Posting this up for the tumblr Michi Week (24-30th of July)
Prompt #1 First/Last – obviously focusing more on the 'first' :)
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HEAD OVER
HEELS
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If there was anything that Mimi could never forgive; it was bad nails.
She was in the process of filing her last nail to absolute perfection. Once completed, Mimi held away from herself and upwards towards the lighting. She grinned, admiring her job.
In her past life, perhaps she was a manicurist? She definitely had the talent for it.
From behind her newly manicured fingers, she saw her two sons amble into the bedroom. She drew back her hands and - like a hawk - watched little Shunsuke, with his unruly brown hair, struggle to climb up onto the bed. His chubby leg lifted onto the mattress first, and when his other leg followed, he immediately started to animatedly jump up and down on it like it was a trampoline.
"Don't jump too high!" Mimi scolded.
On the other hand, her older son - Takahiro - was making a good show of rubbing his stomach as he sat opposite Mimi. "Mama, I'm hungry."
While Shunsuke hair resembled Taichi's; Takahiro's constant need for food rivalled her husband's.
A moment ago her husband had ducked out of the house to buy the family Chinese take-away.
Mimi was itching to get out, but Taichi had talked her into staying home as she was towards the distal end of her third trimester. At least morning sickness had stopped; but odd and sporadic cravings still tormented her.
"Ma!" Takahiro whined, "Chocolate?"
"Not until we eat," Mimi told him. She then suggested, "Why don't I cut your nails while we wait for daddy to bring us the food?"
"I don't wanna," Takahiro grumbled, pushing his chair further away from the table so that Mimi couldn't make a grab for his hand.
Takahiro instead began to annoy Shunsuke. The older boy rolled onto the bed and once he was on top of the mattress, Takahiro began to tackle his brother. Shunsuke began to giggle hysterically.
Mimi smiled at her sons. The next kid she was having was going to be a girl, her own daughter.
She'd get jealous whenever Taichi would take their sons out to play soccer, but now she could finally have one kid to herself; somebody she could take shopping and on dessert dates.
At first, Mimi had been upset about her third pregnancy. When Mimi had found out she was unexpectedly pregnant, she had thrown a pillow at Taichi for not using protection. They had wanted to save a bit more money before having another child, but the initial planning proved to be impossible because she had become pregnant again.
Mimi wasn't sure if she was prepared to have another kid join the family - not when she was already struggling with three; her husband being the oldest and most troublesome one out of the lot.
She heard the front door shut.
Mimi straightened up, waiting in anticipation for the food. She licked her lips, scenting the flavours as she could hear her husband slowly approaching up the staircase.
When Taichi materialised in front of her, his hands were behind his back.
He had a goofy smile on his face, as he stared at Mimi, while she waited for him to present the food.
"Tell me how amazing I am and how lucky you are to have somebody like me."
Their two sons had slid off the bed and were now tugging on each of his legs, eying the food eagerly.
Mimi raised an eyebrow. "You'll do."
"Is that all you're going to say?" Taichi drawled, pretending to act offended. "I feel like I'm being used!"
"Show me your goodies," Mimi demanded instead.
Taichi displayed what he had been hiding. In one hand, he gripped onto the plastic bag of take-out. In the other, Mimi simpered when she saw him grasping a single red rose.
She accepted the rose as he leaned in to kiss her on the cheek. "This is for you, my love. Happy Anniversary."
"It had better be for me," Mimi commented, simper widening. "Thank you, honey."
Mimi didn't know whether she was happy about the food or the rose. Nevertheless, she was happy to have a thoughtful husband. It wasn't often Taichi was thoughtful like this, but whenever she was pregnant, he brought the best side of himself out.
She helped Taichi set the table out. Even though they weren't in the dining room, the master bedroom somehow had enough space for the four of them to dine. When their new house had been furnished, Mimi had debated with Taichi about having an extra table in the bedroom. She had won, and they had bought a marble table (considering she said it looked good aesthetically and would come in handy at some point). Although the table was there for its appearance, it had now turned into the family's designated take-out spot.
