A/N: Hey guys! So my summer starts! YAY! - Gotta make a living... so it's tough to decide what I wanna do in life... So when I figure out what I want, I shall write a bit. :D Here's to the end of exams!

Post 1 Night Stand in (2021): That morning, I woke up with a light headache and in unfamiliar territory. I put pressure on my eyes and try to avoid the pain that was pounding in my head. In some way, I remembered dancing at a bar, but I don't really know about how I got to this bedroom. I heard someone breathing soundly. I looked around and spotted a man in my bed sleeping. I was suddenly conscious of myself, and realized that I was naked. I slapped my head. What have I done? Abruptly, the phone rang, I quickly picked it up from the floor and answered the call before this man woke up to the loud ringtone.

"Hello?"

"Finally! You picked up! I need you back home. It's about your mom... Tohru? Do you even hear me?" I was listening but when my longtime good friend Arisa talked about my mom, I remembered a few scenes from yesterday; the kissing, the hot sex, and those ruby eyes. Was it really him?

"Tohru? TOHRU!"

"YES, I'M LISTENING!" I quickly covered my mouth. It was a bit too loud that I think I woke up the man. Oops!

"Tohru, did you hear me? Come home. Your mother is having a break down... to say the least..." Mom? breakdown?

"Ok. I'll be right there." At that point, I hung up the phone and quickly found my clothing, got dressed and was getting out the door. But as I got out, I peeked at the man one last time. He was unaware of my presence as he stretched, yawned and leaned from side to side. The last thing I saw was when he opened his eyes. Those were the same ruby red eyes as last night. Oh no! It can't possibly be him!

I rushed to get home. But as soon as I saw my house with an emergency ambulence. I froze. Mom? Oh no! I quickly rushed inside.

"Arisa! Arisa! What happened to my mom?" When I spotted my mom's body in a black bag. I cried out.

"MOOOOM!" "Tohru! Tohru! Please let me explain!" Arisa tried to grab me.

"NOoooo! I don't believe this! Mom needs to wake up! She's not- She cannot disappear like that. I didn't even apologize to her yet. Why?" I yelled and screamed until Arisa and some medical officers put me down and I just cried on Arisa's shoulders. When I calmed down, I realized that Arisa and the medical team brought me and my mother to the hospital. Arisa combed my hair as I was lying on her lap. It was silent for a moment until I asked.

"Arisa, how was my mother when you got to my house." Arisa shook her head.

"I don't know. When I got to your house, the medical unit was checking your mother in the living room. Tohru, did you know your mother had cervical cancer?" I sat up.

"What? No that's impossible. Mom never said anything about that."

"Well, that's what the doctors said. Her case was intense and progressive. She only had a few more months tops."

"But... I don't understand..." I started crying again. Why mom? Why did you leave me? Are you punishing me for leaving you because of the fight?

A few days later, Tohru decided to move out. She sold the small house she had lived in for twenty-sum years and dyed her long brown hair black before leaving her hometown. She decided to go to America, change her name to Anastasia and find some work to make a living for herself. She needed an escape route from that looming hometown where she felt like it was her own fault for losing her mother.

In America, at first, she found a waitress job in a café. So she would work during the day and in the afternoon, she would go find more jobs. She then got another waitress job in bars and pubs, where the salary was much higher than in cafés. One of the pubs manager loved the vibe that she carried; a bit of darkness and secretive, but not so overly expressed. The manager also thought that her features were beautiful with her long black hair, and her brown eyes shined in the colored lights. He proposed for her to try dance on a stage. She tried once when not a lot of costumers were present in a pub. She got an applause from a small crowd and decided that dancing was powerful. She believed that it was a medium of self-expression. Specifically it was for her anguish feelings of death she experienced.

CHAPTER 7 ENDED