Title: Play of the Fates (10 of ?)
Author: Paola
Disclaimer: Play of the Fates is based on characters and situations that belong to Sotsu Agency, Bandai Studios, and TV Asashi (and other production affiliates that have the right of ownership). No money is being made, and no copyrifght or trademark infringement is intended.
Considerations: Similarities to other stories/events/passages are purely coincidental unless otherwise cited. Beliefs and points of view found in the story do not necessarily reflect those of the author's. Characters not found on any official Gundam SEED/Gundam SEED Destiny character list belong to the author unless otherwise disclaimed.
The idea to make the chapter titles begin with "The One…" is from the TV show, F.R.I.E.N.D.S
This may, in all possible intent, be differently written compared to any of the author's previous literary ventures.
Rating: Rated M for language and adult situations. You have been warned.
Play of the Fates
Chapter Ten
"And this is my unica hija, Cagalli," her father introduced her to another couple from the alta sociedad for the ninth time since her arrival. The man peered over his Castillian nose and thick mustache at her as the woman hanging off his arm congenially talked with her father.
The event was full of business partners, clients, acquaintances, and the general glitterati that Cagalli would not regret never knowing had she not been working at her father's office. As she had first thought, there were some attending only because of the good publicity the benefit could afford them, and she had already met at least five of those kinds in the past hour. Of course, there were also those who had noble intentions, but, sadly, they didn't see the need to get the media's attention so, naturally, they'd also be invisible in her radar.
"Hello, Mr. Treviño, Mrs. Treviño," Cagalli greeted upon their shaking hands, recalling their names from the convenient profiles she had been asked to familiarize the moment she was placed as the new Department Head. And if her memory served, she had recently seen this Spanish couple on TV — something on the Lifestyle Channel.
"Mm," was his immediate reply, making Cagalli wonder if he was as snooty as he was friendly on TV. Then: "Hello there, dear. Enjoying the night?"
A smile pulled at the corners of Cagalli's mouth as her earlier guess was proven wrong. He seemed cordial enough. "I could do with a drink," she quipped, albeit the desire to nurse a cocktail was very far from her mind at the moment. Lately, drinking anywhere with a lot of people landed her in unfavorable circumstances, and since Athrun was actually invited to this specific event, it would be wise to abstain for now. She had learnt that she, spirits, and Athrun were a messy mix, and it wouldn't do to lose her wits tonight. She didn't think her father would be very pleased to see his daughter plastered like there was no tomorrow, and the Fates would have a field trip laughing at her silly if she would be hanging off of Athrun's arm by the end of the night.
"Couldn't we all?" Mrs. Treviño giggled in her hand. "You have a beautiful daughter, Uzumi," she directed at Cagalli's father.
"I have, haven't I?" Uzumi replied, smiling down at Cagalli before proceeding to go into a discussion with the Treviños.
A blush stole its way across Cagalli's cheeks as she excused herself, but not before she expressed her thanks. That was a kindly couple, although her judgment might have been based on the fact that she had received a lovely compliment. She might not be a sucker for praises, but, once in a while, she let herself feel deeply flattered. Besides, that couple was as wealthy as a dream, and they wouldn't really get anything from her father that they didn't already have, so sycophancy was kind of out of the question.
When a waiter passed by, she caught a flute of sherbet and offered a perfunctory smile that mirrored the one the waiter gave her. She'd thought ahead, and instead of just serving Dom Pérignon in dainty flutes, she'd arranged for watered sugary fruit juices the color of champagne to be served in trumpet flutes to differentiate the two beverages. So by the end of the benefit, she'd expect the number of drunk aristocrats to be halved, and the number of drunk Cagallis to be non-existent.
Sashaying across the room to the podium at the entrance, she nodded at her secretary and handed her another trumpet of sherbet she had swiped from a waiter's tray. "Have a drink." When her secretary accepted, she continued, "Everyone donating pledges here already?"
