HO HO HO Christmas definitely came late this year...wait did it even come...what it's almost New Years!? Of 2020!? Is that even allowed? asdfghjk...
R.I.P. 2020 you were a shit year.
P.S. my ass has been sitting on this chapter for a while trying to finish it so I apologize in advance if it has a lot of errors, I couldn't proofread it. So tell me if you read my password somewhere in there or find a different universe character.
P.P.S. read my notes at the end of the chapter where I grovel for forgiveness for my hiatus. T_T
It was as if time had slowed down for him to notice every small movement of the woman in front of him. From the way her back straightened to how her arms went rigid. He couldn't see it but he could assume the look of shock on her face.
Was it something he said?
And just like that, time sped up again, and the realization on his bold statement came to him like ice pouring down his back . He wouldn't even acknowledge it as a confession.
Before Hinata could make another move, Sasuke turned and left the storage. He was grateful and disappointed at the same time on the fact that Hinata had not followed him. But regardless of what she did, he used the end of his shift as an excuse to escape the bakery and ultimately her reaction.
Gathering his things as quickly as he could, Sasuke made his way to the door pulling it hard in anticipation to just leave but hearing the bell jingle at the top finally got Hinata out of her stupor.
"Wait…," hearing her faintly in the back as she tried to rush to the front, Sasuke decided to leave without giving a response just as she had.
That was last week.
Now, thinking back to it, Sasuke could do nothing but cringe while his stomach churned at the thought. He felt stupid and embarrassed every time he thought about it, and he thought about it a lot in the past week. It didn't help that
Why would he say such a thing? It made no sense to him. The last thing he remembered was the sadness in her voice. Maybe he said it because he felt pity for her, and that was how he justified it. But even with that he could not stop groaning every time it came to mind.
…
…
"So what'd you think?"
"Hmm"
"Hinata?"
"Hmm"
"Hinata!"
"Huh?" Finally seeing the person in front of her, Hinata blushed as she realized she had dozed off again for the umpteenth time that day.
"What's wrong? You've been spacey lately." Chouji looked at her with concern. He knew she always became like this when she was stressed or something was bothering her.
"Oh…hhaha," she laughed nervously, "sorry about that. Everything's okay…I've just been…thinking about my family." She avoided meeting his eyes as she hoped her reply would be sufficient to stop him from worrying and also prying anymore. She was grateful for having Chouji lookout for her, but she just didn't feel comfortable voicing her thought to him, or to anyone in fact.
"Oh…." Knowing Hinata and who her family was, Chouji did not pursue any further as he understood she did not like people prying too much into that. "Well, know that you can always come to me if you need help, okay? That's what partners are for!" Giving her a thumbs up and a big smile which she reflected genuinely, Chouji was satisfied and went back to discussing the topic from before.
Hinata on the other hand tried to ignore her thoughts from earlier to keep herself from spacing out again, or at least until later in the day when she was alone in her apartment.
After closing her little shop and making her way back to her apartment, Hinata felt all her exhaustion creeping back to her. She made her way through the front door without bothering to turn on her lights and plopped herself on the couch while reaching for the TV remote.
She sat there on her couch in the dim light of the TV screen playing something she was vaguely paying attention to. Bringing her legs to her chest and resting her chin on her knees, Hinata thought about the things that had been bothering her for the past week.
She hadn't seen the object of her dilemma since that day where he said he…
Hugging her legs closer to her at the unease she felt recalling that moment, Hinata decided skip over that bit.
Why did he say that? Was he messing with her? She knew he had to quit but why hadn't he stopped by to say something or to at least explain what he meant? Not that his simple statement wasn't any clear, but Hinata wanted to hear from him again. As daunting as it was, she wanted to continue this conversation, even if she did not know her response. She hated being left without a conclusion. All the "what-ifs" and "should-haves" always made her feel insecure and now she was going through it all again.
What if he was being serious? Maybe she should have said something? Maybe she should have followed him out? What if this was some sick joke? Or what if he just meant it as a person and there was no other meaning behind? God, she would feel so stupid if that were the case. Here she was mulling over this one simple sentence for countless hours while she might never even see him again. He abruptly came into her life for a short amount of time and left just as quickly to move on to the next thing, while she was still here stuck in the same place, stagnant in every possible way.
