It's oficial: this is one of the silliest chapters i've written in my whole fanfiction career! Thanks everyone for reviewing!
Chapter Four: Living On the Wild Side...
A month passed very quickly, as Serena had much to do! She could notice that she was a bit tired and her friends were telling her how thin she was getting. This was due to the pressure from university, work, and her choreographer job. She didn't have any problems with the book, since she had sent the manuscript to a publisher, to be exact she sent it to her sister's husband's publishing company. School and the choreographer job were bugging her the most, since she had to finish her thesis, which was due on the coming week; she had finished writing the final paper but she still hadn't found a decent person to edit it.
The TV show that she was choreographing was having a special edition of the program, which would be one and half-hours longer than usual, so she had to work on an extra number of dances. What kept her going was the thought that graduation was only four weeks away.
It was a nice May afternoon, and Serena would rather be out with her friends than stuck in Mr. Chiba's office. She was organizing an address book while Mr. Chiba himself left for a meeting with a very important client, a few hours ago. 'Grrrr, I feel so trapped! I wish I were-' she thought as the door to the office opened. Darien came in with a brunch on papers in his hands. He put them on his grandfather's desk and looked at Serena with a weird smile. Then he walked calmly over to Serena's desk. Serena sensed that he wasn't thinking of something good right then, and braced herself of what was to come.
"Hello, my love," he greeted her with a smile.
"Shut your damned trap! I'm not your cursed love, and I hope you never find one too!" she said annoyed. 'How dares he? First, he invades my thoughts all the time, now he's trying to tempt me. Damned man!'
"Aw, that hurt my feelings, Serena!" he said jokingly, but deep down it was the plain truth.
"Do you think I care?" she shot at him, "Let me answer that: No! I don't give a sht about your feelings!"
In an impulse, Darien ripped Serena off her chair into his embrace. He was going to show her how much he loved her. He'll show her how much he wanted her to believe him, and most of all accept him into her life. He lowered his head, meaning to give her a passionate kiss; the most beautiful finger stopped him. Soon enough, he realized that the finger on his lips belonged to Serena. 'Of course it's beautiful, every part of Serena is beautiful, you fool!' he thought happily.
"Stop it, you idiot!" she warned, "If you move one inch closer I'll hurt you!"
"In this country we use the metric measurement, which means that inches and the other stuff aren't part on my vocabulary," Darien pushed his luck, and moved closer to her lips. He thought that she was totally helpless now, her feet were off the floor, her arms were trapped between his chest and hers, and he made sure that his strong arms grasped her very tightly.
'I wish I could taste his lips...' Serena's unconscious mind craved. 'Go for it girl! They are only inches away from your lips, all you have to do is to lean-' encouraged her inner voice. 'What are you thinking girl? Fall into this pig's lips? I'd rather kiss a Neanderthal! Hit him, now,' her mind screamed. 'Just how do you think you are going to hit him? You're trapped, and you've been dreaming about him every night now! I don't see the point of waiting,' her inner voice argued. 'How do you know? Huh? I don't even remember dreams!' her mind defended. 'I'm your unconscious self, remember?' 'Oh fck y!' 'Don't be disgusting, Serena, you expect yourself to masturbate?' 'Grr-' 'Okay I get it, I'll stop!'
"One CENTIMETER closer and you'll get some blue marks, Darien, I'm serious," she threatened him; "I'm not the type of girl that you usually mess around with, so I'd advise you to be careful of your every move, right now!"
"You make me laugh-" Darien was interrupted.
"What is the meaning of this?" they heard Mr. Chiba's voice, "If you two want to make love, for God's sake, don't do it in the working place!"
Serena was now boiling; he forced herself out of Darien's arm and went to fetch her bag. As far as she knew, she had to get away from this place...Quickly, before she exploded. But Darien's hand got a hard grip on her hand.
"Don't go Serena!" he trying to amend what the awkwardness that he had just caused.
"Oh shut up you mothe-" she screamed pulling her arm off Darien's hands.
