always | gojou satoru [rewriting]

chapter 20 - satoru & kento lunch date

"Good morning, mother." Satoru greeted his mother once he entered the kitchen. "Did you sleep well last night?"

"Morning, my son. Yes, I slept well but I was still shocked about what Y/n said to me that day. I just couldn't stop thinking about how rude she was." Mrs. Gojou said in an upset voice. "Is that how she was raised all this time?"

Satoru didn't know what to say. He just picked up a banana and ate it quietly.

"Satoru, don't you want to see Erika today? She missed you." Mrs. Gojou smiled like an idiot while her son had no expression. "Why are you giving me that face?"

"I'm not interested in her." Satoru told his mother.

"Nonsense! She's the most sweetest girl ever. I would love to have her as my daughter in law!" she said excitedly.

"I'm going to work now." Satoru changed the subject and headed straight towards the door.

"Take care, honey!"

Satoru drove his car along the road and his mind was thinking about you for no reason. Then, his mood was ruined once he received a call from Erika.

(Satoru! Good morning)

"Yes, morning."

(Can we go to lunch together today?)

"I have 5 meetings today and I don't think I can make it."

(Really? How about dinner then?)

Satoru sighed, "I don't know yet. I'm pretty busy this week."

(Hmm, that's sad to hear. Anyways, just tell me whenever you're free)

"Okay."

(Bye, Toru!)

"Toru?" he frowned as soon as Erika hung up the call. She never called him that. The only person who used to call him that was you.

He finally arrived at his office and was greeted by almost everyone in the building. He met with his secretary, Yuta along the way. "Yuta, good morning."

"Good morning, Mr. Gojou." he bowed and walked side by side until they reached Satoru's office. "You're in a good mood."

"Really? I guess I'm good at hiding my emotions." Satoru just laughed it off before proceeding to sit at his desk, "I don't have any meetings today, is it?"

"Yes, correct. But, Mr. Nanami told me to remind you about this afternoon's lunch with him." Yuta said.

"Oh, yes. Thanks for the reminder." he winked at Yuta, "And, please, again. If she comes here, please inform me ASAP. I don't want her to barge in here like last time." he reminded Yuta again after the incident where Erika barged into Satoru's office without informing. He hated that so much.

"Roger that."

After that, it was already 12pm and Satoru decided to give Kento a call. He was pretty excited about their lunch since it was Kento's plan. He rarely makes plans like this. "Nanamin~"

(Hello. I'm sorry but Mr. Nanami is not around at the moment. He will be back in 10 minutes)

"Ohㅡ" He could feel his cheeks turned hot and cleared his throat, "Well, alright then. Tell him to call me once he's back."

(Sure. May I know who's on the line?)

"Gojou Satoru."

(...)

"Hello?"

(Alright. Bye)

Satoru was a bit confused when the person hung up just like that. He just shrugged it off and continued his work. A few minutes passed, he received a call from Kento. "Nanamin! Where were you?"

(Meeting. Wanna head out now?)

"Yes, I'm hungry."

(Let's go. I'll pick you up)

"Wow. Okay."

Satoru carefully got inside the car once Kento called him that he had arrived. Ijichi drove them to a restaurant that was newly opened. Kento decided to go there since he read the reviews that the food was great and they had homemade breads too.

"This place looks cozy." Satoru commented once they entered the place and sat at the table.

After they ordered what they wanted, they admired the restaurant for a moment before Satoru began to talk, "Hey, I called you earlier but a woman answered it. Who is it?"

"Oh, my secretary." Kento replied.

"Wait, your secretary is a woman? How come you haven't told me?" Satoru was expecting Kento's secretary to be a man since he was not the type to be around women. "Is she pretty?"

Kento took a deep breath and exhaled loudly, "I can have anyone as my secretary. Even you."

Satoru seemed offended, "Huh."

"How are things with the woman your mother paired you with?" Kento asked. "You still don't have feelings for her?"

"Not at all. She gets on my nerves all the time. Wait, I never showed you a picture of her yet, is it?" he said and Kento nodded, so he pulled out his phone to show Kento a picture of the woman. "Here it is."

Kento had to blink a few times as he saw the woman's picture in Satoru's phone. He was very surprised, "Waitㅡ Isn't this.. Erika?"

Satoru looked at him with a confused look, "How do you know her?"

"I go to her café every week." Kento then laughed, "Wow. What a small world."

"So, she knows you?"

"Yeah. She's a nice woman."

Satoru sighed, "But, extremely annoying sometimes."

Once their food arrived, they began to eat and Satoru was really happy about the food. They talked about a few things until Satoru opened up about you.

"How long have you been neighbors with Y/n?" he suddenly asked which made Kento paused. "Just asking though."

"Maybe a few months since I just moved there. She has lived there longer." Kento simply replied, "Why?"

"Nothing."

Kento decided to ask, "Both of you were almost shouting at each other last night."

"Really? Sorry about that. I was really mad at her." Satoru replied.

"But, still, you shouldn't raise your voice at her."

Satoru furrowed his eyebrows, "How can I not be mad? She was being so rude to my mother. I needed to tell her off."

Kento looked at Satoru as if he didn't believe what he just said, "Y/n being rude? Are you sure? Were you there when it happened?"

"Well, I didn't butㅡ"

"I don't think Y/n is the type to treat people that way for no reason." Kento said, defending you. "You just need to be rude sometimes, you know." he continued while an image of Satoru's mother appeared in his head. He had met her a couple of times before and he definitely didn't like her at all.

He had no idea how Satoru could stand having a mother like that.