A/N: Apologies for the missed update mid-January!

[Say "I do" (Part One)]

"Vergil Sparda, do you take Mico Takuya to be your lawfully wedded wife, to live together in marriage? Do you promise to love her, comfort her, honour and keep her for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, and forsaking all others, be faithful only to her, for as long as you both shall live?" The officiant asked with the tone of someone who had done this job for many times. I had no doubts that the old man could recite the whole speech again in his sleep if we asked it of him. There was reason why he had been recommended to me as the city's most popular officiant –but the reason had actually evaded me thus far.

My gloved fingers were already beginning to get a little sticky with sweat, and the additional heat from the hand that was holding on to mine lightly was not making things any better. Even with the air conditioning blasting in the ballroom, the sheer intensity of the spotlights being thrown on me was actually frying me up, and being rather tightly clad in unforgiving satin was giving more excuse for my pores to start working on overload.

"I do..." The reply was surprisingly soft, and I looked up from our slightly-uncomfortable hand-hold to look up at my fiancé (and very-soon-to-be husband). I don't have a proper word to describe his expression, but the best analogy I could make on the spot was that he had the face of someone who seemed to have woken up in a whole new reality and was only now trying to grasp his surroundings.

Was this guy getting the wedding jitters only now? Did he even get jitters? Considering the number of times he had appeared up on stages, in front of cameras and seen his own face on the big screen, you would think that someone like the scion of the country-famous Sparda Corporation was totally at home standing in front of a crowd.

"E-Excuse me?" The officiant seemed hesitant to be cajoling an answer out of a groom that was as prestigious as Vergil Sparda, but it was a fact that my husband-to-be had answered in a voice that was too small to even reach the front row where his proud father sat in a very stunning tuxedo, and my parents and sister sat on the other side shedding tears at the departure of a family member.

"Vergil?" I mouthed, glad that my pulled-back veil was long enough to block the sight of my mouth moving from our audience as we stood facing each other.

Blue eyes that had been a little bit far away snapped to my lips, then travelled slowly up to my eyes, and once again I am struck by how stunning they are. In fact, everything about this man I was about to marry was stunning and striking. Even while we are on the altar saying our vows, I am still completely convinced that if my father was not an acquaintance to the founder of the Sparda Corporation and had not promised to wed me to Sparda's very-attractive heir, I would never be able to find myself someone of Vergil's level.

After all, I, Mico Takuya, am just an ordinary 21 year old woman with an equally normal family and life so far. I had gone through school just as normally as everyone else and had struggled just as hard as anyone else in high school. In terms of love life, I had had a few boyfriends but because of respectful differences I found myself single over my schooling years. In my own opinion, I know that I am just an average woman with nothing particular to brag about.

And I was about to capture the country's most eligible bachelor with a ring on his fourth finger.

The officiant cleared his throat loudly to pretend as if nothing had happened, then gave my fiancé a second chance by starting again: "Vergil Sparda, do you take-"

"I do." Vergil interrupted, this time loudly and in his usual public (louder than normal) voice.

"Mico Takuya, do you take Vergil Sparda to be your lawfully wedded husband, to live together in marriage? Do you promise to love him, comfort him, honour and keep him for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, and forsaking all others, be faithful only to him, for as long as you both shall live?" The officiant did not take insult from the interruption, and moved on with his duty.

I made sure there was no awkward pause this time as I made my voice clear, fighting off the pure urge to scratch an itch that had suddenly gotten on my cheek.

"I do."

My fingers were also struggling to breathe inside the hot gloves, and it felt all gross despite the fact that I was still holding hands with my fiancé. I really hoped he could not feel my sweat through the gloves.

"Please put on the ring for your wife, Vergil Sparda." The officiant requested politely, and thankfully this time there was no more awkward pause from my husband as he did as he was told. Both of us were keeping our heads and face down, so I watched as he slipped the ring onto my gloved forth finger and I struggled not to think of how icky and sticky my fourth finger would be when I finally removed my gloves.

