Well, here we are. The end of the story. Did you like it? Hopefully that answer is yes. XD It's okay if it's not, though. Honestly, there are a lot of things that I don't like about this story. But, on the other hand, there are a lot of things that I really like about it. It seems that with my writings I'm my biggest critic, and yet also my biggest fan. I don't know if this happens to other artists; this may just be me... heh heh.

Anyway, I guess I should get on with the actual chapter, shouldn't I? Well, before I begin, I'd like to say thanks to all of you, for reading this story and sticking with me. The more Hits I get, the more inspired I seem to feel when I write. (Make note of this. Repeatedly viewing my story makes me feel better.) Though, I don't know if only have six hits on Chapter 3 makes me feel very inspired... XD I'd also like to thank Averybarbarian and Brezzia for their reviews. I'll have a more in-depth thank you at the very end of the story, and I'll also put some more notes, so please, don't quit reading at the end.

Without further ado, please, enjoy the end of Manipulations on a Romance.

Tom eased his foot onto the brake. The car slowly came to rest in front of the one-story, white suburban home. With a sharp tug of the lever he shifted the car into park. "Well… we're here." He glanced at his passenger. "Ellen?"

She gazed out the window, ignoring him. Tom blew out a long, soft sigh. She had acted like this the entire ride home. In fact, she hadn't even said a word since they left the apartment.

He turned back to the stirring wheel. He was starting to second-guess his earlier decision. Maybe he had offended her by refusing to kiss her. Maybe everything would have turned out better if he had just kissed her and gotten it over with.

You made the right choice.

He rubbed the back of his neck. That's what I thought when I did that, but still… I don't know. He was beginning to have doubts that he had chosen the right way. If I was just stronger... I would have been able to kiss her without worrying about it. I just... I need to be stronger. Nothing I can do about it now, I guess.

He moved his hand over to the Door Unlock button but stopped when he realized that the doors were already unlocked. The urge to drum his fingers on the dashboard entered his mind. Come on, Ellen. Either say something or leave.

"Tom."

The single word from Ellen caused him to whirl around. "What?"

She had finally stopped staring at the window and was now looking at him. "Thanks for showing me your apartment. And for giving me a ride home."

He nodded, trying his best to keep his face neutral. Crap… Does she not like me now? "You're welcome. I'm sorry about the blackout."

"Nothing you could do about it." She squeezed the door handle and then swung the car door ajar. One foot had hit the ground outside when she paused. "What I said about Saturday… I was joking back there, but I'm not actually doing anything that night." She looked over her shoulder at him. "If you wanted to, we could do something… You know, if you're not busy then."

He swallowed as sudden happiness entered his mind, shoving back the preexisting doubt. She does… she does like me? "I would love to do something with you!" He stopped himself. Don't overdo it. "Um… if your parents are okay with it, that is."

A small smile tugged at her lips. "My parents probably wouldn't care even if I asked them."

"Well, I'll ask them, then. Maybe they'll listen to me," he replied, grinning. "I'll talk to you about it at work tomorrow, all right?"

She nodded, a full-fledged smile now forming on her face. "All right. See you later."

"Um… Yeah. See you later."

She shut the door, turned, and sprinted toward the front door. Tom waited until she had entered the house. Then, forgetting all sense of restraint, he pumped his fist and let out a joyful whoop. "Oh yeah! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" he shouted in a shower of thanks to whatever entity was listening.

With his grin spreading from ear-to-ear, he drove off into the night, heading back to his apartment. The entire trip was indeed by car, but with the way Tom felt, he could have just as easily been flying the entire way.

--

Finn stared at the monitor, his expression blank. "So… that's it?"

Samuel nodded. He had leaned his chair back and was now stroking the small amount of stubble on his chin. "Interesting, isn't it? And curious. He had only about a ten percent chance of not kissing her. But he still chose not to. Curious. Very curious indeed," he added in a whisper, furrowing his brow.

Finn shrugged. "Well… there goes predictability for you. Um…" He fidgeted a bit in his seat. "You did check the repercussions of this choice, didn't you?"

"Of course, of course." Samuel shook his head. "It just…" That boy… Why would he act like that? Unless…

"What?"

He glanced to his right. Finn had leaned forward, his eyes fixed on his superior. Samuel waved his hand in the air, dismissing the thought. The boy didn't need to know about every one of Samuel's matters. "Never mind. It's not important." It's not that big of a deal, he reminded himself. He had a ten percent chance of choosing that path, after all. "Anyway…" He ran a hand through his combed-back brown hair. "That definitely was entertaining."

"Yeah." Finn rolled his chair back, stood, stretched back his arms, and gave a soft yawn. "Are you going to switch out of camera mode now?"

"Already doing it," Samuel answered, typing the command into the keyboard as he spoke. The view of Tom's car faded away, replaced by the standard scrolling text. He placed his hands behind his head and looked over at Finn. "So, did you enjoy yourself?"

His apprentice went a bit rigid at Samuel's question. "Um… I guess."

Samuel smirked as he watched Finn clean up the two empty popcorn bowls on the desk. Just like a rookie to act the way the boy did. "They are fun to watch, aren't they? Almost as much as fun as being down there with them."

