“Please come in!” From the letters, she had spoken to him briefly on the phone and informed him of the new situation.Thereupon, at her request, he immediately called a meeting for the afternoon.
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"I think Gohan has more to do," came the sound from behind her and Vegeta's hand lay heavily on her shoulder.
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<br />
Gohan's eyes grew bigger and bigger. "Ummm ... Vegeta ... I didn't know ..." Embarrassed, he pushed the briefcase into Lumia's hand, bowed and flew away with a mumbled parting word. Lumia stared after him, then shook Vegeta's hand from her shoulder. "But ... Vegeta, now he'll think ...", she whispered bright red and pushed past the Saiyajin. "I ... I'll read the folder right after lunch."
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<br />
Vegeta didn't stop them, a big grin lay on his face. Soon she was ripe ... very soon. He clenched his fists and briefly closed his eyes. It was there again, the fire, every time he touched her, her half hesitant, half pleading tremor, somewhere between yes and no, between passion and fear.He had never known how much he had missed that feeling until he saw her in the bathroom yesterday.
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He wasn't going to let her escape, but he wasn't going to end the hunt - not yet. He finally felt alive again.
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In the kitchen, Lumia was hastily fiddling with the cooking utensils and ingredients. Her nervousness was almost pitiful, but she had to pay for the "pensioner" and a few other cheekiness.
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She was just struggling to divide the pumpkin with a large knife. "Shouldn't I help you?" He asked, placing his hand on hers, which was holding the knife. "That's how you do it ..." He carefully put a tiny fraction of his strength into it and ... the knife went through the pumpkin as if it were made of butter. A little more and the board as well as the table should have believed in it.
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"Thank you," she breathed breathlessly, not wanting to let go of her hand. "Would you mind going to work out?So that I can cook in peace? "
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"Oh ... you don't want me around you?" He asked hypocritically and pulled a long face, which visibly embarrassed her. "Very well," he shrugged and walked out of the kitchen. "Then I'll go to training. In two hours I want the casserole to be on the table, understand!"
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"I'm doing my best!", She shouted after him and stabbed the pumpkin angrily with the knife, as if he were to blame for the dilemma.
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When Vegeta came out of the training room two hours later and walked towards the shower, the smell of pumpkin casserole filled the whole house. Cheerful voices came from the kitchen. Apparently Trunks had given up that pout and had come home.
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Vegeta paused briefly in front of the closed kitchen door and listened. They were apparently talking about Lumia's experience at a crazy inventor university that had existed for a few years on one of the large islands off the west coast.He remembered that Bulma had been enthusiastic about the concept, which she had never attended university herself and instead had been trained by her father before she went looking for the Dragonballs at 16. Unfortunately, the huge city had not been infected by its enthusiasm, the fear of crazy inventors who blew up their laboratories when they failed was too great. So Bulma grudgingly suffered defeat and from then on, she went in search of a successor who would receive a scholarship from her for this university and who would later become her direct successor. Not that he had paid very much attention to the matter, but Bulma had talked about it all the time, even without asking ...
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At lunch a little later, the atmosphere was clearly tense. Lumia only mentioned briefly that she had received the cards and that she still had to prepare for the meeting.<br />
Trunks caught the hint and offered to wash the dishes.
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When the last bite of the casserole had been eaten, Vegeta leaned back contentedly. "That was delicious. The best pumpkin dish I've eaten in a long time."
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"Mama's casserole was always very good," interjected Trunks.
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Vegeta waved it off. "Your mother's casserole with all due respect, but it never had that bite and that wonderful aroma."
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"The recipe was on the Internet," said Lumia, her head modestly bowed so that her long hair hid her eyes. "Thank you for doing the washing up, Trunks. I really have to read it." She reached for the folder that had been leaning against the window the whole time and wanted to turn to the door when it rattled.
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The picture that had been leaning against the flower pot, showing Bulma and her family, had been swept through the edge of the portfolio from the windowsill.
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<br />Lumia stammered an apology and picked it up. "Not that wild," said Vegeta and took it from her. He turned it over and raised his eyebrows when he noticed the crack that ran right between him and Bulma. "We'll stick the picture in the album and put up a new one," he said. "It's no longer appropriate anyway."