"Damn," Taichi groaned, checking inside the plastic bag. "They only gave us three sets of cutlery."
"Then go to the kitchen and get another," Mimi told him.
Taichi shook his head, beginning to scoop the fried rice with his bare fingers. Takahiro and Shunsuke laughed at their father.
She slapped his hand away. "Taichi! At least wash your hands. You're setting a bad example to the boys!"
"But I'm hungry," Taichi protested with a pout.
Following his example, the two younger boys tried to copy their father. Mimi took the container of fried rice from their grasping ranging, using her own spoon to put scoops of rice onto their plastic plates.
Because her attention was on their sons, Taichi managed to sneak a drumstick from the other container. Mimi cringed when she saw Taichi's fingers were now dipped in brown marinated sauce.
"TAICHI!"
The thought of grime going up his fingernails made her leer daggers at him.
"I'm starving," Taichi reasoned out, unapologetic about his terrible etiquette display.
"Your nails are disgusting. I'm cutting them tonight."
Taichi snorted, "You and your nail fetish."
"I'm sorry that I like to be clean. At least I am not a grub like you."
"You're the one who married me. Deal with it."
Mimi stepped on his toes under the table so that the children were unable to see. She threatened, "I'll snip your nails when you fall asleep."
"Don't you dare do that again," Taichi grumbled. "Do you know how humiliated I was when my workmates saw my nails were painted neon pink during the team meeting?"
"Serves you right!" Mimi said back. "You need to maintain your hygiene."
One night Taichi had went to sleep in his work clothes after a drunken work function. Mimi had woken up from him stumbling onto the bed, reeking of vomit and cigarettes. Asides from waking her up from a good night of sleep, she couldn't stand it whenever Taichi slept in his work clothes. Therefore, with her her own twisted sense of revenge, she had opted to painting his nails pink.
Taichi gave a toothy grin, showing his mouthful of chicken.
Mimi glared at him. "I hate you."
As soon as she had said the three words, Shunsuke started crying.
"Great, you made the baby cry," Taichi mumbled quietly so only Mimi could hear him. He yelped when he felt Mimi kick him under the table.
Mimi sighed. She picked up Shunsuke and put him on her lap. "I was only joking, Shunsuke."
"But you said that you hated him!" Shunsuke sniffed. "You're always fighting!"
Takahiro nodded, eyes tearful, "Why do you hate dad?"
"I don't hate him." Mimi tried to stop herself from rolling her eyes when she watched Taichi wriggle his eyebrows from across the table. She patted Shunsuke's back. "We argue a lot; but your father and I love each other."
"Despite always fighting," Taichi added. "When we first met, we were even fighting…"
Mimi sent Taichi another look. How was he helping the situation? Their children were now doubting their relationship, and Taichi - being Taichi - wasn't making it any better.
"How did you meet?" Takahiro asked, curiously.
Taichi chuckled. "Your mother fell for me. It was love at first sight."
"I didn't fall for you and it was not love at first sight," Mimi laughed, recalling the memory. She corrected Taichi, "You made me fall."
"And you fell hard."
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Mimi glanced at her rose-gold wristwatch and grimaced. She had five minutes to buy lunch and another fifteen to eat it. She blamed herself for not waking up earlier to prepare a bento, but she had been running late because she hadn't set her alarm.
Her tummy grumbled. If she didn't hurry, she was sure her stomach would eat herself.
The problem about her work was that it didn't have many eateries surrounding it. Sure, there was the company's cafeteria - but at this time, the line was never-ending, and she had once gotten food poisoning, which had inevitably made her swear to herself not to buy anything from them ever again.
She stumbled out of the lobby, and power-walked down the cement footpath. Her heels clicked against the ground. Her head was slightly airy. Because she had almost been late coming to work, she had even missed out on her morning coffee run.
