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UNION OF HATE?
Chapter 3
Sailor Galaxy

" Mr Refatalki."

" Ms Carter."

Serena gritted her teeth behind her tightly closed lips as a wave of fury 
washed over her. Why couldn't he leave her alone? Why did he always have to do 
something to- to- annoy her? And he knew that she didn't want him here. He 
knew damn him, how much this bothered her. You could see it on his face. His 
eyes held a gleam and the now familiar half smirk on his mouth held a 
triumphant bow to it.

Seiya looked from one to the other. Again. He looked at Serena and brought his 
brows down in a warning. He didn't want her to spoil this evening. And she 
wouldn't, Serena vowed. She would show Darien that she wasn't effected by him. 

" Mr Refatalki. How fortunate that you were able to get here in time. It must 
have been a lot of-" Serena hesitated. 

Insult him a little or insult him a lot? Choices choices.

"- well, trouble for you to make your way here."

Darien's eyes narrowed.

" Why would it have been a lot of trouble, Ms Carter?"

Serena smiled. A sickly sweet smile.

" This isn't what you're used to is it? I mean, I expect that you're used to- 
a higher sort of- society."

Colour ran up his high cheekbones. Serena sensed that he gritted his teeth, in 
anger. Seiya glared at her and clutching her arm in a painful grip, he dragged 
her behind him and pasted a smile on his face. Whatever he said next was lost 
on Serena because she was watching another person come out of the limo.

She was female. She was tall. And she was beautiful. Mahogany hair framed her 
strong face, broad forehead, large green eyes, distinguished cheekbones, full 
lips and determined chin. She wore a long green dress that highlighted the 
colour of her eyes. There was a slit on either side of the dress going from 
the hem to mid thigh. Looking at her, Serena felt a bit shabby. She didn't 
really know why. It wasn't as if she looked- cheap. Quite the opposite in 
fact. The woman radiated an aura of coolness, of arrogance and of confidence. 
She pulsed with it.

Serena turned when she saw Darien come back towards them and acknowledge the 
woman with a smile. An intimate smile. He took her elbow, and gently pushed 
her forward a little. He spoke to Seiya but he looked at Serena as if judging 
to see how she would react.

" This is Lita Larina. Lita, Mr Seiya Granger and Ms Serena Carter."

Lita Larina titled her head at them and regarded them both with appraising 
eyes. 

" Mr Granger, Ms Carter. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

She turned her gaze on Serena.

" Ms Carter. I'm especially pleased to finally have been able to meet you. 
Darien's told me so much about you and to be honest I was getting quiet 
anxious to meet the woman who had him running round in circles." 

Serena stared at the woman who claimed to have heard a lot about her. And from 
Darien Refatalki no less. What was she talking about? 'Running round in 
circles'? Well, it can't have been her she was talking about. Serena could 
admit that she annoyed Darien very much but him running round in circles 
because of her sounded a bit too... unbelievable. Besides wasn't this term 
classified in the love and passion category? And Darien and her didn't have 
that relationship. So Lita Larina must have made a mistake. She must be 
confusing Serena with another woman who had a similar name. 

After the initial surprised lapse, Seiya smiled at Lita. He looked at her 
admiringly and gave her his hand to shake. Serena groaned inwardly when she 
saw what he was doing. 

" We're honoured with your presence. So, if you two would follow us..."

He trailed off. Lita Larina took Seiya's arm leaving Serena and Darien behind. 
Serena scowled a little at Seiya's back. Looking up, she encountered Darien's 
gaze and her breath lodged in her throat. What was it with her anyway? It 
wasn't as if Darien was giving her the same look like Seiya had viewed Lita 
with. In fact, his eyes had a faintly insulting expression in them as if he 
had given Serena a test and she had failed- with flying colours.

He spoke up.

" I suppose the polite thing for me to do would be to give you my arm but I 
hesitate..."

He gave an elegant shrug and extended his arm. Serena didn't want to but found 
herself placing her right arm in his. Hot colour stained her cheeks as she 
found herself thinking that his arm wasn't fat but had a strong, firm feel of 
muscle. It was disconcerting. She wasn't used to this. She didn't want this. 
Especially not with the man who had made Mina's life uncomfortable. 

This was just due to all the stress of the past few weeks. And it wasn't as if 
Darien Refatalki was feeling the same pull she was. He wasn't. Well, if he 
was, he must be good at hiding it since he hadn't shown it. So, it was all one 
sided and Serena had better pull herself together before she made a fool of 
herself. Over a man. Just a month after her sister and brother-in-law's 
funeral. The thought sobered her up. How could she have forgotten? 

