Chapter Seven

The rest of the day seemed to drag on. All I could think about was getting home to Usagi-san. Work was busy, but it was taking so long for each hour to pass just because I kept thinking about it. I knew he'd fully accept my apology and then embrace me. The fight would quickly be forgotten and we'd move on.

I knew I shouldn't have reacted the way I did earlier that morning. I should have apologized for what happened the night before and asked what our plans were for Christmas. I should have taken his feelings into consideration more since he is my lover.

When it was time for my 15 minute break, I ran to the bathroom that hardly gets used for some privacy. Everything was eating me up inside so badly that I just couldn't wait until I got home. I had to call Usagi-san and talk to him immediately. I could apologize to him in person at home as well, but I needed to say something to him right away.

Unfortunately, the phone rang several times before going to his voicemail

It was odd… He always answered my phone calls, even if he was busy working on a novel or an article. The only time he didn't answer was if he was in a meeting. I was fairly positive that he wasn't supposed to have any tonight. Then again, he did have emergency meetings from time to time, and Aikawa-san or Isaka-san would just haul him off somehow (after a lot of bribing and coaxing).

Except, he had just went to an emergency meeting yesterday… and then that sparked a fight between us.

The phone dinged, letting me know I could start recording a message. I paused, unsure of what to even say. I didn't want to apologize in a recording, nor had I ever even left him a message before.

"Um, h-hey, Usagi-san," I started. "It's me – Misaki. I, uh, just wanted to talk to you about something. I didn't want to wait until tonight, so I just thought I'd call and tell you. But… I guess you're not available right now. Um, I'll just talk to you when I get home then. Sorry to bother you."

It took me a moment to hang up the phone. I kept hoping that he would suddenly pick up and start talking to me, even though I knew that wasn't possible on a cell phone. Maybe he was just in the bathroom and would call me back in a few minutes.

I finally hung up and just waited for him to call me back, watching the clock on my phone tick away. Before I knew it, my entire break was nearly over and he hadn't called back. Not going back to work was not an option, so I had to leave the bathroom and go back to the department where my immediate supervisor was.

As I ran around the building doing random errands, I kept waiting to feel my phone vibrate with him calling or texting me, but all was silent. It didn't make me mad that he was ignoring me. Rather, it made me depressed and worried.

Maybe he was mad at me for the things I did and didn't want to talk to me. After all, he did try so hard to work things out and apologize to me this morning, but I completely shut him down. Of course he'd be angry with me after that!

Maybe… he didn't even want to see me either. I kept thinking that he might completely ignore me once I got home as well. He might not even want to talk about what happened. Maybe he wanted to give me a little taste of my own medicine.

Or… maybe he wanted to end it all between us now.

The thought alone made my heart race and I scrambled to work even faster. The sooner I got done with all the tasks they wanted me to do, the sooner I could go home and work things out with Usagi-san.

As I was running to drop off some supplies to another editorial department, Aikawa-san got off the elevator. She was frowning, which was quite different from how happy she had been lately. For the past month she had seemed over the moon every time I had seen her, most likely due to Usagi-san finally working like he should be and not giving her or the company any trouble. I stopped and bowed at her, trying to be careful of the box I was carrying.

"Good evening, Aikawa-san," I greeted. "You're working kind of late tonight."

She smiled lightly at me. "Ah, good evening, Misaki-kun! I had a late meeting with another author I manage. Speaking of authors, it's a good thing I ran into you. Have you heard from Usami-sensei lately?"

"Uh, I saw him this morning at breakfast."

"Hmph, that figures. I've been trying to get a hold of him for a couple of hours now, but it's no use. He won't answer my phone calls or texts."

My heart sped up, making my chest tighten. So he wasn't answering Aikawa-san's phone calls either. It started to make me worry, wondering if he was passed out cold near his computer or something. Now I really had to hurry home!

"It's not even like I'm going to scold him or anything!" Aikawa-san continued. "I just wanted to confirm a meeting at 9 in the morning. Sheesh, I have not missed this behavior from him at all! Why did he have to go back to doing these kinds of things? I thought maybe he would have changed for good, but –"

I tuned out her rambling, too focused on worrying about Usagi-san to really care about what she was saying. Normally, I wouldn't even think twice about him ignoring her since he had a tendency to do so (as well as ignore the director and many others that he just didn't want to deal with). But he had been doing so well with everything lately! He had no reason to ignore her or Isaka-san or anyone else in the company since he was getting all of his work done on time.

What made all of it even worse was the fact that he was ignoring me too. It was really starting to hit me that he might not be mad at me, but that he might be collapsed somewhere instead.

"Um, I should be about done here for the night," I told the editor, trying to keep my voice steady so she couldn't tell that I was worried. "I'll go home quickly and tell him to get his butt in gear for you!"

I didn't tell her about how he was ignoring me as well, even though he had never done so before. No way in hell was I going to tell her my theory about him being passed out either. She'd have the cops kicking down his door in a second. If he wasn't out cold, that'd only make him even more pissed off at me.

Aikawa-san's face lit up. "Oh, thank you, Misaki-kun! I knew I could count on you!"