Mimi turned a corner and saw the rare patch of greenery. It was one of the rare places in Tokyo that had a small park amongst the skyscrapers and dreary buildings. Amongst the park, there was even a soccer field. There were a handful of businessmen playing a game, despite not being dressed in their work suits, and not in the appropriate attire.
The sight of the soccer field encouraged herself to quicken her pace as it reminded Mimi how close she was to her destination. She was dying for some spaghetti bolognese. The pasta and the tomato sauce was a die for and she couldn't wait to fill her stomach with Italian goodness. Her tongue was salivating as she imagined the pasta between her lips.
"HEADS UP!"
The sudden shout made her blink, but didn't cause her to step out of the way as she felt something thud against her head. In an instance, she felt her legs give way as she crashed onto the ground. Her head didn't take most of the impact as her left arm had slid under her side, faintly blanketing the fall.
She stared blankly as she watched the black and white soccer ball roll against the side of her face.
"She looks awake?"
There was a hand reaching out to her. She tried to hold onto it, but her hand slipped out of his grasp.
"You've got bad reflexes." Mimi saw a pair of warm, brown eyes look at her.
She couldn't distinguish where she had seen them before, but the more she focused, the more things around her began to fade and blur out.
"That's not helping, Tai."
"Well, she could have stepped out of the way. We did yell out a warning-whoa. You alright there, miss?"
Strong arms held her. There was a sense of urgency in his voice as she could feel the stranger panic. "Hey! Stay with us!"
Mimi tried to; but her eyes closed shut.
"Damn it! Call an ambulance, Motomiya!"
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When she stirred, Mimi clutched onto her head, both hands fisting into her hair. She felt like somebody had taken a knife and had stabbed her brain multiple times. Mimi had her fair share of headaches and migraines, but that moment would have had to been her record.
Tears were rolling down her face as she twisted in pain.
"Miss Tachikawa! Take this!" A nurse planted two pills into her hands. "It's paracetamol."
Without hesitation, Mimi slipped them into her mouth and accepted the glass of water from the nurse. Once down her throat, Mimi blinked, adjusting to her clinical surrounding.
Curtains were drawn. Electronic sounds and buzzers were ringing. The lighting was strong, and people in scrubs were rushing around. She was at Tokyo hospital; probably the emergency department. Mimi's friend, Jyou, had done a rotation in Emergency, so she recognised the environment.
"Do you know where we are?"
"Tokyo Hospital."
"The day?"
"Tuesday."
"Month?"
"July."
"Your name?"
"Mimi Tachikawa."
"Great. I'm going to shine a light in your eyes. Please look towards your right. Yes. Now towards the left."
Mimi wanted to say 'no, thank you', but the nurse was already at it, monitoring her pupil size. The nurse nodded to herself and recorded her observations.
The nurse then sped off to bring a middle-aged man, who stood at the end of the bed, to see her.
"Hello, Miss Tachikawa. I'm Dr Osaki. How do you feel?" the doctor greeted her.
"Like death," Mimi admitted, rubbing her forehead.
The doctor chuckled, much to Mimi's dissatisfaction. "The good news is that everything is fine. You can be discharged within the next hour. I've prescribed a script with some analgesia for you to go home with. If you have any issues, blurred vision, or anything out of the norm, present yourself back here or see your local GP."
"So I'm fine?" Mimi questioned. She hell didn't feel fine. She felt like her head was going to implode.
"All your scans have shown no abnormalities." The doctor read through her charts. "Your X-ray, CT, MRI and blood works are all fine. Needless to say, even your vital signs are all within normal range. You probably should be fit to be discharged in an hour or so."
"Do you have any more analgesia? I think paracetamol won't do it."
The doctor glanced at the nurse, and in one quick action the nurse took the medication chart to get Mimi more pain relief.
"In the meantime, I suggest you lay back and relax." The doctor then said, "Oh, and I'll go fetch your Mr Yagami. He's been waiting for you since you arrived here."