That last thought made her depressed as it always did. It made her feel as though she was helpless, and she hated feeling helpless.
…
…
Standing inside the infamous bakery looking at the workers moving around in their usual uniform and aprons, Itachi immediately regretted not having visited his brother during his shift as he realized he missed the golden opportunity to see him in an apron, or better yet take a picture of it to keep the proof forever.
Smirking at the image of his little brother in such an attire, Itachi made his way to the counter. He was hoping to see the owner there just like he did last time but it wasn't in his luck this time.
"Good morning! How can I help you?" the girl behind the counter spoke with a practiced smile.
"Can I speak to the owner?" Itachi asked, not wanting to sound like a petulant customer. He thought of using her name instead of "the owner" to show familiarity but he could not remember her first name at the moment and it felt awfully rude to just call her Hyuga.
He had asked his assistant to search up on her but that had been a while ago and he had not found much results on it. So naturally he forgot about it as he was busy with work and gave her no mind except for being the person Sasuke worked for since everything seemed okay with his brother so far. In fact, Sasuke was more pleasant than usual, which was not much to begin with, since he started working there, so Itachi thought that things were going okay. But now that he was standing here in front of the woman, he wished he had at least remembered her name.
"How can I help you?" Hinata asked politely although she felt nervous anticipating a confrontation. She was bad at dealing with customer's complaints especially when they were angry, but even then, she did not want her employees to deal with a customer like that.
"Ah Ms. Hyuga," Itachi acknowledged as she came to the counter.
"Oh Mr. Uchiha, what brings you here?" Relieved at recognizing that it was just Sasuke's older brother, Hinata tried to remember the man's name but came up blank. And that was just before the thought of Sasuke brought over the memory of the last thing he said to her, making her slightly blush. Even though it had been more than a month now, it still made her nervous.
"You know I was just thinking how unfortunate it was that I never visited while Sasuke worked here. I missed out on seeing him in an apron." Itachi chuckled.
Smiling at his pleasant disposition and his train of thought, Hinata could see how much he cared for his younger brother.
"Yes, I believe it would've been great teasing material," she chimed in thinking back on how Hanabi used to tease their older cousin Neji on things like this.
Itachi grew silent for a second, taking on a serious look as he stared at her making her self-conscious on whether she had said the wrong thing.
"You and I…" he began, "we think the same way," he finished with a smirk.
Sighing in relief, Hinata responded with a smile.
"How can I help you?"
"…" Coming up blank on why he was there to begin with, Itachi brought up the one thing that was common between them. "Sasuke…" ignoring the way her smile wavered a little and how her face carried a small blush, he continued, "I hadn't realized how I took it for granted now that he isn't here anymore."
Pushing away her unease at thinking about Sasuke, Hinata tried focusing on Itachi's worry.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Well, when he was still in the house I would get to see him whenever I had the chance to after work, which was infrequent on its own. But now that he is gone, I find myself missing his presence." Itachi spoke as he was lost in his thoughts while staring at the dango in the display counter.
"I understand you. It's quite common when someone you've lived with isn't there anymore." Realizing he had just voiced out his thoughts for the first time to someone he isn't close with made him feel awkward so he continued staring at the dango, trying to avoid her prying eyes as she continued. "Why don't you visit him on the weekend? Or have him visit you?" she suggested.
"Yes, I believe you're right." Itachi said with a despondent sigh.
Having already disclosed so much to Hinata, he did not want to say anything about the fact that since the death of their parents the two had become distant and awkward. It was to the point where they could not see each other unless they were living together or if they had a specific reason to. Itachi didn't realize it was this bad until after Sasuke moved out making him think back on how absent he had been throughout his little brother's life. Sometimes, thinking back on it, Itachi often thought whether he made the right choice, choosing the company over time with Sasuke just so he could have a secure future?
