Shouta Aizawa has inherited his parents' teahouse and is having trouble finding new staff. Y/N has quit her job and is about to end her life, when she sees the poster about the open position and decides to give life another chance.
TW: themes of sui...
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Shouta hadn't seen her in years. He didn't really know what he was expecting, all he had was her email address and her phone number. He didn't even realize that she had changed her address, so he had to ask her about that. But he was going to meet her and he was determined to make this work.
He really hadn't realized that Mariko had moved into a small place at the outskirts of town. It seemed like she was doing alright on her own. Shouta actually wondered what she was doing these days, because it had been so long since they actually talked to each other. Maybe she had moved on a long time ago already.
Shouta wouldn't actually be surprised. She seemed to always be much better at dealing with things. In the moment she seemed to be doing worse, but in the end she was the one that let it all out and dealt with it right away, while Shouta bottled it up until it festered and ate him up from the inside.
Shouta wondered whether she maybe even had found someone new already. The place seemed big enough for a small family and there were two cars in the driveway. Shouta was almost hoping that she had found someone else, because he really wanted her to be happy. And he knew that she wouldn't be happy with him, no matter how many times they tried. They had realized that when their child died. There was really no point in trying over and over, but Shouta wished he had realized that sooner. Things would be better this way, he was sure.
It felt weird to walk up the driveway to her house and get ready to ring her doorbell to talk about their divorce. It shouldn't have been that nerve-wracking - she knew what this was about, they had both seemed happy with the decision and it shouldn't be such a big thing after all this time.
It should be a pure formality, but as Shouta was walking up to her door, it all suddenly seemed like much more than that. It all seemed much scarier suddenly and Shouta wasn't sure whether he could do it anymore. Before his doubts could get the better of him, he rang the doorbell. There was no going back now, at least. While he was waiting for her to open the door, he looked around.
There were a good few shoes in front of the door and Shouta was sure that they weren't all her shoes. There were some that definitely weren't her size. So she had found someone else, hadn't she? Shouta thought he was glad about that, but he wasn't so sure anymore. It didn't matter either way. They were going to get divorced and they had been separated for years.
Mariko had her own life and he had his own life and it was good that way. Plus, he had Y/N now. And it seemed that they were both happier with the way things were. But just standing there, in front of her new house and waiting for her to get to the door... it brought up so many memories. Good memories and bad memories alike. Maybe Shouta should have talked to her more over the years. Maybe this wouldn't be as strange and difficult as it was right now.
He could see something moving behind the opaque glass windows and then he heard some clinking and a key turning in the lock. The door opened and there was Mariko. She looked quite different from the last time he had seen her. She had gained weight which was good, because she hadn't been eating properly when they separated and she had lost a lot of weight back then. She had cut her hair to shoulder-length and she was looking much healthier, even though she seemed tired.