"Mico Takuya, please." The officiant seemed lazy to repeat his request, but I forgave such details as I pinched my husband's ring between my fingers, praying that the gloves would not make the really expensive ring slide off and go rolling off. The short worry came to naught when I safely aimed the ring to the right place, and the carefully sized ring slide easily onto my husband's finger.

"I now declare your husband and wife." The officiant announced with the voice of a politician announcing his latest and proudest policy to the public. "You may now kiss the bride."

Well, that was something neither Vergil nor I have talked about. The 'kiss the bride' part had always been looked over when I had been planning all other small details about the wedding, but now that the both of us were standing on the altar, I was suddenly struck with the realisation that I didn't know how to kiss him.

What type of kiss was it supposed to be like? A peck on the lips? A full lip-on-lip? Was I supposed to open my mouth a little to share our breaths? I doubted it was going to be a full-on French kiss since we had to keep this family-friend. We had some young children in the audience today from my side of the family, and I didn't want to the young ones to ask too many questions to their poor parents.

I quickly threw away the thoughts from my mind when I saw my husband's face come closer, the explosion of loud applause echoing all around us. Since he was taking the lead this time, I guessed I would have to just react accordingly as I tilted my head up to him a little for an easy trajectory of his lips and closed my eyes to add to the effect.

I have to say we did it very well with a full lip-on-lip with the perfect slightly-tilted angle of attack from him. Vergil must be well versed in kissing, because he knew when to draw back, and I reacted well with him, drawing out from his embrace to turn to our audience with a full-on smile to greet the crowd. I didn't look up at him, but had no doubt that he had his business smile turned on beside me while his arm was kept territorially around my waist. I had no complains –he was officially my husband now, after all.

Well, I guess that was it. I'm married to Vergil Sparda now.

________________________________________________________________________________

I'm married to Vergil Sparda now.

Crap.

The reality was only now crashing into me as I sat alone on the edge of the pretty-large bed in the middle of our presidential suite at a really high-classed hotel. I had no doubts that the price of the room was as high as my college tuition fees for at least a semester. But that wasn't my main area of concern for the moment as I sat staring at the floor in front of me, freaking out mentally.

There had been a very good reason why the meaning of the phrase 'married to Vergil Sparda' had completely evaded me for so long and was only coming to me now. Ever since my drunken father had come back home from a meeting with his best friend from his college days over drinks declaring that he had promised his daughter's hand in marriage to his best friend's son, I had basically been bombarded by the sheer number of tasks at hand arranging the whole wedding. Because Vergil Sparda had his time tied up essentially running almost the whole company by now (since Daddy Sparda had more or less passed down most operating duties to his very stellar heir), he had requested that I arrange everything about the wedding and assured that he had little preference for anything. It had made things both very easy and difficult for me because having a wide range of options was both a blessing and curse.

All in all, I had been kept on my toes the whole three months. And now that the entire wedding and reception was over, the meaning of the three months' worth of mess was finally sinking in.

I was married to Vergil Sparda.

We were on our nuptial night.

I am sitting on our nuptial bed.

My husband is in the showers.

Frantic, I thought back quickly on the last time I had my period. We were at the start of the month, so it meant that my period had cleared... around 25 days ago. Since I was a woman with a super-consistent menstrual cycle of 30 days, I guess I was safely out of the most fertile period. Well, that was good news. I mean, I don't think I would want to have children so early just yet. I really didn't look forward to continue going back to college with a baby bump. Daddy Sparda hadn't talked about having me having his son's baby to carry on the Sparda line of succession yet, so it was safe to say that the pressure to create something more than sparks was off the table –at least at the moment.

But... was I really ready to what was going to come? I could not claim to be a virgin –I had that taken away from me three years ago with my second boyfriend –but this was going to be my second time. It was safe to say that my experience using my womanhood was minimal and if I was honest, the first time had been my boyfriend doing most of the job and telling me what to do. Was Vergil going to be kind like that too?

