, he read her fears, and he could tell that she didn't like to be alone. Before, she was already mentally considering giving up her apartment and going back to her parents' house. But they lived far away from the center, and the idea of staying there with all those comforts was tempting, but she said before walking away.
"I'll think about it, Vegeta. But thank you very much for the offer, from the bottom of my heart..."
She went into the guest room and closed the door. She took off her robe and sank into the huge bed covered with Egyptian cotton sheets and soft comforters. Then, she thought how wonderful it would be to wake up, at least for a while, enveloped by that softness... she was almost closing her eyes when she heard Vegeta playing the first chords of "Sweet Child o' Mine" on the guitar. She smiled, snuggled into the covers, and paid attention to his low, husky voice, so different from the original vocal, giving a different interpretation to the song:
She's got a smile it seems to me
Reminds me of childhood memories
Where everything
Was as fresh as the bright blue sky
Now and then, when I see her face
She takes me away to that special place
And if I'd stare too long
I'd probably break down and cry...
And, lulled by the melody, she fell gently asleep.
The next day, she woke up at almost seven o'clock and got up in a huff. Without thinking much about what she was doing, just about how late she was, she got out of bed and walked, in her nightgown, towards the nursing room. She bumped into Vegeta, who was coming out of his room fully dressed. She suddenly realized how transparent and sensuous the sweater was and instinctively closed her arms over her breasts, red with embarrassment.
He lowered his eyes and said:
"I think you forgot your robe..."
"I'm sorry! I'm late."
She shot off to the nursing room, and he stayed behind, laughing, before making his usual dash to his workroom before heading downstairs for breakfast. He was about to turn on all the computers when he thought of something and gave up. He stood for a long time watching the darkened monitors before a smile lit up his face.
He was in love. He was finally admitting to himself that the woman he had just seen was the one he wanted to conquer as himself, paralyzed and broken. Was she the woman who might be willing to stand by his side and face whatever came? He closed his eyes tried to think of a plan, but that was not how things would work. She was not a corporate holding company. Dealing with people was not something he was comfortable with. The only thing he could really do at that point was hope that she would accept his offer.
And hope that proximity would do the rest.
Bulma had just finished getting dressed when her cell phone rang, and it was Chichi. She was surprised but answered it.
"What happened that Kuririn said Vegeta asked not to pick you up at home today? Did you quit your job, friend? Did he send you away?"
Bulma suppressed a giggle and said:
"No, Chichi... I spent the night here, but..."
She had to put her ear away from her cell phone. Chichi was shouting on the other end of the line.
"I KNEW IT, I KNEW IT, YOU TWO ARE SUCH A MATCH!"
Bulma stifled a giggle and said:
"But it's nothing like you're thinking, and we're not together. It's actually quite bothering..."
She told the whole story of how she had discovered Yamcha's betrayal and was surprised at how she was now able to distance herself from it. How quickly she had put it in the past. Because, she now knew, she and Yamcha had long since stopped loving each other.
"Oh, my God... poor thing! Do you need anything? Do you want to stay in the house for a while? "Chichi asked, knowing how Bulma had a problem with loneliness.
"Actually," Bulma said hesitantly, "Vegeta invited me to spend some time here and..."
"And you're going to accept, aren't you," Chichi's voice from the other side sounded anxious. Bulma laughed and replied:
"I need to think."
"Oh, dear," laughed Chichi, "can I ship it? Can I root for you to get along with this monster?"
Bulma laughed frankly and said:
"Chichi... the last thing I think about right now is a new relationship."
"Okay, but I'm going to be a shipper of you two anyway. I have to go now. Goku is taking me to see the construction of the new restaurant. I want you to come to the opening one week before Christmas!"
"I will go, surely!"
Bulma hung up the phone, thinking about Christmas. It was almost two months away, and autumn was already gone. Certainly, she would spend Christmas with her parents, but she had spent the last seven new years with Yamcha. Only the first one had been traveling with college classmates when the dating wasn't so serious yet.
She went downstairs to have coffee with Vegeta and told him simply:
"I would like to think until the end of the day about your offer, Vegeta."
He smiled at her and said:
"Make yourself at home. By the way, in the late afternoon..."
"I know that your appointment is therapy with Whis," she smiled, "he told me, thinking I knew."
"Oh," he said awkwardly, "I was going to tell you, but... Don't worry."
"Don't worry, I think you are right to want to be well, Vegeta, and I support you. I will use the time he is here to come to my house. And if I decide to stay here, you will know, I promise."
