Bulma was exhausted physically but also on an emotional level. The finality of her separation with Yamcha had been dramatic and was still weighing on her heart.

She had been working tirelessly on Vegeta's gravity room upgrade the past two days and made a grave mistake on the voice command programming, no doubt because of her recent state of mind and a lack of mental clarity due to sleep deprivation.

The fact that Vegeta had given her some encouragement to move on with her life and then saved her life from the gravity mistake had profoundly moved her. However, when he said that she meant nothing to him, her positive feelings about it were abruptly shattered.

As Bulma had completed the gravity room upgrade, she quickly broke down in tears despite her best efforts to keep her emotions in check. Her feelings of sadness and self-pity she felt right after her breakup with Yamcha had returned. 'Why must every man in my life have to be such a jerk!' She thought, wiping away her stray tears.

Bulma barely finished the upgrade in time before she hurriedly packed up her tools before Vegeta returned.

She needed a break from her work and her surroundings. She made the decision to take a little drive in her car. 'No, I will take a trip,' she thought. She needed to get away.

She packed her overnight bag and her capsules and quickly made her way to the lab where she told her father she was going to be gone on a trip the rest of the week. She didn't want to tell her mother because she would ask too many questions once she noticed she had clearly been crying.

Bulma tossed her things into the backseat of her car and drove off away from Capsule Corp.

The next morning…

"Vegeta, do you know where Bulma went, honey?" Panchy said while serving Vegeta breakfast. "She informed my husband last night that she was taking a trip, but she left in a rush, and he said she seemed a bit frazzled. I hope she doesn't return to Yamcha. I'm worried she might."

"I do not know." Said Vegeta without any sign of concern.

"You know. She told me how you rescued her in the gravity chamber yesterday. Oh, she was so thankful! And I rarely see that sparkle in her eye when she told me all about it. She really enjoys you being around dear."

Vegeta found himself briefly having thoughts of regret about his cutting words to the woman. There he realized it again, he felt she was somehow affecting him. Her familiarity and misguided endearment with him.

Two weeks later…

Bulma returned home to Capsule corp. She arrived home late at night and Vegeta could sense her energy signal as she made her way to her room for the evening.

The next day, while Vegeta was eating in the house, Bulma finally came downstairs around noon. Looking like she had recently woken, hair wet from the shower and still wearing her pink bath robe."

"Hi, Vegeta" Bulma said without looking at him as she prepared her coffee.

"Were have you been, Woman?"

Bulma didn't know if it was truly a question or a complaint, but she answered, nonetheless.

"I flew around. Visited a friend. Collected a couple dragon balls. Did some shopping."

After observing a very quiet Bulma for a few minutes while she prepared coffee and toast, It was not lost on Vegeta that she was avoiding eye contact and acting distant. Usually, she would have verbally lashed out at him or talked his head off by this point. She was not acting like her normal boisterous self.

"How is the gravity" Bulma asked as she stopped before turning the corner to leave.

"It's fine." Vegeta said.

"Good." Bulma said before quietly heading up back to her room.

Vegeta and Bulma didn't cross paths again much over the next few weeks. Vegeta had noticed that Bulma continued to act withdrawn. It was a drastic change from what he had come to know of the woman.

One afternoon, Vegeta informed Bulma that the power to the control console was damaged by his ki blast and he needed her to repair it.

"Why did you blast it?" Bulma asked with a bitter tone.

"Tsk— I barely hit it, and the whole system fails. Don't blame me for your shoddy hardware designs woman" Vegeta said somewhat playfully.

Bulma looked at Vegeta in shock, taking offense to what he said, feeling still too tender emotionally to understand he was joking as he normally would.

"Vegeta… do you hate me?" Bulma said looking at the ground despondently. "If so, simply let me know, and I'll have my father assist you going forward."

"What are you talking about woman?" Vegeta said looking at her in confusion.

"Do I need to repeat myself?!" Bulma said turning to him and raising her voice.

"Don't be naïve." Vegeta said calmly.

"Naïve? And what do you mean by that?! Oh, I suppose you intend to insult me instead of answering my question?! Let me tell you something, I don't deserve to be… I WON'T be mistreated because you are heartless and uncaring. You can take your arrogant, maniac, Prince of Saiyans ass back to space if you have a problem with that for all I—!"

Bulma was cut off from her tirade as Vegeta dragged her by her arm and pinned her against the wall quicker than she knew what was happening.

"Hey, watch it! Get off me!" Bulma yelled as she struggled against him. His strong gloved hands holding her arms and body in place.

"Shut up! Be quite you insolent woman! How dare you lecture me about how you feel and accuse me mistreating you. You ask me whether I hate you, do you even understand what it is like to feel true hatred!?"

Bulma swallowed hard as Vegeta gave her a severe glare with his dark eyes. She was too intimidated to say another word at that point.

"As a child," Vegeta continued, "my planet was destroyed. I was given a forced life of servitude when I was meant to rule my own kingdom. My destiny... my life was tossed aside like garbage! Don't speak to me about hatred when you know nothing about it. Don't speak to me about mistreatment when you have lived a life of comfort and peace. You know nothing about such things, brat!"

Bulma stayed silent, fear coursing through her because of Vegeta's intensity and anger.

Vegeta saw that she was scared and starting to tremble at that point and he suddenly realized his proximity to the woman. He breathed in sharply while resting his head against the wall next to her.

After a moment, Bulma sensed that Vegeta's resolve to intimidate her crumbled as his hold on her softened into what felt more like an embrace and he sighed in defeated frustration.

"Do you… ever feel lonely. Here?" Bulma said quietly.

"What?" He asked disarmed by her question.

Vegeta pushed back off the wall, still holding Bulma still. He wanted to push her away and flee, but his body told him he wanted this feeling of closeness for a little while longer. Bulma gazed at his tender lips, then at his eyes, which were dancing with confusion and curiosity. He detested the expectant expression in her eyes.

"It is no concern of yours how I feel." Vegeta said.

"I know I do," Bulma said as she leaned her head forward to rest on his chest.

Vegeta breathed in another sigh of frustration lightly resting the side of his face against her hair and breathing in slowly to calm himself. "Woman, you are becoming a distraction to me." He quietly admitted.

And that is something I don't need."

In another moment, Vegeta was gone, leaving Bulma alone.

Later that week...

After Bulma fixed the damaged console, Vegeta disappeared in the spaceship, but he didn't leave earth. Bulma could track the ship a few hundred miles away in a remote area.

It was evident to Bulma that their last interaction had rattled Vegeta. Bulma hated the idea that he may be embarrassed by his admission that she was a distraction.

'First I mean nothing, and then I'm a distraction. What does he mean?' Bulma wondered if he was as he distracted just because she pestered him sometimes, or was it something more? If he didn't care about her in the slightest, then why did they share such a tender moment when Vegeta let his guard down? He seemed to enjoy her closeness before he stormed off.

Bulma realized she had grown to crave the idea of any kind of affection from him. She wanted him to hold her. She wanted to show him what it means to have a friend, because he seemed so lonely...

After a few days of thinking about what happened, Bulma pushed all blossoming romantic notions aside, realizing she was being ridiculous for entertaining something so crazy, and she made up her mind that she wanted to apologize to Vegeta for her irrational behavior that goaded him to react in anger.

Bulma didn't want to be a distraction; she knew it was literally a matter of life and death for both the people of the planet and Vegeta if he was not able to prepare sufficiently for the androids. It scared her to think that he may be killed. She didn't want to lose him. She cared for him.