📖₊✧ 🖋

THOUGH IT WAS NOT ideal, suzuki unfortunately had to stay overtime in order to grade her students' assignments.

suzuki was so caught up on trying to get to know her students and helping them after school that she had forgotten to give herself some time to actually grade their workbooks.

'looks like quite a few students scored a 100. they deserve a gold star', the mathematics teacher smiled to herself, placing a sticker on the workbooks of those who did well.

"oh hey, suzuki-san! still hard at work, huh?"

suzuki's head snapped upwards, as she was greeted by the dark-haired biology instructor, who was casually leaning against the side of her little cubicle.

     "oh hello, getō-san. and yes, unfortunately i had forgotten to grade some assignments, so i'm just catching up on some work right now. are you clocking out now?"

     "yeah, some of our coworkers and i are actually going out for some drinks right now and i was just wondering if you wanted to come, but since you're kind of busy, maybe next time?"

     "oh i'd be honored. thank you for the invitation, getō-san", suzuki smiled, "you should get going then. i wouldn't want to keep your friends waiting".

     nodding, getō just waved goodbye as suzuki was the only one left at the teacher's room.

     sighing, the woman decided to continue grading, taking off her heels and rolling her ankles clockwise in order to relieve some of the pain of wearing heels the whole day.

and once 8:32 pm had hit, the mathematics teacher had finally finished with all the assignments, placing them into a folder to ensure their safety.

     standing up to stretch, suzuki softly yawned before turning off her desk light and making sure to lock the teacher's room before leaving.

     whilst strolling through the halls that were dimly lit by the moonlight through the windows, suzuki checked her phone for any new messages or emails.

     "still at school? heard from suguru you're working overtime tonight", gojō had texted.

     quickly replying, suzuki had alerted the white-haired male that she had just finished and was about to head home.

     though just as she was about to put her phone into her pocket, a ding went off.

     "need a ride?", gojō offered.

"it's okay. i wouldn't want to inconvenience you", suzuki replied.

"too late".

confused, suzuki flinched upon a car's headlights flashing her way. squinting her eyes, the woman cautiously trudged towards the black sports car, where gojō was excitedly waving his arm up at her.

"gojō-san! h-how'd you get here so quickly?! i thought you were out drinking with getō-san and them??"

"ah, i might've ran a few red lights. no biggie", the white-haired math teacher joked.

"anyways, don't hesitate and get in. i promise i didn't drink", the male urged, unlocking his doors.

"thank you, but you really didn't have to", suzuki mumbled, taking a seat inside gojō's seemingly new car, as she was stopped before she could buckle her seatbelt.

"of course i do", gojō whispered, leaning closer to suzuki as his hand crossed over her body to carefully lock the seatbelt in.

     suzuki was glad it was dark outside. she was glad gojō couldn't see the tips of her ears burning and the way her heart had skipped a beat.

     "i wouldn't be a gentleman if i had let a pretty woman endanger herself by taking the bus home alone", gojō grinned, as he handed suzuki his phone to input her address.

     "oh, so you give pretty women rides home all the time, huh?", suzuki meekly teased, handing gojō's phone back.

     "no, just you", gojō retorted, to which suzuki gave gojō a questioning look, not sure whether he was believable or not.

     'there's no way he doesn't drive other girls. with his looks, gojō-san must be popular'.

     though as soon as gojō started driving, suzuki's thoughts seemed to disperse into the night with her gaze following the moon.

     upon arriving outside the gate to her apartment complex, she was about to tell gojō the code before he had pressed a controller attached to his sun visor, unlocking it.

"how did you—"

"funnily enough, i live in this apartment complex too", gojō lightly chuckled, driving in and stopping right in front of the woman's living quarters.

"this is close enough. thank you so much for driving, gojō-san", suzuki smiled.

"no worries! i hope you don't think i'm joking, but this building is also where i live..."

suzuki looked for any traces of lying on the male's face, only to find a slight tinge of astonishment.

"really...?", the woman rhetorically questioned.

"yeah...let me just park my car in the garage first and show you", gojō stated.

as the two got out of his sports car, they hesitantly walked up the same flight of stairs and stopped at the same floor.

"you live in 301?", gojō asked.

nodding, suzuki took out her keys to unlock the door.

"you live in 302?"

nodding, gojō took out his keys and unlocked his door.

the two just stared at each other before bursting out into laughter, not realizing that the two of them were actually neighbors.

"what are the odds, seriously!"

"say, then how come i never see you in the mornings??", asked the white-haired math teacher.

"oh, it's probably because i wake up at 6:00 am to take the bus", suzuki softly laughed, "i rarely use my car to save on gas".

"i see..."

"well, it's nice to know that we're so close to each other! maybe we can go to work together some time...", the ebony-haired woman suggested.

"yeah, maybe", gojō smiled.

"well then...thanks again and i guess...goodnight?"

"indeed. goodnight, suzuki-san".

📖₊✧ 🖋