Three days had passed.
Three days of silence.
Ayaka frowned as she stared at her phone, scrolling through their last conversation, rereading every word, every punctuation, searching for something—anything—that might explain why Akihiko hadn't contacted her.
"This is unusual…"
Even when he was busy, even when he was annoyed, Akihiko never ignored her for this long.
She bit her lip, tapping her fingers anxiously against the edge of her phone. Should she message him first? Would that be too pushy? Too desperate?
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sudden ringing of her phone.
Heart leaping, she grabbed it immediately, eyes flashing with hope—
Only to feel it crashed into disappointment when she saw the caller ID.
"Mr. Takahashi."
Her Editor-in-Chief.
She sighed but answered anyway. "Mr. Takahashi?"
"Ms. Yamamoto!!" Daiki's voice boomed through the speaker, overflowing with excitement.
"Congratulations! Your book is officially being published tomorrow! I knew you could do it—this is going to be a bestseller for sure!"
Ayaka forced a small smile. "Thank you, Mr. Takahashi."
Normally, she would have been thrilled, maybe even jumped in excitement.
But now, the news felt… muted. Like background noise in a world that was suddenly too quiet.
Daiki rambled on, but Ayaka barely registered his words.
Her thoughts were elsewhere, stuck on a certain silver-haired man with blue mesmerizing eyes who was nowhere to be found.
Finally, after what felt like forever, the call ended.
Ayaka let out a shaky breath.
Her fingers instinctively brushed against the delicate chain of the necklace resting against her collarbone—the one Akihiko had given her.
"Should I text him first…?"
The thought made her hesitate. But after a deep breath, she gathered her courage and typed out a message.
"The book is going to be published. Don't be late picking me up today."
Simple. Casual. Just enough to nudge him.
She pressed send.
Nothing.
The message didn't go through.
Ayaka frowned. "Huh?"
She pressed it again. And again. The screen continued flashing the same message.
"Failed to send."
A strange unease crept up her spine.
"Maybe his phone is turned off…" she murmured, but the excuse sounded weak even to herself.
Akihiko never turned off his phone. Even when he wanted to be alone, it would at least ring.
Her grip tightened around the device as a lump formed in her throat.
Something was wrong.
------
7:00 PM.
Ayaka managed to prepare herself as she thought Akihiko would arrive any minute. She decided to look at her phone to check whether he left a message or called.
Still no response.
Ayaka sat on her couch, staring at the clock, her fingers clenched around her phone.
She had called. Messaged. Waited.
Nothing.
Her stomach churned. Akihiko was the kind of person who would brush off calls, ignore unnecessary texts—but outright disappearing?
That wasn't him.
"Where are you…?"
Panic gnawed at her insides. Her chest felt tight, and her breath came out uneven. 'Think, Ayaka. Think.'
Then, a thought struck her.
Kei.
He would know.
Without hesitation, she dialed his number.
It rang twice before he answered. "Hello?"
"Kei!" Ayaka nearly yelled. "Did Akihiko go to work today? What about the last few days?"
Silence.
Then Kei spoke, his voice laced with concern.
"I was about to call because I was going to ask you the same thing."
Her heart nearly stopped.
"What?"
Kei exhaled sharply. "Ayaka… Akihiko submitted his resignation letter directly to the hospital director. Since he went there, I had no choice to sign the letter for approval too."
She felt the blood drain from her face.
"W-what?"
"It happened three days ago. Dr. Sato said there was an emergency, something urgent, and he had no choice but to approve it. But I haven't seen him since."
Kei's voice darkened. "My messages won't go through so I tried calling him. So did Dr. Hasegawa but we got nothing."
Ayaka's breath hitched.
This wasn't real. It couldn't be real.
She gripped the necklace around her neck, her fingers trembling. "I—I can't reach him either…"
Her heart pounded, a chaotic rhythm in her chest.
This wasn't just strange.
This was terrifying.
"I'm going to check his apartment." she blurted, already moving.
"Ayaka, wait—"
But she had already hung up.
Ayaka went next door.
Her mind raced as fast as her feet, her pulse hammering against her ribs.
"Akihiko resigned? He didn't tell anyone? He didn't tell ME?"
Something was very, very wrong.
