"Ugh!" Cold drops of rain slid inside Marron's collar as she struggled with two sopping wet bags of groceries and the apartment building door. "The first day off I get in two weeks, and it rains hard enough to launch Noah's Ark!" she grumbled.
  Thunder laughed from above as she finally managed to swing the door open with her foot. Marron stopped before the old elevator and stared at the button, then at the groceries, at the button, then back again at the groceries filling her arms. A huge sweatdrops appeared on her heard. "This is not my day.." she moaned inwardly.
  Just as she was preparing to do an acrobatic balancing act with the groceries, a large hand came over her shoulder and pressed the button. "I'll get that," added a distinctly male voice.
  "Thank you," Marron stuttred, glancing over her shoulder at the recipient of her appreciation.

  There stood the epitome of the debonair businessman --- tall, handsome in a navy tailored suit, designer tie and with a strong scent of a men's cologn. A modern day prince, she thought as she took a second glance...but this time she saw the man clearly.

"TRUNKS?"

"Hello, Marron." he smiled pleasingly.

   Marron's eyes were blinking in disbelief. She was about to say something but the chime of the arriving elevator pulled Marron's head back around. Back to reality, if she thinks she is, she chided herself, shaking her head at her suprised thought.
  Trunks stepped into the small space behind her. "What floor would you like?" he asked with a friendly smile. Now that something she never seen before!
  "Seven,  please."  She couldn't help the smile that came easily to her lips. It's Trunks. It's really Trunks. she said happily in her mind. She haven't seen him...like for how many years already? Four? Five? She hardly remember.. but it was already a long time ago. Sometime around after Gokou's death.  The last time she heard about him was from his sister, that he moved away for business. And now he's here... she didn't know WHY, but for some reason, she was happy to meet her close friend once again...

  And WOW he looked so good! 

  Marron was about to strick a conversation with him but stopped as he stepped back againts the wall and saw the large bouquet of pink roses. Isn't that the way it goes, she moaned inwardly. A role of thunder emphasized her disgruntled sigh. Here stands someone else's Prince Charming!

 Oh wait, why do I have to feel awful?! Jealouse? That's crazy. So he's here to give someone a bouquet of roses..and the worst part is it's my favourite color: P I N K ! She closed her eyes. Cool down Marron........chil! He's only here to pay someone a very special visit! That is all! It's not like I'm jealouse or anything..heh, that will be silly.....and besides, wasn't he's  that little runt who still owes you one Barbie doll he broke 20 years ago?

Marron smiled at the thought then she was interuppted by his soft low tone. "It's been a long time...Marron."
She looked at him and back to her groceries. "Yeah...." she smiled sweetly. "So how have you been doing?"

"Pretty good." he craddled the bouquet in his arm while his other hand in his pocket. "Just got back from far west yesterday morning." he sighed then looked down at her.  "I really missed everyone here..."
"Yah, well, I'm sure all your friends and family here missed you too..."
Trunks blinked. "Don't you,Marron?"
She laughed. "Trunks, we hardly talked to each other! The only time we spent times together was when we were kids. When my dad usually took me to the Son's to play with Goten and you were always there too. I live in the middle of nowhere on a floating island while you...you're here on the mainland! We don't see each other much except when one of our families made a reunion. Not only that, for the past few years, you gone for a long quest with Gouku-jiisan and Pan-chan to search the Dragonballs! All I could do was....." she paused. " ..all I could do was..support you quietly from behind.."
 
Marron stood silenced until she realized she haven't answer his question yet. She looked at him with a sweet, pleasing smile, " And yes Trunks...I do missed you," she balanced the groceries before it slips down her arm, then looked back at him. "...badly."

Trunks rose his eyebrows and her eyes got widened. She looked away in embarassents, and if she could, she wanted to hide her redened face in the brown bag. Kami-sama! Did I say that??? How humiliating!!! That's it! No more Soap Operas starting from tomorrow!!

 It wasn't really hidden from Trunks. He smiled to himself as he stared down at Marron who was still blushing like a little school girl. Marron avoided the royal-blue gaze of the prince by focusing her attention on the bags of wet groceries in her arms.