The sound of the showers stopped, and I did breathing exercises to calm down my nervous heartbeats. There wasn't anything to be afraid of. Vergil is my husband. My lawfully wedded husband. Whatever he did; it would all be legal. Well, at least until it turns to domestic violence –but that was really a contingent that I prayed wouldn't happen. Vergil hadn't seemed like a wife-beater from the get go.

Then again, wife-beaters didn't have that characteristic written on their faces.

A phone's chiming woke me out of my worries, and I followed the source of the sound to the phone sitting on the dresser table beside my husband's other accessories that included his wallet, tie and cufflinks. It was ringing, and on the screen was the name 'Dante'.

Worries or not, a wife had to do her duties. I scooped up the phone –careful not to pick up the call by accident –and hurried back across the room to the closed bathroom door. The evening dress I had changed into for the after-party was thankfully not as long as my wedding dress, so making quick steps did not threaten my balance or ability at hurrying.

"Vergil." I knocked on the door. "Someone by the name of Dante is calling."

I startled a little when the door opened shortly after my knock, and there stood my husband mostly naked with a towel wrapped around his waist. Well, at least there was some decency going on here, as he looked at me through his damp fringe.

I had never known how much gel he had been using to keep his hair up all the time until I saw the sight of how long his fringe actually was now that they were wet and hanging down.

"Excuse me while I pick up the call." He answered, picking his phone from my grasp, then brushed past me while swiping his finger over the screen to pick up the call.

"Vergil." I heard him greet in his business-voice, but more could not be heard as he walked out of our bedroom door into the visitors' room, closing the door behind him.

Left alone in the room all over again, I trudged back to the edge of the bed and resumed my waiting, unsure of what I was supposed to do. Though part of me was glad that this Dante person had helped bought me some time to calm my nerves before whatever my new-husband and I were supposed to do, the other part of me wondered who this guy was. Did he not know that my husband was on his nuptial night? I had always assumed that there was some sort of manners going on in the adult world where people don't call newly-weds on their nuptial night for anything other than life-or-death emergencies.

Still, what was done was already done. I wasn't sure exactly how long I sat waiting for Vergil to be done with his phone call because I was still busy trying to reassure myself that everything would be fine. Unfortunately, whatever system that was in charge of the self-assurance function in my body was not functioning, because I jumped to my feet hurriedly when the door to our bedroom suite opened again and in came Vergil with his phone in his hand.

"Why are you still in your dress?" That was the first question addressed directly to me in our private time as he stood, slightly surprised at my appearance. Still, he seemed to chuck that information away from his mind as he walked towards the wardrobe at the far end of the room. "Did you bring a change of clothes?"

"I... forgot." I answered in embarrassment. I had been too busy planning everything down to the details during the day that I had completely forgotten about all sorts of logistics for the night. I had only been looking forward to the night so that we would finally be away from the careful watch of the large audience we had –mainly because Daddy Sparda had invited many successful business partners to watch his precious heir be married off. Clearly many things had been neglected from my mind.

"The hotel provided bathrobes for us." Vergil answered, drawing out one to prove his point. "You can wear that for tonight and we'll leave for our place tomorrow. Your clothes should already have been moved by now."

"Okay. What about you?"

"I sent my stuff two days ago on express service. They should reach by tomorrow. I've asked my secretary to help unpack beforehand, but I tasked him not to touch your belongings because I don't know how you want them placed." My husband answered in his confident manner, shrugging the bathrobe on and tying the ribbon around his waist securely before reaching underneath the folds to unwrap the towel that had been used all this while to cover his manhood.

"It's okay, I still have a few more days of approved leave from college. I'll take those days to unpack." I answered quickly, still standing where I was. Vergil was focusing on the 'tomorrow' details at the moment and that made me wonder if he had forgotten about the 'now' details. "Do you want me to take a shower first?"