"Grandpa, it wasn't what you thought," he tried, "Serena really didn't want this, it was my fault, totally my fault, you shouldn't have to offend her like that!"
"I apologize, Ms. Tsukino," he addressed seriously; "I hadn't meant to offend you, once again, my apologies."
"What is the meaning of this then, Darien?" asked a girl with shoulder-long marine-blue hair.
"Michelle!" Darien exclaimed surprised.
"You should know perfectly well that this company does not allow any kind of harassment, and that by doing what you just did you could lose your job!" informed a shorthaired dark-blonde girl.
"Amara is right!" Michelle agreed.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know what I was thinking," he mumbled, "I guess I was being a retard..."
"You bet!" Amara barked, "Get out of our sight before I break your bones into sub microscopic pieces!"
"Who are you t-"
"Darien, get out," said Mr. Chiba irritated, "And we'll have to talk later."
Darien left immediately. Serena quietly went back to her desk and continued with her work. But just as she picked up a business card, Amara cut in.
"How long has he been on you?" she asked.
"Just today Ms..."
"Just call me Amara, I'm Michelle's partner," she smiled.
"Ms. Tsukino," Mr. Martin said calmed down, pointing at Michelle, "This is my granddaughter Michelle Tenou and that is Amara Tenou, Michelle's, er, wife."
"Pleased to meet you, Mrs. and Mrs. Tenou!" kidded Serena.
They all gave a laugh, while Serena went on with her work. She felt a bit dizzy, but she ignored the feeling. She had been feeling like this for over a month now and she was used to it. An hour later she was on her way home. She entered her apartment building, and she heard a great noise. She rushed up the stairs; she had recognized Mina's voice and knew that she was in trouble. As she neared the fourth floor, she heard a man's voice.
"You btch, you're saying you're not going to let me in?" said the man, "Damned you, you've always been a whr, so let me in!"
Serena ran up to the man, grabbed him by his collar, and pushed to the wall.
"Bstrd! Who do you think you are? Huh?" she shouted, and then turning to Mr. Aino who was just standing there shocked, "Don't you see your girlfriend is crying? Go and comfort her, for Gods sake!"
She punched the man a couple of times, and let the man free. He collapsed to the ground. Serena warned him that if came back she'd strangle him alive! Then she ordered him to stand up, the man was totally out of energy, and he could barely stand up. He walked down the stairs as quickly as he could, as Serena shouted about him not daring to call the police because she would tell about what he did to Mina. Then she noticed that Darien was standing next to her door, he had probably arrived while she was fighting the man. She commanded to go to Mina's apartment to call Mr. Aino out and stay with Mina while she and Mr. Aino talked.
"Sit!" she ordered angrily. Mr. Aino obediently sat on the first stair he could find. "What are you thinking of doing next?"
"I didn't know she was a-"
"She isn't anymore!" Serena barked, "Are you going to dump her now? If so why did you tell her you loved her? You will cheat on her feelings if you dump her!"
"I really don't want-"
"Look, let me tell you her story," she said running her hand through her hair, "I came to England five years ago. Five months later Mina moved in here, she looked very depressed and lost when I first saw her. She told me that she and just divorced a man whom she had been married to for a six months. He had not only ended their marriage but also hit her, while hitting her, he killed the baby who was inside her. Her parents lived in Scotland and she hadn't a penny on her. She had succeeded in getting this apartment by sleeping with the owner of this building.
"You've always been rich, but can you imagine how it is for a poor girl with low self esteem would feel in such moments? At that time I didn't have a penny to spare so I couldn't help, as much as I wanted to. She was too depressed to think properly, so she went on drugs. I tried as hard as I could to make her stop, but it didn't work. In time, she stared to bring in guys here. And that's what she's been doing until a year ago, when I finally had spare money and started lending her some of it. That was when she decided to use her brain and find a job.
"My point is that Mina had a very low self esteem. And what happened five years ago caused great damage to her emotional self, so it was very difficult for her to pick herself up and go on with her life!" she finally ended, "Now you decide what you want to do. But if you really love her, you shouldn't let go of her..."
