All Over You

Chapter 16

At first, it had been a game.

A fun little game.

And for what? To prove to herself she was no longer an awkward tween with a crush on her older brother's best friend?

To prove that tiny insecure voice at the back of her mind wrong?

That night at the lake, it had never occurred to her that this is where that path would take her. She'd fancied herself a cat toying with a mouse, foolishly believing herself to be impervious to him. That she'd be able to enjoy the bounty of his body and walk away unscathed. But he'd managed to cleave through her defenses.

The irony.

She'd been on the brink of handing every pathetic piece of herself to him on a platter when reality showed up in the form of a classically beautiful brunette whose entire wardrobe was seemingly, inexplicably composed of only yellow to deal the killing blow to the life of ignorant bliss she'd been existing in for months.

It turns out she'd been the fucking mouse all along.

Bura pulled her scarf more securely around her neck as she and Marron made her way past the line of shops.

"Wanna stop and get some snacks? Even after that huge lunch, I'm still starving." Marron gestured to a mini-mart. "Then if you're done shopping, we can head back to my parents' place and you can watch me struggle to put the crib together."

Krillin and Eighteen decided to rent out a place in the city so Marron could be closer to her doctors.

Bura had wanted to do nothing more than mope at home, but Marron refused to let her. She was grateful for the company, aside from the not-so-subtle and not-so-infrequent nudges from the blonde to return Goten's calls.

To what end? So he could tell her what she already knew? No, thank you.

"Sure, why not?" Bulla said with a sigh as she followed Marron into the mini-mart. The five pairs of Louboutin shoes in her shopping bag had done nothing to lift her spirits. Perhaps she would fare better with mass quantities of sugar and high-fructose corn syrup.

She was so angry at herself, she knew, deep in her gut, that things couldn't truly be finished between Goten and Paris. He'd just been biding his time with her until she came back to him and he could finally resume his real life with the woman he was meant to spend it with.

The woman he had years of history with, whom he returned to again and again.

The woman he didn't have to sneak around with.

She could just picture the two of them, cooking dinner together, snuggling on the couch under her favorite beige blanket among other, more strenuous activities. A tendril of misery took root in her chest, winding around her heart, constricting tighter and tighter, threatening to crush her in its grip.

She'd been walking around in a haze ever since that day.

He'd bombarded her with a slew of voicemails and text messages, but she couldn't bring herself to check any of them.

Bura loaded up her little basket with various snack cakes, cookies, and a jumbo bag of potato chips.

His suffocating presence was everywhere she looked, in the gravity room where this madness had all started, in her lab... and on the shelf right in front of her face.

Bura froze.

"Oh Kami...what is that?" Marron gasped.

On the cover of the infamous gossip rag were Goten and Marron, looking for all the world distinctly, coupley.

Bulla dropped her basket with a clatter, snatching a copy of the Zeni Star from the shelf, taking in the familiar faces on the glossy cover. She flipped through the pages until she found the article that was likely the driving force behind the sales of this issue.

"I ran into Goten while I was shopping the other day... what does the article say? Do I want to know?" The blonde edged closer, peering over Bura's shoulder.

'June 17th of this year, Capsule Corp CEO Trunks Briefs raised eyebrows when he abruptly left his Fiancée (Marron Chestnut) the night before before the couple's long-awaited wedding, he reportedly took one of the company's spacecraft prototypes and disappeared, leaving friends and family alike, alarmed and confused.

A SECRET AFFAIR?

Since that day new information has come out, shedding light on the truth behind his departure. Ms. Chestnut has kept out of the public eye for the better part of the last year until recently she was spotted getting cozy at a cafe with none other than her ex-fiancée's best friend, Son Goten (Martial Arts Instructor employed by Satan City Dojo Inc.) Ms. Chestnut was sporting an obvious baby bump.

COULD HE BE THE FATHER?

Several eyewitness accounts state that the pair were spotted in an argument outside a local bar that escalated into a physical brawl mere hours before Mr. Briefs' disappearance, leading insiders to believe that a secret affair is what drove a wedge between the Capsule Corp CEO and Ms. Chestnut.'

"'Insiders'. Un-fucking-believable." Marron scoffed, as Bura grabbed every last copy on the shelf with every intention of buying and burning them, when a chiming sound from her coat pocket caught her attention.

She shoved the magazines into her discarded basket, inadvertently smooshing some of her cakes. Bura lifted the phone to her ear as they made their way to the check-out line. "Bura Briefs speaking."

"Ms. Briefs, I'm so sorry to bother you, but I didn't know who else to call. I would've called Ms. Marron, but it didn't seem appropriate. I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"Who's that?" Marron asked, tossing a few candy bars into the basket.

"Your- er-" Bura stumbled over the right words to say, "Trunks' housekeeper."

Marron nodded, running a hand over her swollen belly absently.

"Not at all. How can I help you?" Bura asked as she sat her basket on the counter.

"I went to Mr. Briefs' apartment to do the weekly cleaning and..." The woman sounded genuinely alarmed.

Bura was quiet for several beats before finally giving the woman a verbal nudge. "And?"

"I think there was a break-in."