🄿🄸🄲🅃🅄🅁🄴🅂🅀🅄🄴 𝙏𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙔𝙤𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙤𝙧𝙞 𝙁𝙁

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

As soon as the front door was shut, I was consumed by emptiness. I slouched onto the couch and sat as the time passed. The silence only dug the hole in my chest deeper as the outside world dimmed. I sat for hours with nothing to do. Every moment I expected to feel Yoshinori's solid arms wrapped around me or to hear his sweet laugh. But there was nothing. Only the agonizing ticking of the clock on the wall.

I never did move, I just woke up on the couch the next morning. I reached around, trying to find something-- to replace the someone missing-- to hold. I felt a pillow resting on the arm of the couch and quickly pulled it to my chest. Right now, it was all I had.

I laid there, cradling the pillow until my stomach felt so empty that it hurt. I gathered up all of my strength and made my way to the kitchen. I was hungry, but not so hungry that I wanted to make a whole meal. So instead, I just made toast. I don't need a full stomach, no. What I needed was the love of my life back in my arms.

The next two days went the same way. Wake up, stay in bed until I feel hungry, eat toast, wander aimlessly through the house, feed horses, eat more toast, exist, eat toast, and so on.

After a few days though, I realized that I needed to get myself together. What if when Yoshinori comes back I am sitting on the couch eating my sixth piece of toast for that day? I need to find something to do. But what? The house is clean, the horses are fed, I have no board games and even if I did, I have no one to play them with.

After a while of thinking, I had the idea to turn on the radio and exercise. After all, eating toast and sitting on your bum all day will get you up a few pounds. I split my time into sections. 15 minutes of leg workouts, 15 minutes of cardio, 15 minutes of abs and another 15 minutes for arms. When I finished I was beyond tired so I took a short nap, followed by, you guessed it, more toast and a lot of water.

I did the same the next day. And the one following that. I would have done so the next, but as I started, I heard a car roll into the driveway.

"Ooh!" I dashed to the window, expecting Yoshinori, as it was about time for him to be back. But when I looked through the window, I didn't see Yoshinori in the car. There was only one man in the car and he opened the door and got out. Overtaken by curiosity, I opened my front door and tried to get a closer look at the stranger. From what I could see, he was skinny and a little bit on the shorter side.

He looked at me and waved.

"Who are you?" I spoke loudly so he could hear me. He quickly approached me and bowed deeply.

"My car has a flat tire. Do you mind helping me out? I have no idea where I am."

"Sure. What's your name?"

"Hamada Asahi."

"I'm Watanabe Hanako," I moved to the side and motioned into the house. "Come in."

He took a seat on the couch and I went to the kitchen to get him something to drink.

"Do you want a cup of coffee?"

"Water is fine." He replied frankly.

While my coffee was brewing, I decided to make small talk with Asahi. Just to pass the time

"So," I started. "You got a flat tire?"

"Yeah." He took a sip of his water.

"What were you doing out here?"

"I needed to be alone. People are so overbearing."

"I know what you mean."

"Really?"

"Of course. I used to live in the city but it was way too crowded."

I realized that this conversation is too similar to the first one with Yoshinori. I need to keep my distance.

"That's just like my case."

He was really quiet and didn't have a ton of emotion in his tone, and definitely did not make eye contact. The coffee machine beeped and I quickly escaped to the kitchen. How awkward. I took my time, to give me enough time to think about what to say.

"I know how to fix a flat tire, if you have a spare with you." I said while walking carefully trying to not spill my coffee.

"I do have a spare." He replied blankly.

"Good, I'll get started on that as soon as I'm done with my drink."

"Thanks."

I chugged my coffee as quickly as I could so that I could fix Asahi's car and get him out of here. He makes me feel like I can't relax in my own home. I rushed out the front door as soon as I had finished and felt so energized that I could probably get this done in 10-15 minutes, when it would usually take around 20.

Asahi followed me out and opened the trunk, revealing the tire that had most likely been sitting there since he bought the car. As he struggled to lift the heavy tire out of his car, I stifled a laugh.

"Need a hand?" I teased.

"Two would be nice." He sounded emotionless but the joke itself was pretty funny, causing me to laugh out loud.

"Alright."

I walked over and easily hoisted the tire up. I decided not to waste time with meaningless conversation and just get to work.

I might have come off as rude and standoffish, but it's for the best. I don't want Asahi getting any ideas. But then again, he might think I'm just playing hard to get or some crap like that.

"You can sit inside or something, I've got this. It won't take too long." Asahi nodded and settled on my front porch.

As I worked, I could feel Asahi's eyes burning holes into my back. I get it, it's the only thing he has to do right now, but it stresses me out. It made my palms sweaty, making my hands slip on the wrenches. I grumbled to myself as I kept losing my grip on the wrench, making it nearly impossible to replace this darn tire.

As I threw a mini-tantrum, I looked to the side and noticed a pair of mechanic gloves sitting in my toolbox. You have gotta be kidding me right now. I shoved my hands into the large gloves, continuing my labor on Asahi's car.

Finally, the not-so-new tire was on and Asahi could be on his merry little way and I could continue on with my day as if nothing had happened. I sighed heavily as I stood from my knees that I had been sitting on for far too long.

"Alright mister, you're ready to go." I startled Asahi out of his daydream, or whatever it was he was thinking about.

"Ah, thank you very much. Is there anything I can do to make up for your time?"

"Ummm..." I pretended to think, even though the answer was already clear in my mind. "Nope, I'm good. Just doing things out of the grace of my heart." I forced an awkward laugh.

"Oh, okay. Well if there's ever anything I can do for you, just give me a call." He held out a piece of paper with his name and phone number on it.

"Alright," I politely took the paper, not having the heart to tell him that I already have a partner. "Will do. Bye!"

He walked to his car, stealing glances at me as he walked. I smiled uncomfortably. He is handsome, I'll give him that, but no one can replace Yoshinori.

I was too focused on making absolutely sure that Asahi was gone that I didn't notice another car driving down the road. Only when Asahi's car was out of view though, I finally saw the small blue car making its way directly towards my house, soon pulling into the driveway.

I didn't recognize the driver, but the passenger was unmistakable. 

-End of Chapter 15-

A/N:

(MiaSkembo127) Hi y'all it's your number 1 clown bestie :D Hope you all are doing well and I'm very excited to be back! There's been a couple of things that came up in my personal life but that's for another time if y'all wanna know :) Please vote and comment! As an author, I love to read your reactions to my story so please remember to do that whenever you feel like. Love you all! Bye!