Seven: Late night dinner

A week passed by, and that karaoke night was probably the only time I’ve ever gone out ever since classes began. I rolled around in my bed, hoping that someone would invite me again. Probably, they didn’t want to hang out with me anymore because my singing sucked.

Just my luck, my phone popped a notification and I saw that Fujimoto messaged me.

I hurriedly sat up and leaned against the wall to check what it was.

[Fujimoto (to the group chat): i can bring the plant materials]

I tossed my phone to the side and slumped back into the covers. It was just him volunteering which materials to bring for tomorrow’s experiment. Even though I told them I’m fine with bringing everything, they had to insist on splitting the work. It’s not that I would’ve minded, however, at least I could be a little bit more useful to them.

“Teruhiko! I’m home.” I overheard my mom’s voice coming from downstairs. I snatched my phone that was laying on the pillow, sprang out of the bed, then dashed my way to the living room.

“You’re home early,” I said, confused why she was already back at 11:00 PM. My mom worked as a nurse in the local hospital and her shift was mostly graveyard, running from 6:00 PM to 4:00 AM.

I followed my mom into the kitchen as she placed a few grocery bags on the counter. “Yes, Minami covered the rest of my shift for today. My knees were hurting so badly that I couldn’t stand properly, so our supervisor advised me to leave early and get it checked first.”

I looked at her from head to toe and wondered for how long has my mom been in pain without telling me. Instinctively, I approached her and opened the groceries, helping her sort out the food.

“Sit down, will you? I’m barely home to do housework anymore. Just go over there while I cook something.” Mom whacked my hands and ordered me to wait by the living room.

“Fine,” I mumbled. I hopped on the couch and turned the TV on, scrolling through the different late-night shows that were showing.

Eventually getting bored, I took out my phone and played a random idle game that I downloaded the other night. As I finished my daily quests, I went online on social media instead, hopping from one platform to another.

As I kept looking at my friend’s posts, I noticed that Rin posted a picture from yesterday. It was him taking a selfie with Takahashi who was holding a coffee frappe, I believe.

I felt my stomach churning a little bit. I didn’t mind the two of them hanging out, but a part of me felt like I was outcasted by my very own best friend.

Instead of being happy for him, negative emotions sparked inside of me. How pathetic.

“Hey, do you know where your dad keeps the rectangular frying pan?” Mom asked from the kitchen. I let out a big sigh and mentally slapped myself in the face.

No, Teruhiko, you’re being a bad friend.

I got up from the sofa and told Mom that all of the pans are in the bottom cabinet near the sink as I headed back to the kitchen.

In the end, despite how she told me she didn’t want me to help, I finished cooking the omelet rice halfway through since her knees were starting to hurt again.

“Here,” I said as I placed the food on the table and handed over a spoon to her. My mom and I both ate our late dinner and spent the rest of the hour talking about random things, which was mostly me updating on my current school life.

“Oh yeah, how’s Rin? Is he doing well?” Mom asked. I simply gave her the most general answers and tried to dodge the question. I didn’t want to get reminded of the photo I saw earlier.

“Mmm, I see.” Mom nodded and took another bite of the rice. “Any girlfriend yet?”

My eyes opened wide and I was unable to continue chewing my food. I looked at her and saw that she looked both serious and smug at the same time, making me wonder whether she would be happy if I got one or not.

“No, Mom. Nobody likes me like that.” I said and got up to fetch some cold water from the fridge.

“Oho, you say that now Teruhiko. But liking people is normal, you know? How about a crush then, anybody new this year?” Mom added, interrogating me through and through.

For some reason, Takahashi’s face was the first thing that popped into my head.

Perhaps it’s because she was the last girl I even had a decent conversation with. Any time I would talk to someone at school, it was mostly either them asking for help on homework or a question that they didn’t get during class.

“I can feel the pause. I think there is.” Mom smirked, teasing me. I returned to the table and poured a glass of drink for her and me.

I sighed and shrugged at her. “There’s nobody. If there was, I would tell you anyway.”

“Mmm, you better… I don’t exactly wish for a repeat of Akemi’s behavior from last year.” Mom said sternly, her voice growing cold at the mention of Akemi’s name.

I nodded and continued eating my meal in silence. I can understand her point though, but it wasn’t like Akemi did anything severely bad to me. Sure, what she did was wrong, and even at times right now, I would wonder to myself if she had a point all along.

But with all these supportive people in my life, Mom, Dad, and even Rin, I can’t help but not sulk anymore. It’s as if what she did before was simply a thing of the past that can easily be forgotten.

Just like how I easily have forgotten her.

I wouldn’t lie, though. I do miss the happy times I’ve been through with Akemi. It wasn’t all bad after all. But these days, more and more of the negative moments are surfacing and less of the good ones are disappearing.

It can’t be helped when I’ve got so many healthy distractions to even bother giving more than a minute to think about her.

However, in the end, I am still greedy and can get greedy at times. Despite my loving parents and good friends surrounding me, I daydream about what it is like to have a girlfriend ultimately. Everything that I know of when it comes to a relationship is merely something I’ve learned in movies and books. None of which I have ever experienced in real life.

Then again, nobody looks at me in that way, so, what use would it be to think of something that isn’t going to happen anytime soon?