eight
‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹
"As you all know, we have invented a new invention that is yet to be announced. However, that isn't why we are here. The reason why I have gathered you all is to celebrate the engagement between my son Kai Chisaki and Y/N Okuta."
Your brain couldn't process anything he just said at all. It all sounded like a joke. A terrible one at that. You didn't know what to do or say. All you knew was that you were furious.
You were certain that you had misheard him. You have to. There was no way in hell that your parents would do such a thing without discussing it with you first. Right?
For a moment there, it felt like time had stopped or maybe slowed down a little. As you sat there frozen, your eyes wide open from the sudden news, the crowd cheered. Everything was moving in slow motion; even the sound of laughter was slowed.
It must be a dream. It has to be. Everything is so...
"Darling?"
The sound of your mom calling you snapped you back into reality. Your eyes, which only conveyed love to your parents, were now narrowed as they stared at them. You were furious. You felt betrayed by your own parents. A feeling no child should ever feel from their parents.
"Darling, are you okay? You weren't responding to—"
"Of course I'm not okay. You think I'd be fine hearing that just now? That I'm suddenly engaged to some dude I barely knew about?" You cut your mom off as the anger inside of you explodes. Thankfully, the music was already loud enough to cover your conversation with the guests.
"I didn't even know his name until just now. How do you think I would react? What is wrong with all of you?" You added, glaring at your parents, who were showing a rather guilty face. "What happened to saying I was—ugh, never mind. I need a moment." You excused yourself and left, knowing your parents wouldn't care anyway. At least now you're certain they won't.
You walked and walked until you found a place where you were certain no one would be. A quiet place where you could think and relax without a care in the world. You found yourself on the rooftop of the building, and as expected, no one was present.
You walked over and stood a couple feet away from the edge of the building as you let the wind comfort you. The breeze hit you slightly as you took a deep breath. The view was nothing compared to the one at home, as all you saw was traffic and other buildings blocking the horizon.
"Stupid people." You cursed under your breath as you narrowed your eyes. Holding back your tears, not wanting to ruin your makeup since you had to head back to that party one way or another. If it weren't for the fact that you came here with your parents, you would've run away.
You were livid about the situation. Most importantly, your parents hid this from you. Then the memories of today hit you like a wave. Was this what your parents were arguing about as they tried to be as discreet as possible? You were no longer surprised when you put one and one together.
"It took a while to find you." A voice came behind you, and as it stood next to you, you knew who it was. You didn't have to turn your head as the green tuxedo he wore appeared in your peripheral vision.
Now that you are aware, it was stupid of you to think that matching with him was a coincidence. Not to mention the way he followed you all and sat next to you. Now, you wholeheartedly believe that your parents will never change their ways. Yet there you were, thinking that your parents had changed, which now seems like a stupid idea.
There must be a way for me to stop this. I have to or else...
"Are you that unhappy with being engaged to me?" He broke the silence, snapping you away from your thoughts.
"Would you be sad if I agreed to that? I mean, we both never wanted this, right?" You asked, hoping he'd say something like he didn't want this either. That way, you'd have a better chance of stopping this situation from getting worse.
"No. I wanted this from the start." He answered, surprising you, but you didn't let it show. Your shocked eyes were quick to return to their neutral state.
"You knew?"
"Yeah."
"I see." You were even more disappointed in your parents. "Well, I'm sure you have someone else in mind, so let's—"
"I don't think you understood me, so let me rephrase it. I was the one who wanted to do this, not our parents."
Shocked, you turned to look at him and saw that he was already looking at you. His golden eyes pierce into your e/c ones as everything silences itself around you. You didn't know what to say as you processed everything.
"W-what do you...mean? We don't even know each other, so how would you—this is—you do know what marriage is, right?"
"Yeah, I do, and ever since I saw you, I knew that I must have you, whether it was by force or not."
"Wait a minute. I'm pretty sure this is our first time meeting, so I'm sure you have mistaken me for someone else."
"No. It was you."
"But..." You were at a loss for words as you closed your mouth.
"I know this is sudden, but trust me, I've loved you since the day I met you." He put his hands on your shoulders as he looked down at your e/c eyes that he fell for. Both of you stayed in that position for a moment before you broke eye contact.
"I'm sorry, but I already have someone else in mind." You pushed his hands off your shoulders gently as you turned away.
