31

Light spent the following days looking for another job, so that he can save up for his future medical bills. The doctor confirmed that they can only perform a c-section on him, after assessing his health, and they gave him an estimate on how much it would cost. It looked like a small fortune.

He was more determined to start a new life now, in a new city. And with his conversation skills, he was able to get a day job as a sales clerk at a retail store in the morning and a wait staff at a busy restaurant at night. It was a tough schedule, but he had to make it work in order to maintain a decent living.

Mello contacted him every now and then, and confirmed that the mafia had taken care of the murder, to make it look like a suicide. The last will was found in his desk, and confirmed to be his genuine signature. Soon, the charity will receive all the possessions owned by the man, and Light will have 50 percent of that share, after deducting the mafia fees, of course. Light estimated it to be enough to buy a small house in the suburbs, and start a new life there. However, it would not come in time for the baby's birth, which would be three months from now, so he must at least earn enough for the operation.

It was not an easy life, to be honest. There was not a day in the restaurant that he was not hit on, and he soon learned from his colleagues how to easily turn them down and avoid confrontation. It was a tough life, but he could manage. Not to mention he was slowly getting his pride back.

When he finally got into terms with what the job requires, he had grown so callous with his feelings that he sees all of the guests like potential money sources. He smiled genuinely, all the while robbing them blind without them realising it. It was not much but it was paying the bills and growing his birth and education fund, and soon he became the most popular wait staff in the restaurant.

The catch to that is, when his popularity became so big that his other colleagues become jealous him, he knew he needed to leave sooner or later, and would look for a new job and set his base there again, just to avoid confrontation. He had transferred shops in the past few months that he was wondering if he will run out of stores to apply for eventually.

At times he would feel the loneliness getting the better of him, and he would cry alone in his room, with no one to talk to, which would then confirm his feelings that he was indeed alone. He attempted to call his family twice, out of desperation, but he hung up before anyone could answer him. Most of the time he would just talk to his unborn baby, about how cruel the world was, and he needed to be strong, and that soothed him much more than he would admit.

'Three more months and you will be born', he would say. 'I'm sorry for not being a better parent' was another one he loved saying.

Other times he would just talk about his day, and tell stories about his family, his father, his mother, his sister, his absent father. But then that would just make him more lonely and try to change the subject to a more cheerful one.

It was on his third day on his fifth restaurant that he noticed something weird. Suddenly, there were no people hitting on him, and the tips were very generous than usual. He didn't mind any of that because it took him less effort, and any change like that was welcome to him, but it became more and more unusual even to his liking.

Another week of this and he was certain that this is not something that usually happens, but he did not mind because at that time, he just came out of his doctor's check-up, and confirmed that the child he was bearing was actually a boy. He was very excited to think of boy names that he did not realise that the restaurant was actually empty at that time, with only one guest that sat at the very end of the room.

"You seem happy," said the man, who he noticed right away to be carrying a fake deep voice and was heavily dressed, with sunglasses and a hat in the middle of the night. It was an obvious poorly thought of disguise, but Light knew he had to be polite since he was the only guest and the only potential for tips. Plus he learned not to judge a person too much based on his appearance.

"I am actually happy" he smiled as he gave him the menu. "I just went to the doctor today and got a good news"

"Oh, that is great." The man said politely. "Do you want to celebrate it with me? I am the only person here and I have ordered quite a lot beforehand"

"I'm sorry" Light was still smiling. "I thought you haven't ordered yet…"

"That is alright. I called the restaurant earlier so that I can book the whole place and ordered in advance." He said. "I'm sorry for causing such a confusion"

Soon, he saw some of his colleagues serving the man with a ridiculous amount of food, smiling at him as if they knew something was up.

"Would you mind joining me?" the man said. "I'm supposed to have someone with me but I think he left"

"Sure…" Light was confused and felt like he needed to run away, which was strange. But then it felt like the people here knows more than they let on. He sat down opposite to the man, and just noticed that some of the food were Japanese, which was strange because they don't serve it in the restaurant.

"Help yourself" the man said.

This seemed really suspicious, but he remembered he hasn't eaten yet as he sacrificed that time for the doctor's visit. Having two jobs was really exhausting at times.

"Thank you, I hope you don't mind" he started getting some food on his plate, that was conveniently placed for him.

The man just watched him eat for five minutes, and it should have been really uncomfortable to be honest but he didn't feel this way today. In fact he felt surprisingly safe and comfortable eating with this person.

"So, what was the good news, if you don't mind me asking?" the man started talking just when he thought Light ate enough.

"Oh, it was not a really big deal." Light said as he swallowed his food. "I'm pregnant, if you can tell. And he just confirmed that I'm going to have a healthy baby boy"

"That makes sense" the man said, although even with his disguise you could tell that he was clearly shaking.

"I've been through a lot, you know, so it's a relief that my baby is still holding up all this time." Light added. "So I can't stop myself from smiling and thinking of baby names"

"Congratulations" the man said.

"Thank you!" Light smiled. "Oh, you haven't started eating yet? That's a bit embarrassing if I'm the only one eating."

The man did not say anything, and was visibly shaking again.

"Sir, are you crying?"

The man clearly was, which confused Light. He must be going through some hard times.

"Could it be…you lost someone close to you?" Light asked empathetically.

"You could say that." the man said. "I was a jerk who didn't respond to his feelings when he needed it the most"

"Oh, that's too bad. I'm sorry for that, sir" Light said. "Maybe it's not too late, you could still apologize to him and maybe it will be fine"

"I hope so", the man said with a trembling voice, as he took off his cap and sunglasses. "Raito-kun"

Light could not believe what he was seeing. In front of his eyes was a man he thought he would never see again.

It was L.