I Was Abandoned by My Fiancé and Betrayed by My Best Friend—A Story from Rock Bottom - Chapter 6

One week since that day.

Hot shower water streams down my skin.

In the bathroom filled with white steam, my face in the mirror is faintly flushed and blurred.

Drops of water trickling over my shoulders scatter and vanish like marks of victory.

With each drop that falls from my shoulders, a sweet heat seems to fill me to my core.

—Finally, I got it.

I took it from Miharu.

Hiroyasu, and everything else.

The happiness I grasped after carefully planning over time.

That expression on Miharu’s face when she saw me at the restaurant.

The words she spat at me, dripping with frustration.

They’re still burned into my mind.

Hiroyasu’s apartment, high up in the tower mansion.

A night view like spilled jewels spreads out before me.

Hiroyasu, who chose me, is smoking a cigarette in bed, just a wall away.

—The ultimate bliss.

(Serves you right, Miharu. Right about now, you must be crushed by despair, chewing on your frustration, aren’t you?)

The smile reflected in the foggy mirror is dazzling, like proof of victory.

…And yet, starting the day after that, his smile has been a little stiff.

At first, I thought I was imagining it, but day by day I can feel his irritation growing.

Every time I try to ask, he remains silent, telling me not to worry.

But that girl is finished.

Because I’m the one who won!

When I turn off the shower, only my heartbeat echoes in the bathroom where silence has returned.

I roughly towel my hair dry, then carefully wipe the water droplets from my skin.

The warm air from the hair dryer feels pleasant against my skin.

In the mirror, my cheeks are still flushed.

My triumphant smile hasn’t faded yet.

I slip my arms into my favorite bathrobe and tighten the bow at my waist.

The exhilaration still holds heat deep within my body.

—Hiroyasu is mine.

Holding that certainty in my heart, I leave the bathroom.

I walk down the hallway and open the bedroom door.

There he is, leaning against the bed, slowly letting cigarette smoke curl upward.

Moonlight streaming through the gap in the curtains casts deep shadows across his profile.

“…Sorry to keep you waiting.”

Even when I speak, there’s no reply.

He flicks ash into the ashtray with his fingertip but the gesture is oddly rough.

Ash scatters slightly, leaving black spots on the table.

A gritty sensation runs through the depths of my chest.

I’m imagining things…

Telling myself this, I sit down on the edge of the bed.

—The disquiet in my chest gradually spreads.

Still, I force a smile and move closer to him.

Hiroyasu’s hand suddenly reaches out and grabs my shoulder.

For a moment, I think he’s going to pull me into an embrace.

But his hand, as if it were the most natural movement, gently pushes me away.

Though the force is weak, the feeling of being rejected is stark.

Without letting my smile falter, I sit back beside him, but the chill running down my spine doesn’t disappear.

“…Hiroyasu!?”

I can’t help but raise my voice.

There’s no light in his eyes.

The emotions swirling in their depths pierce me like cold blades.

Words fail me; time seems to have stopped.

The next moment, Hiroyasu turns his body toward me, meeting my gaze directly.

There’s no escape from that look.

“Kaya. —The marriage is off.”

“…What?”

My throat makes a sound on its own.

Frozen in incomprehension, I quietly ask again.

“…What do you mean?”

Hiroyasu clicks his tongue briefly, not hiding his irritation as he runs a hand through his hair.

“I’m telling you it’s over. Ever since I blew up at Miharu, work’s been going downhill. Plus, being with you just makes me more tired.”

His words fly at me like knives.

Now I understand his recent attitude.

…So that’s what it was.

I just sit there, looking up at him.

“I went along with your plan, but it was just a whim.

I thought maybe things would work out with you and I just wanted to see Miharu’s despairing face.

But, well, it turns out I was wrong. Miharu is more calming.”

For a moment, something inside me grates.

My heartbeat arrives late, accompanied by pain in my ears.

“Sorry, but you’re not enough for me anymore. There are plenty of women out there. Any more time with you would be a waste.”

Having said this, Hiroyasu stubs out his cigarette in the ashtray and stands up.

White smoke billows out, making the room’s atmosphere even heavier.

I thought I heard the sound of the ground crumbling beneath my feet.

“…And you think I’ll just accept that?”

Ignoring the shadows of despair and anger boiling up from deep inside, I confront him.

The air in the room freezes for an instant.

Hiroyasu frowns, squaring his shoulders as if to push through.

“Whether you accept it or not doesn’t matter. I’ve already decided!”

With that declaration, he yanks open the closet and pulls out a shirt on a hanger.

As he carelessly slips it on, the air fills with a mix of cigarette smoke and lingering perfume.

As if to dilute my very presence from this room.

He speaks flatly, avoiding my gaze.

“You and I are finished. I’ll have your things packed up and sent to you. …Please leave.”

Stuffing his phone and wallet into his pockets, he disappears into the living room.

Only the sound of the closing door remains, leaving a dry echo.

I sit there for a while, unable to move.

What spreads in my chest should be despair—

But, while listening to Hiroyasu’s words, I felt a magma-like anger overflowing from deep within my body.

—In the bedroom now ruled by silence, creeping despair and blazing fury swirl in my heart.

(…I can’t forgive this)

A small, black spark of hatred ignites within me.

(—I’ll kill him)

The small spark swells into a great surge, becoming black, hellish flames.

(I’ll make him understand the crime of making a fool of me!)

The black flames will never go out now.

Suppressing the creeping despair, I stand up.

Without a word, I open the closet.

I haphazardly stuff clothes, cosmetics, and my remaining belongings one after another into a duffel bag.

At the edge of my vision, the lights of the night view reflected in the window shimmer.

My hands don’t stop. They don’t tremble.

Only the quiet, methodical sounds of packing mark a dry rhythm in the bedroom.

Even the sound of the TV and Hiroyasu’s breathing from beyond the door now seem distant.

When I zip the bag closed, silence falls over the room once more.

I take off my bathrobe and change into a pale-colored dress.

Then I walk over to the vanity.

My face in the mirror is bright red, but I calmly fix my makeup, applying eyeshadow and rouge.

Returning to the bedroom, my final glance falls on the cigarette butt left in the bedside ashtray.

It feels like the smell of his discarded words still lingers there.

I take the spare key from my pouch and quietly place it on the table.

Slinging the duffel bag over my shoulder, I leave the bedroom.

I pass by the door where Hiroyasu sits in the living room and head for the entrance.

I slip on pale orange pumps, adjusting them so they don’t rub, then stand up with the heavy bag.

—Click.

With the sound of the turning lock, the chill of the night wind blowing through the high-rise tower mansion brushes my cheeks.

The despair and black anger seem to melt into the night sky.

—Even if you regret it, it’s too late now.

Without looking back, I step out into the dark hallway.

The sound of my pumps’ heels echoing in the corridor reverberates with an unnerving coldness.