Chapter Text
She woke up in the morning just like any other. The first thing she was used to see each morning was the cold back of her husband. And never saw it again during the whole day, actually the farther they were from each other while sleeping, the better it would be for him. But Michiru had always understood, Darien had never been a man who would enjoy physical contact.
And how wouldn’t she know? After more than fifteen years of marriage, she'd bet there wouldn’t be a single person who knew her husband better than she did. And that meant that as soon as she woke up, she had to start with her obligations.
The first one of them... To wake him up.
"Darien, Darien, my love... It's time to get up. Good morning." She approached him and tried to move him gently, slowly. That always worked, because her husband woke up rudely.
The first thing Darien was used to do right after waking up, it was never to look at Michiru, he always turned to see his alarm clock, confirming the time.
"It's very late, if I don't hurry I'll be late for work. What did I tell you about getting up earlier?" The one with jet-black hair got up, without even turning to see his wife, who was waiting for a kiss from him.
"I'm sorry, darling, I'll take it into account," she whispered, but Darien passed by taking the first suit he had in the closet, and immediately going into the room's private bathroom.
Michiru sighed, before getting up. She grabbed a casual shirt and jeans, and went to the hall bathroom. She needed to be in the dining room, before Darien came out of it, or he would be annoyed for not seeing her at the prepared table.
And that’s how it happened, in no more than ten minutes, Michiru was dressed up and ready. Walking down the stairs gracefully and quickly right to the dining room of the great house
"Nakaru!", She yelled, although more than a scream, it was just a raised voice, "Please help me bringing the food."
Nakaru, a young girl who was a maid for the family, hurriedly appeared, along with an entourage of butlers. All of them ready to serve breakfast.
"Please ma'am, please sit down, we'll take care of the rest" Nakaru said, but Michiru shook her head, denying it.
“Please, let me help, at least if it’s to serve my husband’s breakfast” Nakaru smiled without saying anything. The young woman loved seeing the love of her two bosses, especially the one that Mrs. Michiru dedicated to her husband.
But not even two seconds had passed since Michiru took the first plate where Darien's breakfast was served, when he came downstairs. Dressed in an expensive suit and an embroidered robe that boasted all of his titles, plus a hairstyle that he hadn't changed for years; the elegance and beauty that he had been carrying for more than fifteen years seemed not to fade.
"Michiru, stop that please," Michiru paled at his voice. "We already have maids who do that, don’t we?" My God, Nakaru, I'm going to fire you if I see you not doing your job again...
“No!” Michiru quickly left the plate, protecting the young woman “It's not Nakaru's fault, I told her to let me do it, I wanted everything to be just the way you like it…”
“That's what I’m paying them for, Michihiru, they have a job, and if they do it wrong…” I'll fire them.
Michiru swallowed slowly, but she just closed her eyes and nodded, before sitting down and starting eating her breakfast, in total silence.
The silence was only broken when Darien wanted it.
“What are you planning to do today?” He asked as he finished his bite.
“I'll probably go out, I heard a new coffee shop has opened near here and people say it’s a very good one” Nakaru smiled, it was her who had recommended the coffee to the lady. However, she was scolded by her superior, she had already committed a serious fault.
“You don't plan to go out like that, do you?” Darien didn't even turn to see her, but that phrase took Michiru out of her place, and her face and environment showed it “You're a Chiba, my wife, I'm the owner of one of the best hospitals in the world. My wife can't do normal people’s stuff” stressing the event that just happened “or dress like them” his gaze was threatening “I don't want scandals.”
“Don't worry, my dear husband, I'll change my clothes immediately. I won't go out wearing this." Darien nodded before taking the last sip of his coffee.
“I'm leaving, today’s a very important day, see you” she got up and gave Michiru a kiss on her forehead, took his briefcase, and left without turning back.
"Oh ma'am, how I wish I had a husband like yours," Nakaru sighed, after hearing the closing of the main door.
Michiru blushed, to the point of almost spitting out some of her coffee. "What did you say?"
"Mr. Chiba may mind his own business, but I can see that he loves you very well, and he cares about you." She sighed again, before leaving, leaving Michiru alone with her breakfast.
"He loves me..." Her gaze was lost, she couldn't even laugh at it. That was her curse in her golden cage “ This is how they must see us, my beloved Darien.”
And despite everything, those last words were said with no malice, they were not a lie.
Michiru used to see Darien as her loved one.
"Mrs. Chiba! It's a pleasure to see you in this place for the first time, please come in, come in” The owner of the premises had received her with a smile from ear to ear.
She couldn't help it, it felts good to be recognized. Even if it was just because Darien was the most popular person in the neighborhood. She enjoyed that feeling, and she enjoyed it a lot.
