Chapter 21

That night in his rooms, Vegeta received a visit from an unexpected guest. As he was just about to hop into bed, he heard a knocking on his door.

Glancing at the clock on his bedside table, Vegeta saw it was around 1:30 in the morning. He was always a late sleeper as he spent the nights training in the gravity chamber.

"Who could be visiting me so late?" Vegeta thought as he made his way to the door.

Opening the door, he caught sight of his mother standing impatiently with her arms crossed.

"Took you long enough" she said as she pushed past him into his room and making herself comfortable on the couch.

"Ughhh what do you want mother? I was just about to turn in for the night" he said grumbling as he took a seat opposite her.

"Hmph well a few minutes of lost sleep won't kill you Vegeta. I have some important things I want to discuss with you" she said looking at him sternly.

"Uh oh" Vegeta thought. That look on her face did not bode well for him.

"Go on then" he said waving his hand at her, trying to mask his nervousness.

"Don't you take that tone with me boy. I'm very disappointed in you right now" she said crossing her arms across her chest, her eyebrows furrowing sternly as she glared at him.

"What? What did I do now" he said exasperated, running a hand over his face in frustration.

"Just what do you think you're doing with Aubrey? I see you staring at her like she is a piece of meat. How dare you do this to Bulma?" she said waving her finger at him.

"I haven't done anything with her mother" Vegeta said tiredly.

"No, maybe not yet. But I can see that look in your eye when you look at her. I thought I raised you better boy" the queen said angrily.

"Ughh you don't know everything mother. I'm doing what is necessary" Vegeta said shaking his head.

"Oh no you don't! Can't you see what you're doing to Bulma? I can see the sadness enter her as soon as you start staring at that Aubrey woman"

"I'm sure you must be mistaken mother. Bulma knows what I'm doing. She understands more than you think" Vegeta said trying not to reveal too much of his and Bulma's plan.

"I don't know what that means boy, but I thought I raised you better than to be a cheating bastard" the Queen said angrily. "I don't like what I'm seeing right now. I have known Bulma for most of her life and I can read her face as well as yours. She is not happy".

"Ugggh stop meddling in this. Bulma will be grateful for what I am doing now" Vegeta said staring to feel his anger rising.

How dare his mother lecture him on this? He was doing all of this to try to protect Bulma. She shouldn't be getting involved in things she didn't understand.

"You better straighten yourself up Vegeta. Go talk to Bulma, she needs to understand that you are on her side. Her future queen training is not easy. Goodness knows what will happen if she feels like she is all alone in this. You have to be there to support her" the queen said sternly staring at him right in the eyes. "I know exactly how she feels boy. I went through the same training she is going through now. If your father wasn't there to support me every step of the way, I don't think I would still be here today."

Rising up from the couch, she gave him one last glare as she made her way to the door.

Just as she was about to leave, the queen stopped at the door and turned around to give him one last warning.

"Don't make me get involved in this Vegeta. If you continue to behave this way, I will protect Bulma even if you choose to abandon her."

At that she walked out the door, leaving Vegeta to his spinning thoughts.

Vegeta lay awake in his bed, staring at his ceiling deep in thought.

How dare his mother think he would ever abandon Bulma. What he was doing was the complete opposite! He was trying to find mate so that she wouldn't have to be stuck with him and she would be free to pursue her dreams.

Ughhhh meddling woman.

But one thing she did say was troubling him. His mother mentioned that Bulma was not happy with him taking an interest in Aubrey. Could that be true? His heart did a strange skip at the thought.

He did know that they had spent some moments together, like the kiss on the balcony and on her couch the other night. In all of those exchanges, Bulma had responded most enthusiastically as if she was enjoying their time together.

But it must be just a physical attraction right? There was no way Bulma wanted to be with him in the long term right? She had never really given him any indication that she was interested in him more than the physical level. Well nothing that he could see anyways.