For some reason, they were very polite and silent with each other that day. In the end, Bulma went to her apartment. Before anything else, she searched every corner for even the banalest of Yamcha's personal belongings and put everything together in a box. Her cell phone had 20 muted calls from him. She knew there was no going back. She wouldn't go back out of neediness or fear of loneliness. She simply wouldn't go back. She didn't want him in her life anymore. Finally, she threw his toothbrush on top of the pile in the box and closed, sealing the package with a wide tape. Then she finally returned his calls, and he answered, anxiously:
"Hello, Bulma? I..."
"No, Yamcha, you can't explain. I don't want any explanation. I just called to tell you that the package with your things will be here in the storage room of the building. Don't look for me again."
She said and hung up. Soon after, she blocked his contact, satisfied. She was free.
Vegeta wondered if she had given up because she had left normally at 5 pm, exceptionally wearing her uniform. After all, the dress she had arrived in was now in the laundry, but when it was almost 9 pm, she arrived, carrying a small suitcase.
"I'll take you up on your offer, Vegeta. "she said, walking in.
He just smiled.
They talked again that night, and this time Vegeta felt less shy and strummed his guitar while they talked, playing the chords of "Baby, I love your way. But he didn't sing, he just played with his guitar, and it wasn't until Bulma came into the guest room, already nodding off from sleep, that he sang the whole song.
She wasn't sure why she smiled, but Bulma smiled when she heard the verses:
Moon appears to shine, and light the sky,
With the help, of some fireflys
I wonder how they have the power to shine, shine, shine,
I Can see them, under the pine
Don't Hesitate,
'Cause your love won't wait
Ooh baby I love your way,
I Wanna tell you I love your way,
I Wanna Be with you night and day
A month passed, and the two began to share small intimacies and became almost accomplices. Bulma got used to the closeness with him without losing focus of her professional activity. Sometimes at night, they would watch a movie, but never close enough to touch each other, often she would go to sleep, and he would play, she knew, songs for her. She always stayed in bed late on Saturdays because Ribrianne, the other nurse, came to take over her job.
But one Saturday, in the middle of November, that changed when he knocked on her door:
"Are you going to spend the day locked in there, woman? I need to talk to you."
She thought it was strange, but after a shower and getting dressed in normal clothes, a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, she went out. She found Vegeta having coffee with Ribrianne, the very chubby and friendly nurse who smiled at her.
"Up early for duty, dear? Vegeta keeps complaining about my massage and talking about yours, Bulma!"
Bulma laughed and before long was chatting animatedly with Ribrianne, who had a loud, happy, infectious laugh. A short time later, he asked them to excuse himself and said that he would get ready for the massage. Ribrianne said to her:
"I think, dear, that our patient has fallen in love with you, you know? He still hasn't told me why he's hosting you here... but only someone Vegeta trusts very much would he call to stay here."
"Not at all," Bulma said, "Vegeta has really become my friend... and he's helping me through a bad time, that's all."
Ribrianne laughed and then left to give Vegeta a massage.
Sometime later, Bulma understood why Vegeta had gotten her out of bed so early. He appeared, and this time he was not in the manual chair but in an electric one. And he was not wearing a gray sweatshirt or a knit shirt, but a pair of jeans, heavy boots, and a jacket, as if ready to go out on that slightly chilly autumn morning.
"Bulma... I've made a serious decision, and I wanted you to help me," he said, looking at her.
She smiled and said:
"I'll get a coat..."
He waited for her, and when she returned, he asked:
"Do you really want to do this? Do you feel ready?"
"I don't really know. But at the last session, I talked to Whis and decided that I had to try. Or I will never leave this apartment. That's why I need your help because I know that alone, I can't do it."
"Okay, Vegeta. "
She opened the door, and Vegeta gazed down the elevator hall. He hadn't crossed that threshold in over five years. But when Bulma came out and saw her standing in front of the elevator, he took courage and went through the door.
It was the moment to overcome his limit or give up for good.
Notes:
1. Sorry for those who expected kissing, involvement or romance, but I understand that two wounded people should not stay together before they are well or risk bringing their problems into the new relationship.
2. Let it be very clear that Bulma no longer loved Yamcha. And that's a message: how many situations don't go on indefinitely, how often do we accept the "so-so" for fear of looking for something really good for us?
3. I don't think people can be "saved" by others, sentimentally speaking, but I imagined the two of them helping each other.
4. In the next chapter, we will see if Vegeta will finally overcome his trauma.
5. In this chapter, I put in old songs, which I think are meaningful and match this version of Vegeta and Bulma.