After spending a whole week confined inside the Akashi mansion without stepping a foot outside- not even for college and my work- my brain finally snapped.
And escaping the Akashi mansion was not a easy task and going into the details now will be even more exhausting for me. The entire little adventure of mine tested my experience and knowledge about the household once again and in the end, I was successful. I finally escaped.

I contemplated on what Akashi would do once he finds out about my eloping which he probably did by now, and instead of being nervous, I grinned in contempt.

'Serves that controlling midget right...'

Good thing my phone was broken.

It felt strange to come to the Sherry's Café as a customer, not as a worker while I sat by the glass window and sipped on my mocha. There weren't much customers today in the café. Shu wasn't working now since his shift starts around two hours later, at 2 AM but I met the other workers at the café. I apologised to Mrs Nakamoto for my sudden absence and she just waved me off saying that it was okay since I never took a day off before. Tsunada said she wanted to catch up with me so here I was, sitting and sipping on my warm cup of coffee and waiting for her.

"Sorry for making you wait, Ena-chan." Tsunada came in front of me, wiping her hands off with a tissue paper and sat across me with a smile.

"How are you?" I asked smiling back.

"Well, I broke up with my boyfriend yesterday, broke my favorite glass this morning and lost my keys. Everything is hell so far." She answered with a scowl aa discarded the tissue paper on the nearest trash can.

I chuckled. "Well, I broke my phone too if it's any comfort to you. And the dumb guy probably doesn't know what he has lost." I smiled at her softly.

Instead of smiling back, she looked me directly in the eyes intensely, her expression unfathomable. "I know right."

I raised my brows.

Then she shook her head as if she snapped out of the trance. "Sorry. Just not in a good mood."

"Yea, I can see that."

She was silent.

"Do you want to talk about it, Tsunada?"

She shook her head.

"Okay, then." I sipped on my cup and looked outside. It wasn't my nature to pry into someone else's life when they clearly didn't want me to.

After a minute or two, Tsunada finally gathered herself and ordered herself a green tea.

"Enough about me." She smiled at me. "You said you had something you wanted to share, right?"

I looked at her face and contemplated on whether I should tell her about the threats and all. I still haven't told Shu, that was because I still haven't met him yet. Besides, I think I should let these people know since I work with them and I didn't want any danger come to them because of me. They could take precautions.

I let out a heavy sigh. "It's a long story."

Then I told her everything about all the incidents that happened with me in the last few days. The car accident, the chandelier and lastly the threatening text on my phone. I skipped out the parts with Akashi since that matter was too private and she wasn't that close to me.

Tsunada didn't ask a single question the entire time and listened to me intently, her eyes pinned on me.

"Have you informed the police yet?" She asked, a bit nervously.

"No." I shook my head. "That's too much of a hassle and Akashi said he could handle this with his own men."

"I see." She nodded and sipped on her drink absent-mindedly.

"Did I scare you too much, Tsunada?" Seeing her silence, I asked her worriedly. "It must be some stalker or something and it has nothing to do with you. I told you just in case, since you work alongside me. There's nothing for you to be scared about."

She smiled at me but eyes seemed a bit lost. "Don't worry, Ena-chan. I'm not scared."

I sighed in relief.

"Have you told Shu yet?" She asked.

I shook my head. "No but I will when I meet him later today."

"So, you're currently not living in your house but at Akashi's?"

"Yes."

She nodded and sipped on her green tea quietly.

"Are you scared, Ena-chan?" She stared at me.

I looked up her hearing her question then looked down at my half filled cup of coffee.

'Was I?'

This feeling of constantly watching my back unsettled me, made me nervous wherever I went but was I scared?

Yes. Yes, I was scared very much. I couldn't even keep my eyes shut for a whole minute let alone sleep peacefully at night. I would knock on Akashi's room every single night and he'd let me sleep in his bed without any question while he placed himself on the couch with a blanket. I felt guilty but my fear took over my entire being so, I didn't care whether he was comfortable on the couch or not.

I was too scared. I was scared to even admit my fear.

I didn't want to die. No one does.

"Yes, Tsunada." I said softly. "I'm scared." I circled my finger on the glass rim.

"Don't worry, Ena-chan." She smiled at me. "Everything will go back to how it was."

'Will it?'

I wanted to ask but said nothing. I just smiled wryly. 

There are many things we want to ask but never do in the end. It was the same with me too.

_

Tsunada suggested that we should have lunch together since it's been so long since we saw each other.
I had enough money with me to enjoy a decent lunch at a restaurant, thanks to Mrs Nakamoto's early pay. So I agreed.

We went to the place where we always used to go for occasional lunch. It was just one block away from Sherry's Café.

We ate and chatted for some time but even in those times, I couldn't calm down my paranoid mind for a second. I kept glancing around the place every once in a while but nothing seemed out of ordinary. Tsunada obviously noticed my paranoia but decided to ignore it, I think. Honestly, if I knew I was going to be like this in public, I wouldn't have left Akashi's place in the first place. I just felt so crammed with sitting inside the mansion all the time, I didn't think properly before escaping the place.

'Oh, he's going to be very pissed at me... oh, well...'

In the process of looking around myself for the hundredth time, I noticed a very familiar face two tables across us.

My breath instantly hitched, my eyes widened and my hand that was holding the chopsticks paused midair.

'Am I seeing it right?

What in the world is she doing here?

Here out of all the goddamn places in Japan?'

I felt nauseous suddenly. My head felt extremely light.

Tsunada sitting across me noticed my change in aura and stared at me with sudden concern. "What happened Ena-chan? You look pale suddenly."

Her voice sounded like it came from a faraway place and faded in the distance as soon as I heard her. As if shs didn't even exist.
I wanted to answer her. I really did. But no voice came out of my mouth as I stared at the woman who sat two tables away from us with another man in front of her.

She still hadn't noticed me.

Her face looked a little wrinkly but still the same. Aside from those subtle wrinkles, her physical appearance showed no signs of her age; if anything, her eyes seemed to be more glistening and skin more glowing than I last saw her. She was wearing a seemingly expensive dark green dress, her dark blue hair pulled into a low side bun. She ate gracefully and laughed with the man sitting in front of her happily.

'Why was she here?

Why are we here together in the first place?'

My head was spinning with all kinds of thoughts.

"Mother..." I muttered looking at her.

_

A/N: Another short chapter. But one with a cliffhanger *evil laugh*

Anyway, welcome Ena's lovely mother who sold her own daughter for 5000 yen lol.

Ok. Maybe it wasn't that funny.

And scratch 50, I might be ending this book around 45 chapters. It will get too lengthy if it hasn't already anyway.

I'm re watching Death Note and cried for the 1827289262th time. I might even write a fanfic about L to release my fangirl hormones.

Unedited.

Don't forget to vote if you liked this chapter.

||By my leave||