Fateful Encounter? I hope not.

This story may or may not be a story from the last days of my life.

I said that because as of tonight, I am officially an unemployed man, single, and in his mid-30s. To shorten it all, I am nothing but just a failure of a man. While my classmates back in college or even high school had the time of their lives as they enjoy it to a full extent, I am there in the corner of the room by myself. I locked my personal feelings and desires when I was supposed to be at the peak of my life in order to become successful. Look how it got me.

In life, there are two types of people: people who are streetwise, and then there are people who are book smart. I am the latter of the two.

[ring! ring!]

I looked over my phone as I got out of my former workplace and saw a familiar name on the screen.

"Hello," I answered the call.

"Hey Tobe, I just got a call from your workplace and heard that you just got fired. What did you do for them to fire you?" my mother asks.

"That's what I want to know myself" I reply to her inquiry.

At the end of the line, albeit faint, I can hear her sign of disappointment. Not only because I got fired but because I got fired from the only workplace I've been in for the past 10 years. Knowing how hard it is to get a proper job nowadays, it will be tougher for me to look for one when I got only one work experience. With the way how my firing was handled and given to me all of a sudden, my parents will have no choice but to take me into our family house. What could be more embarrassing than having your only child come back to the family house to live there since he cannot afford to pay any rent? That is pretty embarrassing if I'm being completely honest.

"So, do you want to come back home here in the province?" she asks me anyways.

Stubborn to the fact that I will be going back to live with my parents at my age, I replied:

"No, I'll be fine. I got a work in mind already and I got a recommendation letter from a colleague." I lie my way to the conversation.

"Well, if you say so. Just to let you know, keep yourself safe. And if things do not go the way you want them and you want to take a break from work, you can come back here anytime you like." she responds to my lie.

If I'm being frank, what she really was trying to say is  "Well, if you say so. You can handle things yourself anyway. Make sure you make it work this time around so you can make me and your dad not regret giving life on you in this world" if I will put it simply.

"Yeah, I will." I end the call.

As I was walking, the door to my apartment keeps getting closer and closer. Afraid to go anywhere near it, I walked around the streets of Shinjuku in circles. Normally, I would avoid going here at night as it is pretty infamous for a lot of petty things but at this point in life, I truly did not care at all.

The night is busy and I bumped into several drunk men who are drinking a bit too much than what their body can handle. Some of these drunk geezers even proceed to burn all of their savings by entering hostess bars or entering some infamous "massage parlour". As I expected, I bumped into a couple of the workers trying to get some commissions on the streets of Shinjuku at night.

"Hey there. you look like you need some 'accompany'. Would you like me to accompany you, if you get what I mean?" one girl who approached me said.

"Would you like to have a fun time with me, onii-san?" a more cheerful approach given to me by another girl.

"Hey onii-san, would you like an unforgettable night with this JK?" a girl in a high school uniform approached me.

"Hey you, you got some cash with you? You can have me if you have some." a cold invitation given to me by a tanned gyaru.

Every single one of them doing their job, trying to pull me in so they can get a huge amount of cash with them. That is indeed laughable that even they are worth something unlike me. Tired of hearing the same lines coming out of their mouths in that area, I decided to end it once and for all.

sighs

"Now that I'm here in the apartment complex, it's still bizarre to think this is how my life ends. All alone in the dark. I wish I could've gone in a much better situation, surrounded by people." I declare my worries before actually facing them.

Yes, I am pretty certain this is how it ends. I am confident that at this point, my story will finally reach its conclusion and everything will finally be okay.

Finally.

That is until I reached the front of my apartment where a girl was lying on the ground. She was blocking my doorway so I tried to see if she is fine. I poke her arms to see if she will respond. Nothing. Then, I remembered that the easiest way to know if the person is alive or not is by getting their pulse. I reached out for her wrist and as soon as my fingers reached her hands, I suddenly felt her warmth. Her pulse is normal and all so I decided that she is fine. 

I moved her out of the way so I can open my door but as soon as I decided to move, she grabbed my ankle, stopping me in my tracks.

"Who are you? What are you doing in my apartment?" she asks me with her eyes half open.

Is she drunk?

"I think I should be the one to ask you that, no?" I reply to her question simply ignoring it all together.

She slowly crawls her way up so she can stand by grabbing my pants. She moves very slowly as she is drunk. I decided to help her out or this will take a bit too long for me to handle. Once she was able to stand, that's when I was able to see her face clearly. Her eyes were dark brown having the resemblance of chocolate, and her rosy lips which are clearly topped with a lip gloss. Her cheeks are red from her being too drunk and to top it off, she wears eyeglasses which was hard to recognise at first as her black hair is a mess in the first place.

"Are you okay, miss?" I asked her.

"I am fi- blech" as she was planning to form her response to my question, she threw up on me.

Really?