Disclaimer: Not mine.

Helpless 7

Lies

"Good morning, Mr. Briefs." She said, keeping her voice cool and polite. "I hope you managed to sleep well?"

"Pretty well. Marron- "

"Mr. Briefs, I've changed my mind about that. I think I'd prefer to be called Miss Chestnut. Excuse me, I have some groceries to unpack."

She turned her back on him and went into the kitchen, letting the door swing closed behind her. She half expected him to bellow something at her, but he was silent while she stacked the grocery items into the freezer, the fridge and the inadequate cupboards.

He was probably thinking up some new lies to cover up for the old ones, she thought darkly. Well, it would take a better man than him to wriggle out of this one.

She put off going back into the living room for as long as possible, but there was only so long she could take to put away the groceries. Bracing herself for the next round, Marron pushed the door open and marched into the battlefield.

She resisted the urge to ask him if he'd eaten breakfast. She'd seen no sign of cooking or empty plates in the kitchen. Most likely he'd been waiting for her to fix it for him. Well, it would do him good to go without. It would give him a taste of what it was really like to go hungry. Perhaps then he wouldn't be quite so ready to fake poverty.

"I'll finish up on those reports I started on yesterday," she announced, concentrating on emptying her briefcase so she wouldn't have to look at him.

"You've seen the article in the paper, I assume," Trunks said quietly.

The papers in her hand quivered, but she managed to say quite calmly, "Yes, I did."

"I'm sorry, Marron. I'd like to explain."

"There's nothing to explain, as far as I'm concerned." She stacked the papers neatly together and laid them in front of her. "You had your little joke, and I'm sure you must have found it amusing."

Trunks' sigh sounded heartfelt. Marron hardened her heart, reminding herself how good he was at making her feel sorry for him.

"I never intended to offend you," he said after a moment of tense silence. "You assumed I was destitute and living on this dump, and I just felt it might be better to let you go on thinking that."

"You lied to me," Marron said crisply.

"All right, I lied. I'm sorry, I have no excuse for that. I was tired of being treated like a crown prince of Arabia and I thought it might be nice to be treated as an ordinary human being for a change."

"There was no need for all that pretense. I wouldn't have treated you any differently even if I'd known who you really re."

"Wouldn't you?" Trunks asked gently. "In my experience, most women do."

"I'm not most women. I'm not in the least bit interested in your money, or your private life, for that matter. All I care about is doing my job. So I'd appreciate it if we could get back to work."

"All right, I guess I can't blame you for getting steamed. I hope you won't stay mad at me for long, though."

Marron gritted her teeth. It wasn't going to be easy ignoring all that boyish charm, but if she valued her self-respect she would have to make the effort.

She worked in near silence the entire morning, answering Trunks' comments only when necessary. When the growling of his stomach finally became too loud to ignore, she made him a turkey sandwich, though she made it quite clear she didn't consider it part of her duties.

She maintained her professional attitude throughout the day, ignoring Trunks' weak jokes and futile attempts to start a conversation. Before she left she presented him with the grocery bill, and waited in silence while he wrote out a check.

It wasn't until she was on her way home that she admitted to herself that the whole miserable day had been a terrible strain. There had been so many times she'd had to stop herself from smiling at his silly jokes, or curb her impulse to answer his comments.

Her anger had long since melted away, leaving in its place a determined indifference. Now that she knew who he really was, she had firmly place herself on her side of the barrier.

Trunks Briefs had everything: looks, money, and a highly successful business. He was constantly surrounded by beautiful, sophisticated women who were familiar and comfortable with his lifestyle even though he apparently cast them off as soon as he got bored with them, which was all too frequent, according to the reporter.

Trunks' travels to Europe and Asia were well documented in the article, as were his two expensive sports cars. He lived in a different world- a world where no doubt Marron's attractive, experienced sisters would fit in without any problem. A world where plain, ordinary, naïve Marron Chestnut, however, could never belong.

In admitting that, she had to admit to something else. Trunks had been right. Had she known yesterday what she knew today, she would have treated him differently. Her face burned when she remembered ordering him into the tub, and practically standing over his half-naked body in that tiny bathroom.

She made a prize fool of herself with Pisces' most eligible bachelor. She could just imagine him sharing the joke with one of his glamorous girlfriends.

The hardest thing to swallow was the fact that she had been the one to insist on helping him. If she were honest, she'd have to admit that he'd protested at first, until he'd apparently decided it would be found fun to go along with the farce.

Well, there'd be no more of that, she promised herself. That was the last time she made a fool of herself in front of him. From now on, she was strictly his own temporary assistant until his ankle healed. That was what he'd hired her for, and that was all that was expected of her.

She just wished she could feel happier about that.

I just found out that my best friend in grade school is already engaged! We sort of drifted near the end of high school since there was a lot of distance between us. And snail mail, although more exciting, is really slow. The fact that the lady who sells stamps was such a busybody didn't help either.

Back to the news, it'll be in two years and I'm going to be a bride's maid. I haven't felt so weirded out since the time one of my friends called me up and said that our class' miss goody-two-shoes had a kid and stopped school. Okay, the wedding is not in the very near future yet but still... I feel old. I am no where near being remotely socially accepted as an adult and people I know are getting married and having kids already. I'm barely out of my teens yet!

Change.. weird and inevitable, but you have to live with it.

Speaking of change, let me greet some people who have to change their age now.

Happy birthday to.

Zell! A very good friend who is now sweating it out in somewhere in the corporate world. You're old now, man :p . Hahaha! Here's a virtual hug for you. Squish!

Leona! My roommate and the best student in the Evil School of the Rose. You do me proud, girl. Now I have to run along and buy something for the girl. We have to show a certain person what he's missing out on.

But before that, I have to tell you that these chapters were already typed before. I'm so busy in school and the orgs I'm in that I can't find time to type the future ones. Don't worry though, I've done till chapter 16. These notes at the end are the only things that I can change before posting it. So, we better start praying that Leona's pc gets out of the icu soon we'll be in trouble.

To Legolas Luver. I can't find what's so funny about being in a boat accident. It certainly wasn't fun avoiding looking at the corpses on board. Don't get me wrong, I'm not mad. I just want to know if being in a "boat accident" has some other sneaky connotation that I'm not aware of. Tell me?

To Kim Hallam. I hope I've explained why the chapters of this fic aren't that long. But you can also take a look at Fair. Every chapter is 9 pages long, verdana, font size 9, single spaced. It's also complete so you don't have to wait for the next chapter.

So, if you'll excuse me, I have to pay my respects to my idol, kinomi-sama, at before this guy beside me kicks me out of the cyber cafe I'm in.

Thanks to all for the reviews! :)