"It's up to you whether you want to take it now or tomorrow morning." He answered with a shrug, draping the towel over the back of the chair at the dresser table and picking up his accessories left behind there. "I still have some work to do, so I will be outside. You can take the bed; it will be late when I'm done so I'll sleep on the couch outside."

He still had work to do? Was he forgetting that tonight was our nuptial night, or was he pretending to forget?

"Uh... wait." I stopped him before he had fully stepped out of the door, watching him stop and wait for my words expectantly. He really has sharp blue eyes. "Don't you... don't you want to sleep on the bed? It's big enough for the both of us."

"It's fine, you can have the whole bed. I'm used to sleeping on couches when I travel overseas for work." He answered, completely missing the hint that I had tried my best to drop.

"But tonight is our... it's the night of our wedding."

"Yes, and you must be tired. You have done very well today. Please have a good rest." Vergil answered, and with a brief businessman smile, he nodded and stepped fully out of the room once more, closing the door behind him. I collapsed back on the bed, understanding sinking through me in equal parts as shame and embarrassment.

Of course Vergil wasn't thinking of engaging in any activities of procreation with me tonight. We were practically strangers who had somehow been pulled together to be married by our fathers. I didn't even know that much about him, and I was rather sure that he was too busy to learn anything about me either. Besides, he was the man running the whole Sparda Corporation. Of course he would be too busy for his nuptial night. I probably should have expected that a man of his status didn't take much breaks at all. He had spent the whole day away from his office already for the wedding today. He had much work to catch up at night.

Thoughts of such accompanied me as I made through my shower mechanically, drying myself with towel of quality better than most of my cheap commoner clothes. Wearing the bathrobe provided by the hotel didn't even feel like I was wearing anything at all, and the realisation that I was suddenly propelled into a socio-economic status that I was completely foreign to just because of my husband, followed me as I stepped out of the bedroom to get myself a drink.

Vergil looked up with an expression of hard work falling away quickly to small surprise and realisation at the sight of me when I offered him a cup of water, placing it down on the table near him. I guess him suddenly having a wife was as foreign to him as me suddenly having a husband too. We were two on the same boat.

"You have had a long day too. Please don't work too hard and turn in early."

"I will. Thank you." His reply was short and courteous, as if he were speaking to a waitress at a restaurant.

Left with nothing to say, I wished him goodnight and turned to go.

"Wait."

I stopped, turning around with surprise. Was he finally realising that we were actually on our nuptial night, and that he had been planning use it doing his work?

"Where would you like to go for our honeymoon?" Came the question instead.

I paused. Honeymoon wasn't something that had entered my mind since I had been so busy about the wedding. Honeymoon had been categorised under 'post-wedding thoughts' during the past three month. Anything within that mental category had been completely neglected until today.

"Perhaps someplace beautiful but quiet. I would like to be far away from many people, and simply relax."

"I understand." Vergil answered, then looked down at his laptop that he had set up on the low table in front of him. "Have a good night."

I wished him in kind and made my remaining way back to our bedroom alone.

My husband had absolutely no intention to sleep with me on our wedding night.

I wasn't sure why I felt a little bit hurt at that realisation.

________________________________________________________________________________

"You have got to be kidding me." The meatball that had been pierced by Ellie's unforgiving fork dropped with a small splatter back to the bowl, but it seemed like I was the only one giving it attention. "You are already Mrs. Sparda for 2 months, and he still hasn't done anything to you?"

"There is nothing to be done." I answered calmly, though I understood the reason for my friends' shock too. If I was the third party like they were, I would probably be as horrified and shocked as they were right now. Unfortunately, I was one of the active party in the wedding that had ended 2 months ago. In fact, I think I was the only active party who even considered this a marriage.

I'm pretty sure my husband considered me simply as some sort of house-mate.

