I Was Cheated on by My Girlfriend but My Devilish Junior Now Yearns for Me - Chapter 7

Chapter 7   A Phone call with Santa

When I got home after parting ways with Ayaka, my usual messy one-room apartment greeted me.

It was still only 10 p.m., the time when couples everywhere probably start to get lively.

I opened social media for the first time in a while and saw posts from my high school and college friends filling up my timeline. At this time of year, most of those posts made me want to sarcastically comment on them.

Like, “Today I’m going out for a Christmas date in this cute outfit! But I’m not confident at all~”—if you’re not confident, don’t post a picture then.

Or “The Christmas tree is sooo huge!”—but the post was just a selfie with their partner, not even showing the tree.

Normally, I wouldn’t think anything of it, but today, of all days, it rubbed me the wrong way. Probably because it’s Christmas.

Even though I don’t want to admit it, there’s a part of me that’s a little jealous.

If I kept scrolling, my mood was only going to get worse. So before turning my phone off, I absentmindedly scrolled through one last time.

Then, one post caught my eye.

“Today feels like it’s going to be a wonderful day♪”

The content was nothing special, something completely harmless.

But the user icon was someone I recognized all too well. The person with brown-dyed hair tied back in a ponytail was my ex, Reina Aisaka.

I broke up with Reina just a month ago because she cheated on me.

I’d mostly gotten over it, but seeing her face now stirred something unpleasant in my chest.

“…Tch.”

There was no one else in the room, yet I clicked my tongue, as if trying to hide my emotions.

Just from the words “wonderful day,” I could easily imagine what she was up to.

Around the time our one-year anniversary approached, there had been signs that Reina’s feelings were drifting away.

At first, she started replying to my texts less frequently. When I asked her out on dates, she started rejecting me about half the time, eventually even canceling at the last minute.

But the dates we did go on were still fun, and she always posted about them on social media, so I thought I could win her back.

And then, the cheating happened.

“…Ugh, stop thinking about it!”

There’s no point in dwelling on it.

When I was feeling down after the breakup, I promised myself that once I got over it, I wouldn’t wallow in self-pity anymore.

I couldn’t keep acting like this, not after Ayaka went out of her way to encourage me over and over, despite it being so unlike her. I couldn’t face her if I stayed stuck like this.

To switch my mood, I stretched my body as hard as I could. My back cracked loudly, and it felt great. When I’m feeling down or frustrated, the best thing to do is move around.

…Come to think of it, I wonder if Shinohara got home safely. Yesterday, she mentioned something about wanting to show off a little and then break up with him. It seems like that day came right away—on Christmas, no less. Knowing Motosaka’s pride, getting into a fight in front of everyone and then getting dumped on Christmas must’ve been brutal.

But breakups are when the most drama happens. The saying “leave without making a mess” doesn’t really apply to couples. Looking at Shinohara and Motosaka, it’s hard to believe that people can break up amicably and eventually return to being friends.

Before I knew it, I had opened Shinohara’s chat on LINE and hit the call button. The usual ringtone sounded, but tonight it felt even more mechanical and distant. It had been about an hour since we parted ways, so she should’ve been home by now—

“Hello, senpai?”

Her usual voice came through the phone, sounding just like always.

“Oh, Shinohara. Glad to hear you’re okay.”

I let out a sigh of relief without thinking. On the other end, I heard a small laugh.

“Could it be that senpai was worried and called just to check on me?”

“Well, yeah… I mean, it looked like a messy situation. You two left together, so I was a bit concerned.”

“Haha, it’s fine. Nothing happened.”

She denied it in a bright, carefree voice.

“Actually, I was just about to call you myself. When I saw your name pop up, I had to do a double take.”

“Really? That’s a coincidence. What were you going to say?”

When I asked, Shinohara responded somewhat awkwardly.

“…I wanted to apologize. For dragging you into everything.”

“Huh?”

“You know, today’s situation. I made things awkward because of me, even though you had nothing to do with it.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. The atmosphere was terrible before you even showed up.”

In fact, I could say that Shinohara showing up saved me. I would’ve hated it if Motosaka had kept talking endlessly.

“Still, I was technically his girlfriend until today.”

“So, did you two end things for good?”

“Well, yeah.”

Her vague response piqued my curiosity, but I decided not to push further. She could talk about it whenever she felt ready.

“I guess it’s a bit problematic to accept a confession just to do couple-like things. This whole situation started because I was feeling that way when I got into a relationship.”

Noticing Shinohara looking a bit down, I decided to share something I often thought about.

“That’s how it is. There aren’t many couples that start off completely mutual from the beginning.”

The ratio might have been higher during middle and high school. If couples could only form from mutual feelings, I’d wager that more than half of the couples in college wouldn’t exist. I’m pretty sure many people date someone just because they long for couple events.

That said, while a lot of people think this way, few are willing to voice it openly. So, I felt genuinely happy that Shinohara was sharing her thoughts with me.

“Senpai, you really are the senpai.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well, I mean you’re really good at comforting people. In this situation, I thought you might say something like, ‘Shinohara, you messed up too.’”

She seemed to have a surprised look on her face.

“I know that perfectly well, but I’m still trying to sort out my feelings, which is why I’m talking to you. What good would it do to pile on more negativity?”

“…Whoa.”

Shinohara let out a silly-sounding voice.

“Senpai… is this what they call adult composure? I respect you.”

“What? Saying something like that all of a sudden makes me feel uncomfortable.”

“Oh, that’s mean! Despite how I look, I don’t often respect people, you know?”

“For someone who doesn’t easily respect others to say they respect me seems a bit off. You should respect someone like Ayaka instead of me.”

After a brief pause, Shinohara replied, “Ayaka-senpai? Well, I suppose so. I’ll think about it.”

For about thirty minutes after that, we chatted about trivial things. Once the main topic was settled, continuing the call wasn’t something I often did with anyone other than Ayaka.

We particularly had a great time discussing the usual social media quirks, and it was quite funny talking to Shinohara, who shared a similar sensibility.

“Phew, I should probably take a bath soon.”

“Yeah, I think I’ll head to bed soon too.”

“Alright then. Goodnight, senpai. We’ll sort out the compensation another day.”

“Sure.”

“…Thank you for today.”

With those words of gratitude, the call ended.

Somehow, the roles had reversed.

I found it amusing, and I chuckled softly to myself, even though the situation with my ex-girlfriend had reached some sort of resolution for now.

“Another day, huh?”

I leaned out of the window and breathed in the dry winter air.

It seemed like today, I wouldn’t have to think about the past anymore.