"Um," seeing the look on his face and how lost he was in his thoughts Hinata felt as if she should help. "I have something to give Sasuke." She blurted it out before she could think but seeing how interested Itachi looked forced her to continue. "S-so I had been meaning to give him something for getting into college, you see. But I never got to b-because…well a-anyway, if you could take it to him, my gift, t-that would be great." She tried to hold her smile while mentally smacking herself for her stuttering and her ridiculous idea.
"Oh…" Itachi thought for a second before nodding in response. "Of course, I can give it to him. Hmm…How about I go this weekend to give it?"
"Huh?...Oh yeah that's p-perfect!"
"So what is it?" Itachi asked as he felt excited for the first time in a while. He got his perfect excuse to go visit Sasuke.
"What?" Hinata's smile faltered as she tried thinking of something to give Sasuke.
"What are you going to give?" Itachi asked again, intrigued by the woman in front of him.
"Oh…well…," she dragged as she scanned her bakery for anything that would make sense. "I…I haven't made it yet." She finally responded. "Well I was g-going to make him a food item…because…I run a bakery…? Right?"
"Right," he looked at her with a curious smile. "Just have it ready by this Saturday. I'll come in the morning to pick it up before I drive to his uni."
"I'll have it ready…Thank you."
The only response she got from him was a nod before he left her shop leaving her confused at what just happened.
"Wait why did I thank him?" she asked, pointing to herself. "He should be thanking me," she whispered, as she pointed at the space where Itachi once stood.
Remembering that she had to basically make something for Sasuke especially since she couldn't forget their last encounter made her groan internally. Hopefully he wouldn't take this the wrong way.
Later in the day, on the other side of town, Itachi walked around his house preparing himself to call his little brother.
"What is it?" Sasuke answered after the third ring.
"I'm coming over on Saturday."
"… … … What did you say?"
"I'm coming to visit you on Saturday."
"Why?" Sasuke drawled suspiciously.
"Ms. Hyuga is going to give me something for you so I will come to give it to you this Saturday," he answered matter-of-factly.
"Wait…What?"
"Sasuke," Itachi sighed, "I don't like repeating myself again and again. Ms. Hyuga is going to—"
"Ms. Hyuga?" Sasuke asked even though he had an idea of who his brother was talking about.
"Oh…yes, Ms. Hyuga, the owner of the bakery you worked at…"
Sasuke bit his lip not knowing how to respond.
"Anyway," Itachi continued after the silence that answered him, "she said she wanted to give you something as a gift for getting in to Konoha University but was not able to, which I don't know why, but I'll be bringing it on Saturday…Just wanted to tell you that to give a heads up…Okay, then…Goodbye." Itachi decided to hang up when Sasuke refused to answer or say anything in response.
Sasuke, on the other end, frowned at his cellphone in confusion. The only thing he could think of was what did Hinata want to give, but even the thought of her still made his stomach churn as it brought back the memory of their last encounter.
"Like I care," he said with a sneer before tossing his phone on the bed and going back to doing his homework. He was not going to allow himself to think about it anymore.
That was yesterday, and now all he could do was think about it. What did she want to give him? Why did she want to give it? What did she think of his conf –no, his statement? God, did his insides turn at every thought of that day. He decided to shake those thoughts away for the time being and made his way to his class.
He settled in a seat closest to the window, getting comfortable as his head rested on his hand, elbow on his desk, and a vacant expression marring his features. Disregarding the other students rushing in to class to find seats, Sasuke focused on the trees outside his window. Subtly but surely, they were changing colors signaling the arrival of fall.
His first year had started and despite all the fuss Naruto, Sakura and even Itachi had made about it, it felt quite uneventful. He had moved in to his dorm, happy to find that he had gotten the single he requested, albeit at the tradeoff of ending up on the same floor as the loudest person he had ever heard of since Naruto. Every night, whenever he tried to go to bed, he would always hear constant chatter and loud laughter well past quiet hours. There were people still moving about at insane hours of the night with levels of energy he did not believe people other than Naruto could possess. But even besides that, Sasuke had learned to adapt to this with ear plugs and glares shot at people on various occasions because he would be living here for his first year.
There was one other thing that had made him slightly uncomfortable, besides the fact that he was swarmed with people introducing themselves to him or wanting to be his friends or giving him their phone numbers. It was the fact that he shared a surprising number of classes with Sakura.