"I've had enough of this, Mi. Can you just give me his phone number so that I can scold some sense in him? What kind of a man marries a woman and treats her like a maid?" Brandon said with a deep frown. Both he and Liam were the only two boys in my small circle of friends, and on the outside they were actually a pair of rather attractive men. Ellie and I were used to girls stopping by our table at times giving both Brandon and Liam their phone numbers or inviting them out for one event or the other. They sometimes attended a few events together, but all those attempts at flirting by the girls to the two men of my clique was useless –they were both stupidly in love. With each other.

"The both of us were forced into this." I answered with a shrug, poking at my own leftover meatball because I was already full. "I'm lucky enough that he's not a wife-beater."

"I'm not trying to say that wife-beating is a good thing here, Mi." Liam backed his boyfriend up, leaning forward. "But you know that the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference, right? From what we've heard so far, Mr. Vergil Sparda is as far indifferent about your presence in his life as maybe just another streetlamp down the street."

"This wasn't a marriage of love to begin with." I answered, both glad that my friends still cared about me, but also understanding what worries they were carrying. "I didn't expect any love from this. I just agreed to the marriage because I didn't have a boyfriend, and Vergil needed a wife to appease the shareholders at the company."

"You're basically just a trophy wife! Aren't you insulted at how he has been treating you?" Ellie expressed with tears almost brimming from her eyes as if she was the one getting the slight from my husband instead of me.

"I'd like to see this with cost-benefit analysis." I answered, putting all that I had learnt in my economics course of studies thus far to good use as I raised my hand, extending my fingers one by one. "He is not a bad guy, and he doesn't go out of the way to make my life hell. In fact, he creates so little trash every day and keeps everything so neat that I don't even have much housework to do. He gave me a credit card and told me to spend it on whatever I liked without worries. He doesn't give me restrictions on where I can go and what I can do. In return, I stay out of his business and try my best not to disturb him while he works. I actually am on the winning end of this deal."

"You say that, but all women want to be chased and loved." Brandon retaliated knowingly. Despite all of his outward masculinity and manners, Brandon actually had a very sensitive heart that was almost like a girl's sometimes. He took great attention to details of affections and was usually even more sensitive than me when it came to matters of the heart. When he had first found out that he was in love with Liam, Brandon had almost had a breakdown because he had thought that Liam would despise him for being gay.

"Yes, well, I take what I can get." I shrugged, then stood up with my empty tray. "I'm not complaining yet."

"But you will soon." Brandon answered, and unfortunately, it sounded like a promise as we carried our trays to the return area and made for classes together.

I was back in college after the wedding, and other than the fact that I was now being called by my professors as 'Sparda' instead of 'Takuya', and that I had to wear my wedding band all the time to prove my marriage, nothing much had changed. Initially I had gotten many stares and talks behind my back about me marrying the most eligible bachelor in town, but that had faded away quickly because I acted completely like usual. I didn't have any reasons to act differently in school, after all.

It had been two months since our marriage started, and it seemed like my life had resumed to normal after the pause of three months that I took to prepare the wedding. My husband was always a busy man and I rarely ever saw him given how he left the house early and returned late at night. Even when he did, he never failed to continue his work at him in his own study all the way until I slept. We had never gone out for dinners or dates, and I had only ever had one meal of home-made dinner with him once, in which he thanked me politely afterwards and escaped to his study to do his work.

It was safe to say that I had gotten myself a housemate instead of a husband. Still, I wasn't going to let things like that get me down. So what if I was married now. I was still a college student, studying what I liked. In fact, getting a husband as prestigious and rich like Vergil had given me a guarantee that I didn't need to face the pressure of finding employment immediately after graduation in a few more years.

I kept my focus on my classes for the rest of the day, jotting down my notes furiously. I might sound like a nerd, but studying was something I enjoyed now that I had no pressure to score particularly well, and basically had no other things to do when I was alone at home waiting for a husband to come home.

Thoughts of my marriage were far from my mind even as my last class ended, and the lecturer left the room.

