Angela awoke to the sound of her phone ringing; a soft chiming that shouldn't have normally woken her, but she hadn't been getting much sleep these days.
She knew why, but she wasn't going to admit it out loud anytime soon.
She rolled over, groaning as she blearily groped around for her phone on her bedside, vision still blurry from sleep.
Unplugging it from the charging cord, she answered the call.
"Hello?" She said, voice thick.
"Angela…" Someone very familiar spoke in a sing-songy manner, slurring the "a" at the beginning.
Angela's heart skipped a beat.
It was Genji.
A very drunk Genji.
Hoping to deny all thoughts of him, Angela asked, "Sorry, who is this?"
Genji snorted. "Have you forgotten me already, hime?"
His tone was deceptively light, but the doctor knew him long enough to know better.
"I could never forget you, Genji," She said softly after a brief silence.
He giggled - an actual, high-pitched giggle - and replied, "Good."
Angela glanced at the clock on her desk. "What are you doing drinking so late? It's 2 in the morning, Genji."
She could imagine the lazy grin on his face as he snorted and replied, "My smart, smart girl. You know me so well. This is why I love you."
Heart rate speeding up, she quickly countered, "I'm not your girl anymore, Genji. You made that very clear last week."
She heard a deep, forlorn sigh from the other end. "Last week." His tone was heavy.
There was a short silence before she decided to break it. "Why did you call?"
"I -" His voice broke. "I just wanted to talk to you. I just wanted to hear your voice again."
Angela's heart felt like it was shattering all over again. This whole week, she'd been busy avoiding anything Genji-related so she could get over him.
And here she was now, talking to the person responsible for her broken heart.
The words sat unmoving on the tip of her tongue. I miss you.
She forced herself to speak. "You're the one who wanted to break up, Genji."
He exhaled sharply. "It was to protect you, Angie."
The nickname stung like a slap to her face, mind flashing back to the many times he'd called her "Angie", laughed out "Angie", moaned out "Angie" -
Shaking her head to clear her mind, she stated quietly, "I don't need you to protect me. I am capable of doing so on my own."
"I know you can, but I have many enemies that wouldn't hesitate to use you against me, enemies far more dangerous than you've ever experienced -"
"Try me." She felt tired. They've had this same argument so many times, the biggest of which happening last week.
He exhaled. "I did it because I love you, Angela."
Angela's breath hitched, eyes prickling.
How dare he.
She inhaled shakily. "If you really loved me you wouldn't have broken up with me. You would've realised that no matter who was out to get you, I would've stuck by you and supported you because I love you."
Slamming the phone down, she let out a soft sob as her heart ached.
By the time she finally fell asleep, the tears on her pillow had already dried.