  The bell chiming for the third floor brought to mind Mrs. Sendoh in 307. The kind old lady was just itching to fix Marron up with her "nice boy". Then there was Sumi, who lived down the hall, who was even worse. She had lost count of the number of times she'd mentioned her "handsome and rich" UNCLE! 25 years old than her! Marron rolled her eyes to the ceiling. Thank goodness Sumi had a new baby to keep her busy.
  But the worst of all, was coming out from a teenager , the girl who  just started college last year.
 
 

Bra-chan.
 
 
 

She and Bra were very close. Almost like sisters. But for the past few months, Bra had been bothering her with one of her match-making games. Every now and then, she would say something nice about her brother, Trunks! She's been bragging about him how he changed lately....then how "stable" he was.... he's still single... yadda-yadda-yadda!

Come on! Trunks?? You mean this guy RIGHT HERE?? She glanced over at the pink roses he's carrying and didn't even notice there was a disapointed look on her face. She released a sigh. Well, sorry to hurt you, Bra-chan. But he's taken!

Her thoughts were abruptly cut off when everything went black and the elevator came to a jolting stop.

"Oh,no," she gasped as one of the bags slipped from her arms and landed with an audible crack on the elevator floor.

"It's okey..." a deep, calm voice beside her said. "The power just went out because of the storm. It will be back on in a minute or two."

"Not with my luck," Marron groaned.

"I'm sure it won't last long. There is probably even a security light that will come on in a moment." A hand came from the darkness to rest on her shoulder. "You don't have to worry, I'm right here."

  Trunks' sudden touch caused a tremor to go through Marron. Oh to be the damsel in distress just once, she thought wistfully as the scent of roses drifted to her.
 
 "There's nothing to fear," he continued on in a soothing tone. "Sooner or later someone will find us. "We'll be out of here before you know it."

Wait a minute! Marron suddenly thought as she digested his words. He really does think I'm in distress! Of all the crazy things....

"Excuse me, Prince-Charming---" the words were out before she could stop herself. In the long pause that followed, Marron nervously shifted the bag of groceries remaining in her arms. "I heard your groan as the lights went out," he finally offered with a chuckle. Trying to hide her embarassment, she decided to adopt his humorous attitude.

"I dropped the bag with the eggs in it," Marron said, tapping the bag on the floor with her foot for emphasis.

His chuckle turned to a deep, rich laugh. "Well, I guess it was pretty chauvinistic to me to assume you were frightened."
"I don't know that I would call it chauvinistic," Marron replied.
"Oh, what would you call it?" she was sure she heard a good-natured challenge in his words.

Marron's pause was more to suppress a rather childlike giggle than for a dramatic effect. "How about chivalrous?"

  Their combined laughter was interuppted by sudden brightness and the jolting motion of the now moving elevator. If not for Trunks' hand on her shoulder, Marron would have fallen. "Thank you," she said breathlessly when she saw the laughter still laughing in his eyes

Too soon for Marron, the elevator came to a more subdued stop. Casually reaching down, Trunks, or the prince ^_^, picked up the bag of groceries from the floor and followed her out of the elevator. He carefully secured the bag in her arms as the doors closed behind.

"Thanks, but I'm afraid you're going to have to wait for another elevator now," Marron said. "And they take forever in this building."

"Actually, this is my stop."

Marron's eyebrows rose in surprise.

He moved closer and stood in front of her with the bouquet of flowers and a boyish grin. "Bra told me you live here."

Marron stared at him in amazement. She didn't!

She could feel her face was burning, but she wasn't alone. Trunks watched her carefully as she was struggling balancing the groceries bags. Somehow it was funny to look at. His cold blue eyes met with hers. Staring at her deeply, then a smile formed across his face. Marron nearly dropped her groceries again out of sheer astonishment.

Lifting one of the pink roses from the bouquet, he gently placed it inside one bag. "For the fair maiden," he said, giving her a wink.

Marron was officially stunned and blushed more furiously. Trunks patiently waited for her to speak up. It was after a while until she finally had her mind back. She smiled sheepishly at him, "So, uh, y-you wanna come in and have a hot cocoa?"

"Of course.." he gave her another handsome smile.

  Marron opened the door to her apartment and stepped in together with her unexpected guest. As she closed the door behind her, she could only shook her head in utter delight, smiling to herself.

Well, my matchmaking friend, she thought, your prince of a brother's not just stable,..
 

...he's charming.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

~Owari