always | gojou satoru [rewriting]

chapter 22 - i need to do something

"I love it so much here!" Erika smiled at Satoru as they were seated at a table together in the restaurant Mrs. Gojou booked for them. "Everything looks so expensive."

Satoru stayed silent while browsing through the menu.

"I think I'll be having the ribeye steak." she announced, "I don't feel like drinking alcohol tonight. How about you?"

"I don't know what to eat. I'll just order juice." Satoru said and called for the waiter and told him what he and Erika wanted. "How's the café today? Good?" he began to ask, as he felt slightly guilty for acting like shit towards her.

"All good, thanks for asking. I'm going to release a new dessert soon." she said, admiring how handsome Satoru was. "When are you coming to the café?"

"Whenever I am available." he simply replied.

Once the food and drinks arrived, Satoru just focused on his orange juice. Erika was talking to him, but his mind was somewhere else until she noticed.

"Toru, are you okay?" she asked.

"Y-Yeah, I am. I'm just a bit stressed about work." he reasoned and it was not true. His mind was actually thinking about you.

Erika, who had no clue, felt bad for him. It must've been tiring to be a CEO at a young age, she thought.

"Do you want to go on a vacation? Let's go somewhere relaxing. Maldives?" Erika suggested, feeling excited. "Or Hawaii?"

"I'm not sure if I can go with a tight schedule." Satoru sighed and once he saw Erika looked a bit disappointed, he quickly said, "Never mind. I'll try to arrange my schedule."

Why the hell I even say that?

Erika's face lightened up after she heard that, "Sure. I'll arrange mine too so we can plan together."

After they had finished their meals, Satoru paid and was about to get in the car until Erika spoke, "Look, that's Kento."

Satoru was quick to turn around to see his friend inside a café nearby the restaurant with you. He didn't know why but he wasn't liking the view he was seeing. Both of you seemed comfortable with each other.

"Oh, that's Y/n." Erika said after she finally saw you.

Satoru looked at Erika with a confused look, "You know Y/n?"

"Yes. They would always come to my café together during lunch hours." Erika informed, "Wait, you know Y/n too?"

Satoru didn't know what he was feeling.

"I thought she was Kento's girlfriend at first until he mentioned that she was his secretary." Erika chuckled but Satoru was surprised. "Why?"

"Y/n is his secretary?" he repeated again.

"Yes, that was what Kento said to me."

No wonder he won't let me see his secretary.

"Okay." was all Satoru replied before proceeding to get inside his car and starting to drive.

"You didn't reply to me. You know Y/n too?" Erika asked him again.

"Kinda. We used to be friends when we were younger." he replied, hoping she wouldn't ask anything more.

"How about now?"

He took a deep breath, "Not anymore."

"Why? Something happened?" she wanted to know more but Satoru was not planning to continue this conversation.

"Nothing happened." he said, "What a small world we're living in."

Erika, not knowing what to say, remained silent until Satoru finally arrived at her house. She wanted to know more about the both of you but seemed like Satoru didn't want to talk about it so she planned to figure out by herself.

"Thank you, Toru." she said as she got out of the car. "Can I drop by tomorrow to give you dessert?"

"Uh.. Sure."

"See you tomorrow then." she smiled and waved at Satoru before he drove off.

As she got inside, she immediately called Mrs. Gojou.

(Yes, my lovely Erika. Did you have a wonderful dinner?)

"I did. Thank you so much! The restaurant was really nice."

(I knew you would like it!)

"Mother, can I ask you something? Do you know who is Y/n?"

(Oh, how do you know her? You've met her?)

"Yes. She's one of my regulars. We saw her earlier and Satoru was.. acting a bit weird. He didn't wanna talk about what happened between them. I was just curious."

(Let me tell you.. Y/n is not a good person. You really need to stay away from her. He made Satoru's life miserable. You should not be fooled by her innocent face)

"Really? She's that bad? I didn't expect that."

(I had enough of her mother's bullshit. She was the reason Satoru's father filed a divorce. Both mother and daughter are problematic)

Erika felt worried about Satoru.

"I need to do something." she mumbled to herself, as she knew she had to do something to never let you get near to Satoru.

And Kento too.