"Let's go to the newly-opened dessert store today, Mi." Brandon said, putting his arms around me in a move that might have been affectionate if it were anybody else.

But this was Brandon we were talking about. Everybody in class knew that Brandon's one true, and very desperate, love was Liam. It was the same vice versa, so whenever either Brandon or Liam initiated close, almost-questionable physical contact with Ellie or me, us girls knew that they were being completely friendly.

"I can't. I have to go home."

"Back to that place without anyone there?" Brandon furthered his venture to keep me shackled by wrapping me in his unforgiving embrace. "No, I've let you escape us too many times. If you want to go home, then we're going with you. Wherever you go today, we will follow you and keep you company."

"Brandon, you know the reason why I have to go back." I tried to protest but clearly my friend was not having any of it as he tightened his grip.

"If you protest some more, I'm not even letting you go back to that man who doesn't care for you. I'll kidnap you and keep you in my house until he realises that his wife is missing and comes to collect you himself." He answered playfully, and I could not help but chuckle at his jest. Liam had moved in to live with his boyfriend shortly after they got together, so even if Brandon tried to kidnap me and keep me in his house, Liam was sooner or later going to chase me out for intruding on their private life.

"Excuse me." A voice in a hard, stern tone broke into our playful atmosphere. "Please take your arms off my wife."

"Your wife?" I heard Brandon ask, and with me still trapped in his arms, we turned to the intruder standing behind us, and a cold chill ran through me as I pushed myself quickly out of Brandon's arms.

"Vergil, this isn't what you think." I rushed to say. The frown on his face was the first of any sort of expression that wasn't polite that I had seen, and to know that I was the cause of it suddenly made me terrified. "Brandon isn't trying anything funny with me. We were just playing around."

"With his arms around you? With him threatening to take you away from me and keep you locked in his house?" If I had missed the distrustful tone of voice the first time, I definitely could not miss it now.

"It's really not what you think." Liam had thankfully pulled Brandon away from me now, stepping in to save his boyfriend from the trouble that had honestly been caused by Brandon's overly-affectionate and slightly-misleading way of displaying his friendship with me.

"Then tell me what I am supposed to think when I enter this room to find his arms around my wife."

It was probably a bad timing to think such thoughts, but as I stood there desperately wanting to clear up the air of misunderstanding, a part of me was stunned at the fact that my husband was finally recognising me as his wife. From the way that the both of us had been living thus far, I had been almost sure that he was ashamed to declare me his wife for whatever reasons.

"That was all just Brandon's playing around. I can assure you that he doesn't like Mi like that. Right, Mi?" Brandon was doing a good job keeping silent because he knew he had done a mistake, and in situations like these, all four of us in my small clique knew that Liam was the fastest problem solver.

"Yes. Brandon and I have nothing going on between us. I swear." Grabbing my husband's hand in the hopes that some physical contact could add some authenticity in my words, I gave him my sincere promise.

"How am I supposed to believe you just like that? I don't know you." He turned away from me instead, still staring hardly at Brandon and Liam.

"Well, if you have been actually bothered about anything in your wife's life, you would have known that we're Mi's best friends, and you are just treating her like a-" Brandon's fiery reply was interrupted by Liam's very smart and ingenious move that basically saved the day.

Liam grabbed his boyfriend's face and forced a hard, hot kiss on Brandon. A hot kiss like that could easily make anyone avert their gaze, and it got worse when Brandon reacted quickly to the burst of passion from his boyfriend, their hands roaming up and down. In fact, they were so touchy on each other that it almost felt like they were acting... except that I knew that they were not.

"Brandon doesn't like Mi like that because I'm the one he's crazy for." Liam panted when they finally broke out of their hot, melting kiss. "Your wife is safe from his arms because he is in mine."

"D-don't say it like that..." Brandon's voice was uncharacteristically weak, but it was definitely something Ellie (who hadn't said a single word thus far) and I forgave. To be attacked with a kiss like that, followed by such a strong declaration... anyone would feel embarrassed at Liam's aggressive moves.