Mimi scrunched up her face, bemused. "Who?"
"The man who's paid for your medical bill." The doctor replied, "Your partner."
"I don't have a partner-"
Mimi did not get to end her sentence because the nurse was already rushing away to find her 'supposed' partner. She found her purse on the side of her pillow. Immediately, she grabbed her phone out and saw her reflection.
She made a face when she saw a big lump on the right side of her forehead. It was already beginning to bruise and it made her look ugly. Enough that her face was swollen, now she had to deal with a horrible lump on her forehead? And the time? It was already five in the evening? How long had she had been out...why had she been out?
Mimi reran through things in her mind. She was on her lunch break. She was hurrying to buy lunch until she passed a soccer field and...oh...ouch.
Who was the idiot who had kicked the ball?
How could the mistake her head for the soccer post? What was wrong with them?
She closed her eyes.
Mimi heard the light swish of the curtains and slightly squinted her eyes to see who her rescuer was.
She recognised him immediately. He was the man who had caused her injury and…he was her CEO.
Mimi groaned to herself inwardly. Not only was Taichi Yagami the CEO to the company she worked for, he was the hot topic of all her female colleagues. Mid-twenties, handsome, tall, and successful.
And, to add to the list, a horrible soccer player.
She felt to embarrassed to speak up or to open her eyes fully. She was in a hospital gown. Her hair was disordered and the throbbing lump on her forehead was anything but attractive. Mimi felt like she was going to die from the awkward situation she had gotten herself in. Even though she was faking a sleeping pose, she could feel her cheeks warm up. She hoped he wouldn't notice…
Mr Taichi Yagami sat on a chair besides the bed. He loosened up his tie and undid the top button to his shirt. She could sent his spicy cologne. The rumours were true. Even up close, Taichi was quite the looker.
Just when Mimi could get away with looking like a sleeping princess, her nose began to tickle.
The cologne was getting to her.
At first she thought her wave of allergies would pass, but as seconds ticked by, her nose began to scrunch up and then she let out a loud sneeze. She opened one eye and saw him staring at her, amused.
"So you were awake," Taichi gathered, smirking. He folded his arms, leaning back on the chair as he observed her. "If you were awake, I could have left already. I have meetings to attend..."
Something about his attitude irritated Mimi. Meetings? The grown man had been playing soccer! What gave him the right to act all high and mighty when it was obviously his fault that she had landed at the hospital in the first place!
Before Mimi could snap back, two nurses arrived at her bedside with analgesia.
To her surprise, Taichi was at her side and helped her sit up to take the tablets. After taking the medication, the nurses left them.
"You look fine. I don't know why you needed the medication for…"
Mimi's temper got the best her. "Tell me how do I look fine when you stupidly kicked a ball at my head! Don't you have a sense of direction? Don't you know how to kick?"
Taichi looked torn between laughing and replying back. Seeing that Taichi wasn't talking, Mimi took advantage of his silence to continue barking at him.
"I didn't ask you to stay here or to pay for my bills. I can pay for myself!" Mimi snapped.
"Jeez. You're not even grateful?"
"No!" Mimi huffed.
"It's not my fault you have awful reflexes! I gave you a warning, yet you stood there like a statue," Taichi scoffed. "If you're fine, I'll just leave then."
"Fine! LEAVE!"
Mimi turned onto her side, tucking the blanket firmly around her and ignored Taichi. Too bad if he was a CEO, he didn't have the right to act stuck up. It was a shame. If she turned up to work next week with them forcing her a dismissal, so be it. She didn't want to work under a man who wouldn't admit that he was wrong.
An hour passed, then another.
Mimi's sleep was broken. She kept waking up, then falling asleep. The analgesia was doing its job. And soon she felt better. Refreshed even.
Her stomach grumbled.
Well, that definitely was a good sign.
If she was hungry, that meant she'd be fine. Ironically, it had all started from her hunger. She had wanted food. That was her aim that lunch, and then she had been deprived of her lunch because of Taichi.