She had her goals and dreams to pursue. In fact this whole scheme was cooked up by him. Yes she agreed to be part of his plan, but that was more out of friendship than anything else.

Right?

Vegeta was just really confused at this point. Not knowing what he should be doing next.

Maybe he should talk to the woman as his mother suggested. It might help to clear up the situation finally.

Deciding on that he nodded to himself, happy that at least he had some sort of plan. Turning around on his bed, he tried to get some sleep unsure of what awaited him tomorrow.

Bulma was behaving really strangely.

At breakfast that morning, she had gobbled down her toast so fast that she was only in the dining hall for less than five minutes before she hurried off. Vegeta didn't even get a chance to see her properly let alone talk to her.

The rest of the day was no better. Every meeting they had to attend together, Bulma refused to meet his eyes. She was always looking somewhere else even though he stood right next her with his tail wrapped around her waist.

He even addressed her directly and all she did was answer him as briefly as she could before looking away again.

This weird behaviour was really throwing him off. He didn't like how she was ignoring him. He was starting to miss their interactions together and her obvious avoidance of him was making something roar inside of him.

Vegeta even tried knocking on her door that night. She didn't answer, but he could hear some soft shuffling on the other side of the door.

Why was she ignoring him? How could she treat the Prince of all saiyans like this?!

Stomping off to his room he fumed.

Well whatever. If Bulma didn't want to talk to him, so be it. He'll just pursue Aubrey and Bulma will just have to deal with the consequences.

A few days had gone by since Vegeta had tried to make contact with Bulma. Since then, Bulma was still behaving in her strange ways and completely avoiding him whenever she could get the chance.

Vegeta, on the other hand, was quite busy with his own plans. His crowning ceremony was fast approaching with only one month left to go. He had to make a move on Aubrey so he and Bulma could break off their arrangement in time.

As Vegeta thought about it, the whole situation was a lot more complicated than he had initially thought. Somehow he would have to convince Aubrey that he and Bulma were pretending the entire time and that she would be his true mate. That was also under the assumption that Aubrey even liked him enough to be with him.

Over the past few days, Vegeta had tried to engage in conversation with her whenever he got a chance. At the dining table during meals, after meetings or even randomly when he saw her in the hallways. Each conversation was getting slightly better although that awkward air still hung around them. It definitely wasn't as free flowing conversation he had with Bulma, but it was definitely tolerable.

Whether she felt more for him or any sense of attraction was another matter though. Vegeta hadn't sensed anything from her during his interactions with her. But to be honest, he was not experienced enough in reading signs as to whether woman were attracted to him or not. Most of the woman he had met, like Tomara and her gang, were always obvious in their attraction and just threw themselves at him.

He would just have to take a chance with her and see where it led him.

He was pondering for a while on how to initiate an interaction with Aubrey that could possibly lead to something more, when the opportunity presented itself in the training rooms that night.

Vegeta was doing his usual kata in the training rooms that night. His body moving of its own accord as he practiced his stances he had done thousands of times over. He had the gravity turned up to 100Gs as he decided to just do something lighter for today.

Suddenly he heard the doors to the training room open and felt the gravity automatically shut off. Bulma had insisted on installing a safety switch on the training rooms doors when the gravity was turned up in case someone (most likely her) accidentally walked in and got squished to death.

Vegeta was not used to anyone walking in on him since the group of annoying saiyan females had left. It was also closing in on midnight and most of the palace had gone to sleep for the night.

Curious as to who could be interrupting his training, he turned around and stared at the door. Aubrey was standing, decked out in her training gear frozen in place.

"Sorry your highness. I didn't realise this room was occupied. I'll just….uh….go" she said blushing slightly as she realised he was only in his training shorts with his muscular frame exposed.

"Perfect timing" Vegeta thought to himself as a plan started forming in his mind.

"No, not a problem at all. I was just thinking of where I could find a sparring partner this late at night" he said signalling her to come join him in the room.

"Uh…sure" she said nervously making her way closer to him.

