Reminiscence

It brought her back

She had felt observed for a long time. It wasn't a permanent sensation, but it was consistent. It was always before she went to work and after she left work.

While she had her suspicions, she avoided delving too much into who her observer was, deciding that it would be best for her not to focus too much on him, specially because she was very sure of who he was. 

But alas, they were bound to meet. She wondered how long he'd keep himself hidden from her, how long he'd be able to keep himself from crossing their silent agreed boundary. But today had been the day. Today, he knocked on her door. Today, he forced her to face that scene once again.

When she opened the door and held his unreadable brown eyes on hers, despite how obvious the situation was to the both of them, she couldn't help but be brought back to that fated day, to relive how he handed her that letter with her lover's name. With Oda Sakunosuke's name.

She resented him. She resented him too much. She resented him so much that her heart threatened to loose grip on her brain and throw herself at him and shake him frantically, ask him again, again, again, again and again why he didn't try harder to stop him from being reckless , to stop him from committing the miserable act that brought her to her ruin.

He might dress up differently than before. He might have changed careers. He might have been treasured by Oda. But she simply couldn't ignore it. The letter in his hands. The grim expression on his face. How she was choking on her tears and the gut-wrenching scream she let out.

He was there when he died. He could have prevented it. Yet not only did he not protect Oda as he should, but he only had the guts to tell her after three months.

Wordlessly, she let him in. It was bound to happen. He had to cross the line, sooner or later.