𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝟑𝟖𝟏 [𝘛𝘰𝘫𝘪 𝘍𝘶𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘰]

𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫'𝐬 𝐄𝐯𝐞

Spending a week alone is not something that you usually mind, but this time you actually feel sad as you spend the time alone. When you start to forget about your loneliness, you look at the charm bracelet that Toji gave you– And when it's not that, it's the stuffed bear that's in your room. You just wish that you could spend time with them, especially this time of the year. You try not to sit in your room and dwell, but it feels impossible.

Everyone around you has someone else, and it's a reminder of how lonely you are now. For the first time, you don't have Kento with you, even if last year he was sick. Sadly you can't escape going out because you still have to work. You luckily have some days off, but you still don't escape going outside. You try your best to avoid going out.

You only go out when you absolutely need to, at least for the first five days that they're gone. When the peak of the holidays passes, you go out without a problem.

You're out for dinner, getting something hot to warm you up. Since you're not taking care of little Megumi, you find yourself with a lot of free time, and now you have no idea what to do with it. You try to recall what you did before taking care of Megumi, but it's hard. Even during the week that you weren't talking to Toji, you had no idea what to do.

So you're taking advantage of this rare opportunity and going out to eat. You have a couple of drinks, order food until you're stuffed, and when you're all done, you pay and walk out of the restaurant. But life is never so simple.

You walk past someone that you can't easily ignore– Having white hair at such a young age isn't exactly too common. What's weirder about him, is that it's his natural hair color. You try to walk past him as if you don't know him, but he notices you and he grabs your arm, stopping you from walking further. He says your name and you're forced to look back at him.

"Can I help you, sir?" You ask, hoping that he'll drop whatever he has to say if you treat him like a complete stranger. Satoru isn't one that drops a subject so easily, and he wants to talk to you, so he's not going away until he talks to you.

"Are you leaving already?" He responds with a question that has an obvious answer since you were talking in opposite directions. You don't say anything since the answer is pretty clear, and when you stare at each other for a minute, a sigh leaves his lips, "Can we talk?"

"Is there something more to talk about?" You reply, and he furrows his brows. Before he can mutter a word, you speak again, "I'm sorry, Gojo. I'm just really confused as to what you're doing here. You live nearly an hour away, and you can certainly afford to eat at much nicer places... What the hell are you doing here?"

"Can't I get food here?" He's defensive. You shake your head, and your fingers manage to take off each individual finger that holds your arm until you're finally free from his grasp.

"Not when you live so far away. Have a good night, Gojo, I hope to never bump into you again." You walk away, and you know it'd take a minute or two before he chases after you, so you sprint away, until you know that you're out of sight.

Luckily that's the only time that you bump into Satoru during your time alone. And as much as you'd pay attention to him, the only man that you're currently thinking of is Toji. Toji is slowly consuming your mind, and you hate to admit that you love it. Thinking about Toji brings a smile to your face, and you almost feel guilty because your husband hasn't been dead for a year. But you can't dwell on Kento forever.

Maybe you are moving on a little bit too fast, but you're not putting everything on hold for a year. You're starting to forget the fact that you didn't want a relationship because as you think about Toji, the thing you want the most is a relationship. Your opinion has certainly changed.