As the next in line to the Japanese throne, Watanabe Haruto's life has been governed by rules and regulations. With the imperial family's regressing power in modern day society and hostile parties hiding behind friendly smiles, Haruto is forced to b...
After the celebration dinner, Junkyu and Haruto kept in touch. In fact, Haruto would message him everyday.
Quite frankly, Junkyu doesn't know what to feel about this. He's happy that Haruto is back. And he can tell that Haruto is trying hard to repair their relationship. But Junkyu is scared. He's scared he'd become dependent on him again. He's scared that he'd abandon him once more. Most of all, he's scared that the feelings that he buried deep inside three years ago would resurface.
But no matter how much he wanted to keep Haruto at an arm's length, Junkyu is just weak against him. Like a couple of days ago, when Haruto invited him to lunch, he insisted on picking him up "for old time's sake".
Since then, whenever he was free, which was almost everyday, Haruto would drive Junkyu to his work. Junkyu was adamantly against it at first, but with just a few words from Haruto, Junkyu was persuaded.
"You know I like driving. And I have nothing to do either. So let me pick you up and drop you off. Saves you gas too." Haruto said.
Junkyu was about to argue further, but Haruto gave him a pleading look and said "please."
And just like that, Junkyu agreed.
The closer Haruto got. The more Junkyu wanted to build a fence between them. They can be friends who keep in contact with each other every now and then, but Junkyu doesn't want to get too close. He doesn't want to fall for Haruto and experience heartbreak again when he leaves. So Junkyu decided to start making excuses to avoid Haruto.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
So not only did Junkyu fail to push Haruto away, he now has to go to work early for no reason whatsoever. But how could he refuse after what Haruto said?
And so, exactly at 5am the following morning, Junkyu was woken up by the ringing on his phone.
"Hello?" Junkyu grumbled.
"Wake up sleepy head. You have to get ready for work." Haruto spoke through the phone.
Junkyu grumbled once more before dragging himself up to get ready.
45 minutes later, Junkyu came out of their house and got into Haruto's car.
"Morning," Haruto greeted him with a smile. To which Junkyu greeted him back.
Haruto grabbed a paper bag from the backseat and handed it to him. It was McDonalds.
"I figured you haven't eaten breakfast yet."
Junkyu mindlessly thanked Haruto as he opened the bag. It was his usual order. At that moment something in Junkyu just snapped. He doesn't know if it was because it was too early and he was cranky, or if he just woke up on the wrong side of the bed. But regardless, all the pent up emotions that he's kept deep within him just bursted out.
"You can't just do this you know." Junkyu said in a slightly reprimanding voice.
Haruto, who was about to start the car and drive, paused and looked at Junkyu. "Do what?"
"You can't just abandon me and walk back into my life three years later acting like nothing happened."
Haruto was stunned by Junkyu's sudden outburst. "I'm sorry Junkyu, I really-"
"Stop!" Junkyu cut him off. "Stop apologising! Stop being so nice to me! Just stop!"
"Listen, I owe you my life. And I would forever be grateful for that." Junkyu said. "But when you cut me off three years ago, I was devastated. It took me a while to recover."
"I know you're trying your best to go back to how we were. But I don't want that. I don't want that at all. I'm doing fine without you. So please, keep your distance from me."
Hearing Junkyu's words practically shattered Haruto's heart. "I understand. Let me at least drop you to work one last time."
"No. My work doesn't even start till 9. I was just looking for excuses to get rid of you."
"Oh. I see."
With that, Junkyu got off the car and walked back to his house.