"Not yet. Ezalia Jule, the Martius City Representative of Operation Childcare, has yet to arrive. So have Keith Lazarenge of Children's Foundation and Marie, Adrian, and Alberto Nepatal of Three's Company."
Three's Company was a big production company that had a foundation of the same name. The benefit Akatsuki Insurance was holding was usually a gathering of different foundation heads that contributed to the general fund of other foundations that were hard of money, but it also invited big clients that were interested in helping out, or, as she had previously complained about, were interested in making a bigger name for themselves.
Cagalli retrieved the guest list from the podium, skimming through the names as if to double check her information. Her face must have showed a comical expression because her secretary suddenly emitted a nervous giggle, and she wouldn't wonder, for there, at the last set of names, was Athrun Zala's name, preceded by a quickly scribbled heart.
"Sorry about that. I kind of have a little crush on him."
"This is so high-school, Elely," Cagalli chuckled, shaking her head. "I'll attend to seeing the new arrivals. Why don't you get yourself some food? It's a long night to go on with just your earlier dinner."
Elely smiled her thanks. "Excuse me then, Ms. Cagalli."
Cagalli eyed the heart again when Elely was out of sight, then shook her head once more. "Who'd have thought, huh?" she mumbled to herself, thinking about her serious and very professional secretary having an Athrun shrine at home. She bit her lip to keep the laugh from bubbling out of her.
The gaggle of uninvited photographers that had been kept outside by the tight security — only Orb Aesthete and the Akatsuki Insurance's own media personnel were allowed inside — came to life once again, and Cagalli looked up to see the source of the fuss. A gleaming royal blue car had arrived, and out stepped Yzak, the media-magnet model. Cagalli scrunched up her brow. She didn't remember having sent an invitation to Yzak, and she couldn't recall her father telling her that he had invited the young model; after all, he wasn't an associate of Uzumi's, nor a client of Akatsuki Insurance, nor a figure head of any children's foundation she knew.
"Yzak," she uncertainly greeted when he made it to her safely, although looking almost thankful for the security for keeping the media off his back, literally.
"Cagalli," his tone was firmer and surer. "My mother couldn't come. She's currently unable to leave PLANT as she had just gotten out of the hospital."
"Mother?"
This time, Yzak seemed to have sensed her confusion, and after looking at her weirdly, clarified what he meant, "Ezalia Jule."
Recognition dawned on Cagalli's face. "Of course. Jule. Yzak Jule." She gave a small embarrassed laugh. "I'm sorry. It slipped my mind."
"Obviously."
"Don't be so crabby. There's no Dearka to hound you tonight."
"You know, I like you better when Dearka hasn't corrupted you yet."
"Of course, because back then, you and I were the best of friends," she rolled her eyes, offering him a glass of champagne.
He took the flute from her. "Shut up, Shortcake."
Cagalli glared, quickly picking up that he was referring to that afternoon here in the same golf club when she'd worn that horrendously cute dress.
"Until now, I still don't understand how you and Dearka clicked. If I were him, I'd have been offended indefinitely."
She immediately understood and recalled the event he was referring to. Until now, only the three of them knew what happened that time, and Yzak only knew because Dearka had been too pissed back then to realize that he should've kept everything to himself. "If you'd been there, you'd have laughed until you've given yourself apoplexy."
"He wasn't laughing when he told me."
Cagalli chuckled as she directed him to his table. "He wasn't after that night. Nor was he a week later. He was pretty stubborn and hard to convince."
"What did it take then?"
"Yeah right, like I'd tell you."
Yzak paused, as if surprised by her tone, then he shrugged. "Fair enough." Although he was best friends with Deakra, he hardly believed he needed to know the intimate details of his life. That one time the golf player told him about his situation with Cagalli was something he had let slide because the cocky blonde had been too irate to even listen to his objections. And he'd die a thousand deaths before he'd force the details out of Cagalli. Not only were they not close — they only ever talked occasionally, and she was more Dearka's friend than his — but the activity itself was something only girly girls did.
And Yzak Jule was not a girly girl.
