He was starting to become an addiction to her.
It started with only a playful, harmless smile. Comfortable silences, longing gazes.
He would flirt shamelessly, and she would buy another bottle of champagne. It was never meant to be anything serious, it was just business to him. To her. But on those nights when life feels suffocating and dangerously dark, Mayumi finds herself jumping into the nearest taxi that headed for Kabuki-cho. She finds it absurd that the pillows and expensive candles back in her room can’t provide her with any kind of warmth; and yet she so easily finds closure underneath the gleam of red lights and the stench of alcohol in the air. In a host club, of all places.
"How's my girl today?" He would ask, pouring her a glass of sake.
"I don't feel like living today," she would say. I don't feel like leaving today.
"Tonight will be my last night here," She would announce. "But you'll come back again tomorrow, won't you?" He would retort. You'll come see me again, won't you?
The nights grow into weeks. The weeks stretch into months; long, agonizing, unbearable months. Her trashy excuse of a husband was as good as gone. She doesn't care anymore.
"Sora," she whispered, after the third glass of champagne, "Sora, run away with me." She looked into his eyes-sad, yet gorgeous eyes-searching for an answer. She got it when he dropped his glass on the floor and took her hand.
There was a ringing in her ear, and her heart was beating so fast and so hard that it’s a miracle her legs haven’t collapsed yet. The hand within hers tightened its grip as they took a hard left and she almost slipped, but he pulled her forward and she followed, the shouting behind them slowly fading back into the hot summer night.
Between the vivid glow of neon lights,
between the winding alleyways of Kabuki-cho,
Of Tokyo love hotels and host clubs,
Mayumi smiles. She steals a look at Sora, at her Sora, and she laughs.
Tonight, they are free.
Edited by: Nurfadhlin Syamimi bt Fadzlan
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