My Girlfriend Wanted an Open Relationship, So I Broke Up with Her and Found a Sweet Yandere - Chapter 40

[Flashback.]

The hospital doors slid open with a soft mechanical sound.

People walked in and out without stopping.

Visitors carrying fruit baskets.

Nurses moving quickly between shifts.

A man arguing with someone on the phone near the entrance.

Life continued like nothing had happened.

Just a few steps away from the entrance, Yuuta Takahashi stood alone.

He was still wearing his high school uniform.

The white shirt was wrinkled, the collar slightly torn where someone had grabbed it earlier. His blazer hung loosely from one shoulder like he had forgotten it was there.

His face looked worse.

One side of his cheek had swollen enough to change the shape of his jaw. A dark bruise was spreading under his eye, and the skin around his lip had split.

He looked like someone who had been dragged through a fight and left behind afterward.

Inside the hospital, several floors above, his mother lay in a room he wasn’t allowed to enter.

The nurse had spoken gently.

Too gently.

“Your mother would like to rest.”

Yuuta knew what it meant.

She didn’t want to see him.

Not after what she heard.

Not after what Yuuri said.

The automatic doors slid open again behind him.

Yuuta didn’t turn.

His eyes remained fixed on the glass panels.

Maybe someone would come out.

Maybe someone would say it was a misunderstanding.

Maybe someone would tell him everything was fine.

Nobody did.

A few steps away from him stood Yuuri.

She looked smaller than usual.

Her school uniform was neat, but the way she wore it looked wrong. Her cardigan sleeves were pulled over her hands, clutched tightly against her chest like she was trying to hold herself together.

Her shoulders curved inward.

Her posture closed.

She stood like someone trying to disappear.

Like someone afraid of being touched.

Yuuta noticed it.

But his mind was too shattered to think about it.

People passing by slowed down.

They glanced at Yuuta’s bruised face.

At the crying boy in a school uniform outside a hospital.

Whispers began forming quietly between strangers.

Yuuta didn’t hear any of it.

His legs suddenly gave out beneath him.

He dropped to his knees on the pavement.

Yuuri flinched.

Yuuta’s hands pressed against the ground as his shoulders started shaking.

The sound that escaped him wasn’t a scream.

It wasn’t even a proper cry.

Just something broken.

Something forced out of a chest that couldn’t hold it anymore.

“Why…?”

His voice cracked.

Yuuri didn’t answer.

Yuuta lifted his head slightly.

His eyes were red, his breathing uneven.

“Why would you say something like that…?”

His voice trembled harder now.

“What did I do…?”

People nearby had slowed down completely.

A few stopped walking.

Yuuta didn’t notice them.

He dragged himself forward slightly on his knees.

The movement scraped against the pavement.

He didn’t care.

“Tell me what I did…!”

His voice rose.

Desperate.

“What did I do to deserve this…?”

Yuuri stood frozen in place.

Tears had already started running down her face.

Yuuta’s thoughts were spiraling.

Fragments of the last few hours replayed over and over.

His father’s fist.

The shouting.

His mother turning her face away.

And another image burned inside his head.

A security camera recording.

Outside Haruka’s house.

A man leaving.

Maroon shirt.

He had only seen the back.

But the image refused to leave him.

Yuuta looked up again.

His voice came out barely above a whisper.

“…Who was he?”

Yuuri’s fingers tightened around her sleeves.

Yuuta crawled closer.

“…Tell me.”

His voice trembled.

“Who was he…?”

Yuuri finally moved.

One slow step forward.

Then another.

Her face had completely fallen apart.

Tears streamed down her cheeks without stopping.

She reached out toward him.

Her hand shaking.

Yuuta looked up at her.

Still kneeling.

Still broken.

Her fingers came close to his shoulder.

Close enough to touch him.

Then she froze.

Her hand hovered in the air.

Her expression twisted.

Fear.

Guilt.

Something else.

Like touching him would make things worse.

Her fingers curled inward.

She pulled her hand back.

Then suddenly—

She turned.

And ran.

Straight through the hospital doors.

Leaving Yuuta kneeling on the pavement.

***

[Yuuta’s POV — Present]

The question still hung between us.

“Who was he?”

Yuuri didn’t move.

Didn’t blink.

Didn’t breathe.

For a moment it felt like time itself had stopped in the café.

