Chapter Six

Her heart was beating so loudly while she ran away that she could not hear anything else. She felt sick, and she thought that she would suffocate unless she got some fresh air soon.

That was probably why she found herself in the house's big terrace. It was very dark outside, there were some clouds covering the moon that threatened rain.

Relena, fearing to be seen, hid herself in one corner and, pressing her back against the wall, let her body slide down till she sat on the ground and she started crying sobbing violently.

She just couldn't believe it. She had never cried that easily before. Not when her brother had left or when her dog had died. Not even when her own father, the person she had grown up with had died, she had cried that much.

In the last few days she had cried more than she had ever cried during her entire life. And, deep down, she knew the reason.

Relena had a theory regarding happiness, the less one knew, the easier one could be really happy. If you didn't know what you were missing, you could hardly be unhappy for not having it.

The problem was that she knew what true love was. She had read about it, she had seen it first hand. Duo and Hilde loved each other for real, it was something so obvious that you could even touch it.

Relena felt very jealous of her best friend, she had been able to choose freely and, even though Lucrezia had tried to convince her that leaving this choice to your loved ones made it easier and safer, seeing Hilde's love story made her believe that Lucrezia was wrong.

She was still crying and still thinking when she heard a female voice. At first she did not recognise it but, hearing that strong French accent, she knew that the voice belonged to Trowa's sister Catherine.

"Relena, where are you?".

Relena got up quickly trying to dry her tears and was grateful that it was dark. She tried to get rid of the knot that was tying her throat when Catherine said:

"I know what's making you so upset…".

"Really? How do you know?" Relena asked with her voice still trembling.

"I've seen you running, I got up because I couldn't sleep and I went to see what had made you run…Relena, you must know some things…I don't want you to think badly of my brother…" Catherine said, then added "But not here…let's go to my private sitting room…I'll explain it to you there…".

Relena had little option but to follow her. She was extremely embarrassed that Catherine had seen what she had seen and felt very confused that still wanted to talk about it. They arrived to Catherine's small sitting room, it was attached to her bedroom by one door. She sat down on a red couch and asked Relena to join her.

"Relena, you're probably thinking of breaking up the engagement…but you must know how things are before you take a decision…are you prepared to listen?".

"I guess so…" Relena replied being sure that no matter what Catherine said, she would not change her mind.

"Well, to help you understand my brother, I will tell you that Trowa has had a very tough upbringing. Our father defied our grandfather when he married our mother. She was not what our grandfather considered a 'well brought up' girl. She had been born to an unmarried woman so she didn't have a surname. Our father didn't care about this and married her anyway because he loved her. Our grandfather was furious so he left France to come to this land. He bought this property and dealt with all the natives in his own way. Then our parents died, we were very young so our grandfather decided to take care of us. Unfortunately, Trowa looks so very much like our mum so our grandfather was a lot harsher with him than he was with me. He wanted to make out of him a true French gentleman…the gentleman that our grandfather didn't think our father was".

Catherine interrupted herself briefly to see if Relena was following her, seeing that she had the blond girl's full attention, she continued:

"The girl you've seen him with is Midii Une, she's a really nice girl but, unfortunately, she's a common girl with no credentials to introduce her to society…Her mum used to work here taking care of our grandfather and it was only a matter of time till Trowa and Midii met each other and fell in love…When our grandfather found out about it, he was outraged about it and asked Trowa to terminate that 'sinful relationship' at once…he accused him to be just like his father…there was a huge row and, that same night, our grandfather started feeling ill...before dying he made Trowa promise he would marry a well brought up girl…someone with a surname…and, that is what you are…".

"But, how can he marry me if he loves Midii so much?" Relena asked beginning to feel sorry for Trowa.

"Well, Trowa feels guilty for our grandfather's death and he knows how to put duty before his own happiness…what you've seen won't be happening after the wedding…be sure of that…my brother is a man with honour…he will be faithful to his wife, whether he gets to choose her or not…as you can see, you're not the only one making sacrifices…" said Catherine feeling very sure of what she was saying.

After a chat, Catherine accompanied Relena to her room and, before bidding her goodnight, she said:

"My brother will know how to make you happy…I hope you know how to make him happy too…"

"I hope so too…" Relena replied not really feeling any better.

Getting in bed, she spent the entire night thinking of what Trowa's sister had revealed to her and, for the first time, Relena started thinking that she was not the only victim in this whole affair. Probably Trowa was giving up a lot more than she was…

The morning after, Relena was to go with Sally and Catherine to buy some cloth to make the wedding dress. Unfortunately, Catherine couldn't come because she had some problems with the organisation of the party that would take place right after the wedding.

So, Sally and Relena boarded the small carriage that Trowa had left at their service. Sally was disappointed because she was not allowed to drive it, that woman was just amazing, Relena thought thinking of how independent Sally seemed to be.

The two women had been walking around Hanoi, amusing themselves with the busy streets, the fruit market and the shops that seemed to be able to sell you anything you asked for.

Sally was busy looking around the market while Relena was distracted watching two ballerinas performing some exotic dance. Feeling unsafe, she decided to turn around to find Sally, when she crashed against someone making her lose her balance. She was about to fall when she felt two strong arms grabbing her preventing her from hitting the ground.

The blond girl looked up to see who had saved her from making a fool of herself.

"Heero!" she exclaimed sounding a bit more eager than she thought decent.

Heero replied with a nod and that made her realise that he wasn't alone.

"Hello Wu Fei!" Relena said seeing the Chinese man.

"There you are!" said Sally joining Relena, then, realising that Wu Fei was there, using a very sweet tone of voice, she said "Hello Wu Fei…how are you?".

"I'm fine, how about you, I hope you still remember about that book I wanted to show you…" Wu Fei said ridiculously embarrassed. Relena found rather odd that he would get embarrassed about a book, then, for some strange reason, Sally also blushed slightly and replied:

"Of course…I would like to see that book very much…".

Relena wasn't understanding anything and, Heero, seeing that, said:

"Let's go…".

"What?" Relena replied rather rudely.

"I said, let's go…I'll explain later…" Heero said mysteriously grabbing her hand.

"But…Sally…I can't leave her alone…or rather, she's not supposed to leave ME alone…" Relena said while being dragged to goodness knew where.

Heero didn't bother to reply. He just kept walking a bit too fast for Relena to be able to follow him so, after a while, Relena stopped and said:

"Excuse me but, I cannot possibly follow that pace of yours…you either slow down or explain to me where you're taking me to and why…".

Relena was more confused than angry but she had to show that she was not happy with this situation.

"You're so naïve…" Heero commented only helping Relena's anger to build up. Then, taking a quick look around and seeing that there was nobody close enough to hear her, she said:

"Well, please forgive me for being so innocent but, I will never be as wise as you people think you are unless someone starts explaining to me what's going on…I'm tired of being the last one to find out, I'm tired of having to discover things the worst possible way and I am specially tired of people like you that think that because they have more experience than I do can patronise me like you do…and now, you are going to either tell me what is going on here or I demand that you take me back to where Sally is so I can go back to choose some fabric for my wedding dress!".

Suddenly, something very weird happened. Heero, the cold, stone faced Heero, laughed out loud. It was a sincere, amused laugh.

"If you must know, Wu Fei wants to ask Sally to be his wife…" Heero replied making Relena's jaw drop open.

"What? But…I…" Relena started saying stuttering.

"That's why I wanted to give them some space…" Heero said interrupting her.

Relena had never felt so stupid in all her life. She just didn't know what to say but, thinking of Sally and Wu Fei together, suddenly it made perfect sense that they would marry.

"I'll show you around the city…" Heero said and, not waiting for an answer, he just started walking.

When Sally and Relena had been on the carriage on their way back to the house after finishing their shopping, she noticed the huge grin that the older woman had on her face.

"I guess you said yes?" Relena asked suddenly.

"Yep…We're going to marry after you do…we don't want to spoil the big event…" Sally said and this comment regarding her wedding made Relena lose her smile.

"Relena, I've meaning to ask you…what do you think of Heero?" Sally asked ignoring all etiquette.

"I…I don't know what you mean…" Relena said hoping that Sally couldn't see her deeply blushed face.

"Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about…I've seen the way you look at him…" Sally insisted.

"Ah…don't be ridiculous…I'm engaged to be married, remember?" Relena said trying to sound determined.

"I know that…I just hope you do remember it as well…" Sally said leaving Relena feeling incredibly guilty.

'Ah…I haven't done anything wrong…I've only taken an innocent walk around the city with him…that is a lot less than what my fiancé was doing last night anyway…" Relena thought knowing that, the walk she had taken with Heero was not so innocent, at least not for her anyway, and that she was being unbelievably unfair with Trowa.

With this confused thoughts still dancing inside her head, they got back to the Barton residence seeing a very familiar carriage parked just outside. Her brother and Lucrezia had finally arrived.

The countdown for her wedding day had began.

END OF CHAPTER SIX

A/N: See? I told you there was a good reason that justified Trowa's behaviour, didn't I? Ah…I hope you're enjoying this because I'm having a lot of fun writing it!