He always knew she was going in the same university as him but her major was in a completely different and unrelated department than his, so he was mistakenly under the assumption that he would never see her. But he soon realized that even premed majors have to take the same general requirements classes as him.
"Good morning Sasuke!" Without even looking, Sasuke knew that it was his pink-haired classmate making her way to sit next to him in class.
Even though he was not as close to her as he was with Naruto, he would admit that it was interesting how she had been one of the longest to be in his life, from elementary and now up to college. She was sort of a constant.
"Hn," he responded to her greeting without moving his eyes from the scenery outside.
Her cheery disposition with him had thrown him off at the start, especially since she had been kind of distance towards the end of high school, but now he did not think to care much over it.
As the pink haired began her idle chat with the boy next to her, not minding his complete disinterest, Sasuke went back to think over Itachi's call. He was supposed to come on Saturday with something Hinata wanted to give him. Ignoring his curiosity on Hinata, Sasuke worried for his brother, especially the attention he would gather.
Sasuke had already gathered an uncomfortable amount of attention from his classmates and others in his department. There was no hiding the fact that he was the youngest Uchiha in the family who were supposed to be heading the Uchiha family business but were long dead, leaving him and his brother as orphans.
It was already so frustrating for him to see people blatantly try to come up to him on the pretense of wanting to be friends, only for it to be nothing more than an opportunity for them to use him as a stepping stone. He was aware that it was only natural for students to network in university especially in the business department where your success depended on the strength of your network. But to have no one but people like them always approach him with only their eyes on his name rather than the person who held it, Sasuke began to be even more skeptical of the people around him. It made him realize even more on how genuine Naruto had been for he was the only one who had not cared for his name but for the person he was.
The only time he ever felt something more than just that 'Uchiha orphan' was when he used to play soccer. His skill of the game depended only on his strength and training, which had nothing to do with his name. But after that had ended for him in an untimely event, there was nothing left that allowed him to be seen as just Sasuke. Even Naruto could not be around him forever to remind him of that, but it was nice that something else was there in its absence to remind Sasuke to forget about who he was.
Hinata knew Sasuke, but she did not know his family, or the lack of it. She knew he was an Uchiha but she did not know, or did not care, he was one of the last ones. She saw him as Sasuke and nothing more than that.
Maybe that indifference to his family, his name, and his history had deluded him to think she could actually see him, or even care for him. Maybe that was why… he said he liked her.
…
…
Itachi sat in his makeshift office at home, drinking some wine as he tried to finish as much of the work he could for tomorrow so he could go see Sasuke. He would not deny the delighted feeling he had just thinking of seeing his brother again, even if the alcohol in his wine was starting to get to him a little.
Hearing movement on the front door and the soft beeping of his security system signaling someone coming in, Itachi almost jumped from his chair. Looking over the clock to see it be almost past midnight, Itachi made his way out.
He knew the security around his house would not allow any intruder to get in so easily, even if no one was stupid enough to break into an Uchiha's house. But the implication of that meant that it could only be someone he already knew and had keys to his place.
"Sasuke?" Itachi asked as he walked towards the huddled body sitting at the entrance.
The man in question only nodded his head in response as he sat there untying his shoes to take off before picking up the small bag on the floor and walking towards his brother.
"What are you doing here?" Itachi finally asked when Sasuke said nothing else.
Shrugging his shoulders, Sasuke went to the kitchen to grab something to drink.
"You said you were coming to my uni tomorrow, so I decided it'd be better if I just came home."
"But it's so late…" Itachi looked to the clock on the wall with brows furrowed.
"I caught the last train after class," Sasuke said nonchalantly, not wanting Itachi to question him any further. He grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and made his way to his room.
Itachi was happy that Sasuke decided to come home for the weekend, but he was also concerned at seeing him traveling this late. Not wanting to ruin the mood, Itachi decided to let it go and smiled at his brother.
"Well, I'm glad you're here, but it's late now. I'll see you in the morning."
"Yeah…" Sasuke felt bad knowing that his brother was genuinely happy to see him yet he really had not cared much for him when he decided to go home.
