That was just the way it was in the life of Lacus. She was twenty two years old and forced into a loveless marriage that made her anything but happy. The bruise on her arm was proof enough of that.
"Why does it have to be like this?" she asked herself while flinching when she accidentally tied it too tight. "Sooner or later I won't be able to keep coming up with excuses. People are eventually going to find out," she muttered to herself thinking that she was alone.
"Well they better not!" a stern voice said which caused Lacus to grimace a bit as she turned to look at her husband of two years. Trent Peters was twenty three years old and was a very successful businessman despite his age.
All of her friends told her that it was a mistake to go out with him from the very beginning. She just wished that she'd listened to them when she still had the chance. He started out sweet and kind to her but that all changed shortly after they married. It was then that he started to get violent with her.
"Do you got that?" he asked with a sneer as a hand came out and gripped her injured arm rather tightly. "I've said this a hundred time and I'll continue saying it, no one is to know about this or it will just become much worse. Even if you went to someone like the police, they won't do anything," he said with an air of superiority around him.
Lacus just nodded her hand and kept a straight face despite how much pain her arm was in. she swore when this first started to happen that she would not give him the pleasure of seeing how much pain she was actually in.
"Good. Now hurry up, your plane leaves in an hour and a half!" he said giving her a rather rough kiss before turning and walking out of the room quietly. Lacus just knew he had a smirk on his face. She couldn't help but wonder what it was about her pain that he enjoyed so much.
Lacus sighed as she stood up and grabbed her suitcases. She'd been planning to take a vacation on her own, well not alone in the fact that he was sending someone to watch her. She just knew he only agreed with this because he'd be able to have more of his whores over.
Sadly, Lacus was stuck in the marriage. Even if she wanted to get a divorce, she couldn't. First he probably wouldn't even consider it, and second because she didn't even want to think about what he would do if she even brought up the subject. Sure, things were bad for her now. She just knew that mentioning it would be several times worse than even this.
She realized shortly after their marriage and just after the first beating that he never loved her, he saw her as a profit gain. She was the only daughter of Siegel Clyne and heir to the great fortunes of Clyne Enterprises.
"Mrs. Lacus," a gruff voice said off to the side which caused Lacus to turn and see a rather muscular looking man standing there waiting for her with an unpleasant look upon his face. He wasn't exactly what anyone would call the most trustworthy looking of people.
Lacus sighed as she grabbed her luggage. "I'm coming," Lacus said putting on a smile as she dragged the luggage out the door. Her husband didn't really care about giving her any help. Even if he did, she preferred to do things on her own.
Lacus sighed when she was seated on the pane an hour later. She was seated in first class even though she thought it wasn't necessary. Trent told her that it was because he didn't want to make himself look bad by having his wife in common seats.
'As if beating me won't look bad,' she mentally grumbled and looked towards her guardian as he sat in the seat next to her about ready to just sleep the flight off. 'Now how do I get rid of him to actually make this trip fun?' she couldn't help but ask herself.
She was in deep thought about this as the plane took off into the air. Her guardian almost immediately fell asleep. Occasionally he would mumble stuff in his sleep and Lacus paid attention incase it might give her some ideas.
It was about an hour into the flight that a stewardess came up to Lacus pushing a cart in front of her. "What can I get you Mrs.?" She asked as Lacus looked over the cart. She was hungry since she hadn't eaten that morning.
"She's on a diet so just give her a salad," the big man said startling the two of them since they thought he was asleep. "And get me some alcohol. Preferably something strong," he mumbled leaning back in his seat.
Lacus lightly glared at the man for the diet comment. It was something that her husband suddenly decided to throw on her. Lacus didn't want to be on a diet. She liked herself just the way she was. She didn't want to be skinnier.
"As you wish," the stewardess said as she dug around for the requested item and gave it to the two of them before she moved on. She did manage to give Lacus a sympathetic look before she walked by.
"Damn planes need to get better alcohol," the guy said drinking a drink that didn't have too much alcohol in it. However, his words did give Lacus some ideas that might get her a bit more freedom during her trip.
'I wonder if this will be an actual vacation or if this big guy won't let me even go outside for most of it like last time,' Lacus grumbled mentally as she poked at her food. She wished that she had something a little heavier because she was starving right then.
"You should be a little more grateful woman!" the big bodyguard grumbled as he saw he poking at her food. "He allows you to go on vacation and is even paying for it. Be a little more grateful!" he repeated growing a bit angry.