"Have you ever trained with increased gravity before?" Vegeta asked her turning towards the gravity console in the centre of the room.

"Honestly this is my first time using the palace facilities. Increased gravity sounds intriguing" Aubrey said her eyes sparkling at the possibility of enhanced training methods.

"Oh yes, Bulma has created these gravity chambers for every training room in the palace. The possibilities for strength training are endless"

At his mention of Bulma, he saw her stiffen slightly.

"Whoops not good to mention your fake mate to your intended true mate. Bad timing Vegeta" Vegeta thought mentally kicking himself.

"But never mind that. Want to give it a try?" Vegeta said to her trying to change the topic.

"Yes of course!" She said getting into a battle stance.

"Okay I'll put it at 10Gs for now so you can get used to how it works" Vegeta said fiddling with the console.

Once the gravity was set, a hum started in the room and Vegeta felt the slight pressure on his body.

"Wow! This is incredible! I can feel the pressure all over me" Aubrey said her ki flaring slightly to try to accommodate the increased gravity.

"Alright then let's go"

Vegeta got into a battle stance of his own and then charged at her. She was good, he was not going to lie, especially considering this was her first time with enhanced gravity.

They flew across the room throwing punches and kicks at each other. Aubrey even managed to land a kick on Vegeta, hitting him square in the stomach. He responded by throwing a punch and hitting her on her arm, which she threw out to block him.

Vegeta flew up quickly and tried to launch a ki blast at her, but she predicted this and quickly appeared in front of him kicking him in the side to stop him for launching his attack. Vegeta used the opportunity to grab her by the waist and slam them into the ground below.

Vegeta on top of her, she stared up at him and tried to twist her side to roll him off of her. She was not used to the gravity though and he was much stronger than her, so she didn't manage to move him an inch.

"Does this mean I win?" Vegeta huffed smirking at her.

"I'll call it a draw" she said smiling back up at him.

They both stayed in that position, panting slightly from the workout they just had. Aubrey seemed to realise the compromising position they were in, with Vegeta half naked in his training gear, lying across her body and pinning her to the ground. She blushed slightly and stared into his eyes.

Vegeta could not tell what the woman below him was thinking, but he caught the blush on her cheeks and a hunger in her eyes as she stared up at him. Just then her eyes moved to gaze on his lips and in that moment all his doubts were put to rest.

She was attracted to him.

"This is it. This is my chance" Vegeta thought staring back at her.

Moving suddenly, Vegeta crashed his lips to hers. She made a surprised sound at the sudden contact, but soon realised what was happening and wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him closer.

Vegeta responded by gripping her waist more tightly and opening his mouth against hers.

At the touch of their tongues, he felt her moan into his mouth.

But Vegeta had only one thought running through his head.

This is wrong.

So wrong.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong!

Why weren't her arms thin and slender, as if they did nothing more than work in a lab the whole day? Why did her hair not smell of strawberries and remind him of every good experience he had in his life? Why were her eyes not blue and shining matching the blueness of her hair? Why did she not taste of home and give him a feeling like the only place he belonged was in her arms?

Why was she not Bulma?

And at that moment, when they were lying there kissing on the floor, Vegeta realised what he really wanted.

I want Bulma.

And only Bulma.

Vegeta felt Aubrey, moving her tongue against his own and moaning into his mouth.

Suddenly he knew what he had to do. In the past few months he never had as much clarity in his mind as he did now.

He needed to go to Bulma.

Pulling away suddenly from her. Vegeta rolled of her and stood up. Aubrey was still in shock, lying in the floor and staring dazedly up at him.

"Sorry woman. This was a mistake. Forget this ever happened and don't tell a soul or I'll make sure it's the last thing you ever say" Vegeta said at her before storming out of the gravity chamber and slamming the door behind him.

"Ugggggh this is why it's so much better to live on the battlefield. Much less drama" Aubrey thought to herself, shaking her head and making her way to the gravity console to resume her training.