Trust Me | Tsukimi Shin

(Part Seven)

Shin hadn't been responding to her texts for three days, and Chizue was beginning to panic.

She wondered if she did something wrong, if she got too clingy with her first true friend, and despite the two of them being glued at the hip for nearly a year and a half now, she still would sometimes fret about whether or not she was acting like a proper friend. They had celebrated their birthdays together, holidays together, had both began to hang out nearly every chance they got after they both left college, and Shin had visited the coffee shop every other day to just say hi, and she did the same at whatever job he was taking at the time...

And yet she would still worry about how she acted as a friend.

She wondered if something happened to him, and so many nasty possibilities were suddenly flooding her mind and it made her head feel like it was filling with heavy, dark fog. She wanted to text him again to ask if he was alright, but she didn't want to overwhelm him with more messages when he already wasn't responding to her previous ones.

It was pathetic how quickly she scrambles to answer her phone when it suddenly buzzed.

Tsukimi Shin | 15:58

Hey

I'm sorry I haven't been responding. I'm not dead or anything, don't worry :)

Chizue's nose scrunches up and her brows furrow. She usually thought his little emoticons were cute, but now it was concerning. He was hiding something from her, because there was no way he would ignore her for three days and not have a reason for it...

Takahashi Chizue | 16:00

Hey! It's a relief to hear from you, I was starting to really get worried something bad happened.

But is everything okay? Is something wrong?

Tsukimi Shin | 16:01

Nope, everything is alright. Just been busy.

And that was it. That was all he left it at. Chizue couldn't help but scowl, feeling the burning, creeping frustration making its way up her chest. She could almost always tell what he was thinking, but this was a text- she couldn't get a read on his expression or his tone of voice, or see if he was making his usual tells for when he was lying or exaggerating something, so she was lost. If he didn't want to talk to her, or if he was annoyed by her, she really wished he would just tell her upfront so that she didn't spend so much time worrying.

Takahashi Chizue | 16:03

I'm coming over to check on you now. If that's an issue, you better tell me now.

Almost immediately after she sent that, the ellipsis popped up on his end several times in quick succession and Chizue was taken aback by it.

Okay... so he was going to be writing her an essay, most likely, about all the reasons she shouldn't come and maybe why he was even avoiding her. Chizue leans on her counter, her phone laid flat on the surface and her hand pressed against it so she would feel it vibrate when he finally gave her an answer. She closes her eyes and rests her head on her forearm.

His response... never seemed to come.

When she flips over her phone to see the screen, she realizes it had been nearly ten minutes and she still hadn't gotten a response. He wasn't typing anymore. It merely left her message on 'read'.