"Stupid Mr Yagami," Mimi murmured.
She rolled to the side of her bed and was about to strip out of her clothes when she heard someone clear their throat from behind her.
Mimi craned her neck and almost jumped on the spot when she noticed that Taichi was still sitting there. He appeared to been doing work on his laptop while he had been waiting for her to wake up.
"I'll drive you home."
Mimi said, "I'll be fine."
"You...I-I'm sorry," Taichi responded, scratching the back of his head. "Perhaps I went out of line there."
"Darn well you did!" Mimi exclaimed, not letting him get away with it.
However, she didn't feel offended by his as she had earlier. After all, he had still waited for her to wake up and - even though she was going to refuse it - was offering to take her home.
Taichi chuckled, and she couldn't help but give him a small smile. There was something about the way he laughed that was contagious. "I'll let you get changed."
As soon as he stepped out of the cubicle, Mimi hurriedly got dressed. She looked at the reflection in the mirror and, despite looking and feeling exhausted, she reapplied her rose-shaded lipstick on her lips. There was no excuse not to look presentable when she had lipstick in her purse (or so her mother would say). She didn't want to appear too sickly. It was enough that she was pale. At least some colour would spruce her look and mood up.
She pulled the curtains back, slipping her feet onto her heels. Mimi wobbly walked towards the nurse's station and suddenly felt a hand slip around her waist to steady her. She looked up and sneezed.
Taichi laughed.
Mimi made a face. "You need to put less cologne on. I'm allergic to you."
"You're not allergic to soccer balls hitting your head."
She appreciated Taichi going to all the lengths of being here throughout the admission and discharge at the hospital. Her next of kin, her parents, were overseas and perhaps it was a good thing that her boss had helped her out, despite it being the first time meeting him and - albeit - in quite strange circumstances.
After fetching her discharge paperwork and medications, Taichi directed her towards the exit. As they passed by a cafe, immediately Mimi's stomach reacted and began to loudly rumble.
Taichi casted a sideway glance towards her. "That's one stomach you have."
"I blame you for my hunger." Mimi frowned.
He guffawed. "Perhaps I'll take you for dinner. How about Chinese?"
"I want Italian."
"Beggars can't be choosers."
"I'm not a beggar." Mimi said, "If anything, it's like you're asking me out on a date. And, to make things clear, I do not date colleagues."
"It's not a date and you aren't my colleague. I'm treating you as my dear number one employee who has the best reflexes known to mankind."
"Nevertheless, I could do with some food," Mimi admitted. "You owe me for it anyway."
"I thought covering for your hospital fee was more than enough."
"Mr Yagami, you need to remember that you put me into hospital."
Taichi chuckled. "Chinese it is."
She didn't know if it was the hit to her head that caused her to agree, but she found herself being led to his car and accepted the treat. Free food was always a plus and there was something about Taichi that drew her in. She had easily dismissed him as a wealthy, handsome CEO, but now that she had conversed to him in a rather different a 'peculiar' level...he seemed fun and, well, she couldn't resist but to flirt back.
They ended up parking at the Chinese restaurant around the corner from the hospital. Taichi offered her hand as she rose up from the leather interior, gripping his arm for balance as they occupied a table at the busy restaurant.
Little did she know that her first meeting with Taichi, turned out to be their first date.
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"And that's how I met your mother, kids," Taichi revealed, grinning. "Your mother had literally fallen head over heels for me."
Mimi rolled her eyes, but she couldn't disguise her amusement as her laughed at the anticlimactic ending.
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(a/n) I had this sitting around for a while. I've always wrote Mimi/Taichi, but have never posted a story dedicated to them. So here's my random one-shot. It fits in perfect timing with Michi week which is happening on tumblr at the moment. Feel free to check it out on taichixmimi . tumblr . com (minus the spaces).
I hope you enjoyed this. :) Thanks for reading!