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ShiroNoHikari
anana
mishichi
Mizuumi Yoite
Ryan Marshall
Charffe
hazuki midori
Little Ms. Pumpkin
NariStacieLin2364
Shiranai Atsune
I love all of your dedication to my fic :3 thank you
Love Me For Thirty Days
DAY TWENTY-FOUR
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SIX MORE DAYS
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Monday
"True forgiveness is when you can say, "Thank you for that experience."― Oprah Winfrey
Gloomy was the day's description. Thunder rolling across the thick, grey clouds and the air was thick with musk of wet soil outside. A heavy downpour. The soft thuds against the window panes was oddly calming for someone whose heart was shattered. She listened attentively, as she had nothing else to do but lie down on the hard mattress of a single bed. Raindrops often reminded her of the tears of her mama, back in the old days, in a corner in a dark room with her hands on the bare floor, blunt nails scratching against wood as she cried in agony. The cries were from a distant past, but the raven could imagined it perfectly as if her mother was in front of her, doing the same thing all over again. Then again, when morning rose to mid day, the patter transitioned to a gentle hymn. The skies remained dark, dreary. Like her soul. It was like a voice that sang out to her heart, but the more it poured, the harder the raven found herself unable to wake up.
How dramatic, another part of her whined inwardly in her mind. Was she talking to her own? That was what people often do when they were alone after all.
That heavy feeling weighed her entire figure just as it would sunk down her feelings into the pit of her stomach. She curled further, pulling the quilts to cover her face even more, and wanting nothing more but to drown the sounds of patter outside. It supposed to be calming now, but the dread remained in her chest and she was still so, so hurt. Yui let out a small whimper, pitying the state of herself at the moment.
Alas, the master of said apartment would not really allow her to sleep even more. Worst that the day had rolled to noon, and she was being extremely unproductive. A tall figure slipped through the door and without mercy, dragged the quilt all over to the carpet. "That's enough, Yui," Reo almost, almost nagged, but the woeful expression she was showing stopped him from being too harsh. "How long are you going to mope around?"
Harsh. Such a friend he was, but sometimes, it was that kind of friend whose heart was open for comfort as well. So, said Yui tried her best not to lash out to her friend standing behind her back — and well, a part of her felt bad because she was the one trespassing for days.
The raven did not heed his words, her fingers pulling the long strands to her face with a brusque demeanour. The taller man touched her shoulder briefly, only three fingers touching at the cold, smooth skin, but Yui jumped. Almost as if she went into a short trashing rampage, kicking one pillow to the ground and mumbled a, "A couple more days," lightly. Her eyes darted to the man, nearly giving him an apologetic look. "Sorry," she trailed on and continued to become a ball of woes, pulling in a long breath from her nose.
Now, Reo himself felt a tick of anger rushing through him. By all means, he was certainly a kind type amongst peers — in college and high school and many other places — but that doesn't mean he'd let anyone trashing his humble abode for almost three days now. Yui might be his dear friend, but right now, all that he ever wished was for her to return to her own home. He deserved his god damn privacy, Kami.
And that was exactly what he was doing.
"That's it," a gruff tone, "Get out from my bedroom."
Yui, finally, steered from her depressed position. Lifting her head, she gave him a pair of puppy eyes but damn, it wasn't working. "Meanie," she pouted, scarlet cheeks puffed childishly. But from his lingering stare, icy and menacingly frightening from her perspective, Yui huffed out loud and dragged her feet. "Fine, fine. I'll go," she picked up a duffel bag from the pile of quilts and forsaken pillows, ". . . Thanks anyway," the raven managed to muster, and begrudgingly approached the door.
The pacing was slow, like she was waiting for something. Reo, himself, had to muster a sigh.
"If it hurts so much, then talk to him."
"I don't want to," the stubborn was evident in her tone.