The next morning was a sight to see as Itachi made breakfast in the morning, still in his pajamas, while it was way past sunrise. Sasuke could not remember the last time he saw his brother this late in the morning and still in house, let alone in his pajamas. He was always ready in the morning, in his business suit, working on his laptop or talking on the phone before heading out to work. Weekends for Itachi were extended business days, but seeing him like this in the house made Sasuke want to crack a smile.
"Good morning, Sasuke," Itachi spoke without looking away from the stove where he cooked some eggs.
"'morning," Sasuke all but yawned out as he stretched his neck before taking a seat at the table.
"Here." Itachi laid down a plate in front of Sasuke with his breakfast to which Sasuke replied a quiet thank you.
"Oh, since you're already here, why don't you pick up whatever Ms. Hyuga wanted to give you."
Sasuke nodded in response as he continued eating, hiding what he was thinking from his brother's eyes.
"And when you're done with that, we should go visit mother and father."
Hearing Itachi mention their parents, a heavy quietness fell between the two.
"…It's been a while," Sasuke finally spoke to break the silence. It felt weird for the brothers to be talking about this topic, but who else would they talk to if not each other.
"Yeah…"
After that, the rest of breakfast was spent in comfortable silence which was occasionally broken with idle chat about Sasuke's new experiences at Konoha U.
It wasn't until late in the afternoon, when Itachi stepped out of the house, did Sasuke finally decide to visit the bakery. He pushed it as much as he could but he knew he had to go, especially since Itachi already told her over the phone that Sasuke was going to pick it up himself.
Making his usual trek to the bakery for the first time in a month, Sasuke felt anxious over the last time he had been there, but tried to push that memory away. He had nothing to fear, especially over a simple sentence that held no meaning or sentimental value when it was said out loud. If Hinata took any meaning to it that was never intended then that was her recklessness.
When he finally arrived at the street of his destination, his steps turned slower, ultimately coming to a halt. He stared at the entrance, just a few meters away.
He did not know how long he had been standing there until someone suddenly walked out of the bakery. It was a man, quite tall in his appearance, wearing a suit that reminded Sasuke of Itachi at work.
The man seemed agitated, hurriedly walking down the steps and towards the car parked at the curb in front of the bakery. He still kept his grace but one could tell he wanted to leave quickly. Getting into the car and slamming the door behind him, the car drove off leaving the quiet street.
Sasuke did not know what to make of it, but he knew that he was not some random customer, not with the expression the man was wearing when he left.
Slowly but surely, Sasuke made his way to the store. Even from outside, he could tell how empty it was. The bakery was never crowded, but it was never empty either.
"Hello," he spoke to no one as he entered the store. There was no one around, not even the other part-timers. Someone would have heard the door open, but no one came to the front.
He made his way to the back, looking for someone to be here.
"…Where's everyone?" he murmured to himself.
"Sasuke…?" He heard the surprised gasp before he saw her face but instinctively he looked anyway even though his mind told him otherwise.
She stood behind him, coming out of the inventory with some ingredients in her hand. Her hair was up in a bun and her clothes and apron were covered in flour.
"What…"
"Itachi said you had something to give me." He collected himself after the surprise of seeing her, and shoved his hands in his pockets, putting forth his indifferent expression.
"But…I thought Itachi would come to pick it up," confusion marred on her face as she started to make her way to the back.
"Yeah…I got home last night so he thought I could just get it today." He followed her to the back, forgetting for a moment that he did not work there anymore.
Sasuke was surprised he could talk to her like this so easily. The dread he had felt all this time since his last encounter with her was gone. Where was it all gone?
"Oh…I see."
Hinata, on the other hand, seemed spaced out. Sasuke knew that she might not have thought about him as much as he had about her till now, but it was disappointing seeing her so unaffected.
"Yeah…so…?"
"…?" She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as she stared at him making Sasuke even more irritated with her.
"So, are you gonna give it?" Contempt dripping from his voice, he glared at her.
"O-oh! Y-yes…wait here." She bit her lip, lowering her gaze from his as she suddenly found it difficult to look at him.
