November 2010
Dad was in the hospital for a long time.
When we first came in to see him, I heard the doctors say something about a car crash with a drunk driver. The other driver was killed almost instantly, but Dad still hung on.
He had numerous surgeries and was on a lot of medicine. He had a bunch of monitors and wires hooked up to him. In just a couple weeks, he'd gotten so much skinnier and his skin was so pale. I almost didn't recognize him.
Mom and I went to visit twice everyday. Once in the morning and once in the evening. In between our visits we'd go do something together to get away from the depressing hospital. Sometimes we'd get lunch, see a movie, or go to the mall. Other times, when Mommy didn't feel good, we just went home.
After Dad was finished with his surgeries, he was left alone to wake up on his own. The doctors said it would take anywhere from a couple hours to a day. We held hope the first 24 hours after his last surgery, but he never woke up.
Once a couple days passed and he still hadn't woken up, he was moved to another area in the hospital. I asked Mom why they were moving him and she explained to me that he was in a coma. She told me a coma was when a person slept for a very long time but they were still alive.
Mommy also explained to me what death was. She told me that it was when somebody went to sleep forever and their soul went to heaven. I asked her if you could ever see them again after they died, and she said no. Then, she told me that Dad might go to heaven.
I didn't quite understand death. How could someone go somewhere else and never come back? What happened to their body? It just didn't make sense. Mommy told me that everyone will die one day, but I can't imagine myself dying, I will always be here, wouldn't I?
While we visited Dad, we'd usually talk to him, tell him stories, sing songs together, to try to lift the mood around him. The doctors said if we continued to talk to him, he might wake up faster.
Sometimes Mommy was silent. There were days when she wouldn't talk at all. Her eyes would be blank and she'd just stare off into nothing. Even when I tried to talk, she never said anything. She was like Daddy, but she was able to move around. I didn't like when she got like this. It feels like I lost two parents.
After she got like that, the next day she'd apologize profusely to me and shower me with affection. It felt nice to get her back, but I knew she'd get like that again eventually. I also grew to be the talker out of the two of us. If we ever went anywhere I always did the talking. She was always quiet to others besides me and Daddy's doctors.
As for school, they excused me for a month after they heard what happened. They made weekly homework packets for me to complete and every Monday we'd go to pick them up and turn the previous one in.
I didn't see any of my friends for a while. Frankly, I didn't want to. They were always so happy and so upbeat, and I was the complete opposite of that. The only thing I had on my mind lately was to take care of Mom and pray for Daddy to wake up.
That was how I lived for a month. Wake up, go to see Dad, break, go see Dad again, go home, sleep, repeat. All day, everyday. It was horrible. And I was so frustrated. Why did this have to happen to him? Things would still be good and normal if the person didn't hit Dad. It's all their fault.
I grew to hate the person that did this to Daddy, and I was glad that they died. They paid the price of ruining my life with theirs.
Unfortunately this had to come to an end. After a month, I had to go back to school and Mommy had to go back to work. We couldn't sit with Dad all day anymore. We had to try to live normally without him there.
September 2022
Sasaki has been acting weird these past couple weeks. Not bad weird, per say, but definitely not normal. The only way I can describe it as is flirty. Very flirty. Now, I'm not sure if this is just how he acts? Maybe it's how he jokes, well I don't know. But it does fluster me a lot, which is annoying, because he always gets a kick out of it.
Here are some examples:
"Good morning my beautiful Miyano~" Sasaki called out one morning.
"You know...when you cook for me all the time, it's kinda romantic." Sasaki mentioned during lunch.
"Ooh, that shirt looks really hot on you." He complimented.
"You showering? Let me join you~" Sasaki cooed. Once I got into the bathroom, I slammed the door in his face. "Miyanoo.." He whined.
Yeah, see what I mean? The only thing I'm glad is that no one is around to hear it, especially my girlfriend. She's a very jealous person.
~•~
One morning, I woke up to my usual 8 o'clock alarm. I leaned over to my bedside table to stop it. I checked the day, "Saturday September 10th" it said on my phone.
I was extremely thankful it was a weekend, all I wanted to do today was to stay home and read manga, school has been way too much lately.
I slipped out of bed and pulled my covers up. I peeked outside my window to see what was going on. The sun peeked through a couple clouds and children were playing on a sidewalk. Someone walked by, walking their dog.
I then went to the kitchen to make food for Sasaki and I. I searched the fridge, unfortunately there was nothing. Just ingredients that I couldn't make anything with. I sighed since my stay at home plans were now ruined and I'd have to go to the store.
I made myself a quick yogurt with granola and ate it. Then, I made my way to my room to get dressed. I searched through my drawers and pulled out a white rose print button up and black cargo shorts, as well as a pair of plain black socks.
I swiftly took my pajamas off and slipped into the clothes. I then went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth. Finally, I was ready.
I began slipping on my shoes quietly, to try to not wake Sasaki up. I hoped I'd be able to leave before he woke up so I wouldn't have to worry about him on the quick trip.
My plan was foiled yet again when Sasaki's bedroom door creeked open. He poked his head out and looked around the apartment then saw me getting ready to leave.
He walked out the door and looked at me.
"Miyano.." He whined while yawning. His hair was severely messed up and his eyes were still adjusting to being conscious. I noticed a lot of sweat on his neck and his face was extremely red, not blushing or anything, but it was just red, and I didn't know why. He sniffled. "Where are you going..?" He asked innocently.
"Oh, I was just gonna head to the store real quick. We don't have much food so I was just gonna go stock us up so I can make us stuff for the week." I explained. I finished putting on my shoes.
He coughed and then frowned. He slowly approached me and opened his arms up. Then, he fell onto me, holding me in a gentle hug.