Reo found himself groaning, not wanting anymore of the typical I-can't-do-this bullshit. That was the epitome of television drama, not something he'd see in real life. Then again, he faced high school watching a soap opera in basketball teams.
She stopped, and the grip against the strap tightened that it almost hurt. Yui was baffled to find the fear returning to her voice. "I. . ." she swallowed numbly, and her gaze traveled lower and lower till it dropped to her own two feet, bare and small; "I don't think I can. Sei. . . He — He, uh. . . I don't know how to face him when he's. . ."
"Stupid," Reo called out, rather bluntly which caused the other person to spin herself to face him and threw him a triggered look (with glossy eyes in the brink of gossamer tears). He kept his composed gaze, "Just try and talk things out. Doesn't mean you should go and whip him back to your feet," he snorted, "Not like you ever did in a similar way as that guy did but uh, Sei's not the only guy out there."
"Why you —"
"You're a great woman, Yui. Yeah, you might have stolen a man, but at least learn from what you've done. And well, Sei won't hate you just because he chose Tetsuya."
Yui blinked upon his statement, letting the advice fully situated inside her head and she snorted out a small chuckle. "Yeah, I guess," she wiped her left eye, "See you, Reo-san."
When she fully left the house, the silence returned into the abode. All that Reo could do was to pray that the raven would not do anything stupid to ruin her own mind ever again.
It started out as a subtle question out of curiosity. Why would Tetsuya ever thought about it, the redhead himself wasn't so sure. Then again, he was talking about Tetsuya — someone who at most times think about other people other than himself, and ninety-eight percent of other people was him, of course (the proof had been laid out in almost within a month now, his loyalty was god damn top notch). Now they were out in the city, looking for some decent lunch place with lesser crowds, one thing both of them wouldn't want in the moment.
And whilst they were looking around, walking with their hands entwined and their pacing slow and steady, Tetsuya broke the silence with a; "What happened to her?"
Lord knows what he was thinking, but the question made Seijuurou twisting his face to a grimace and he choked out of empty air. Body racking to a fit of coughs, in a perturbing manner that the blunette almost regretted his decision to ask. The redhead glanced at him, though partial of his face was covered by his palm. "Why would you ask?"
"She was your, y'know. . . I was just wondering," Tetsuya scowled lightly, huffing as he turned his gaze rapidly to the opposite side.
"That's very caring of you, Tetsuya." Warm tones. It softened the blunette's hard gaze nearly immediately. Still, he whined lowly.
"Answer me."
"It's a difficult question," a long sigh drawn out, "Been a couple of days since I last contacted her, more or less met her. It was when you kinda left home."
Tetsuya hummed in response, the curiosity still worn in his eyes. But he did nothing regarding of the topic and soon enough, despite the shifting glances the redhead threw at him sporadically. Finally, they settled in a quaint sushi place.
Speak of the devil, one must say. A matter of half an hour they were in the restaurant, finishing up bowls of tofu soup and morsels of salmon and meat on top of rolled rice. One of the two stopped from bites and chews. It was because of the said girl they said entering the same sushi place. Tetsuya understood the accidental notion of wide eyes coming from Seijuurou immediately, and he too turned to the horrific sight behind him. Sunken cheeks, swollen eyes and obsidian hair in disarray. Not at all the exact impression the blunette had laid to Yamanaka Yui upon the first time meeting her. She looked nothing like back in that particular day, looking a little exhausted — yes — but a zombified version of the woman was uncalled for.
At that moment, all the anger from Tetsuya dissipated into thin air. Pallid blue switched his glance to his husband's raw sandy and crimson eyes, he was still wearing a baffled look focused on the fazed noirette. He understood what was going on.
Upon the particular stare, she caught his sight — looking so much like a deer caught in headlights — and stopped her movements. Lips parting to gasp, she found her body toppling against one of the stools placed against the counter, and the chef idly whipped his head to look at her before rolling his eyes and continued his business. Sushi chef knew better than to idle with some home drama.