She had changed her clothes, just as Darien had asked her to do. She had put makeup on, pulled her hair back into a ponytail, and now she was wearing an aqua blue fancy dress.
Michiru thought that she shouldn't wear such formal clothes. Because she wished at least to wear some of the casual clothes she had bought. But Darien was always inflexible in that aspect. The wife must be as elegant as her husband.
"I wonder if the lover too" She thought.
They had reserved the best table for her, and it seemed that each one of the waiters would kill for having the pleasure of serving her.
"I guess you treat all your customers just like this, and not only me because you know I can leave you a juicy tip, right guys?" Michiru spoke to them, sipping her cup of coffee, seeing how the waiters didn't stop arguing among them. Several paled and others stiffened.
"Sorry," several murmured untimely, Michiru smiled kindly at them.
"Would you be so kind as to bring me a piece of cake? I'll tip all of you if you're quick with my order.” All the waiters' faces enlightened when they heard that. Because she hadn't ratted them out, and due to the juicy tip they were going to receive as well.
While she was enjoying a nice morning at the small cafe, she saw something on television, the usual programming was interrupted so it could be said.
“It is an honor for us to announce that one of us, the respected Dr. Darién Chiba, has just won the Nobel Prize for Medicine. After the arduous investigations of him within the neurological section. An investigation that has been developing for more than twenty years...".
Just as Michiru was hearing it at that moment, everyone who was at the cafe, diners and workers, turned to see her.
"I…" But she couldn't even finish the sentence, before a horde of people ran to hug her and applaud her. Everyone wanted to know more about that well-kept secret. A secret that actually had been so well kept, that not even she herself knew it.
"Could it be that Darien didn't know either?"
But her questions would have to wait a while for answers. After receiving everyone's congratulations, she ended up going to pay for her food, despite the owner's insistence that the house was inviting. Likewise, she left each and every one of the waiters a good tip, just as she had promised.
As she gracefully and quietly left the place, the workers looked at her with pride. They really wished that there were more people like Mrs. Michiru, such a correct and kind person, with such a pure heart.
"Isn't that Mrs. Chiba?" Some ladies whispered in a corner of the mall.
"But of course it's her! It is impossible not to recognize that hair” She replied.
"But wasn't she around here just a week ago?"
"Of course she was, but you don't seem to know Mrs. Chiba, she loves coming shopping and going to beauty salons. It seems that she is obsessed with not showing that she’s aging” She laughed in a low voice, although she was accompanied by the laughter of her companion “I bet that in a few months we will see her around here again. Haven't you seen how much weight she seems to have gained?”
Unlike other places, criticism of Michiru among high society was the daily bread.
“But of course, if in addition, she looks ten years older than she actually is, but how did she wanted her appearance to be? Due to the husband she’s married to, she must be obsessed with still being attractive and competing with his lovers, haha” Those two women laughed again.
"If your husband was half as rich as Doctor Chiba is, you would also be obsessed with remaining beautiful and slim, and you would even spend twice the amount of money that woman spends."
“There’s no way I could say no” She sighed. She couldn't deny it, she envied Chiba’s woman. Like almost half of high society. A woman who had been living in total opulence for more than twenty years, with no need to lift a single finger or suffer misfortune.
Although of course, just as a broken phone, between a beginning and an end, there was a world of difference.
And it is that, despite the fact that Michiru's taste for luxurious stuff and shopping was undeniable, at that moment the last thing that mattered to Michiru was luxury and showing off her money.
Her husband had just won the Nobel Prize for Medicine. If she didn't appear in a new outfit in front of the media every day until her husband received the award, he would kill her. And she didn't mean it in a non-literal way.
She entered the most luxurious and expensive stores. Channel, Dior, Carolina Herrera, Paris Hilton, Elizabeth Andren and Jimmy Choo. Of all of them she had to leave with at least two bags from each store.
Perfumes, makeup, clothes and elegant dresses to fill her entire closet with, and so many pairs of shoes that she didn't have to wear a pair twice in a month. Everything, obviously, paid for with the black card that her husband had given her.
"Just look at her!", She exclaimed, "She has come in with one dress, and she has come out with another," And it wasn't a lie, the elegant and fresh blue dress that Michiru had worn, was now a refined red dress, worthy of a night partying.
"Are you still here?" Hearing that voice, the two talkative women paled. "Are you waiting for someone?" “I've been in and out, and you're still here, talking, are we spying on someone?” Michiru looked from side to side, as if she was looking for someone.
“No, no. It's nothing, we were just here…”
"Oh, sorry, am I being flippant?" The aforementioned feigned dementia “I'm so sorry, I need to leave, my husband is waiting for me to celebrate. We'll see each other next time” And she left, leaving the two women fuming with rage.
Regardless, Michiru had a bit of pride to defend herself. She still had some value.