𝐒𝐏𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒 - ★彡[ᴀʟʜᴀɪᴛʜᴀᴍ]彡★

𝟐𝟏 - 𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐘

I knew that I couldn't run away forever. The grief that threatened to consume me at the loss of my father was constantly nipping at my backside, just millimeters away from finally hitting me. But more than that, I knew that once I allowed grief to consume me, I would never be able to return. So if I act like nothing out of the ordinary had happened at all, that would certainly be for the best, right?

"(Y/n) calling me?" Ayato's voice sounded through the receiver. "That's certainly a first."

"Sorry for calling out of the blue," I tried to speak as formally as possible, "but if it would be possible, I'd like for us to meet sometime tomorrow."

"I see. I assume you found out, correct?" The electronic scratch of the line pierced my ears as I stiffened my grip on the phone. "There's no other reason that you would ever reach out to me during work hours."

I let bitterness seep into my voice. "That's right. I appreciate the fact that you told me my father was dead without his body."
I hated myself. I was so childish. He just did as he was told and I was acting so stuck-up about it. I had no right to feel hurt.

"Nevermind, sorry," I cut in before he could reply, "I was just... wondering about something."

"I assume you want to be present during the investigation and participate in finding your father's body?" Ayato's voice was neither taunting nor kind. "I apologize (Y/n), but even I cannot make such allowances. To be frank, this isn't something that you could provide any assistance with. I strongly advise that you stay away from this matter entirely."

"I can't," I responded immediately, "and I'm fully aware that I'm not adequate enough to provide any useful insight in terms of the crime scene, but there's a lot I can offer besides that."

"This conversation is not one to be had with me," he sighed, seeming almost put off by my words. "I sincerely apologize if this comes off as rude, but there isn't much that you could offer in this circumstance. If you got involved, it would do nothing at all for anyone."

"But-"

"To be frank, this isn't a proper use of my time at the moment. I will have to hang up and call you back later, in which case I expect you to be in a better mindset."

Beep.

He hung up.

"Why is this happening?" I stared up at the sky.

Of course the restaurant that he had gotten a reservation at had to be shut down because of the random torrential hurricane, and of course we now had nowhere to go because driving in this weather would almost definitely result in a car crash. And on top of that, of course we had to drive a taxi this singular day out of all the days. This was truly just like a cursed otome game scenario. It sounds super romantic when written down, but it's a different story to experience it first-hand...