CM10
Bulma opened the door. "Hello Pan!! How are you dear?"
"I'm fine Bulma-san," she replied smiling, "Bra there?"
Bulma nodded up the stairs. "Upstairs as usual. I'm sorry to hear about John. He seemed a nice guy."
Pan shrugged. "I'm actually happy, Bulma. I went there to break up with him in the first place. I'm kind of relieved that I didn't have to do the actual thing. He was under arrest when I reached his place."
"But why did you want to break up?"
"It didn't quite work well, Bulma," Pan replied uneasily.
"Didn't work out? After being together for almost an year?" Bulma inquired gently.
Pan opened her mouth to answer back when all of a sudden, Bra yelled down at her.
"Hey Pan!! Glad you came. I was just leaving for the mall."
"Bra," Pan said weakly, "Do we have to go to the mall? We went there a couple of days ago."
"So you plan to stay back and spar with Big B, huh?" Bra replied smiling innocently as Trunks walked into the room.
"Spar?" he asked. "With whom?"
"Pan, Big B," she said smiling sweetly at Pan who kept shooting her death glares which surprisingly were ignored rather well by the brother – sister team standing upstairs.
"Hey Pan, you might want to change into your training gi if you really want to spar with me. I'll join you in a moment." He turned to go.
"I'm not here to spar with anybody," Pan said, "I'm going out with Bra."
"I thought you didn't want to come with me," Bra said.
"I didn't say that. I just said I did not want to visit the mall again," Pan pointed out.
"Okay folks," Bulma stepped in, "You and Pan want to go, then go. Trunks please finish those plans I handed you yesterday. I'd appreciate if you finish them today. And no arguments, please," she said in a final sort of a voice. Trunks groaned and slapped his hand on his forehead. Dropping his shoulders, he trudged back to his office.
Bra and Pan looked at each other and Bra caught the gleam in Pan's eyes. I'm dead, she thought, Pan's going to kill me for this.
********************************************************************************************************************************************
Pan decided to talk to Trunks. She and Bra had talked about it a couple of days ago and pan decided to take a chance. She would talk to him; she would go crazy if she didn't. There was nothing to lose in it, she reasoned. But whenever she visited the Briefs, Trunks was usually missing. Bulma had forced him to renew the plans of a particular project and insisted that he build it. Thus. He was spending most of his time either cooped up in office or working in the laboratory.
It can't be that bad, Pan thought as she heard him swear loudly during a loud clank, he hates his job but still does it so as not to hurt his Mom. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and walked inside the lab.
"Trunks?" she called.
"Hey Pan," came a muffled voice. "Over here."
Pan walked to a pair of legs. The rest of his body was hidden from view under a big oval machine.
"Hello Pan. Before you do anything, would you please pass me that screw driver from the box there?"
"There you go," she said as she handed him one.
"Thanks. So what brings you here Pan?" still fixing something under the machine.
"Ummm…I…I thought …I decided, well, no. Actually I just wanted to talk to you," she said hurriedly.
There was a pause. "Wait a moment, Pan," he ordered.
A few moments later, he came out from under the machine crawling on his back. He smiled at her as he sat up.
"Good you stopped up. I was thinking of coming over at your place for a chat," he said while wiping the sweat off his palms.
"You wanted to talk to me? Why?" Pan was surprised. Actually, she was more than surprised. She had expected him to avoid her, upset her or remain angry with her. She never expected him to behave in a friendly manner. Though she felt a lot better, she was a bit upset that he was trying to behave as nothing ever happened between them.
"Actually, I was wondering if you would like to go out with me," he stated simply. He had said it so simply… as a matter- of- fact. It took a few minutes for Pan to register what he was saying.
"Why?" she asked in a small voice.
"Why? Because I want to go out with you. You are very pretty. And I like you," he finished looking straight at her.
Pan half had a mind to ask him if he carried that opinion after he saw her in dresses or before; but knowing him as a charmer, she knew he would have a flattering answer ready.
Instead she said,
"You are being very direct Trunks. When I first thought of talking to you about your behaviour during John's absence, I thought you might get angry or avoid me or deny my accusations, defend yourself," she said awkwardly.
Trunks regarded her before answering.
"I see no reason why I should defend myself or deny your accusations. I certainly don't regret kissing you." He touched her cheek delicately with his finger. "And if you thought I would act as you imagined me to, then Pan, I don't think you know me in spite of knowing me for all these years. I think we should go out more often together. That way we will get to know each other better perhaps." He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Pan looked down at her hands. She was suddenly feeling shy not to mention surprised at his unexpected behaviour. Her heart was thumping loudly and she felt the heat rush to her cheeks when he touched her cheek.
"Is that a yes, Pan?" he asked softly. She closed her eyes and nodded slightly unable to speak.
"That's settled then. I'll pick you up on Saturday then…." He cut off when he saw the door open.
"Trunks!! Did you finish it yet? Oh hello Pan," Bulma said. "What are you doing here, dear?"
"Oh, I just came to see what Trunks was doing," she said quickly.
"I see. Trunks is building a machine that would hopefully make produce capsules of a better quality. The one we use is quite expensive. This one is cost effective and we are hoping…"
"Don't you have to rush home Pan?" Trunks cut in.
"Oh yes," she replied scrambling up to her feet. "Sorry Bulma, I have to go. I promised Dad I'll be home early. I'll see you soon. Good luck with your machine Trunks," she waved at them both as she walked out of the lab. Once outside, she let out a deep breath and hugged herself.
"See, I told you it wouldn't be bad," came Bra's voice. "I was right, wasn't I?"
"Yes you were," Pan replied dreamily. She closed her eyes and sighed. Everything would be perfect now. Everything.
********************************************************************************************************************************************
Author's Notes:
Finally!! Done it after having another fit of writers block. From the past week I have written like five different versions on how to end it. Phew! Glad to have it finished. Please leave a review and I know my ending was way way off. But this was probably the best one!
Disclaimer
No claims as usual!
