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Agh... Of course.

In the back of your mind, you knew it was too good to be true. You sighed in disappointment while you eavesdropped the conversation between the random woman and Tooru, wanting to curse yourself at your fallen opportunity. Yet, your discovery of him being unavailable was at least expected. The woman shared your demise as her face was washed in regret.

Staggered by the answer, the girl looked even more dumbfounded but she challenged him politely.

"Oh, I see. Where is your ring?" She asked, seeing no wedding band on his left ring finger.

Her arrogance was getting the best of her, refusing to be rejected by him whether it is true that he is taken or not. Tooru was compelled, a bit taken back but he slipped his hand in his pocket to fish for an item. That item is a thick bulk ring mounted in silver flashing in front of her eyes - proof that he is in fact married.

"I would wear it but it gotten loose over the years. I was a bit chubbier before I had Tetsu but I've been too busy traveling abroad to get it resize," he quickly explained but something along those lines didn't make sense to you.

Replaying back to Tetsu's sad cry the other day, he said that his mom left him. Was it possible for Tooru to be married with the same woman he had Tetsu with until now? Then it struck you.

He was telling to her a lie.

Somehow, you were relieved but that doesn't change the idea that he could be dating someone.

"Right, I apologize," you can sense the embarrassment oozing out of her while she bid her farewell and bowed to make her leave before anybody else can hear their uncomfortable conversation.

After a few seconds, you sneakily peeked a glance at Tooru's face and his expression was undetectable. With his mocha eyes staring so solemnly at the ground, he then shifted in his seat and wiped a clean napkin against Tetsu's sticky lips. He cooed afterwards and cackled a laugh when he peered at his father's blank face. When he faced his son, a small smile uplifted - almost looking thankful.

A strange exchange of expression, you thought. Nonetheless, you attended back to your work and assisted Yamaguchi to restock desserts and help with a few customers. You didn't pay no mind to the two boys in the cafe for a minute but momentarily, you heard your name being called again.

"[Name]!" it was Tetsu's voice that is easily recognizable and clear to you now. It was like a song you'd never forget.

He had his small hand being clutched by Tooru's larger one, waving his other hand with his dinosaur figure in the air frantically.

"We're going to take off now," the older Oikawa added while holding up his iced peach tea in his other hand to throw a half peace sign at your way.

You collected yourself and waved back. "Thank you for stopping by! Come back again."

He nodded, trying to lead Tetsu out of the store who is too busy saying goodbye to you for the umpteenth time. Finally, he followed his dad's steps and left the cafe in despair. The store seemed a lot quieter without the little boy as you felt a bit lonely at work once again. Just when you thought that, your best friend's complaint echoed in your mind and you groaned miserably while slapping both hands at your reddened face.

You wanted to kick yourself for not asking for his number but you were grateful that you didn't, not after witnessing that woman being poorly turned down by him in the most awkward fashion. But it is unknown to you when you'll be given the opportunity to see the pretty man again. With that thought, you can envision your God from above shaking their head at you and your failure.

>>>

Your arrival at your modern loft came sooner than you expected, plotting your limp body across your bed in your silk sleepwear and fuzzy headband, shaped in tiny bunny ears, pushing back your hair from your cleansed face. Night has always been your active hours. Despite the long day you had, not an ounce of exhaustion you felt when coming home and your eyes were wide awake like a bugged eyed owl.

Before bed, you have this addictive routine to be on your phone until you pass out who knows when, opening up each app to catch up news you've missed throughout the day and sending a few reactions and comments to your friends from high school. A notification caught your eye when opening up your business profile as a few photos from your store with the baked goods you made popped on your screen, tagging your business proudly by random customers.

You even noticed an overwhelming number of followers increased all within a few hours, almost a thousand more than your original number. Until one notification caught your attention, it was a story and your heart shot up to your throat by the name appearing on your screen.

Mentioned you in their story; it read and you never thought your thumb could tap on the tab so fast.

Then your phone panned out to reveal a video recording of the small brunette feasting on the macarons he ate earlier today as Tooru's voice spoke behind the phone sounding so vivid up close on your speaker.

"Can you show me what you're eating?"

"This one has chocolate!"

It was a viewpoint from Tooru's perspective in that moment. Tetsu's face was more clear and visible as he took a bite into the macaron and shown a look of disgust - the same one he made today. An undeniable smile crept on your lips while watching the video, but then faltered when the camera switched to selfie mode and Tooru's bright face was revealed on your phone.

His beautiful face was so close, you were mesmerized, but he struggled to stretch his phone from afar to capture his son feeding him the same chocolate macaron. You watched as he took a bite from Tetsu's hand, replaying the scene that you already witnessed but from a different angle.

Next thing you knew, the recording was over but the story kept going as a photo taken place outside of your store of your desserts shown in bird's eye view. The box was open to display what's left inside, a half empty iced peach tea, and a slice of strawberry cake on a white plate sitting on a marble countertop.

At the corner, he tagged your business name in bold letters along with a gif of a chef's kiss surrounding the viewed dessert. He even added a text at the bottom.

✌️

You felt the instant flattery, grinning into your pillow for the uncalled shoutout he made. No wonder your profile blew up in an ascension because of this fool's excessive support. Then his next post shown Tetsu sipping on his milk cup and a hint of whipped cream smearing his cheek. A text was typed on the boy's forehead.

😝

You sputtered a low laugh at the image. Taking a look at it once more before adding his tagged story onto yours to share. You even included a few heart emojis above before posting.

Curiosity took over your mind when you went back to see your notification again and tapped on Tooru's username to see hundreds of photos on his profile. Naomi was right. He is a professional volleyball player.

All his older posts were of him playing volleyball or his pose shots in his sports gear. Several are with a few friends, almost all the same friends in different posts and different days. He showed that he was very outgoing, traveling in different areas of Japan and eating cultural foods. He even posted himself at a beach in Argentina with a new set of friends he made. You were even blessed to see his gorgeous selfies smiling into the camera and posing. It helped you study his face longer and appreciate this man's beauty. Thankfully, no thirst trap photos have been seen, only natural and candid-like pictures with the help of his friends taking photo credits.

He's quite photogenic, you realized.

Until you scrolled to the top of his page, all of his recent posts are all about Tetsu. There isn't much to your disappointment, maybe one or two posts of his infant stage and his past birthday from last year. You can sense that he is becoming less active on his posts compare to the ones he made years ago.

Now the question is; should you follow him?

There isn't a woman in the background from the looks of it, one who doesn't seem like he has a romantic interest or connection with. In fact, he doesn't show any woman at all unless they were his friends' girlfriends - now that you speculated it. Without question, your instincts told you to do so and you tapped on the follow button through your personalized page.

All giddy and panicked, you shut your phone and curled into your bed to force yourself to sleep. But with that energy, it doesn't seem like you'd be finding sleep for the rest of the night with thoughts of Tooru running through your mind.

It was almost midnight. Just when the thought slipped out of your focus for a minute, your phone vibrated underneath your pillow, taking your attention for you to glance at the screen with tired eyes. But they immediately grew wide at the notification shining brightly at your face, causing your head to lift from your pillow and gaped at your phone screen.

wants to follow you.

wants to send you a message.

______________________________

🌱

Posted: 04-03-21