Perfect Facade[Asano Gakushuu x Reader]

t h i r t y - e i g h t : don't cry

●○○

I'm an idiot

The moment she stepped foot out of school, her eyes started swelling with tears. They weren't enough to fall down but just enough to cloud her vision. With every step she took, it felt heavier with dread each time. She couldn't just go home in such state, she had no energy to pretend that she was perfectly alright. To even be perfect at that,

[Name] knew exactly what would await her at her house if she were to come back home with a teary face. Afterall, sadness isn't a very pretty emotion. She could vividly remember the times as a child where she cried, sobbing over something that at that time was trivial to her. However, each time she wailed out, her parents never batted an eye. To them, her feelings were not important, only the look of them mattered.

Today was not the right day to be crying, [Name] knew that. There wasn't any guests that was coming to impress or show off. There wasn't some important client to subdue with the cries of a teenage girl. If there wasn't a use for her tears, she shouldn't be crying at all. All it would take is one look at her and her face will be in contact with a tight slap.

"Get it together." She would hear her mother say as her face would be grabbed violently by the one who had given her life. And she'd struggled to compose herself, due to the fear building up knowing that since she was the one who gave her life, she could do the exact opposite to her. [Name] can visualise the expression her mother would have; she'd have a smile with twitching lips and eyebroed furrowed deep to form lines that carved out onto her face.

She didn't want to face it, but where else could she go?

Then an idea strucked her, her hand immediately went to grab her phone. She opened her contacts, and started calling her two friends, Kekoi and Yayoi. It was her last desperate attempt at salvation. She couldn't call her grandma or her cousin Naomi, both of them were in the states so how could the both them help her now? So she turned to her friends, praying that one of them could provide her some shelter, a place to hide until she could compose herself.

Kekoi didn't picked up but Yayoi did. "Oh hello [Name] Chan! It's rare for you to call me on the phone! Usually you'd just text me." Yayoi's small laughter over the phone calmed [Name]'s racing heart. She could feel her friend's warmness from her friendly tone as she unconsciously pressed her phone closer to her face; as if trying to get closer to that warmth.

"Hey Yayoi San, I know this is sudden but are you free right now?" [Name] asked, she had both her hands clutching onto her phone as her dominant hand had started shaking.

"I'm so sorry but I'm not, I'm at my cram school right now. Currently it's my break so that's why I picked up."

"Oh that's fine, is it possible for me to stay in your cram school until you finish? I just really want to hang out with you." At this point, [Name] started to bite her lip in anticipation. She really needed a place to go, but at the same time she can't tell her friend yet, she wasn't ready. No, she didn't want to burden her friend with the knowledge of her pain.

"I don't think so, and also does your parents know? It's near your curfew I believe." Yayoi's words caused [Name] heart to sink. "I remember they called me when we were hanging out once because they were worried about you staying out late."

Oh, how did I forget

There was no way of escaping her parents. They had made sure that everything she does would be tracked, to where she was and who she called. That realization was the tipping point and before she knew it, hot tears were streamlining down her face.