"Thank you, Serena;" Mr. Aino breathed after a silent pause, "You just saved our relationship! And do you know what?"
"What?" Serena asked curiously.
Mr. Aino took out from his jacket pocket dark blue velvet box; he opened it and in the very middle rested a gold ring with a huge diamond on it.
"Wow! Oh my! I can't believe this!" Serena exclaimed excited, "I want to be the-"
"Yeah, yeah," Mr. Aino agreed, "But don't your think that Mina should know about this first?"
"Oh sure," she answered, "Go right ahead and tell her!"
While Mr. Aino entered Mina's apartment, Serena opened hers. She went right to the kitchen to get a glass of juice. She drank it like she had been wondering in the desert for years! Then she went to her living room, where she found Darien, sitting on HER couch. 'Now he was making himself comfortable here! Now he'll have to hear! How dares he? Just because he is the richest person alive, it doesn't mean that he has the right to invade other people's properties.' Serena opened her mouth meaning to give Darien a great lecture, but she was stopped.
"Serena, for once, please listen to me!" he started, "I am sorry for what happened today," he managed to say.
"You are not forgiven," she screamed, "Now go to your place, or to hell, I don't care; just get out of my sight!"
"Shut up, and listen to me!" Darien demanded sternly and went on in a much calmer voice, "I really didn't mean to do that. But you have a way of hurting my feelings so much...All I wanted was to-"
Someone shouting from the floor below interrupted them. Saved by a scream! Serena quickly tore herself away from Darien. She ran down the stairs while Darien followed her, what was going on now?
She opened the door to the apartment was just below hers. Unlike her apartment, this one was dirty, and broken. Serena and Darien heard a murmur from the bathroom. They went into the bathroom; there was a man about the same age of Serena. He held a tiny bottle I one hand and a glass of water in the other, on the sink was a pistol. It was open and had no bullets.
Serena walked carefully to him. She put a hand of his left shoulder, and looked at the tiny bottle. The bottle contained morphine pills. 'Why the hell would Seiya want to take those?' she asked herself. To find the answer she observed the scene: an unloaded pistol, morphine tablets, and water. Of course! 'Oh, Jesus, he's about to commit suicide! I have to stop him!'
"Seiya, why don't hand those tablet to me?" she asked innocently.
"Serena," Seiya said turning around, "Don't try to stop me this time. What is the point? There is no hope for me."
"What do you mean," she spoke gently; "There is hope for everyone in this world."
"No," he insisted, "If there was I wouldn't be living here, in these conditions."
"I would have believed that if you were 47 years, but you're only 23! There are so many possibilities out there, just waiting to be taken," she persisted, and pointed to the tiny bottle, "And this isn't one of them, believe me... If you hand this to me and let me have your pistol, I'll help you. I promise."
Finally Seiya handed the bottle of morphine to Serena, and gestured her to take the pistol. She of course took both things and headed towards the door.
"Thank you, I'll come to you tomorrow afternoon, then we will talk about you situation," then she faced Darien, who was standing by the door surprised, "sshl, do you want to do a good deed for the world today?"
Darien managed a nod, as he was too surprised to speak. "Then give Seiya enough for a McDonald's meal, but not a pound more, or he'll use it for something else." Darien handed the money to Seiya. Then Serena and Darien headed out, and up to the apartment above.
Once Serena reached her floor, she opened the hole in the wall that was made to throw the garbage, she threw the pistol down, and listened to the sound it made while running down the metal tube. Then she entered her apartment and ran directly to the bathroom, she threw the tablets into the toilet then flushed them.
Then feeling very dizzy, she went back to the living room to sit down a little. She barely reached the living room, when she collapsed. If Darien weren't following her every move like a dog, she would have fallen to the floor and hit herself hard. Darien caught her in his arms; he noticed that she was extremely weak now. 'I could kiss her now!' He pushed this thought out of his mind and concentrated on what he would have to do. He carried her to her bed, pulled the cover over her helpless body. He then went to the kitchen to get his beloved one a glass of juice. He made her drink the juice until the last drop. Then he ordered her to sleep.