"I understand now." I looked up at the sound of Vergil's voice, relief coursing through me now when the hard look on his face was gone and was now replaced by some sort of easy, relaxed smile. It was a big difference from his polite businessman smile, and it honestly made him ten times more attractive as his blue eyes watched Brandon and Liam. "Forgive me for jumping to conclusions. But for now, please excuse me and Mico. We have a date."

"A date?" It was a strange moment of unison from all of my friends along with me as we watched my husband's smile turned into a grin. This was honestly the first time I was seeing such expressions, and beyond the questions of why he was here in school at this time and why he was claiming to be taking me on a date, the biggest question of why he was so expressive today loomed in my mind. Had he taken the wrong pill today? Had he woken up on the wrong side of the bed?

"Yes. Now, please excuse us." The hand that I was holding captured me instead, and all but dragged me out of the room with no more look backwards.

________________________________________________________________________________

"U-Um, Vergil?" I asked as I kept my footsteps brisk enough to keep pace with my husband. This was the first time he was initiating physical contact with me since the wedding. This was the first time our fingers were interlocked with each other, my wedding band resting against his warm fingers. He wasn't wearing his wedding band, though.

"Yes?"

"Is anything wrong?"

"No, why?" The short reply was like the man I knew, but the idea of a date before the end of the business day ran absolutely tangent to what I thought I knew.

"Why are we going on a date without warning? Don't you have work?" I asked, recognising that I was being led to the entrance of the college, where a low, sleek sports car awaited. It also attracted the curiosity of many school-mates who were lingering in wonder of the owner of the beautiful car, and I didn't have much doubt that I knew who was rich enough to own it.

"A man needs to take a break from work at times. Are you not free now? I waited till you finished classes." Never once had I imagined that I would hear my workaholic husband declaring that he needed a break from work, and thus the shock was enough to put me into silence as he lead me down the steps to where the car was, sat me firmly on the passenger seat and jumped into the driver's seat easily before having us purr out of the college grounds within minutes.

"Where do you want to go?" Vergil's question after a short drive of the scenic view around my college made me realise that he had no plans. That was a first. The Vergil Sparda I thought I knew had always been a man who had thought about a million contingency plans before he made any actions. Was this the millionth-and-one contingency that he hadn't thought about?

Still, I didn't want to question the strike of luck that I was currently receiving. My husband was finally taking the step forward in trying to get to know me better, and I didn't want to waste this opportunity to do the same likewise.

"I know a place where we can have cheap but good entertainment." I suggested with a growing grin, tapping the car's navigation system and setting it on quickly. Vergil wasted no time following instructions, and soon we were on our short 30 minutes ride towards our destination.

"Your friends call you Mi?" The conversational question from Vergil felt a little bit weird after two months of indifferent nonchalance. Was he finally accepting my presence as his wife?

"Yes, it is short for Mico."

"I don't suppose your sister's nickname is Ri, then?"

"I don't think so." I answered with a laugh. "Riko's friends call her Rikki sometimes, but I've heard her called by her name other times. I'm just called Mi by those friends you saw just now. Everyone else calls me Mico or Takuya. Well, it's Sparda now."

"Are you carrying the name well? Sparda is a heavy name to bear."

"Your father warned me about it during before our wedding." I answered. "But I told him I was ready for it. I still might not be completely used to being called Sparda, but I will eventually. It's just odd for me now since I've been reacting to Takuya for the past 21 years of my life."

"My father warned you about it...?" The repeat of my words came distantly, and I looked to see a pensive look on Vergil's face even as he kept his eyes on the road. "He must have known that he picked a good woman for his son given your reply. Many women dream of marrying the scion of the Sparda Corporation, but not many are prepared for the weight of the name."

