Between Their Platonic Relationship

CHAPTER 2:The Mourning Rain

Yuu’s silence pierced her heart like a dagger, twisting with every passing second until it shattered into countless fragments. Tears welled in Saki’s eyes, blurring her vision as they threatened to spill over. Her legs felt weak, as though the strength was draining from her body, and she struggled to remain standing. She bit her lip, trying in vain to stop the sob that rose in her throat.

"Please… say something…" she begged, her voice trembling. "I-I'm here… waiting for you. Tell me you're coming. You're on your way, right?"

The words came out in broken gasps, her throat tight with despair. The silence on the other end was unbearable, broken only by the sound of Yuu’s deep sigh.

Memories flooded her mind, unbidden and cruel. She recalled her friend Ayaka’s hesitant words:

“Hey, Saki… have you and your boyfriend broken up?”

“No, why would we?” she had replied, brushing off the odd question.

“It’s just… I saw Yuu at a café with another woman. They seemed close.”

“Oh, that must be his trainee,” she’d said dismissively. “A new hire at his company. He’s probably mentoring her.”

But Ayaka’s face had remained doubtful. “She seemed very comfortable with him,” she’d murmured.

Saki had smiled then, trying to reassure her friend—and herself. “Yuu’s just kind like that. Everyone feels at ease around him.”

“Too kind,” Ayaka had muttered, her voice tinged with doubt.

At the time, Saki had waved it all away, chalking it up to Ayaka’s overprotectiveness. But now, those words clawed at her mind, refusing to be ignored.

A faint, unfamiliar voice crackled through the line, pulling her back to the present.

“Yuu, is there—?” a woman’s voice asked before hesitating. She seemed to realize Saki was on the call. “Oh… sorry,” the woman said softly, her tone awkward and apologetic.

The world tilted around Saki as her breath caught. Her chest tightened with unbearable pain, and her pulse raced wildly. Panic surged through her as she fought to steady herself, but her heart betrayed her, pounding faster and faster.

“Yuu… who is that?” she whispered, her voice barely audible, trembling with dread.

“I’m sorry… Saki,” Yuu replied, his voice low and heavy with guilt.

Those words hit her like a blow, their weight crushing the air from her lungs.

“What are you saying? Everything’s fine… isn’t it?” she said desperately, her voice cracking as she clung to the hope that she was misunderstanding him. “The train’s gone, but it’s okay—we can get another ticket when you get here.”

But Yuu’s next words shattered the fragile thread she was holding onto.

“Let’s end this, Saki. Let’s break up.”

Time seemed to stop. The sounds of the surrounding station faded, replaced by a deafening silence in her mind. She stared blankly ahead, trying to process the words she never thought she’d hear.

“What… what are you saying?” she stammered, her voice breaking. “This isn’t funny, Yuu. If this is a joke, it’s really not—”

“It’s not a joke, Saki,” Yuu interrupted gently but firmly. “We need to break up.”

Her heart shattered all over again, the pieces crumbling into dust. She fought to make sense of it, grasping at anything that could explain this nightmare.

“Was that… was that a woman’s voice I heard just now?” she asked, her voice trembling with anguish.

Yuu’s pause was deafening. Then, with a tone of resignation, he replied, “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to hurt you. But… I can’t let her go. This is my fault. I’ve been selfish.”

The phone slipped from her fingers, clattering to the ground as her body refused to move. Her chest felt like it would burst, yet no tears came. She stood frozen, numb, unable to comprehend the betrayal.

Images of their happiest moments together flashed through her mind—his laughter, his promises, the dreams they had built together. The vision of their future as husband and wife, raising a family and growing old side by side, dissolved into ashes before her eyes.

She wanted to scream, to cry, but the weight of her heartbreak left her paralyzed. All that remained were the jagged remnants of a love that once made her whole, now reduced to a pile of broken dreams.

In an instant, the boundless joy that had once filled Saki dissolved into a sea of profound distress. Her mind refused to accept the reality unfolding before her.

"This must be a nightmare," she told herself desperately, gripping at the fragile hope that she might wake up and find it wasn’t real. But no matter how many times she blinked or pinched herself, the ache in her chest only deepened.

The world around her blurred into a haze of movement and noise. The station bustled with life—announcements echoed overhead, footsteps tapped against the tiled floor, and voices murmured in the background—but none of them reached her. She moved aimlessly with the crowd, her legs carrying her forward without direction or purpose.

Rain began to fall, light at first, then heavier, but she didn’t notice. Her clothes clung to her skin, drenched from the downpour, yet the chill barely registered. Her thoughts were a chaotic storm, replaying Yuu’s words in a relentless loop. She clutched her chest, trying to steady the unbearable ache that threatened to consume her, but it was futile. Each step she took felt heavier, as though the weight of her broken heart was pulling her into the ground.

Now, it all began to unravel in Saki’s mind—the sudden cancelations of their carefully planned dates, the long gaps before his lukewarm replies, and the countless times he asked her to wait for his calls, only to never follow through. All those excuses, all those moments of distance, were nothing more than fabricated reasons to spend time with someone else.

The pieces started falling into place, cutting deep into her heart. Days before their planned vacation, Yuu had grown so distant. His enthusiasm, once vibrant and infectious, had faded into a dull, forced smile whenever they met. She remembered their last meeting vividly—at a quiet café, where they were supposed to finalize the details of their trip.

Saki had been excited, her mind buzzing with ideas for their itinerary, but Yuu sat across from her like a shadow of himself. His attention kept drifting to his phone, his eyes scanning the screen every few moments as though waiting for something—or someone—far more important.

“Just plan things out however you like. I’ll go along with whatever,” he had said dismissively, barely lifting his gaze from his phone.

Saki’s chest tightened at his detached tone, but she mustered a smile, masking her unease with genuine concern. “Your new client must be keeping you really busy these days,” she offered, searching his face for some semblance of the man she once knew.

Startled, he blinked, fumbling for a response. “Ah, yes,” he stammered. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” she replied softly, her voice steady despite the lump forming in her throat. “Work is work.”

But deep down, something inside her cracked.

Now, as she stood drenched in the rain, her thoughts spiraled uncontrollably. When had it all started? When had he begun slipping away from her, piece by piece, leaving behind only a hollow shell of their love? She clutched her chest as though trying to hold herself together, but the weight of his betrayal pressed down on her, suffocating.

Her heart throbbed with a pain so profound it felt like it might tear her apart. The memories they shared, the laughter, the dreams they had built together—all of it felt tainted now, twisted into cruel reminders of what she had lost. She was too broken to cry, too shattered to even scream.

Instead, she stood there, letting the rain wash over her like a cold, unrelenting truth, soaking her to the bone. Each drop felt heavier than the last as if the sky itself was mourning with her.