Metanoia

Chapter forty-two.

"Rin, I'm off." I grabbed my bag and slung it over my shoulder as I was getting ready to leave for work.

Rindou grumpily twisted in his bed with his blanket over his head. He opened one eye, looking me up and down. "You can quit ya know."

I rolled my eyes since this was a conversation that had happened all weekend. "Rin, Im not having this silly ass conversation." I strolled over to his bed and pulled the blanket off of his face, "You have enough to worry about, I don't need me being added on." Leaning down, I pecked his lips. "I'll call you later."

Sighing dramatically, Rindou raised his hand to my cheek. "Look at your account too."

"What–"

"Just do it," Rindou chuckled, his eyes flicking down at my phone.

Without questioning further, I pulled my phone from my hoodie pocket and quickly unlocked my phone. I swiped over to the bank app and opened it. My eyes widened and my heart dropped into the deepest parts of my soul. Sitting in my account was ten million yen. In other words, sixty-three thousand dollars. My mouth gaped open and I looked at him, "Rindou, I can't take this."

Rindou smirked, "sure ya can. I got it from a job a while back, it's chump change so you dont have to worry about me going broke. I got plenty of more where that came from. Plus, I owe you so consider this your back payment. You can pay off your school loan and try to get out of that shitty apartment."

I was speechless. My mind was so foggy that I couldn't even think straight. I thought we were passed this. I didn't think that we were even doing that anymore, that this was something genuine between us. Taking another glance down at the money I didn't even want, I clicked my phone off. "I appreciate this, thank you." I placed a quick kiss on his cheek and twirled around to leave.

"Babe, dont tell me you're angry," Rindou said, feigning annoyance in his tone.

"Im not mad," I replied while opening his bedroom door. "Be careful outside, I'll call you on my break." With that, I shut his door behind me and didn't bother to look back. There was nothing for me to say to him right now. I was grateful for the money, yes, but for him to consider this as a back payment for sleeping with him was more than enough to tell me where we truly stood.

Maybe I was the delusional one after all.

On my way to work, I ignored the phone calls I got from Rindou. I could spend my entire day mad over something he clearly couldn't understand but then again, I don't think he could ever understand. I give up trying to make him.

As I made my way through the bustling streets, the sound of car horns blared in my ears, and the heat of the sun beat down on my skin. I could feel my patience wearing thin as I inched along in the seemingly never-ending line of cars. Despite the chaos around me, I tried to remain calm and remind myself that I would eventually reach my destination.

I looked down at my phone since traffic was going fucking nowhere and perked my eyebrow at Daichi's name on the screen. Taking a glance up to make sure nothing changed, my eyes met my screen again and I opened the message.

'I wanted to let you know that Im at your job and it's busy as fuck! Why didnt you tell me you had new caramel muffins?! You must not like me anymore T^T anyway, miss you lots bug. Please stay safe.'

If that did not warrant a smirk, I simply do not know what would. To see Daichi's name appear on the screen again was a pleasant surprise considering it had been a while since he had texted me. My body jolted at the loud sounds of numerous horns urging me to get the fuck out of there while I typed my reply, but I was smiling the whole time. I scowled as I peered into my rearview mirror. There was a moment when I was going to act petty and sit there on purpose, but I had to be at work too.