"Anyway, heard Zala's invited."
"Hasn't arrived yet," she replied with clipped tones, and if Yzak noticed something, he didn't call her on it.
At the corner of her eye, she glimpsed Lazarenge and the Nepatals being led to their respective tables, and, as if on cue, the host announced the start of the fund collection. She excused herself.
Wending her way towards the stairs, she climbed a few steps to see over the crowd of exquisitely dressed people. She could see her father talking to a few associates at a far corner, four authorized photographers weaving their way around the people to take pictures, fine waiters seamlessly blending in and out to serve drinks and food, and her secretary keeping by the entrance to welcome late comers.
So far, everything had gone without a hitch: the media personnel was kept at bay, the program was going fine, the master of ceremonies had been the correct choice, and the collection of pledges was halfway through with little girls holding fancy woven baskets and visiting their assigned tables to gather the escrows from specific people of wealth. Cagalli grinned to herself. It wasn't a bad job, and if things continued to go smoothly, news would spread around Akatsuki Insurance, and her detractors would see that she wasn't chosen for her job solely because she was the daughter of the big boss. She'd told herself that she'd show those arrogant asses, and show them she would continue to do. This benefit was just the tip of the proverbial iceberg, and they would know that Cagalli Yula Athha was a force to reckon with.
She didn't love her current job, that was a given, but she'd be damned before she would let herself be embarrassed and let her father be humiliated in the process.
o-o
Athrun drove his silver Maserati at a leisurely speed, taking the scenic route towards Lesseps; he said he might not make it to the event, so he wasn't in a hurry to get there. He should actually be going over some important documents tonight, but the probable reward of going to the country club was somehow more tempting than a few million dollars a set of documents could bring. He didn't think he was shirking his work and his responsibility to Genesis Motors, but he figured that a night of negligence couldn't possibly hurt, and besides, judging by how much he was killing years off his life at work, he supposed he deserved a break. Those documents would still be sheets of words upon words tomorrow, and he was an efficient individual — he'd be long finished with those papers by the time the company lawyers asked for them.
When his phone rang, he only spared the caller's name a second's glance before putting his mobile on silent mode and tossing it on the passenger seat. He'd been a fool the other day getting worked up by Cagalli's idea of payback until he realized that he shouldn't have been all that surprised by such an ingenious reprisal. It was Cagalli after all, the woman who had ignored him at Uzumi's house, the woman who had barged in on one of his meetings, and the same woman who had given him a fair warning which he chose to ignore. He should have known she wouldn't stand idle while he played with her senses.
Just as the song that had been playing in his car ended, the lights of the country club became visible over a hill. He glanced at the digital clock that flashed a soft neon green: 11:27. It was later than he had thought; maybe he shouldn't have stopped over at Kira and Lacus', but Kira had resigned from his teaching stint at the Orb State University and had asked him over to celebrate, which was ironic since no one celebrates resignations. But then they'd explained that Kira had applied for work and had been accepted at the Morgenroete University as a regular professor of the Science and Math Department under the Computer Science curriculum and was actually nearing the completion of his book on micro units. They'd celebrated over a modest dinner and good catching-up.
At exactly 11:30, he was signaling to turn right and into the expansive driveway of Lesseps. Knowing how huge events usually extend to the earliest of mornings, he wasn't that worried that he'd be missing the entire thing, especially when he didn't plan on attending in the first place. When the first people on earth said that men had a one-track mind, they hadn't known how true their words rang, and true to his gender, Athrun only came for one thing, or, more specifically, for only one person. He hadn't exactly thought of what to do once he got there, but he thought he could wing it, and when it came to Cagalli — well, Athrun inwardly shrugged, anything goes.
o-o
Cagalli glanced at the progressively thinning crowd with subtly bored indifference. The benefit was officially over, although a few guests lingered to chat and enjoy the free drinks. It was already quarter to two according to her watch, and she wished for the media to hurry and finish packing their stuff so she could leave already; the handful of socialites left need not be entertained or be kept an eye on by her anymore as her job was done, but it was out of courtesy that she was staying to see the people of Orb Aesthete and the media personnel of Akatsuki Insurance off. She glanced at her watch again then stifled a yawn.