"What were you going to tell me, Darien?" Serena asked falling almost falling asleep.
'Since when did she start calling me by my name?' he questioned himself. Nevertheless, he kneeled down beside her, stroked her golden bangs, smiled, and said: "I was going to tell you that the only reason I acted so stupid today, was because I wanted to show you how much I love you..."
Serena sighed closing her sky blues, falling asleep. Darien watched his angel sleep, he assured himself for the hundredth time that he had never seen a woman more beautiful than Serena. She was not only beautiful, but also loving and caring. He had seen how much she had cared for her friends today; she had pushed aside her own problems to help her friends. Not many people would the disposable of doing such things other people. He was sure that even if HE were in trouble, she would try to help him.
Finally Darien looked up, and noticed that the room getting dark. He switched the light on and left the apartment. He went to Mina's place to inform of Serena's break down, and finally went home. On his way home he decided to not to bother Serena anymore, he had to find some other way to win her heart. He knew that if he made such sudden movements, he would totally lose the tiny amount of respect that she had for him...and of course, he didn't want that, did he? NO! He turned his car to the left, heading towards his grandfather's mansion. There, old Mr. Chiba would be waiting for Darien, Darien was sure about the lecture to come...
The next morning Serena woke up feeling better than she had felt in weeks! She jumped out of her bed, and ran happily to the bathroom. As the opened the shower she noticed that she was different, somehow. She stepped under the shower and recalled yesterday's events: Darien, Mina, and Seiya. Suddenly a voice spoke in her head, "...I love you..." it said softly. She couldn't recall who exactly had said that, but it sounded extremely familiar. Finally, she gave up trying to find who had said it, and contented herself with the fact the
SOMEONE out there was in love with her. She stepped out of the shower and she noticed how she was feeling energetic, it was good to have a good night's sleep after all.
She dressed herself, and quickly put her immense her into a ponytail. Then she jumped her way to the kitchen. She made herself a Spanish omelet and purred some peach juice into a glass. She then walked over to the living room, and sat down on her couch in front of the Japanese table. She saw her unedited thesis on the table and remembered that is was due in exactly six days.
Even before she began to worry, she knew with a flash someone who would edit it for her: Darien!
'Hold your horses girl, you're not getting too emotional here are you,' asked her rational mind. 'As logical as you are, you should be smart enough the understand that there is no time to think about Darien as you do, focus on getting your thesis edited, you've only got SIX days!' exclaimed her heart. 'But there must be someone else, like Mr. Chiba for example.' 'Oh, idiot, he told you that he was going to the States today, besides it's a good way to become Darien's friend...' 'And why would I want to be Darien's friend?' 'Why wouldn't you?' 'You never give up, do you?' 'Nope!' 'Damned you!' 'Yes!'
She stuffed her breakfast as quickly as she could, and did the dishes in a flash. Packed her things for the classes that she would have today, and put an extra copy of her thesis in a yellow folder. She ran down the stairs and took the underground to the CIB building. She took the elevator up to Mr. Chiba's floor; she then ran down the corridor to the door beside Mr. Chiba's, it read "Darien Chiba". She was about to knock, when Darien himself opened the door.
"Serena?" he asked surprised to see her there, "My grandfather has left to Boston already, didn't you know that?"
"Yes, I knew that," she smiled calmly, "I'm not here to see Mr. Chiba. Aren't you going to invite me in?"
"Yes, come in," he managed not understanding what was going on.
They passed Darien's secretary who was a cute young lady. She seemed very friendly, unlike Mr. Chiba's secretary. Serena was led into a room to her left; Darien's office was slightly smaller than Mr. Chiba's. She sat on a chair in front of Darien. She noticed how neat and organized his desk was.
"Are going to lecture me now?" Darien asked awkwardly.
"You're forgiven," Serena replied smiling, "I see you're very organized."
"Serena, you're making me nervous," he uttered, "Please get to your point?"
"Where were you going, when I came in?" she questioned.
"To my mail box," he answered, "Please, Serena..."
"Alright, alright! Do I threaten you so much?"
