𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝟑𝟖𝟏 [𝘛𝘰𝘫𝘪 𝘍𝘶𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘰]

𝐃𝐚𝐲𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞

On Sundays you tend to sleep in, however, this time you wake up very early in the morning, and the first thing you do is go to the pharmacy to get a morning-after pill. You don't worry too much about getting pregnant since when you were trying to conceive with your husband, you never succeeded. Still, you'd rather be safe than sorry even if you get weird looks from the cashier.

And for the rest of the day, you run some errands, going to places that have air conditioning so you're not so hot. But around four you have no more errands to run, in fact, you have to do some chores at home which you're dreading. One of them being laundry. You have to get your clothes and go to the laundromat that isn't even a five minute walk from your apartment, but it's way too hot to walk out with a laundry basket. You don't need any more exercise for the day, but that doesn't stop the fact clothes are piling up, and tomorrow is your first day of work so you need clean appropriate clothes.

So you're exiting your apartment, holding your laundry basket with one hand, holding it against your hip while your free hand locks the door shut. When you finally get it shut, you turn and find your neighbor who's opening the door to his apartment. You aren't sure whether to address him or ignore him. Sure, you're picking up his son tomorrow and taking him to daycare, but maybe he doesn't want you to say anything to him today, things would be too awkward.

You look down at the child that tries to hide behind his father when he spots you. Sure, you bought him ice cream, but he still doesn't know you. You still smile at him, seeing that he's peeking to get a glance of you.

"Hey..." Toji awkwardly speaks up. Usually he doesn't have to speak to the woman after a one-night-stand, but he doesn't have that liberty here for many reasons. First and foremost, you're his neighbor. Secondly, you'll be taking his son to daycare and giving him a discount. He can't simply ignore you, quite the opposite, he has to make sure you're happy with him. He notices the laundry basket and asks, "Do you need help with that?"

"You've been working, it's fine. Thank you." You smile at him and before you can walk away, minding your business, he speaks again.

"It's fine. I can drive you to the laundromat." He offers, and you take a moment to think about it. But you see the boy who's clearly hiding from you, and you decide it's best to decline the offer. Tomorrow will be a big day for him, so it's best for him to rest and whatnot before tomorrow.

"It's fine. It's not too far from here. Plus, Megumi probably wants to be home." You tell him, giving him a weak smile before walking away. You walk away, not giving him a chance to say anything else. You come to regret declining his offer when you feel the hot sun on you, and you're sweating once again while walking to the place.

Halfway through the walk, you hear honking which spooks you, causing you to jump up a little. You turn around to see a black sports car, although it looks a bit old. You're definitely surprised as the car slowly comes to a stop. The window rolls down and you're even more astonished to find your neighbor inside. The car is definitely too expensive to be owned by him, but then again he's a mechanic, he probably was able to buy a beat up car and then fix it.

"Let me take you there." Toji says, and you sigh, pretending to be annoyed even though you're certainly glad that he's here. You roll your eyes to add to the act before opening the backseat door. You put your laundry basket down, waving at Megumi who sits in his backseat on the other side. You shut the door then walk to the passenger's seat, opening the door and entering the car. You put on the seatbelt, although it seems unnecessary since within a minute you're parked in front of the place.

"Thank you, Fushiguro." You tell him, and you look at Megumi, waving at him, "And thank you, Megumi."

"No problem." Toji responds, and you open the door and exit the car, then open the backseat door to grab your laundry basket. While Toji looks back at his son through the rearview mirror. "What do you say, Megumi?"