Chapter 2 Mari (1)

Mari (1)

When I come home, the house is dark.

Shuu, who is supposed to be off today, is not here.

I called him, but there was no answer.

I was so tired that I thought he might’ve gone out for a drink alone, which is unusual for him.

The next morning, my alarm goes off, and I wake up.

I went into the living room expecting to see Shuu for breakfast since he was supposed to be off until today, but I didn’t see him.

Apparently, he hasn’t come home since yesterday.

“Sigh!”

I can’t help but sigh.

Going out for drinks for the first time in a while and having a drink is completely normal.

But I have to go to work now; he should’ve been more considerate.

I quickly finish my breakfast of cereal while mentally complaining.

While getting ready for work, I sent Shuu a message that I'd be late again today, just in case.

Arriving at the office at the usual time, I’m greeted with a smile by a friendly junior employee.

“Good morning, Mari-san.”

Two years younger than me, he is a newcomer who just joined the company last year.

I’m in charge of his guidance and have been taking care of him since he joined the company.

He is a bit unreliable and reminds me of the old Shuu.

There is a secret between me and Makoto that I cannot tell anyone.

It is an affair.

He has been aggressively approaching me since he joined the company, saying it was love at first sight.

I told him I was married, and at first, I brushed it off lightly. But he never gave up and continued to pursue me passionately.

During a few drinks, I was captivated by his passionate eyes and ended up in bed with him.

Although I was under the influence of a🬀cohol, I deeply regretted it.

I apologized to Shuu many times in my mind that day.

I thought I had made up my mind that I would never do such a thing again and that it would never happen again.

But even though I rejected him, Makoto kept coming back to me.

Whenever he was rejected, I would see his eyes looking at me impatiently, and my resolve would be shaken.

I thought it would be the last time, but I was swept away again and again, and before I knew it, he was passionately whispering words of love and pleasure to me, and I felt a kind of love I had forgotten.

I found myself spending more time being held by him than by Shuu.

I even took advantage of Shuu’s business trip last week to spend an intense week with him.

I must’ve fallen completely in love with Makoto.

It was an intense and passionate love that I couldn’t have even when I was a student.

And it continues to this day.

As I had informed Shuu, I enjoyed my meeting with Makoto until late and then returned to the house where Shuu was supposed to be.

When I entered the room, it was the same as yesterday: dark inside, and Shuu had not come home today.

I feel something is wrong and try to send a message to Shuu, but the message I sent him in the morning has not been read.

I call him, but he doesn’t answer.

I’m worried that something has happened, but it is late at night and there is no place to look for him.

I was more tired than anything else, so I went to bed and slept that night.

I woke up in the morning.

My alarm hadn’t gone off yet.

I go out of the bedroom to see if Shuu has returned.

The room is still quiet, and I’m alone.

I checked my messaging app, but it hasn’t been read.

When I called again, I got a message saying “no signal….”

I turned on the morning news, worried that he might really be involved in an incident.

The news is just a flow of ordinary daily life, and there have been no reports of tragic incidents.

I sent another message [I am worried about you], got ready for work, and went to the office.

As usual, Makoto greets me in the morning.

I smiled in return.

But today, I was so anxious to see if Shuu had replied to my message that all I could think about was my phone.

After work, Makoto asked me out again, but I declined and hurried home.

But Shuu didn’t come home today either.

His parents had died, and his family home was no longer there, so there was no place for him to return to except here…

The next day, I called Shuu’s company.

Apparently, he had taken a week off, which I didn’t know about, and I had a strange suspicion.

I tried to contact some of his friends, but no one knew anything about it.

I was worried. If I didn’t hear anything by tomorrow, I decided to file a missing person’s report.

The next day.

I received a sealed envelope.

A divorce papers,

and a farewell letter from Shuu.

I didn’t understand what it meant.

Why would Shuu leave me?

I had no idea.

——I was so stupid that I can’t even think that it’s my fault.