"You and I both know that he only did this so people wouldn't think he keeps me locked inside all the time like he normally does. This is solely for his benefit and that of his whores," Lacus grumbled before being smacked by the man. She hardly even flinched at the hit. They were nothing to what she got in the past. She was glad that no one seemed to notice what happened.
"You ungrateful little whore. You need to learn to show some respect to your husband!" he said in a hushed yell to try and attract as little attention to them as possible. "Maybe if you listened to him more then things would be better!" he continued to say angrily.
"Well forgive me for not rolling over and becoming his lapdog!" Lacus said in a voice that was dripping with sarcasm. It wasn't what she was normally like but the guy was giving her a pretty bad headache with his grumblings. Plus he was making her husband sound like a saint which she knew he wasn't.
Luckily Lacus was saved from being slapped again as the passenger that sat across from them came back and took his seat. Lacus knew that he wouldn't do anything right then for fear of being seen. She just wasn't sure what was going to happen later in the day.
Lacus couldn't help but feel a bit excited when the plane landed several hours later. The place had beautiful beaches with crystal clear water. The sky was cloudless and the sun shined down upon the people brightly.
"Keep up!" her bodyguard yelled back to her as she ran through the crowds just to keep up with him. It wasn't an easy thing to do because of the crowds that always seemed to block her path as well as him being able to making long strides and how the people just seemed to part and let him through.
A sudden enlargement of the crowd caused Lacus to lose sight of the large man. She looked around and heard his voice yelling but it was obvious that he didn't notice that she had gotten separated from him. "Oh great!" Lacus yelled as she pushed through the crowds hoping to catch up.
The crowds then seemed to disperse as a large open area finally appeared giving her time to stop and look around. "This isn't good," Lacus said with a small chuckle. She didn't even know why she was chuckling.
Lacus walked around for a little but she couldn't seem to find the guy anywhere. She finally gave up and walked towards the windows. She thought it would be better to just wait and hope that he finds her soon.
Looking out the window she could see the ocean on the horizon and several building a little closer than that. 'I wish I can get out there right now. I can't go anywhere without Tom though,' Lacus thought as she looked around the lobby of the airport. Most would use this chance to escape but then there would be nothing stopping her bodyguard Tom from calling Trent and telling him about it.
Lacus sighed and sat down in a seat to wait. She looked out the window again and sighed when she saw the beach towards the horizon. 'Good luck getting there. Trent won't even let me swim in public because he doesn't want anyone to see me in a swimsuit,' she thought with an aggravated groan.
Lacus was so deep in thought that she didn't hear or see a person approaching her. "Lacus?" the person said catching Lacus's attention making her turn and lay eyes upon a medium height, blonde haired woman standing a few feet away. "I thought it was you. The unique pink hair was a giveaway almost immediately," the woman said with a grin as she approached her old friend.
"Cagalli?" Lacus asked while rubbing her eyes to make sure that she wasn't seeing things and that it really was Cagalli standing there and not her hallucinating. "Oh my god! It really is you!" Lacus said happily as she gave her old friend a tight hug.
"Wow! I sure didn't expect to see you here of all places. What are you doing here Lacus?" Cagalli asked as she took a seat next to Lacus and looked out the window. "What have you been up to since high school?" she continued to ask as she stretched her limbs which were sore from a long fight.
"Nothing much. I got married a few years ago and things have been rather boring since," Lacus said trying to hold back the details that it was driving her nuts and she wanted out of it. "I'm here on vacation right now. One week away from everything! Even my husband!" she said happily before realizing what she said.
Cagalli didn't even turn to look at Lacus when she said it. "Are you two having an argument? I mean almost all married couples will have them every once in a while," she said before finally turning and looking at Lacus.
Lacus sighed in relief that she had a good excuse that wouldn't make Cagalli expect anything. "Yeah, I'm sure everything will be back to normal by the time I get back," Lacus said although she wished that something could happen that would make her marriage more bearable. "What about you? What are you doing here?" she asked while being happy for the first time in several years.
"I'm visiting my twin brother. He was supposed to pick me up over and hour ago but he's late as usual," Cagalli said with a laugh which Lacus chuckled at as well even though she had never met the guy.
Lacus chuckled for a few more moments before she calmed down and look at Cagalli. She just had to say the first thing that came to her mind. "I wasn't aware that you had a twin brother," she said with a confused look on her face. Her and Cagalli were the best of friends in high school and this was something that she never knew.