"I can imagine." I answered honestly. "Before I met you personally, you were always a man out of my reach. I was always listening to my classmates or friends talking about how good it would be for them to marry you so that they could live in luxury, buy fancy clothes and eat fancy food. I always thought that it was a little bit sad that women like that would always be trying to approach people like you. For me, I definitely want to live a comfortable life with someone I love, but I don't need luxury, fancy clothes or food."

"Perhaps that is also why my father chose a woman from humble origins like you too." Vergil nodded. "I have been living in luxury ever since I was born. Humility and simple living was something that took me very long to understand and appreciate."

"I think it is already very commendable that you have learnt how to lead a humble life despite your surroundings thus far, Vergil. The way you have lived the past two months truly do not give off the sense that you have lived a life of luxury since birth. Although, this car..."

The laugh was a sweet sound that I was utterly surprised to hear, and the lines of mirth written at the corner of his eyes were honestly captivating.

"This was a gift from my father five years ago. I was young and had great dreams of being a professional race car driver."

"You certainly drive in a way to give that sense." I agreed, taking in his posture of complete ease despite the fact that we were hugging close to the speed limits of the roads.

"I wanted to live life fast, and blur out the details. When I finally slowed down, I realised that many important things had flown past without my realisation, and now I try my best to slow down and catch them all as they come by." Vergil's words gave a sense that he was no longer talking about only driving, but the way he had been living his life thus far.

And though philosophical talks like these were generally not husband-wife topic, I had long come to accept that Vergil and I were not the most common of married couples, and thus we engaged in conversation topics of such as we went along with our impromptu date. The place I had brought us to was an ice rink, and I was treated to a sight of my husband struggling to stay upright on his skates. It felt good to be the one in power, and since I had decided to give him a chance on this date, I found myself enjoying it much more than I actually would.

The man of little expressions seemed to defy his own character as he generously donated his smiles and grins. He even had chuckles and laughter to go around. Of course, he had a myriad of many other expressions that I had never had the privilege to see before as well. His expressions of surprise, shock, irritation... all these came along with the air of relaxation that I had never before seen around him.

We moved from the ice rink to a dinner spot nearby eventually, and shared one of the most enjoyable dinner that we had had for the past two months. I had not expected Vergil to be able to share so many topics of conversations with me. But it turned out that despite the very different lifestyles that we had been living prior to meeting and marrying each other, both of us had opinions to be expressed and shared about many things. Our views not necessarily coincided, and though there were times during our conversation that it felt as if my husband was trying to feel me out by asking probing questions, I allowed him to glimpse into my true and honest self. Besides, if I could not be honest to the man I had pledged to spend the rest of my life with, then who else could I be honest to?

My enjoyable impromptu date ended when we returned home together, and found myself the only one standing in the house in surprise as Vergil remained outside.

"Come in. You don't have to be invited to your own house, do you?" I asked, looking back to see him looking at his phone with a small frown.

"I'm sorry, Mi." He answered, looking back up at me with an apologetic expression that I was still taking some time to get used to seeing. He had started calling me by the nickname halfway through our ice-skating, and I didn't want to correct him otherwise. "It's work again. I have to go back."

"It's okay. Please drive carefully and don't come back too late." I didn't let the relaxed smile I had on my face slip. I had already gotten so much that I hadn't expected from my husband throughout the date today. I had dragged him away from his work for so long. It would probably be too much for me to ask that he remained with me for the rest of the day.

My husband might be Vergil, but he was still a Sparda. The fact that he was still the scion of the Sparda Corporation could never evade the both of us, and the sooner I accepted the fact that he would always need to attend to his job whenever it was asked of him, the faster I would be able to accept my realities.

"I'm sorry, Mi." He repeated again, pocketing his phone and turning to go. "Lock the door before you sleep tonight, and don't sleep too late."

"I will." I promised, and with one last nod, I watched my husband hurry away from our door back to the lift.

That was the end of our date, and I was almost sore to see the workaholic Vergil back in place again as the lift doors closed on him.