Finn froze. "I…" For a moment he stared at the plastic bowl in his hand, as if considering the best possible answer. Finally he shrugged and resumed his cleanup. "I guess so."

"Too bad we don't get that chance, eh?"

Samuel checked his watch. His smirk transformed into an irritated frown. He had completely forgotten about his meeting with the Boss that night. Thankfully he still had another fifteen minutes before the man's patience ran out. And I really don't want to talk to him after that's happened.

He pushed the keyboard aside before rising to his feet. "I'm going to be out for a little while, Finn. Make sure to finish cleaning up." He straightened his tie and rubbed a few spare crumbs off his suit's jacket. "If anything unexpected happens on the monitor while I'm gone, don't do anything. Just wait for me to get back."

Finn nodded. "Oh, um… yes sir." He tilted his head to the side. "Where are you going?"

"Just something I need to do tonight. I won't be long." He took a step outside the cubicle before he recalled something. He halted, his hand on the cubicle wall. "Remember..." He held up his hand. "No manipulations when I'm not around."

"I won't, since I'm not you, sir."

Samuel smiled. His apprentice was starting to pick up on things. "Good to know that. I'll see you later."

With that, he strode down the length of the carpeted office floor, still preoccupied with what he had just seen. The maturity that the subject had displayed in his situation had neither been expected nor predicted by Samuel. Hopefully that boy's maturation won't affect the master plan. His furrowed brow returned, this time with an accompanying frown. But if it does… He shook his head. I can't think about it now. What happens will happen. It will all come to fruition over time. The Boss knows what's best, after all.

In the end, he'll make everything right.

And that's all I wrote. Well, that was fun, wasn't it? Writing this story was an enjoyable experience for me. Looking at it now, I find that I dislike many parts of it, but I think it's important that I got it out there. It ends happily, which is good, since a lot of my other story ideas have real downers for endings.

Well, I had my first real attempt at romantic comedy, which was really, really fun to do. I guess I'm just a lovestruck teenager, but I really like writing humorous romances. I also really like the mysterious "Manipulations" side of the story. I think that this opens up a lot of possibilities for where I could go in the future with story ideas. Not to mention that I love the characters of Samuel and Finn. I'm a big fan of duos like that.

So, did you like it? Did you dislike it? Did you utterly hate it? (Hopefully you didn't hate it. XD) Please review with your opinion of the story. I love reviews (unless you're flaming, but you can do that if you want to. Just don't get upset if I use your comments later to make others feel sorry for me.)

Before I begin the end credits, I'd like to say, thank you, and thank you very much. Thanks so much for reading this story. It really encourages me to have people read my work. Truthfully, it means an incredible amount to me that you would read this. I also have a very, very special thank you for Averybarbarian and Brezzia for reviewing the story. As my only reviewers (so far) you two were very encouraging. I enjoyed your comments on the different characters, Avery (though, the characters' motivations in chapter 3 were different from what you had in your review.) And Brezzia is the first writer I befriended on this website, so I'm very happy that she read this story (and that she liked it, on top of that.) Thank you both, and again, thank you, the reader, for reading this. I apologize if there were parts in the story that confused you.

If there were parts of the story that confused you, then you should check out my profile page. I've added a section in my Bio where I talk about my stories. I have comments on this story there, so you should check them out! I'd like to add some things about the characters and themes of this story somewhere down the line.

So, without further ado, the end credits! I don't know if this is something that writers usually do for their stories here, but I will put end credits here, because that's what I usually do in my fan fics. (The ones I've finished, anyway.) Here we go!

Written by Mister Frodo

Concepts and Characters created by Mister Frodo

Inspired by Chobits (yikes), The Matrix, and probably plenty of other influences that I don't remember.

Edited by Mister Frodo (I keep turning up, don't I?)

Special Thanks To:

God (for creating me, sacrificing His only Son for me, and loving me more than I can comprehend)

My family (for being there for me)

My cousins (for playing with me)

My older sister (for encouraging me in my writing and for discussing manga with me)

My creative writing teacher (for teaching me how to write, even if I didn't seem to learn anything, heh heh)

My piano teacher (for teaching me how to play piano and for helping me discover my love of music)

Relient K (for writing some great music that fit the mood very well)

George Lucas (for creating Star Wars... why this is in here, I'm not sure)

M. Night Shyamalan (for an awesome last name and some insanely awesome movies... seriously, go watch Unbreakable and Signs; they are great movies, in my humble and refreshingly obscure opinion)

Helen Bauer and xHopeLesSdReaMeRx (for story alerting this story)

Averybarbian (for reviewing this story and giving some very interesting insight on the characters)

Brezzia (for chatting with me, not getting mad at me when I give her writing advice, reviewing my story, reading my story, writing a very interesting story, and overall being very kind to me... the list goes on and on)

God (He's important enough to get mentioned twice)

And... you! For reading this (all six of you, XD)

A Mister Frodo Story

Manipulations on a Romance

Note: This story is a work of fiction. All real world places, locations, and persons are used fictionally by the author. Any similarities between characters used in this story and persons in the real world, either living or dead, are completely accidental.

No penguins were harmed in the making of this story.

Okay, one penguin was harmed. But he was asking for it. He stole my tuna.

Over and Out