It Takes Time

10

Y/N felt like she was at a breaking point. Haruto had been in a slightly better mood lately, but Y/N felt like she was going to lose her mind. She felt isolated, she felt like she had absolutely no one left anymore. And she didn't really know how to live with that. After all, she had just gotten used to being among people again, and now she was going to be punished for even talking to some of her colleagues.

She wasn't allowed to go out with them or text them too often (and in Shouta's case she wasn't allowed to speak to him at all). Technically, she was allowed, but she knew that Haruto would find out and that she was going to pay for it. So, she just stayed in her place, did what he wanted, just to have some peace and not constantly live in fear. Y/N often wondered whether this was all worth it. She was already walking on eggshells when she was at home, so had a lot of things really changed for her?

She was wondering whether Shouta might have been right. That she didn't have to live like this, that she could easily just pack her bags and leave. But where was she going to go? Sure, Shouta had offered her help, but she didn't want to be a burden to him. He had enough trouble already with Haruto constantly talking about how he was going to kill him, if he laid a single finger on Y/N. He was scary.

Y/N didn't really remember when this worry about her had turned from being sweet to being way too much and being scary. It hadn't just happened over night, but it was something that had happened gradually. It was such a small change that Y/N hadn't even noticed it, before it was too late.

Or was it too late? Y/N had no idea. She didn't know what to do anymore. She wished things were different, but the more she was at home and the less time she spent around other people, the more confused she got. She didn't know what to believe anymore most of the time. She was starting to question her own sanity.

Either way, Y/N was glad that she could still go to work and have at least some sort of peace from everything. She just hoped that she would be able to keep that job. Haruto had been threatening to get her fired or get her to quit if she stepped out of line and Y/N knew that he would absolutely do that. He had ways of getting to her employer, so they would have no choice but to let her go. He was good at terrorizing people to a point where they just didn't want to put up with it anymore. That was how Y/N had lost her first job. She really didn't want to lose another job that way, so she just kept to herself.

And it was working out fine. Sure, most of her colleagues thought that she was being a little odd when she constantly refused going out for drinks, but after a while they left her alone. It hurt that she couldn't go out with them, but it would have hurt much more if she lost her job because of that. And Haruto would make sure of that if he ever caught her talking to Shouta or going out with her workmates.

Y/N heard a knock at the door of the office. She wondered who it could be this early – normally, people would only come to her when it was getting a little closer to lunch time and they had gathered up a few documents that needed to be filed away or signed. It was unusual that someone would be here at the start of the day.

"Come in!" Y/N called. The door opened and her smile faltered a little when she saw that it was Shouta.

"Good morning. Y/N, do you have a minute? There's something I need to talk to you about. In private." he said to her. Y/N raised her eyebrows. Shouta knew damn well that she couldn't talk to him in private.

"Shouta, I can't... Please." she replied. She felt like crying, because she wanted to talk to Shouta, she really did, but if Haruto was to find out... And he had ways of finding out. Surely, Shouta had realised that much.

"We'll go to one of the classrooms. One that has absolutely no windows to the outside. It's important, Y/N. Please." he told her. Y/N sighed. She couldn't really say no to that, could she? And maybe it would be okay, if there was no way to see them talking from the outside. That's how Haruto had found out last time.