Her eyes lowered slowly.

And that was enough.

That silence.

That exact same silence.

Just like that day.

Just like outside the hospital.

Just like when I was kneeling on the pavement asking the same damn question while my entire life collapsed around me.

She never answered.

Not then.

Not now.

Not who the man was.

Not why she said what she said.

Where was the pendrive.

Nothing.

Just silence.

Something inside my chest snapped.

*Splash*

Before I even realized what I was doing, my hand grabbed the water glass in front of me.

And I threw it.

The cold splash hit Yuuri straight across the face.

Water ran down her hair, down her cheeks, soaking the front of her uniform.

The café went completely silent.

Every conversation stopped.

Chairs creaked as people turned.

I could feel every pair of eyes in the room on us.

Yuuri didn’t move.

She just sat there.

Water dripping from her chin.

Looking at me like she had expected it.

Like this was the least I could do.

My hand slowly lowered back to the table.

The empty glass clinked when I placed it down.

For a second I just stared at her.

My chest rising and falling.

The anger inside me wasn’t fading.

If anything, it was growing.

Burning hotter.

“You know what the funniest part is?” I said quietly.

My voice didn’t sound like my own.

Yuuri’s shoulders trembled slightly.

But she stayed silent.

Of course she fucking did.

“That day,” I continued, “I begged you for an answer.”

My fingers slowly curled against the table.

“I was on my knees asking you the same question.”

My voice grew colder.

“You remember that, right?”

Yuuri’s lips parted slightly.

But no words came out.

“Of course you remember.”

A humorless laugh escaped me.

“You just chose not to answer.”

I leaned forward slightly.

The chair creaked beneath me.

“You ruined everything,” I said.

Each word came out slower.

Sharper.

“Not just my life.”

“My home.”

“My family.”

“My future.”

I gestured loosely toward her.

“And the best part?”

“You pretending to care.”

Her fingers tightened around the fabric of her skirt.

“I asked you one question.”

I tapped the table once.

Soft.

Controlled.

“Who was he.”

My voice lowered again.

“And you couldn’t even say that.”

Yuuri’s eyes were glossy now.

Tears gathering again.

I felt nothing.

“Do you know what happened after that?”

I continued.

“Dad beat the shit out of me until he couldn’t breathe.”

A few people in the café shifted uncomfortably.

I didn’t care.

“And Mom…”

I paused.

For a moment my voice almost cracked.

Almost.

But the anger held it together.

“She looked at me like I was something she scraped off her fucking shoe.”

Yuuri shook her head weakly.

“Nii—”

“Don’t.”

The word cut through the air again.

“Don’t call me that.”

My voice hardened.

“You lost that right.”

I leaned back slowly.

My eyes didn’t leave hers.

“You want to talk about how hard it’s been for you?”

My lips curled slightly.

“You living with guilt must be really fucking difficult.”

My fingers drummed once against the table.

“Meanwhile I had to leave my own house.”

“Leave my own family.”

“Start over somewhere else.”

“All because of you.”

Yuuri’s breathing had become uneven.

Her shoulders shook slightly now.

Still no defense.

Still no explanation.

Still silence.

“Honestly,” I said, my voice dropping again, “you did me a favor.”

She blinked.

Confused.

“For a long time I kept thinking maybe Dad would eventually calm down.”

“Maybe Mom would listen.”

“Maybe someone in that house would actually ask me what the hell happened.”

I laughed quietly.

“But none of them did.”

I leaned forward again.

And this time every word was meant to cut.

“You know what that taught me?”

Yuuri’s fingers trembled harder.

“You’re all the same.”

“You.”

“My father.”

“My mother.”

I looked straight into her eyes.

“Every single one of you…”

My voice dropped into something colder than anger.

I pointed toward her.

“You all stopped being my family.”

The café was completely silent now.

Even the barista behind the counter had stopped moving.

“You’re all dead to me.”

My gaze didn’t waver.

I slowly stood from my chair.

The legs scraped against the floor.

“You asked me to hear you out.”

I grabbed my bag.

“Well congratulations.”

“You said your piece.”

“But if you came here hoping I’d forgive you…”

I looked down at her one last time.

“You should’ve answered that question… fucking year ago.”

[A/N: Hallo~ I guess Yuuta did say what he had on his mind…tell me what you have in your mind about Yuuri?]