"Aren't going home yet?"
Cagalli turned to face Yzak. "Not until these people leave," she gestured towards the photographers.
"Gracious, aren't we?"
"Part of my job, Mr. Pledge Giver," she deadpanned.
"I'll tell Mrs. Jule you said thanks," he mock glared at her. "Anyway, I'll be off. I think those fucking paparazzi have thinned already."
"You'll know when you get out there."
Yzak grimaced. "By the way, did Zala make it?" When Cagalli shook her head, Yzak shrugged. "That guy has got to get himself a girl. Working even on weekends."
Cagalli laughed, half-relieved and half-amused. She'd thought by now that Athrun's friends would catch on to whatever was going on between the two of them. The tension when they were in the same place was so thick, she'd convinced herself that it was impossible to miss, but, apparently, she was just a little too paranoid. Either that or Athrun's friends were denser than tightly packed asphalt.
"Bye, Yzak," she waved at him as he strutted towards the exit, and she realized that modeling was really the only way to go for him. She grinned to herself, but the smile failed halfway when she realized something else: What if Athrun's friends had noticed it and were just playing dense out of respect? She shook her head to rid it of unwanted thoughts. That would be embarrassing as hell.
"Ms. Athha," Elely called, breaking Cagalli's horrifying train of thoughts, "the media's leaving and they want to say thanks."
"Oh, of course."
After a short polite exchange with the photographers, Elely asked if there were anything else Cagalli needed her to do, and when the latter said no, Elely bid her goodnight and goodbye.
Approaching the tall and elegantly dressed man that was her father — who had also chosen to remain and talk with a few of the remaining guests — she asked to be excused herself; it had been a long night and she was dead on her feet. Uzumi easily let her, smiling that secret smile she hadn't seen since she was a child.
"You did a good job, Cagalli. Good night."
It was said as simply as if he were ordering tea, and just as succinctly, but Cagalli glowed at the compliment. It had been a long time since she'd done her father proud, and maybe, this job had its appealing rewards after all.
"Goodnight, Mr. Athha." Then she was out of the room.
The early morning breeze picked up as Cagalli strolled towards the parking lot, ruffling her hair and the black dress she had gotten from the Eternal fashion show. The dress had saved her a lot of trouble last night for she didn't have to go out and buy a new one, especially since she didn't have high regard for boutiques as she believed they were too expensive to be practical. Also, it staved off Damien from offering to buy her a dress since he knew she wouldn't want to waste that much cash on silly things. Cagalli kicked a loose pebble. Really, that guy had more money than he knew how to spend. Just last week, he'd bought Miriallia two pairs of divine Manolos to match the price of the JeanRichard watch he'd given her. She often wondered how she ended up being friends with a generously rich guy when she herself was, more often than not, frugal to a fault; the only luxury she had was her YSL sunglasses that she bought on sale.
When she reached her car — the Justice that was supposedly customized though she still hadn't seen exactly what was done according to her preferences — a certain strikingly familiar person caught her eye. He was sitting on a stone bench directly opposite her vehicle, sports jacket open, top buttons of his shirt undone, hair tousled, and eyes cast towards the too bright moon. She thought his eyes seemed a little glassy, and — she paused. Why was she staring at him anyway?
As if her silence beckoned to him, he lowered his green gaze and caught her figure. He sent her that rakish smile, which always managed to get her pulse racing, then he yawned, and she almost smiled at how, at that moment, he didn't look like the usual Athrun who teased her relentlessly and got her heart pounding.
"Hi," he started, looking like he didn't plan on leaving his seat.
Cagalli was a little disturbed at how she almost decided to approach him, and she bet she looked funny when she jerked towards his direction only to stay still and glare at him half-heartedly. She tightened her hold on her keys, as if to remind her where she was supposed to be — inside the car and not outside of it staring at a guy who probably knew how positively good he looked under the freaking moonlight.