Hinata slowly made her way to the back where her office was to find the item she had gotten for Sasuke. She had wanted to make him something but with her specialty being sweets, she could not think of anything she could make that he would like, and also him living in the dorm without much space to store food items made her decide to buy something instead. Now, if only she could remember where she put it.
Sasuke sighed as he stood, waiting for Hinata, he realized he was feeling stupid. It had been a month since they last saw each other, so it was possible she forgot or never thought about his last statement. He felt a blow to his ego to know that she did not take it with any seriousness something that so many girls at his school had wished for him to say to them. But that was okay because his pride was not so shallow and he was not so petty to be annoyed at her. He was better than that, or at least he pretended.
It had been a while since she told him to wait, so he decided to go after her and at least offer to help so he could talk to her.
"Do you need…?" He knocked on the door before gently pressing it to open it farther since it was already unlatched. "What's wrong?" He asked once he saw her sitting behind her desk on the floor with her back to him.
She jumped at his voice as if realizing that someone else was there with her. She motioned her hands to her face to wipe something off, which Sasuke could easily tell even if her back was to him.
"N-nothing," she said in a strained voice that was so hard to miss no matter how hard she tried.
"Hinata…" He whispered her name as he slowly took a step closer to her, not knowing exactly what to do in this situation. He had never dealt with a crying person. Naruto was always good with handling emotions as he did so with him as well, but Sasuke never did something like this for others.
Hinata bit her lip as she heard him say her name. He was moving closer to her but she stayed there on the floor, clutching her phone tightly. She kept her face hidden from him so as not to show him her tears.
"Sasuke…please…it's nothing." Her voice still wavered, but it was pleading him. He could feel her discomfort and reluctance to face him so he gave her some space and stopped in his approach. "W-why don't you w-wait for me outside…"
Hesitating a little, Sasuke stepped back out of the office, closing the door fully behind him. He decided to wait at the front of the shop by the register as if to give her as much space. Did he do the right thing? Should he have ignored her plea and continued, asking her why she was crying?
"I'm sorry." She walked out of from behind the double doors leading to back. She had a smile on her face that did not reach her eyes, and her face was dry but it was still red in her eyes and her nose. He could clearly tell she was crying. "I can't seem to find the gift I bought for you." Seeing how Sasuke was observing her face and how the worry on his face was showing, she looked away trying to hide behind her bangs. "I-I'll keep looking for it, and w-when I find it, I'll let Itachi know, okay?"
He just kept staring at her, and she could feel him staring at her.
There was no response from him, and it was making her anxious to the point that peaked up to take a glance at him. She felt like such a child in front of him right now, especially with how his brows were furrowed with worry and thought of what he should do next.
"Why…Why were you crying?" He finally decided to ask out loud. Feeling worried and a little shocked at himself, he continued looking at her and how she bit her lip.
"Ah…I w-wasn't…" she tried lying horribly, but decided it was unbelievable. "It's really nothing," she sighed as her shoulders drooped a little, and her arms draped around her waist as if to shield her.
"It didn't seem like nothing," Sasuke spoke as if he was challenging her, but Hinata knew his intentions were not as harsh as his words sounded.
"I'm…" Hinata bit her lip as she looked into his eyes to figure out what was going through his mind in this moment. "I'm just…going through a lot right now," she finally let out.
"I everything alright?" he asked in concern that was clearly evident in the crease of his brow.
"It's…really nothing…you should concern yourself with…I'll be fine," she tried smiling this time to assuage his worries but she was touched at his genuine concern.
"It's obviously not nothing if it makes you cry…" He wanted to yell at her to stop pushing him away but all he did was clench his fists in response. "Why can't you just tell me?"
"It's…you don't need to worry about it." Hinata hugged her torso tighter but she did not let in no matter how anxious she was feeling.
"But I am worried," he continued on.
"…I—"
"What's going on?" He cut her.
"Sasuke—"
"Is something wrong?"
"Sasuke." Her hand was on his arm, gentle but also firm in its presence on his body to let him know. He looked down at his hands to realize how hard his fists were clenched so he loosened them before looking at Hinata again who was standing closer to him now. Worry was marring her features now as if the situation had flipped and he was not the one who was worrying over her not too long ago.