She reached his door and rang the doorbell.
No answer.
She rang again.
Still nothing.
A cold wave of dread crashed over her.
"Akihiko!" she called out, banging on the door with her fists.
Silence.
The apartment remained eerily still, like a hollow, abandoned shell.
A sharp pang twisted in her chest.
"No… No, no, no." She shook her head, refusing to accept this. "You're in there, right? Open the door now please!"
Nothing.
Ayaka's breathing turned erratic. Her vision blurred, and she didn't know if it was from frustration or the tears threatening to spill over.
"He was here. He had to be. We just promised to meet..."
Fingers trembling, she pressed her forehead against the cool wooden surface, trying to steady herself.
"I'm not leaving until you open this door!" she whispered, voice breaking.
Still, nothing.
Her knees gave out, and she sank to the floor, hugging herself as she sat against the door.
"This isn't funny anymore." she choked out, her fingers curling against the fabric of her shirt. "This isn't a good joke, Akihiko…"
Her words dissolved into the empty hallway.
And for the first time in a long time, she felt small.
Alone.
Abandoned.
Her mind screamed for answers.
'Where are you?'
But the only response was the hollow silence of the apartment that no longer felt like home.
------
The fifth day dawned with a cruel, indifferent sky—gray clouds stretching endlessly over the city, mirroring the hollow emptiness in Ayaka's chest.
She hadn't left Akihiko's doorstep, not once. Not even when Kei had tried to reason with her.
Not even when Kai had called, his voice was heavy with concern.
Kazumi stopped by yesterday but Ayaka was in a messy state. The more he tried to convince her the more she became disruptive.
Her world had shrunk to this one space, this cold hallway where she sat curled against his door, waiting. Hoping.
Hope was beginning to slip through her fingers like sand. She felt so frustrated and defeat.
She wanted to move and look for him but her body felt walt it was glued to Akihiko's doorstep.
Her phone buzzed somewhere beside her, but she didn't bother looking. It wasn't him. It never was.
She wasn't sure how much time had passed when familiar voices echoed through the hallway.
"AYAKA!"
"AYAKA!"
The sound barely registered. It was distant, muffled—as though she were underwater.
Footsteps approached, hurried and urgent, then stopped in front of her.
A pair of hands grasped her shoulders, shaking her lightly.
"Ayaka! Look at me!"
Slowly, she blinked, her swollen, tear-streaked eyes lifting to meet Yuki's face—worried, exasperated, and unmistakably on the verge of tears herself.
"We've been tryint to call you for days! Kazumi said you won't even move!" Keiko knelt beside them, brows furrowed in a deep frown.
"What is wrong with you?! What are you trying to do?!" Her voice was sharp, but beneath it was something fragile, something afraid.
Ayaka opened her mouth, but no words came.
What could she say? That she was waiting? That she couldn't move? That she was terrified of what it meant if she gave up and walked away?
Instead, a broken whisper slipped past her lips.
"He left."
Yuki's grip tightened on her shoulders. "We know. Your brother told us everything. But Ayaka, you can't just sit here like this!"
Keiko huffed, running a hand through her hair in frustration. "Do you even realize what you look like right now? Your eyes are red as hell, your face is pale, and I don't even want to think about the fact that you haven't eaten properly in days!"
Ayaka flinched at their words, but the numbness was too strong to let them sink in fully.
"He's going to come back..." she murmured, her voice barely above a breath. "I know he will."
Yuki's expression crumpled, tears pooling in her eyes. "And what if he doesn't? Are you planning to stay on his doorstep forever?" she whispered.
Silence.
Something inside Ayaka cracked.
She squeezed her eyes shut, fresh tears spilling down her cheeks as her fingers clutched at the fabric of her shirt over her heart. It hurt. It hurts so much.
Keiko sighed, softer this time, before reaching out and wrapping her arms around Ayaka. "You're not alone, idiot." she muttered. "Stop acting like you are."
Yuki joined the embrace, her own shoulders trembling. "We're here. We'll always be here, okay?"
Ayaka clenched her fists, her body wracked with silent sobs as she let herself lean into them.
But even as warmth surrounded her, even as familiar voices tried to pull her back—her heart remained behind that locked door.