The Only Exception

Chapter One

He can still feel the cold clammy hands wrapping around his neck like an ugly necklace. He tries to scream, tries to grapple the hands closing in but they're winding tighter. Tighter. Until he chokes on his breath.

Tighter. He feels his neck breaking, his lungs begging for air. He tries to gasp but no air is coming in. He is fast fading...

Tighter. He is fading. He kicks his feet with the last of strength he has but nothing happens. This is it. I will die here.

He hears a cold, vicious voice say in a whisper full of hatred, "You wanted this. You made me do this."

Then everything just goes black.

—

Shohei wakes up in a cold sweat, shivering and gasping for air, sitting up from his bed like he's been electrocuted. His lungs are still set in panic mode as he wills himself to calm down.

He turns on his bedside table to look around and he sighs in relief when he confirms that he's still alone. He is, but that only gives him some minor relief as his heart is still racing, his lungs still running out of the air in a phantom panic. Inhale. Still here. Exhale. Still here.

He recites this mantra over and over again until he feels that he's steady enough to move around. He notes with disdain the LED clock on his bedside table that says 2:00 AM—which means he only got only two hours of sleep tonight. He should be immune to it by then, what with almost six months of sleepless nights he experienced ever since that day. He shivers again as he tries to push back that memory away from his consciousness. It doesn't matter, besides he manages to survive by taking little naps here and then... and before you know it, he already has eight hours of sleep.

He checks on his phone to see a message waiting for him on LINE. It's from Eiji.

>> Sho-chan, I'll pick you up at six tomorrow. We can go to the studio together.

Their small design company, Yume No Kumo , has a huge project tomorrow with an entertainment producer, Iwasaki Hina who got them to work on the design of her dance studio. They met up with the woman last week to finalize the design after the ocular inspection they had weeks prior and finally, they are about to start the project tomorrow.

The commissioned work doesn't only involve interior design but Shohei has to create murals for every room including the lobby at the storefront. It's the biggest project their team has had considering that HJK Dance Studio is situated at the very heart of Shibuya. He knows he can't fuck this up.

He types in a quick reply and lays down in bed, staring at the ceiling. There is nothing there and for a moment, he feels the emptiness directed back at him. He wishes he is back in Sendai, where his family is... but he remembers with a bitter taste how they had turned their backs on him the moment he revealed who he really was.

You're just confused. It's impossible what you're saying. It will pass. You should change yourself. You're not trying hard enough. What will the people say? We can't have a son like you.

That is probably why they never visited him in the hospital, even after Eiji called them and told them what happened. Maybe, they hated him more for that.

Screw home. It's been years since he'd been there. Tokyo is his home now and he might be lonely and scared, but at least he doesn't have to hide who he is here. Besides, he also has his whole life here. He is slowly making a name for himself in interior design while continuing his passion for painting. He doesn't make much, but he at least has a decent one-bedroom apartment near his studio, albeit lacking modern furniture, like a television or a functioning oven .