"Of course you do. A gorgeous woman like you must have many men who want you. But I promise you, I'm going to make you fall in love with me too."
You didn't say anything back regarding what he just told you. It all sounded like a lie, like a horrible nightmare, but that was far from reality. The only hope you had was gone.
"I'm sure your parents are worried about you, so let's—"
"I want to be alone."
Sorry, but I can't leave my fiancé alone when she's upset."
"You do know the reason why I'm upset is because of your selfish actions, right." You turned your head, glaring at him.
"And that's fine."
Of course, it would be fine for him. He was the one who wanted this to happen, not you.
You let out a sigh as you turned back to the not-so-pretty view. From the short conversation with him, you could tell he was going to be a stubborn, hardheaded man. Any conversation with him would only make it worse, so you stopped.
Even in the midst of the unfortunate situation, your mind was brought back to the man who lives across from you. You were wondering what he was doing and if he missed having his usual conversation with you. If he was thinking about you as well. Or was he up doing something else?
After some time, you've decided to head back to the floor where the dinner party was being held. The man dressed in green following behind you.
You were ready to confront your parents. You were ready to know the truth. A small part of you was hoping you could say something to change their minds.
"Darling, where have you been? I was so worried." Your mom ran up to you the moment she saw you walking towards the table.
"Why didn't you tell me?" You asked, straight away, without beating around the bush.
"I..." your mom paused as she looked at you, her face filled with guilt and nervousness. "If I told you the truth, I know you wouldn't come. I'm sorry for—"
"I don't want to marry him." You cut her off, sadness in your eyes as you stared at her. You no longer know if you will ever believe anything she says.
"But darling—"
"I'm so tired of you and dad forcing the idea of marriage into me." You sighed as you watched her expression change into an upset expression. "So don't speak to me until I'm ready to talk or until you're ready to be a real mother to me." You walked past her as you went to the table, sitting as you held that blank expression.
You were livid, but you tried your best to remain neutral and not break down. All for the sake of your parents image. In the end, you were doing it all for them again. Even after all this.
You couldn't wait to go home—back to your apartment.
"Dabi~Dabi~" Toga called out his name, annoying him, but he could care less as he scrolled through his phone.
"Talk to me. I'm bored!" She threw a fit as the raven-haired man continued to ignore her like she didn't exist.
"Hey, look. It's that girl you invited the other day." She exclaimed, and for once, Dabi finally looked up from his phone as he stared at the front of the building.
Though he was happy to see you, he couldn't help but wonder if there was something wrong. Your eyes spoke of sadness, and your smile was no longer there. It made him scrunch his brows as he hoped you were fine.
"If you keep looking at her like that, they might call the cops on us, you know." Toga pointed out, snapping Dabi out of his thoughts.
"I wasn't even looking at her."
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"Darling—"
"I don't plan on staying over, so I'll be leaving as soon as I change out of this." You told your mom before walking towards your bedroom, ignoring her attempts to make you feel better.
"Y/N, that's not how you should treat your mother!" Your father shouted, attempting to scare you with his presence.
"And this isn't how you should be treating your one and only child!" You shouted back, running up the stairs before slamming your door shut. It didn't matter if they were upset at you for reacting this way. It was only natural for one to be upset, especially when the situation involved a big life decision.
As soon as your door slammed shut, your tears began pouring out like an endless stream. Your cold face was suddenly filled with warm tears that tasted like salt. Your chest tightened as you crumbled down, leaning against the door as you held your vulnerable body closed.
This time, your narrowed shoulders weren't dancing from joy of laughter but from the betrayal of your parents. Your tightened throat wanted to scream and let out a sound to express your feelings, yet nothing came out. Your body no longer had the energy to cry for help.
In that very moment, you wished you could run away. It didn't matter where, just as long as you were gone and away from this place called home. You wanted to be as far away as you could from those people who claimed to love you yet showed you otherwise.
That was when your memory of Dabi came to mind as you wiped your tears and grabbed your phone. Without much thought, you clicked on the number under the contact name "𝘙𝘶𝘯𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘳."
‧₊˚✩彡𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟‧₊˚✩彡๋ ࣭ ⭑๋ ࣭ ⭑
⋘ 𝑃𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑡... ⋙
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⋘ 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎... ⋙