I don't own any of it, except maybe the word arrangement.
Fiy-chan: Heh, you are in for a surprise with this short chapter! ^_^! Thank you!
Lara1786: thank you! you're all very special!
MoonlightUsa: there will be a lethal dose of Fluffiness (I even had to stop writing for a while to regain sanity); just you hang in there…
kirinu: *sigh* you see, I don't think my sis is a nice person either, but I still love her… *looks around repress snort* or something like that!
Lady Tristana Rouge: I picture you looking like Sailor Pluto, only in regency style clothing… (don't ask… i know I'm insane).
Keledrena & kirei*snow*tenshi & Namiko-Daughter of Sekhmet: thank you!
Hurt Before*Pain*
*There's a pain in her heart
She's trying so hard to unwind*
While Trista was on her way out of Grievingsville, Serena was fast entering it. This because after having that conversation with Trista, she understood Darien better, and with that she loved him more. And she let herself fall, knowing that he'd never change, knowing that his cutting remarks would not be changing into I-love-yous anytime soon. Amazingly (and girlishly) she dared to hope that one day they might be together… after all it took Trista ten years(!)…
That hope was extinguished when one fateful day, when Rei was called into the sewing room to replace a model who had failed to arrive one time for that day. That day, Serena was left to do Rei's work, and Lita, being the secretary of the designers was also busy in the sewing room. That day she received an important letter to Darien, and obviously hurried to his office without any delay. Unfortunately, she forgot to knock, and as she entered his office she witnessed the most shocking scene.
There was Darien, passionately kissing Michelle. His tie undone, his body bending hungrily on the woman sitting on his desk, hands feeling her attractive legs and chest. She was busy trying to undo his shirt, as the zipper of her dress was already wide open. Such a scene would have cause some people to smile (with embarrassment, but still smile) at the couple ready to jump into action (AN: do you think my sis will ever forgive for this? I think not! But revenge is sweet…), however what Serena saw left her speechless and shocked.
They were so into each other that they did not notice anyone come into the room. Serena, while trying to quietly leave the room, in a shocked state had a bad relapse of clumsiness that she tripped on the door pane! She fell hard against the door and dropped the letter.
"OW!" she instinctively shouted, then saw that she had the couple's attention now. "Oh, my—" she uttered, trying to apologize. Michelle was blushing fiercely and Darien was pale with anger.
"I'm sorry," she said at last, getting up with the letter ready to leave.
"Sorry? Try learning to knock before you enter," he boomed at her with all the force of his lungs. He was now facing her, starting to re-button his shirt, as Michelle struggled to zip up her dress again.
Serena just stood there trembling with her hairs standing straight like a porcupine. She couldn't muster any strength to hold back her tears, so she let them fall, feeling like a failure and a loser all over again, clutching the letter to her chest.
"What are you crying for?" he continued to yell with anger. "Never been with a man before?"
"Darien, calm down," Michelle tried, seeing Serena's defeated face. "You're offending, and scaring her to death, that's why she's crying!" she told him sternly.
With Michelle's words, Serena regained some courage. She would not let him pull her down, she decided. He had no right to shout at her like that, when she was holding such an important letter. She might as well go without giving it to him, but then she could be putting the whole company at stake, she was the one with the power there, not him! So she raised her head to face him again.
"If you must know," she started to answer in her half shaky voice, she learned that sometimes telling the truth could embarrass people, and this was a perfect case to hurl the truth at him so as to let his know how low he was being by asking such a personal question. "If you must know, Mr. Shields, I have never been with a man before, consider me traumatized after this incident."
"Some shrink, huh," he muttered grimly, facing away from her, presumably hiding the embarrassment of having asked that question.
Soundlessly Serena made her way to his desk to leave the letter, then she quickly headed out.
And so the day passed, and she was about to leave, when Darien came up to her desk.
"Michelle made me do this, but I guess she's right," he started. "I apologize for my behavior this morning, I had no right to yell at you that way— that letter was vitally important too…"
"No, no, it was my fault," Serena said gathering her things not looking at him, "I should have knocked."
"You should have," he said as she stood up ready to leave, "But you didn't."
"I'm sorry," she muttered before going away. Leaving Darien standing there looking at her with his emotionless face, making Mina, who was just leaving the office, wonder what he was thinking, while he followed Serena's movements with those stony eyes.
When Serena got home she collapsed crying. What was she thinking? That scene in his office was burned into her memory, she tried to not think about it, but it kept popping into her head. What was she thinking? What made her believe that a man like Darien would ever notice her unsophisticated self? How naive could she be? She had learned just about everything about him, except that he had a girlfriend. How could she have missed it? Was her vision so distorted by her crush over him that she didn't realize it when she saw Michelle frequently leave with Darien, or how in just about every meeting they sat together, and he even held her hand! She didn't connect the blushing face that Michelle always had when she was around Darien with their being together? She was a fool and a loser!
I officially classify myself as heartless. Since this was a very short chapter, I'm posting there other one today too. Anyway, I'd like to say that Isaac Isimov is such a great writer, I'm usually not found of sci-fi but he really blew me away! I really enjoyed his short story Female Intuition. (heh, I look like a nerd tipping you on all these authors and books… but what is this story without some kind of advertisement?)! Try him!