Mina. Andrew. She had loved them so much and now they'd been taken away from 
her. But she'd be damned before she let Diana be taken away from her. Diana 
was staying with her. No matter what price she had to pay. And if it was 
marriage, well so be it... but she really didn't want to get married. Not to 
Darien Refatalki anyway. She couldn't.

" Ms Carter?"

His voice intruded into her thoughts and she found herself being the centre of 
attention. She aimed a small smile at every-one.

" I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention. If you would care to repeat that...?"

Mr Harris glared at her but she ignored him. She had more important things to 
think about. Like why Darien hadn't let go of her arm. And why nobody thought 
there was anything wrong in that. Anything strange. Serena tried to 
unobtrusively to break her arm free from Darien's grip but his hand only 
tightened on her elbow. 

Lita Larina smiled politely and repeated her question. But it turned out to be 
a question that Serena didn't want to hear.

" I hear that congratulations are in order Ms Carter."

" Congratulations?"

Serena's brow furrowed. Congratulations? What was she talking about? She 
hadn't met Lita Larina before in her life and the only thing she could have 
heard about Serena was Mina and Andrew's deaths. And that wasn't something to 
be congratulated on.

" Yes. Congratulations. On your engagement."

" Engagement?"

Serena saw Mr Harris stifle a smile and she could understand why. She was 
sounding like a really dumb parrot. But what was Ms Larina talking about? 
Who's engagement? It couldn't be hers since she hadn't said yes but if it was 
somebody else's, why was Ms Larina congratulating her and not them? 

" Yes. On your engagement. To my esteemed friend here."

She nodded towards Darien who was standing there with an expressionless face. 
Apparently he wasn't surprised and that meant that he had known about the fact 
that news of their engagement had spread. Falsely of course. 

He must have told people about it in the hopes that Serena would have to marry 
him and therefore make sure that Diana was firmly in his clutches. Well, it 
wasn't going to work. Serena set her chin firmly. She wasn't going to be 
manipulated. She would just have to thwart Darien's plan and if that meant 
humiliating him in public... well, that was an extra bonus. 

So, curving her lips in a sweet smile, she tightened her hand on Darien's 
sleeve and dug her nails into his arm. She didn't know if it hurt or not but 
he must have felt something because she heard him mutter under his breath and 
shift his arm.

" I'm sorry but you must have heard wrong. I'm not engaged and if I was, it 
wouldn't be to a man who has no idea of-"

Darien interrupted Serena and turned towards her with a rueful smile which was 
meant to convey amused affection to their audience. But she could see that he 
was angry. Twin fires were burning in those dark blue orbs of his. Good. It 
was time somebody threw Darien Refatalki off his high horse. He'd been 
spending too much time on it lately.

" Forgive me darling. I know you wanted it to be a secret for a while longer 
but in my enthusiasm, I let slip our engagement and plans to marry. I just 
couldn't keep it bottled inside me any longer. I want the world to know about 
us."

What? Serena's mind went blank as everybody else congratulated them and a few 
women brought out their kerchiefs to wipe their tears at hearing such a 
romantic tale. Serena turned furious eyes on Darien. What was he doing? How 
dare he? She opened her mouth to tell him exactly what she thought of him but 
before she could, he'd already opened his own mouth, once again, to voice more 
lies. So what if she herself had been contemplating agreeing to his proposal? 
He had no right to do what he had done. She knew that by morning, this would 
be on every newspapers society columns. 

Darien Refatalki was very famous and even if he was caught shopping in a 
supermarket or something- not that it would ever happen- it would make big 
news. Serena couldn't really see what the deal was but she guessed that some 
people regarded the Greek in the same category as... Hollywood stars like... 
Julia Roberts. He was a multi millionaire and even if she didn't like the 
fact, he was also very handsome. A combination most people thought of as a 
very large aphrodisiac.

" Serena honey."

Serena frowned. She hated being called darling or dear or honey. They just 
didn't seem very romantic to her. Calling some-one honey was like calling them 
jam. Why couldn't men be a little more original? They should make a nickname 
up that was for them alone to call their girl. And that's exactly what Darien 
should do. He was her fiance. To the outer world only but he was. And so it 
was her job to tell him what she would like to be called. And if it was in 
front of other people, well, so be it.

Serena brought all her acting powers on hand and looked at Darien with tender 
amusement in her eyes. 

" Darien, munch kin."

She saw his face flinch in surprise and out of the corner of her eye, she saw 
every-body else cover their mouths in an effort to hide their smiles an grins.

" You know I've told you I don't like being called honey. And now that 
everybody else knows about our engagement, don't you think you should let 
loose all the pretence and call me by the name you usually call me by?"

Darien frowned down at Serena. Irritation gleamed in his cobalt eyes and even 
as Serena felt as if she was making a mistake, she couldn't stop herself from 
continuing.

" Why not call me your... babe like you always do?"