"I just…" He sighed. "What's going on?" He asked one last time as he slowly pulled away from her touch on his arm.
Retracting her hand as he pulled away, Hinata brought it back to her midriff, clutching her other arm across.
"Look, you don't need to worry about it, okay? You can't do anything about it anyway." She looked down to the ground, not wanting to meet his intense gaze.
"Why not? I…I can help you."
"You can't," she shook her head.
"How do you know that?"
"Sasuke…you can't…" She looked up at him trying to make him understand. "You're…you're just a child, you c-can't do anything."
He could not respond to that because it was true.
Taking his lack of response as a sign that he understood, she continued.
"You graduated high school and just started university. You should worry about that. Don't concern yourself over someone like me," she smiled as she spoke. "I'm really not worth it," she whispered under her breath making it barely audible.
She thought she was trying to lessen his worry so she tried to change the subject to his new school and classes, but in Sasuke's mind all he could think of was that in her eyes he was nothing but a child. He was still a child to her.
"Is that what you think of me?"
Hinata looked at him in confusion at his sudden interruption. His face was void of any emotion, no longer showing the worry and concern he had earlier, but instead a veiled indifference.
"Is that your answer…That I'm just a child?" Even though his face was of indifference, she could see in his eyes the anger that manifested from hurt that he probably could not comprehend.
She immediately understood what he was asking about, making her bite her lip as she stepped back and remained silent. She had nothing to say to him. She must have thought about what to say to him when the time came but now she could not think of anything else. What could she say to him? He was right that she did just see him as a child because he still was to some extent. He had barely just begun to take a step into the outside world and he was still not there yet in the working world with her. He was still young, and he lacked a lot of the responsibilities that she had to carry right now.
Looking straight into his eyes so as not to waver, she took a deep breath and decided this was probably the best place to let it end.
"Yes." She replied.
With no other protest nor demand for an explanation, Sasuke clenched his jaw as he glared at her before leaving the shop with the quiet jingle of the door fading right after him.
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So...where do I even begin...
I guess it all started from when I was a little girl...okay maybe not that far back but lets dial back to December 15th, 2019, when I last updated this story. Ah, such simpler times they were. We were truly naive. I, for one, was innocent in my approach thinking I could do everything I set my mind to. But then 2020 happened, and along came coronavirus, and then my graduation, and then my job, and then my friends, and then so on...but to give a better idea of what I've been upto since the last time I updated, if anyone is interested, I'll give a little...
~Life Update~
So January 2020 was the beginning of my last semester in college woohoo...but then we had to go virtual real quick and all my classes were online, even my graduation boohoo T.T
I just got really busy with classes, trying to catch up and graduate on time, but I always wanted to come back to this story. Believe it or not I was already writing this chapter since the beginning of this year. Every time I had time I would sit down and write a chunk, until I graduated and then I couldn't get back to it. I had to look for a job right away cuz it was getting harder to find one. Then some of my friends decided to move far far away which made me very very sad. It was for their best but it was sad seeing them leave so I lost motivation to write...Until I finally landed a job! Nothing beats the satisfaction of making monayy $_$ But in all seriousness, me finally getting a job made me happy because now I could say that all the struggles meant something and they were worth it.
So, after sorting out different things in my life, I had to get back to the things I loved doing, especially during this year where everything seemed so bleak for a while. And one of the things I really wanted to start again was writing.
So, here I am...I'M SO SORRY IT TOOK ME A YEAR!1!1! After writing my lengthy ass excuse I will tell you that I could have and should have finished this chapter earlier especially since half of it was done earlier in the year. I was just pushing it off for so long and now it's been a year. So, please, don't hold back! Throw it all at me. Tell me whatever is on your mind, your anger, your sympathies, your thoughts and struggles. If you want, share with me what this year has been like for you since the last time you read this story. And, sincerely, thank you for reading my essay all the way til here. :]
Thank you for reading this chapter, for favoriting this story, and for following it. Don't forget to leave your thoughts on it in the comments!
AND THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR Y'ALL WHO ARE STILL HERE :3 U DA BEST! Thank you for sticking by for all this time :)