"S-S-Sei —" now, dark brown eyes landed upon pallid blue instead. But Tetsuya kept his gaze calm and poised. "A-And. . ."
The blunette sighed. As much as he sympathised her, lying around while gaping like a fish would not help any sort of matter at all. "Seijuurou, I'm finishing my inari here, so go talk to her."
"Are you sure?"
"Why shouldn't I be?" The blunette giggled and threw him a tad of his mischievous look, "Besides, you two look like you need a talk."
Again, he incurred, "Are you sure?" He drawled out the middle word, tipping his head low to flash the curious confirmation. The blunette tore off his chopsticks to half before delivering him a gritting smile. And that was when Seijuurou accepted the notion as his final cue. "Okay, fine," he muttered lowly, breathy and nervous following the tone, "I was just asking, Tetsuya."
"I thought you're smarter than this," was the only thing he said before the redhead rose from his seat and slowly strode his way to the woman.
She had long clambered herself to sit on one of the stools, grabbing a plate of tamago maki from the sushi belt and begrudgingly munching with one of the rolls. Sheepishly, Yui kept her head lowered. As much as she wanted to look at him, she felt like she could not.
A whore was what she was. That was it.
"Hey," came the smooth response.
Yui kept on munching. She grabbed a salmon sushi from the belt even when her previous meal wasn't quite finished, greedily picking up each morsels as if she was in haste. Seijuurou knew it was her trying to feign ignorance when his stares had piqued her nervousness. He tried once more, unwilling to give up — not when she was right in front of him.
"Hey."
A gruff huff escaped her, short but loud that she, herself, became startled by the state of her voice. Guttural and utter bitter in tone. She blinked slowly, whipping her head to face him. As much as she wanted to smile at him, the person behind them — one that she pretty much feared at the moment — stopped her cause.
"Things look well for you," she simpered at the statement. Indeed, he looked better than last time. Better than any sort of days in this particular September. In a cold autumn, he looked healthy and warm and most importantly, contented with what he had in particular. Things were better, and she was glad for it.
Seijuurou, however, gave her a look which meant guilt. "You know I never meant to. . ."
"Akashi Seijuurou," firm pause, "I was the one who ended it. It's not your fault."
"I know. But you didn't want things to end, right?" Yui snorted whimsically, as if his words were jovially comedic. But Seijuurou continued, "Because if you really meant it, you wouldn't have been crying for a week and looked like this."
Damn. She bit her lip from stopping the laughter, one hand flung to her face as she flinched and drew blood from the wound. Another reaction drew from Seijuurou, as if he was getting up and trying to approach her face with one hand but she grasped his wrist immediately.
"Stop."
The concern was the one killing her, not her bloodied lip, not her grumbling stomach, not her slightly empty pockets. It was him. His pure existence, his demeanour, how he could be clueless about hurting her indirectly might be the death of her.
"I just wanted to help."
"You're not being helpful. Not until I — we," the noirette sucked her breath, "I don't think I'm ready to talk."
Seijuurou hummed in confirmation, and he lowered his hand but never completely unlatched himself from her. "I'm sorry for. . . y'know, you looked extremely chaotic even from afar."
Yui laughed at him, though it wasn't the merry kind that tickled her stomach. The high-pitched giggles between snorts and scoffs came out rather sardonic. One hand clasping her mouth. "I said stop," she murmured.
"Stop what?"
"Asking if I'm gonna be okay, and apologising for it. True, I might have been crying," the weak in her tone was completely gotten rid of, "But I'm going to be fine and I'm sure I'll move on some other days. You can't expect me to leave and start flinging with, with some other guys. I'm not some kind of — of — you know. . ."
"I didn't say that."
"I know," she smiled, "And I know I look disastrous, but hey, give a woman time to heal."
"No hard feelings?" The wonder piqued in his voice, and she nodded genuinely.