She ignored him and concentrated on pressing the button on the car remote to unlock the doors, like it was some unfair task that she had a hard time doing. The signal tone sounded intrusive in the early morning stillness, but it didn't mask the sound of crunching gravel as Athrun began to walk towards her. This was not good, and Cagalli almost fumbled with the door handle in her haste to open it.
Athrun stopped a foot away, eyeing her hands amusedly before looking up to her face. "Don't I get a 'hi' in return?"
"Hi." She kept her gaze on the door.
"How about an apology?"
"Sor— Are you kidding me?" she burst out, looking askance at Athrun.
"What you did last time, that wasn't very nice."
Cagalli blushed beet red at the memory of last time, and she vaguely wondered how he could refer to it with a straight face. That should have been a very embarrassing memory for him, but he seemed pretty unaffected right now. How does he do that?
Shoveling his hands deep in his pockets, he leant on the red Justice and surveyed the almost empty parking lot. His own Maserati was parked near the bench he had been occupying, its silver finish reflecting the light from the nearby lamppost. "I have a proposal," he began, glancing at Cagalli at the corner of his eye.
"And I'm supposed to be interested because…?" Cagalli seemed to have re-gained enough of her composure to speak caustically again.
He ignored her sarcasm and continued as if she hadn't spoken, "I'm normally up at PLANT and only here on Earth occasionally for business. This time isn't any different. I'll be here only for a month to see to a merging, a month and a half if it's going to be extended again."
Sounding incredulous, Cagalli interrupted, almost certain about what vagary Athrun was trying to play, "Don't tell me this will lead to one of those kinds of proposal! This is the Cosmic Era! Nobody does that anymore! This is like some bad movie gone worse!"
Athrun actually laughed. "I'm thinking more along the lines of dating. Don't draw your own conclusions, Cagalli. I did tell you to go on a date with me. I'm just making the premises clearer."
It was unthinkable how different it felt when it was him saying her name. It was almost rolling off his tongue with a promise of some unknown seduction that seemed planned and, at the same time, casual. How the fuck does he do that?
Fighting the blush her own thoughts brought, she crossed her arms in front of her. "Why are you so interested anyway?"
"Because you are, too."
"I'm not!"
Athrun shrugged. "All right. Let's say you aren't. Accompany me as a friend then."
"We're not friends."
Athrun finally pushed himself off the side of the car and stood directly in front of her. "Of course. Because friends don't sleep with each other."
"We don't sleep with each other. We had sex. It was a one-time thing." Cagalli rolled her eyes. "And you're going around in circles."
"Goes to show that you have to agree and have sex with me for the duration of my stay in Orb."
Cagalli was stunned for a heartbeat. "If that made any sense, the logic just flew over my head and I completely missed it."
"Is that a yes or a yes?"
"Are you drunk?"
"So it's a yes then?"
"No."
"That's not one of the choices."
"Why are you so interested anyway?" she asked again.
"Why are you so against it anyway?"
She'd asked herself that one too many times, and until now, she was no where close to reaching a sufficient answer. Athrun Zala was a decent man who had decent looks and a decent sense of humor, not to mention a decent way in bed. So, really, why was she against his idea? Aside from the fact that their first meeting was supposedly a one-night stand, her disagreement was quite untenable.
"Because we're friends," Cagalli replied, contradicting herself.
"We're not friends."
"Why are we having this conversation?"
"Because I've been foolish not to have started with this," then he kissed her, effectively ending their roundabout discussion.
Cagalli should shove him hard. Cagalli should knee him and rob him of the chance of ever having kids. Cagalli should be mad at his audacity. Cagalli really should be a lot of things at the moment, but if she'd be truthful to herself, kissing Athrun was not as bad, or as disgusting, or as horrendous, as she made it out to be. And as the tiring events of the day seeped to her body, his gentle ministrations almost seemed like a balm that soothed even the aching soles of her feet.