"Yeah well I was first told of it after high school ended. I did know who he was before then because the two of us knew each other since we were little. It was surprising but I guess I always knew about it in my heart," Cagalli explained as she looked towards the clear blue skies.
"It must be… nice to know that you have a sibling," Lacus said with a sigh which Cagalli nodded her head. "So is he the older one or the younger one?" Lacus asked although she knew that Cagalli's pride would only allow him to say that she was the older one out of the two.
"Are you kidding?" Cagalli asked looking appalled. "I'm the older on of course!" she said confirming Lacus's suspicions that Cagalli hadn't changed one bit in the last few years. "How can you even ask such a thing?" Cagalli said continuing to put on the appalled act.
Lacus couldn't contain her amusement at this. She knew Cagalli was fooling around but also knew that Cagalli definitely thought she was the older one. "You haven't changed on bit in the past few years Cagalli," Lacus said finally bursting out with the laughter that she'd been trying to hold in.
"Of course," Cagalli said putting a smirk on her face. "There's something different about you though. I just can't place what it is," she said looking at Lacus's face. It was then that she knew. Before her laughter, all of Lacus's smiles seemed more forced than it used to last time they saw each other.
Lacus knew exactly what it was that Cagalli was probably talking about. She used to give the biggest and most cheerful of smiles but she just wasn't able to give them as much anymore. She was forced to smile in front of people when she felt like screaming out her anger and pain at her misfortune of having a husband such as Trent. It just seemed like second nature to put a fake smile on her face wherever she went nowadays.
Lacus just decided to say the first thing on her mind so that Cagalli wouldn't worry that something was truly wrong. "I honestly don't know what you mean. I'm still me," she said putting on a smile with more ease than the past few years.
Cagalli wasn't able to respond as a booming voice echoed across the airport. "Lacus!" the voice yelled from the other side of the airport which caught Lacus's attention. "Get over here we have to go!" the angry man yelled loudly causing him to gain a lot of attention. He didn't seem to mind as he approached the two women angrily. Pushing aside anyone who got in his way.
"Sorry but my bodyguard calls. It was nice talking to you again Cagalli. Maybe we should get together later this week and catch up," Lacus said as her and Cagalli stood up and gave each other another quick hug.
"Sure thing!" Cagalli said digging for a piece of paper and a pencil. She wrote down a phone number and handed it to Lacus. "Give me a call if you can get away from tall, dumb, and ugly. Now I better go see if I can find my brother," Cagalli said running off.
"Let's go Mrs. Lacus!" Tom said managing to calm down his anger a bit. He carefully grabbed her hand and started to pull her towards the exit without even giving her time to grab her bags.
"Hold on I need to grab my things!" Lacus said managing to pull away for a moment before running back and grabbed her luggage. She took one last look at the clear blue sky and made a mental note to give Cagalli a call the first chance that she got. It was one of the things she was looking forward to the most.
She turned around and started to run back when she suddenly ran head first into another man. Luckily none of them fell down and got hurt. "I'm terribly sorry!" Lacus said once she regained her balance.
She took a quick look at the guy and had to admit that he was pretty handsome with his messy brown hair and piercing violet eyes. She felt herself blush slightly but she shook it off and grabbed her stuff and rushed back to her bodyguard before the big guy got angrier at her for wasting more of his time.
The brunette took a few steps backwards as he watched the pink haired beauty walk away. She had to be the most beautiful person that he'd ever seen in his life. 'What am I saying, I don't even know who she is,' he thought before shaking his head while turning around again.
"Kira!" a voice yelled causing the brunette to turn and come face to face with his twin sister. "It's about time you got here! I've been waiting here for over an hour!" Cagalli yelled at him causing him to grin sheepishly. "I swear, you're never going to change, are you?" she asked him even though she knew the answer.
Kira scratched the back of his head nervously because his tomboy sister could get rather scary when she got angry, especially with him. "Yeah… it's good to see you again too Cagalli. Sorry about that. The traffic was horrible on the way here. I was back up for most of the time. Can you forgive me?" he asked hoping to avoid the wrath of his sister for the time being.
Cagalli was in too good of a mood to remain angry at him. 'It must be from seeing Lacus again after all these years. I wonder if I'll be able to see Athrun here as well,' she thought before shaking her head wildly to clear it of the thoughts she was having. "Fine! Let's just go!" Cagalli said grabbing him and pretty much dragged him out of the doors that Lacus left through a few moments prior.