"I wouldn't hate you for doing something right, silly. This whole ordeal, it's basically us two being so dumb — and I. . ." Yui shook her head, she scoffed with a slight curl on her lips, "I'm a fool to not know better too," she took another morsel, "But for now, doing this kind of makes me slightly good."
Seijuurou quirked one brow, giving her a chance to continue. "You're not saying —"
"I'm saying that at least I'm different from the her that I'm talking about," she giggled again, "That's better, right?"
He said nothing for a few minutes but to her question, he gave her an assurance with a low chuckle. They idled, giving her a chance to slid another morsel into her mouth before chewing it in quickly, she was too hungry from moping all day after all. "So, you'll be fine."
"I will," she said in-between chews, but winked playfully and laughed it off.
The redhead chuckled lowly once again, and he rose from his seat but the hand that the noirette previously grasped landed against the tousled tufts. The noirette swallowed the lump, left with a lingering in her chest. She rose up to approach him and gripped him tightly against his palm. Seijuurou shifted his glances between her cold grip and the austere gaze, surprisingly she squeezed his hand and whispered; "I — I. . . I still love you," she bit her lip, when she saw Tetsuya was listening to their conversation behind them but she continued from her hesitated pause, "But I love you being happy even more, and I know it's not from me," Yui released the grasp and scrubbed her face, the patch of skin near her left eye, "Even so, that's enough for me to know that you're doing well."
Like time pausing, Seijuurou froze from where he stood. When the words reached him a second later, he smiled warmly to her. At some point, Seijuurou understood the affection he once hold toward the woman in front him. Alas, his heart was for someone else.
"Thanks," was all he said and he returned to his seat, only to have the blunette collecting his payment and the two left the restaurant.
The walk afterwards was followed with complete silence. But it wasn't that Seijuurou was nervous or anything. It was more of the feeling of a burden completely being lifted from his chest, and from the loose tangle of their fingers, he released and held Tetsuya by his hip instead.
"Oh. . ." the amusement drawn from the blunette's lips, "Is this some attempt to appease me?"
Seijuurou whistled, feigning a clueless attitude. He grinned, and brought the shorter man closer to his own warmth. "Who knows?" He whispered close to Tetsuya's ears, and was glad when the response was a heavy blush reaching to the tip of his ears.
And everything seemed so good.
Felt good.
Like nothing was going on between them anymore. No more secrets, no more fights. Just the two of them holding hands and throwing flings against each other, or sharing stolen kisses amongst the heavy throng of people in the streets.
It felt perfect until the moment Tetsuya felt pain at the back of his head. He stopped for a while, his breathing heavy not from the teases but the heaviness attacking inside his head. Like a stone dropping against his brain, digits and memories and knowledge all went fuzzy. Blurred visions, and faltered movements. A pair of arms catching his limp body as everything swirled around like a pinwheel then he saw darkness approaching him.
Tetsuya felt empty, even when a swaying vision of bright scarlet hair and glossy pair of mismatched eyes appeared before him.
The brightness of the sun, will give me just enough
To bury my love, in the Moondust
I long to hear your voice, but still I make the choice
To bury my love, in the moondust
TO BE CONTINUED
Mozu : HAHAHAHAHAHA I AM SO SO SORRY WHY AM I LAUGHING OH MY GOD I AM SO EVIL
Then again, I'm so sorry I haven't updated this! BUT HEY IT'S GONNA FINISH SOON AND I'M SO SAD AND HAPPY I GET TO FINISH THIS. To be honest, this fic has been stuck with me for almost three years and here am I so loyal to it that I gotta say, Yui deserves her own happy ending. EVERYBODY GETS TO BE HAPPY EXCEPT - nah, joking. Will it truly be happy after all keh keh keh~
Ps, the final paragraphs are lyrics from Jaymes Young, Moondust.
Anyway, enjoy~ Get ready for next chapter! WOOT WOOT!
-Mozu The Mochi (2018)