"No problem!" I said with a fake smile. "I'm sorry he's ignoring you again. He was doing so well with his work too. I'm not sure what's going on in his head."

She shrugged. "He was bound to go back to his old ways at some point. It was nice while it lasted though. But seriously, thank you so much! I didn't want to go barging in there tonight. Just make sure he at least answers my texts."

"Sure."

We separated and I sped into overdrive. I needed to get home, fast. Usagi-san needed me. I needed to save him. Get him some water, maybe a bite to eat, and get him into bed. Then when he wakes up and is well-rested, I'll tell him how sorry I was about everything.

Although… it was a bit strange.

He hadn't overworked himself to the point of collapsing in a long time now. He had been doing so well with his work and sleep schedule. Maybe it wasn't that he had passed out from overexertion.

I was beginning to wonder if maybe he had caught a sickness and collapsed from that. A fever, perhaps? If so, he'd definitely need some soup, ice packs, and lots of water! I'd have to live by his bedside for a while, taking care of him. I'm sure that pervert will quite enjoy that.

Honestly, I wouldn't mind taking care of him like that if he was that sick and really needed me.

As long as he doesn't turn it into some gross boys' love novel.

Even though there was still 40 minutes until the end of my shift, I got all of my tasks done and they let me leave early. Normally I would have had to wait half an hour for a train, but the schedule was running behind. A train was just about to leave when I arrived at the station, so I quickly got on that one. Somehow I was very lucky and I ended up back home more than an hour earlier than I should have been.

All the way home I kept getting more and more anxious as I worried about Usagi-san. My stomach was churning and I was just hoping I wouldn't puke on the train in front of people. I couldn't stop bouncing my legs up and down because I felt so restless.

I could only hope that he wasn't so sick or worn out that he needed to be rushed to the hospital.

By the time I made it up to the penthouse, I was completely out of breath from running there from the station. My heart was pounding so hard that I could feel it pulsing in my head. I rushed inside and was greeted by complete darkness.

"Usagi-san!" I called out. "Are you down here?"

I didn't care that I was screaming. Since it was a little late, he could have already been asleep. If so, then I'd deal with the consequences later. I just needed to know if he was okay first.

When I didn't hear an answer, I quickly made my way upstairs and barged into his office first. Again, I was met with nothing but darkness and silence. A weird sense of déjà vu took over. This had just happened yesterday when Todo came over. Something told me he wasn't going to be in the bedroom either, just like last time.

Sure enough, there was no sign of him when I looked in the bedroom. I didn't check any other rooms this time. He wasn't home. Again, he had left me alone when he said he'd be home.

"Shitty Usagi!" I yelled in frustration.

All my worries about something serious being wrong had vanished. Relief didn't come, but I got angry again instead. I was so furious that I didn't even want to see him again. Not for a very long time.

How could he do this to me again?!

That asshole was the one who wanted to talk when I came home from work and he wasn't even here! It was just as bad as the day before when he promised to be home to meet Todo. Why was he making promises and then not keeping them all of the sudden?

He even ignored my phone call hours before! If he didn't want to talk to me, then why the hell was he making such a big deal out of it this morning? Even if he had just missed the call because he had been in the bathroom or something, why didn't he send me a text or something later?

Nothing was making any sense!

All the secrets, the lies, broken promises, miscommunications, the fights…

It was all messing with my head.

My blood was boiling as I heated up the leftovers in the fridge. Since stupid Usagi didn't eat them today, then I was going to! I deserved it after all the shit he'd put me through lately.

As I sat alone at the table to eat, I kept thinking about how mean this man I considered to be my lover had been to me recently. To think I even considered apologizing to him! No way in hell was I going to now!

Rather than do the dishes like I said I would, I just added my dirty dishes to the pile in the sink and left them all there. I didn't want to do anything for that man anymore. He could figure out how to cook and clean for himself again.

I sat on the couch, seething mad, just thinking about what I was going to say to him when he got home. It would take hours to list off all the things that pissed me off and explain exactly why. Not that he would listen anyway, since all he cared about was himself.

No. The best thing to do was ignore him some more. Let him think I was done with him completely and watch him squirm. Wait for him to get so desperate that he got down on his hands and knees and begged for forgiveness with tears in his eyes. And maybe I wouldn't even forgive him.

Cause, dammit, I didn't deserve all this shit!

After a while, the door finally opened. Rather than just sit there and give him the cold shoulder like I had planned, I stupidly jumped up. Before I could stop myself, I was rushing over to the door, ready to yell and scream. Hell, I was even ready to punch him if he pissed off some more.

"Usagi-san, you bastard! What the hell –"

I stopped dead when I realized that it was Aikawa-san standing in the doorway and not Usagi-san. Her hair was frazzled, eyes wide and glistening with tears. Her makeup was streaked all down her face, as if she had been crying a lot. She was heaving slightly and was out of breath.

My heart sank deep into my stomach, making it churn once again.

"A-Aikawa-san?" I choked out.

"Misaki-kun." Her voice sounded frail. "You need to come with me now."

"What's going on?"

She didn't speak for what seemed like hours. Just stood there staring at me.

"Sensei is in the hospital. There's been an accident."

A/N: Cliché? Probably.

Do I give a shit? Nope.