in between ?.? jo togame???

xx. by all verdicts, togame jo is not my boyfriend

Anxiety seized me up with a shock. "Say what?!"

He nodded, eyes gazing ahead. "Yeah, it sounded like so. And now, they didn't even wait for me..."

"Uh...you know what, we took a long time, didn't we?" I said, hoping it'd snap him out of his thought.

His face dropped like a puppy whose master had left him for work. I can imagine a picture of floppy ears and a tail that flattened down along with his mood.

"That's a bummer." He said, toning down his voice. "I was about to tell them how big my tomatoes had grown."

Oh, no, no, no. On the guilt measure scale of one to ten, I believed I broke the scale when I felt my heart shrink.

"I'm really sorry Umemiya." I apologized again.

"Eh?" His eyes grew wide, realizing what he had done unknowingly. "No, no [Last Name], I'm not a child who can't handle dissapoinment, huh? Did I say disappointment? No, no, I'm not disappointed at you at all...and I, I'm not that all disappointed." He fumbled so badly. "Also, why would I be? It's just a meal, I, I mean...I'm not a man-child. Disappointment is a-"

I put a hand on his shoulder. "I get it." I smiled softly and his disturbed eyes melted into a calm canvas of ocean. "Since we're out anyway." I pointed at the flea market. "Mind shopping with me?"

Umemiya's face was candlelit. "I would love to!" He glanced at his clothes. After a long ordeal of playing dress-up, we settled for the first outfit he had tried in the end anyway. "Thank you for this. I'll treat you to a meal."

"No need, but that reminded me...I forgot to ask you something."

"Yes? What is it?" He received my favor warmly.

"Have you seen Togame?"

He blinked and shook his head. "Haven't seen him since the mall. He wasn't with you?"

"Yeah," I replied, peering down at our chat box. His previous texts were where he asked me to stay put in Shihebun since its the the safest place for me. As for Undernearth the text--it was filled with me yelling, threatening and calling him names

Only to receive one message back.

Bane of my existence [jo]:

And don't forget to do your breathing exercise, brat.

ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـ♡ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨

Moment later, Umemiya and I found ourselves weaving through the stalls and crowd, actively surfing for goods that might catch our interest.

"Look at this bracelet," I said to him, holding up the vintage string of beads to his face. "It has jellyfish engraved on it."

"You want that one?" He asked, inspecting the bracelet.

"Yes, but I don't think the design would look good on me, to be honest." I mused, putting it back in its original place. "Too earthy."

But Umemiya picked it up to his palm and asked the shopkeeper for the price. I silently watched as he paid the money before he reached for my hand and plopped it down there.

"Don't be ridiculous, [Last name]." He said. "It suits you just fine."

I smiled. "You don't have to do that but thank you."

As the day stretched on, Umemiya and I stopped at a street food vendor. We both placed our order for two bowls of udon ramen to the cook. An old man in his sixties who held a familiar appearance, I swore I must have met him before.