Serena made the word babe sound very suggestive and in everybody's mind, it 
would mean the same... naughty thing. She smiled up at Darien as she noticed 
the flare of anger in his eyes when everybody around them coughed to try to 
hide their laughter. Seiya was looking at her as if he'd never seen her 
before. She couldn't really blame him. She didn't know herself either. What 
was she doing? In trying to embarrass Darien, she was also embarrassing 
herself.

Mr Harris's face beamed at the two of them and he gestured towards where the 
other board members were waiting. 

" If we could please start the meeting, Ms Carter. I'm sure that Mr Refatalki 
is eager to commence. And as for your engagement, I offer you my sincere good 
wishes and I'll make sure that this fact is announced today."

He smiled again and nodded towards Seiya and Darien to follow him. Serena 
stayed besides Darien since she was expected to but she made sure that he 
could sense the cold vibes she was giving out. He might have noticed but he 
made no sign of it.

                    *********************************************************                

     Serena cringed inside when the announcement about Darien and hers 
engagement was made. She sensed his amusement when he noted her clenched jaw 
and hand. She further scowled when Mr Harris requested the fiancé and fiancée 
to start the dance. She wanted to refuse but couldn't since it would have 
upset Mr Harris and after all that had happened, nothing of it had anything to 
do with him. And Serena could sense that Mr Harris was very pleased at the 
fact that Serena was engaged. 

She had dated in the past but for many months now, she hadn't been in a 
serious relationship. She couldn't commit herself. Not after what had happened 
and- Serena refused to go there. It had already given her enough mental 
anguish. She knew that Mr Harris had worried about her. He had found something 
wrong with the fact that such a beautiful healthy woman- his words not hers- 
didn't commit herself.

Serena stood up in the face of the applause she was getting and smiled a 
little nervously at everybody. She could see that Seiya was feeling a little 
down. She couldn't really blame him poor guy. He was like her best friend. Had 
been after they found out that they couldn't have a romantic relationship. He 
must be feeling a little hurt that she hadn't told him such big news. She'd 
try to explain to him what had happened. Not tell him the whole truth. Nothing 
would make her admit to him how stupid she had been but she'd tell him part of
it... Maybe.

Slow music wafted across the dance floor and Serena stiffened as Darien took 
her in his arms. She held herself aloof and pulled back when Darien attempted 
to slip a hand on her back and pull her closer to him. She froze when he bent 
down and brought his mouth close to her ear. His lips lightly brushed the 
shell and Serena tried desperately hard not to shiver. What was it about this 
man that mad her loose her cool? And what was he doing? 

" Relax."

Warm breath brushed the side of her cheek and she closed her eyes as something 
uncoiled at the pit of her stomach. She tried to speak but her lips were too 
dry. She licked them and tried again.

" What are you doing?"

" What engaged couples do."

" We're not engaged-"

" I'm also doing what these people are expecting me to do." 

" Why?"

Darien pulled back a little and Serena was forced to slide her arms around his 
neck. He hooked his thumb under her chin and brought her face closer to his. 
Serena's breath hitched in her throat as she saw how close their faces were. 
How close their lips were. She could see herself reflected in the dark, dark 
depth of his eyes.

Serena mentally groaned. What was she doing? Why was she doing this? She 
couldn't do this. She had Diana to think about. She tried to pull back a 
little but, again, Darien’s arm behind her restricted the movement. So she 
contented herself by pulling her head further back. 

" Tomorrow you had better tell people that the engagement has been called off."

" Why would I do that?"

" Because I don't want to marry you!"

Darien glanced around him and that reminded Serena of where they were. She 
hoped that no-one had heard her last sentence, or tongues were going to wag 
more than they were already wagging. 

" Let's get out of here. I don't want any-one else to hear our conversation.
That would give a bad impression and I assure you that you wouldn't like 
that... babe."

Serena blushed. Oh why oh why had she thought of that name? Come to think of 
it, she didn't even like it. The word babe made her visualise a picture of 
some dumb blonde pr a very provocative woman, who was dating a hard core biker 
or a playboy or something.

Darien took her by the arm, and walking around the other couples on the dance 
floor, they made their over to an open balcony which led out to a darkened 
garden. Serena didn't want to go there. It seemed too private, too intimate. 
She slowed down but Darien didn't give her a chance to protest as he swept her 
ahead of him, onto the balcony and further in towards a corner of the garden. 
Where nobody could see them. Where nobody could hear them. And where they were 
alone. Together. With each other. Uh-oh.


Anybody think they know the deal with Lita? Why is she with Darien? What Seiya 
thinks about her? And what will happen out in the garden where Serena and 
Darien are?

I'll try to hurry but until then, everybody who reads this, please review!

Sailor Galaxy 

sailorprincessuk@yahoo.co.uk