Athrun cupped the back of her neck to gain better access to her mouth, and when he moved in impossibly closer, it became hard to think. Before she knew it, she was responding with the careless abandon of a woman interested because he was making it really difficult for her to respond otherwise.
When a silent moan escaped her throat, Athrun nuzzled her ear, and she could almost feel the languid smile that was making its way fast across his lips.
"Are we still friends?" he breathed in her ear, the fingers of his right hand tugging playfully at her hair while his left hand traced an invisible map across her flat stomach.
"Sto-stop kissing. I-I can't think…"
Athrun softly chuckled. "A compliment, thank you."
Gaining her bearings, Cagalli took a deep breath and extricated herself from Athrun, but not after scoffing, just to oppose his sentiments. "You know what, this won't work." When he cocked his head to the side, almost like a silent inquiry, she grimaced at him. "Just…believe me, this won't work!"
"Usually, this much sexual tension leads to a lot of things. Good things."
"There's no sexual tension. You really are annoying."
Athrun grinned. "Where have I heard that before?"
Cagalli blushed on cue. She didn't need to be reminded of that time in his apartment, not when it was going to be used against her now since that had been a victory for her then.
"Have you always been this cocky, Zala?" Cagalli crossed her arms in front of her. "'I've been foolish not to have started with this.' Now that I think about it, if you were already like this even before — you know, this confident — you won't come up with a line like that. That's so corny!"
Seeing her disbelieving expression, he realized he'd over done it.
The telltale signs of embarrassment crept up his face, and Cagalli looked positively delighted to have something over him. "You're such a school boy. No wonder you're single."
"You shouldn't be talking, Mary Poppins," he immediately replied, relieved to have her be the one blushing again.
Just when she thought Yzak was the last one who'd take a jab at her outfit the last time they were all together, Athrun decided to remind her that she'd been like a misplaced Disney character that day.
Cagalli instantly glared. "We're really never gonna be friends, you friggin' jerk!" She jerked open her car door and eased right in before slamming it shut. Backing out of her parking space and driving away from Athrun, the last she saw of him was his amused grin.
Cagalli sped through the empty wide road right after she got out of the parking lot. I've been foolish not to have started with this. Screw her earlier statement — the way he delivered it really was sexy, especially when he followed it up with a kiss. But, of course, she'd never tell him that. He had an over-inflated head as it was and needn't further encouragement.
o-o
Athrun ran a tired hand through his hair, only to have the wind mess it up again. He did it all right, pissed her off like usual, but he just couldn't help himself — she made the cutest expressions when mad — and because of that, he made her even more averse to him. Sometimes, he thought things were better off for the two of them if he just learned to avoid pushing her buttons. Either that or they shouldn't have met again after that night at the Freedom Metropolis.
Athrun breathed in deep and started towards his own car. Maybe Lacus and Kira were right — he needed to get himself a girlfriend, one whom he could invest feelings on. But he was in Orb, and trying to look for girlfriends in faraway places wasn't a very good idea, especially since he doubted he was good at long-distance relationships. Of course, it wasn't like he desired that much needed girlfriend to be Cagalli, but he was interested in her, and even if she seemed to be blocking all his advances, he wasn't that dense not to see that, somehow, she was interested, too.
He just needed to make her realize that.
Or he could remain the good boy that Dearka liked to refer to him as while he was in Orb, but that would be awfully boring.
Revving up his Maserati, he decided he didn't like being bored, so maybe he would be friends with Cagalli instead, and then he'd see where everything would lead. By the look of things, it wouldn't be long until Cagalli herself chucked friendship for something else.
Athrun turned on his radio, and, funnily enough, the station he was apparently tuned in was playing Bohemian Rhapsody.
xxxxx
Clarification/s:
Just in case you forgot already, the significance of BohemianRhapsody is in Chapter 6, XI: The One With The Drunken Singing
A/N:
I was in a hurry to proofread so…if you see typos, point them out. Thanks!