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Trunks pressed his lips together and rubbed a plate particularly hard with the sponge. Lumia looked from one to the other, pressed the portfolio to her chest and fled to her room, where she collapsed on her bed, panting. How was it all going to end?
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<br />
A good two hours later, she took a taxi to the main Capsule Corps building. Her head was clear and despite the confusion of her emotions, she was looking forward to the faces of the other board members. She would show them who was in charge from now on.
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Already forewarned by Gohan, the board members looked forward to their new boss when she entered the meeting room.She wore her red locks tied in a loose neck knot so that the emerald earrings sparkled. At the other end of the long row of tables, another woman rose, completely clad in monotonous gray and her eyes enviously examined the leaf-green velvet suit. "Welcome," she said, indicating a polite bow.
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Lumia's eyes sparkled mockingly as she returned them. “Thank you for the friendly reception.” Without hesitation, she walked past the collection of older, stout men towards her hottest rescuer. "Suzey Carmical, if I'm not mistaken?"
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"You are wrong," said the woman addressed with a narrow smile. "Suzey Dobey is my new name."
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"Oh yes, you've been happily married to ..." for six months now, "she put her index finger to her chin and frowned," ... with ... "
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"With Fredrick Dobey, the majority owner of the Capsule Corps," Suzey replied sweetly.<br />
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"Excuse my poor memory," said Lumia. “I only got around to studying your dossiers two hours ago.” In the meantime, she had arrived at Suzey's place. The black briefcase landed on the mahogany with a bang. "I'm sorry to have to be rude again, but ..." She pulled back briefly and swept all of Suzey's documents off the table with one violent movement. "This is my place, as it was Bulma's before. Doctor Dobey sold me 90 percent of his shares after a brief conversation this afternoon. I and the Briefs family now hold 85 percent of the shares again. As the share of their bedridden husband only is still five percent, would you have the grace to take a seat at the bottom of the row? "
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Suzey looked like the blow hit her. She had planned everything so carefully. The idiot Doctor Dobey was only too happy to become her husband and no sooner had she dipped her lacquered fingers into his property than she had called a meeting on his behalf in a raid.By the time the mourning Briefs family overran what was being played, the Capsule Corps had their shares on the stock market and before anyone could react, Suzey had secured a secure majority. Her brother had failed then, now she had usurped the Capsule Corps in his place. This delicious feeling of power ... out of sheer moodiness she had voted for Gohan as chairman of the board, as she had no idea about the business itself and the little naive had done well so far. Only when she had learned today that there was an heiress who was claiming Bulma's rights for herself did she take the chair off Gohan without his knowledge and rise in his place in the chair of the chairman.
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One look into Lumia's cold eyes showed her that this young thing was not bluffing. Somehow she had found out that all shares were not in Suzey's name, but in Doctor Dobey's name, and although no one had questioned her powers so far, she did not want to allow a direct confrontation.The cold, threatening fire in the green eyes was of the same kind that had glowed in Bulma's eyes. Verily, this witch had managed to find a successor of the same kind.
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Gritting her teeth, Suzey picked up her documents from the floor and strode out of the room with her head held high. She wasn't going to mix with those whom her arrogant manner had constantly offended her. Before the door of the hall slammed behind her with a loud bang, she looked back briefly. She ignored the sardonic grin on the wrinkled, bearded and fat faces. Her eyes locked on Lumia's delicate, pale face. "Just be happy about this victory, you little nothing", she thought, boiling, "I'll find a way to saw you off, just wait ..."
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Lumia caught the look and returned it defiantly. "Just try it!" It was written in her eyes.
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Then the door closed behind Suzey.<br />
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She ignored the joyful applause that accompanied her departure, as well as the frightened face of her chauffeur, who had not expected his boss to need his services again so quickly. On the drive home, Suzey gnawed at her nails, a bad habit she thought she had shed since childhood. Finally she pulled her cell phone out of her purse and dialed a number she hadn't used in a long time.
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