"Yes, you're so unpredictable!"
"Fine, I was just going to ask you if you could edit my thesis," she admitted.
"Oh, yes I'd gladly edit it for you!" he exclaimed with relief.
"I need to have it back on Friday, as it's due on Monday next week," she said handing the folder with the thesis to Darien.
"I will finish it, don't worry."
"Oh thank you so much, you're a life saver, how can I thank you enough?"
"That's enough already!" he laughed. 'So Serena is thanking me? Something is very wrong with her, she probably very desperate about this.'
"Thank you," she said standing up, "I have to rush, now. So see you on Friday!"
"Say hello to Seiya," he smiled, "Bye."
The girl had no time to stay any longer as had to hurry to her part time job. She was already a good five minutes late, and she didn't even practice the dance routines that she was going to teach today. 'I'll just have to make them up as I go!' she said brushing that though away. She felt so relieved to find someone who could edit her paper, and give good, constructive criticism to it. She couldn't wait until Friday!
After choreographing the dances she went to Seiya's place. The two friends discussed what Seiya wanted to do and the possibilities that he had. The conclusive product of the discussion was that Seiya would try making his first book of poems, while also working on a normal job. The next few days were spent looking for possible jobs that Seiya would enjoy. Finally he got admitted as an elementary physical education teacher in a boys' catholic school, just because he knew the bible inside out, but that didn't mater!
At last the long awaited Friday had come! She ran down the streets of London to the CIB building. Mr. Chiba had arrived form the States on this same day, so of course she would be working today. She couldn't wait until after work, she was so excited to get her thesis back- and most of all see Darien-'Hang on, rewind, cut! Where did that come from? I was just checking the agenda of your life and I didn't find anything with "seeing Darien" on it.' 'Why don't you chill?' 'If I leave you in control for just a minute, I don't know WHAT you'll do, you uncontrollable monster!' 'Look who's talking, you're a control freak!' Serena shook off her inner voices as she neared Mr. Chiba's office, it wasn't time for emotional fights now; she had work to do!
As Serena was about to leave her work, Darien entered Mr. Chiba's office.
"Are you done with it?" She questioned anxiously.
"Yes, I am," answered with a light smile, "It was fantastic, I don't think anyone could do it better! I even showed it to an old family friend who is a retired professor, and he said that he's never seen a better one."
"Did I miss something?" Mr. Chiba interfered.
"Yeah, Grand-dad! You've missed this extremely well written paper!" Darien exclaimed.
"Ah!" Mr. Chiba said, "I see..."
"Finally, I'm so happy!" Serena chanted happily, "I don't know how I am going to thank you!"
"Hey, it was you who wrote it, Serena, not me," Darien commented.
"But still..." she insisted.
"Alright," Darien finally agreed, "How about your and me go to diner next Tomorrow?"
"You're always on your guard, right?" Serena smiled with an uncertain look. 'Say yes!' supported her heart. 'Say no; he's a player, remember!' her mind protested. 'What are you scared of? That he's going to kiss you?' 'It's my first kiss I want it to be perfect!' 'Isn't he perfect enough? You won't find anymore more perfect than him!' 'Shut up, it's my life, and I decide what I want to do with it!' 'It's my life too, you know! I should also be able to decide!' 'Go away! Say no, that's the final decision.'
"I can see that you're not very sure," Darien observed, "I could call you tomorrow if you want..." He knew that tomorrow she would be more serious and that the answer would most likely be no then, but he was trying to be "the perfect gentleman" here.
"No, no, it's alright you don't need to call me," she answered quickly, "I have a date with my friends tomorrow night. And I haven't been out with them for over a month!" she lied.
"Oh," Darien sighed disappointedly, he was sure that that was just an excuse.
"I have to rush," she said snatching her papers from Darien's hands, "Bye Mr. Chiba, and Pi-er, Darien!"
The two men watched their employee disappear through the office door. One was very disappointed with himself for not being able to be with his love. The other already making plans for his grandson's wedding! 'Yepp, definitely a nice couple!' he though secretly.