That morning when he woke up, the first thing he did was to look at himself in the mirror. His eyes were swollen, and they had been like that since the first day.
The day he found out about the third person.
It had been a week since then, and he still cried his heart out every time. Break time, on his way home, before sleep...
But then, the only thing he ever really noticed was his swollen eyes. Not how pale his lips were, how lifeless he looked.
He then walked away, heading to the bathroom to wash up before he go out and face the world, faking his smiles to survive another day. He got out after a long shower, rinsing all the fatigue off his body, letting the tears wash into the running water. He put on his clean attire, combed his hair nicely. Then, he reached for a pair of glasses, his new favorite accessory.
He looked at himself in the mirror again, perfect.
A piece of bread and a glass of milk were all he needed and, even those took him long enough. If it was not for Ace, he would have gone out with empty stomach.
It did not matter to him anymore, at least not at that moment.
The whole train ride to work was spent staring out the window again that morning. For some reason, watching the leafless trees along the railway had been therapeutic for the past few days. It was almost winter and the weather was getting colder. Such a good fit for his current chapter, he must say.
The whole trip felt lonely, even with the people and sounds surrounding him. But, he made no attempt to reach for his phone in the pocket of his navy blue jeans at all. He knew it would not make things any better, not for anyone. He needed to grow out of that habit. That one person was not his anymore.
Maybe never was.
Robin was already in the office the moment he walked in, and the tan woman smiled sweetly at him. He smiled back faint, unlike how he was before, bright and warm. He put down his backpack and started working immediately, making another escape.
By lunch break, he was already gone from the cubicle, spending it in the washroom like how he did the past few days before Robin and Nami could force him out for meals again. He reached into his pocket, taking out his phone.
48 messages from 5 chats.
But, none is from him, just like how it had been the past few days.
He scrolled down his chats, and that one conversation thread was already far down. That one chat he probably should have deleted.
He wanted to tap on it, wanted to just say hi at least. But, what good would that do?
The phone was back in his pocket again, and his head was tilted up, just staring emptily on the white ceiling above him.
It was over and nothing he could do to fix anything anymore.
Time to move on.