I froze for a moment, unsure of what to do. Eventually I made the decision to return his embrace. I carefully slid my arms up his back and laid my head on his chest. I felt his heart pounding rapidly. His body felt incredibly warm.
"Mya~chan.." He complained. "Don't leave me." His grip on me tighten as if he was actually afraid I'd leave.
Mya~chan..I haven't heard that name used for me in ages. Sasaki made that nickname for me when we were younger, I haven't heard it since.
"Are you okay, Sasaki?" I gently inquired in a soft tone. I rubbed his back soothingly.
He sniffled. "Don't feel good..wanna go back to sleep." He yawned. His body relaxed against mine.
So warm, unbelievably warm. A human body should not be this warm. He was sniffling and was extremely exhausted. Could he be sick? Fever?
I pulled away a bit and gently tapped his head, motioning him to lift it up. He looked down at me, confused. His eyes were half closed, he might've fallen asleep on me for a moment, actually.
I took my right hand lifted his bangs up with my left. I carefully pressed the back of my hand against his forehead. Burning.
"Sasaki..you have a fever." I told him.
"Mm..really..?" He asked mid yawn.
"Yes, we need to go lay you down, come on." I motioned to the couch. I walked him, his right arm was around my shoulder to steady himself.
I carefully laid him down on the couch. I searched for extra blankets and pillows to give him to make him more comfortable. He was finally nestled into a couple pillows and a blanket. He stared back up at me, waiting for me to say or do something.
To be honest, he looked quite adorable like this. He was like a little child and I was taking care of him, I thought it was incredibly heartwarming.
"I'll go make you some tea and get you a quick snack, okay?" I asked him as I rubbed his head.
He nodded and closed his eyes.
I walked to the kitchen and thankfully discovered some tea. I looked through what we had and decided on oolong. I put the kettle to boil and waited.
Once it finished boiling I poured the hot water into a white mug with the tea bag in it and let it steep. I looked into the fridge to hopefully find a snack for him while I went to go buy food. I decided on another yogurt.
I went back to the tea and stirred around the tea, watching it turn into a pretty light brown color. I took the tea and the yogurt to Sasaki.
I set down the tea and yogurt on the coffee table and moved the coffee table closer to him to reach.
I sat down on the floor next to him.
"I'm gonna go to the store and go grocery shopping real quick so I can make an actual meal, okay? For now I brought you some tea and yogurt. I'll make you some soup when I get home." I explained to him.
"Okay Mya~chan.." Sasaki mumbled.
I put the TV remote closer to him as well so he could watch TV. Then, I got up and began walking to leave, until a hand grabbed mine.
I looked back at Sasaki. He had a sad look in his eye and looked like he might cry.
"T-Thank you." He stuttered. He seemed so embarrassed for some reason. "Thank you..for caring for a grown man like me. And thank you for dealing with me...I..I greatly appreciate it." He added on.
"Of course Sasaki..you're my roommate and my friend. My bestie." I joked, remembering out promise from 10 years ago. "I care for you. We'll always be there for each other."
He gave me a sleepy smile and closed his eyes once more. His grip loosened on my hand, until his arm fell on the side of the couch. This time, I actually made my way to leave and actually left without any interruptions.
~•~
I approached the same door I always approached when I came home; 34D. I set down the groceries for a moment and inserted the key and opened the door. I grabbed the groceries and brung them inside. I heard the low hum of the TV on.
Once I got the groceries I went to go shut the door and lock it.
"Mya~chan?" Sasaki called out.
"Yes?" I replied.
"Just making sure it's you."
I made my way to the kitchen and put away most of what I got but left out the ingredients I would need to make a chicken noodle soup.
After around an hour of cooking, the soup was finally finished. I grabbed a bowl and spoon and scooped some into it.
I took the soup to the living room and set it on the coffee table. I looked to see how much of the tea he drank and saw he drank it all. I took the empty mug back to the kitchen and put it to wash.
I also made myself a bowl of the soup and sat at the opposite side Sasaki was sitting on. Sasaki sat up and began eating as well.
"Thank you Mya~chan." He chimed.
I gave him a smile back.
We ate in silence watching the TV. Sasaki put on some reality TV show, it was pretty entertaining, honestly. It was about setting up two people who did not know each other at all to be married for a month to see how it was. It was stupid, but it was fun to watch.
"Mya~chan are you dating anyone?" Sasaki asked.
"Yeah, I have a girlfriend, why?" I answered.
"Oh, I was just wondering since the show is about couples." Sasaki replied mid slurp of soup.
"Ah I see." I began. "Are you dating anyone?" I asked back.
Sasaki shook his head. "Never have." He admitted.
"Mm, yeah I get you, Kyoko's my first. We only started dating like a year ago." I told him.
He nodded in response.
We continued in silence for a bit before I got a call on my phone. I took it out to see who it's from.
"Speak of the devil." I muttered.
I answered and held the phone up to my ear. "Hi honey, what's up?"
"Good morning Kazu~" She chimed.
"Morning, how are you doing?" I asked.
"I'm doing good, how's my handsome boy doing?" She asked back.
"Doing alright. Watching a show with my roommate right now. What are you up to?" I replied.
"Mm, that sounds nice. And I'm just laying in bed, I'm so bored." She complained.
I chuckled. "Can't you just go out with some of your friends?"
"I asked them! But they're all out with their boyfriends, ugh.." She whined. "I miss you, Kazu~"
"I miss you too, honey. I was thinking about coming down there for winter break. How does that sound?" I asked with a grin.
"Yay! I'm so excited to see you, Kazu~. I'll be counting down the days." She cheered.
"I'm glad. I'll talk to you later, okay?"
"Okay!" She rejoiced.
I hung up and threw my head back against the couch with a sigh.
I love her so much.