His alarm woke him and while even immediately after waking up he couldn't remember the exact details of his dream he could feel that he had been dreaming about Ner and then felt ashamed for not being able to get over her despite having such a beautiful opportunity with Sarah. He felt like he was contradicting everything he had claimed to believe and purported to want. He could sense that he wanted to experience whatever drama she would provide even if it was horrible because he still felt tied to her as if she was a part of him and had to respect her opinion even if he felt it to be toxic and retarded. The shame washed over him and he thought of himself emotionally no more developed than a teenage girl, after all these years and experiences, in a certain way he was still clueless and helpless in regards to love, it still made no sense. He laid in bed and resolved to not go to work, calling in sick thinking it didn't matter to piss them off at this point regardless.

Around lunchtime he finally got up to shower, he had no real plans for the day but only showered to not bring any extra attention to himself when he went to buy alcohol, a foul smell emitting from his body would no doubt cause the cashier to remember him and while he didn't care about being perceived negatively or the cashiers opinion of him, he just didn't want any attention.

On the way to the store he realised that it was his birthday next week and didn't know how to feel about realising this a week in advance, usually he would only notice it approaching a day or two beforehand. As he was coming out of the shop he saw Sarah getting out of a mans car across the street, she was dressed scantily and gave the stranger a kiss, Ast couldn't tell but it looked like she had just sold her body and was now going in no direction in particular, completely engrossed in her phone.