The Day I Was Suddenly Dumped — Story

 "Sayu, let's break up."

Toshiyuki's sudden words hit me like a blow to the head.

"I've fallen for someone else."

Completely disregarding my shock, Toshiyuki continued.

"N-no..."

The words I finally managed to utter didn't reach Toshiyuki at all.

"She's way younger and cuter than you. And besides, this is my place. Get out."

The kind man I thought I knew until yesterday was nowhere to be found.

I was thrown out of the apartment with nothing but a single bag, feeling so hopeless that I thought I might as well be dead—or maybe it would be better if I were.

~

"I finally dumped that parasite of a woman."

Toshiyuki's sudden declaration during their long-awaited reunion nearly made Kazuki spit out his beer.

"Parasite of a woman?"

"Yeah, Sayu."

"…Wasn't she the girlfriend you were living with?"

"I was paying for everything! Can you believe that?"

"…Toshiyuki, you make enough to support someone else?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Wow, that’s impressive. I’m barely managing to live alone."

"Well, she did the housework, so it was like having a maid."

"That’s a harsh way to put it."

"Anyway, one of the new hires confessed to me, and we're dating now! She's five years younger, and I had my doubts, but hey, why not? Now that I’ve kicked out that parasite, I’ve got more room to breathe, right?"

Kazuki, listening to his friend Toshiyuki's words, downed his beer while feeling strangely distant.

Was Toshiyuki always this full of himself? He swallowed those words along with his beer.

~

After Toshiyuki suddenly dumped me, leaving me without a home or anything else, I spent the first few days crying in a business hotel, utterly stunned.

But somehow, I managed to crawl out of that despair and keep going to work, eventually renting a place close to the office.

Then, about two months later, I suddenly realized something.

"Wait a minute… Isn't this way more comfortable than when I was living with Toshiyuki?"

Back then, I used to wake up early every morning to make Toshiyuki's breakfast and lunch, and the commute from home to work took over an hour by train.

After work, I'd stop by the grocery store near the station to buy dinner ingredients and Toshiyuki's booze, then lug those heavy bags home, which took another 20 minutes.

Even when Toshiyuki got home before me, he'd just watch TV while I did the housework. He'd eat the meals I prepared, take baths I heated, and while I washed the dishes, he'd be soaking in the tub. By the time I finished my own bath and cleaned up, he'd already be passed out drunk.

And if I didn’t do the housework, he'd get incredibly moody, so I could hardly ever go to office parties or out with friends.

But now, I don't even eat breakfast, I have lunch at the company cafeteria, and since it's only a 10-minute walk to work, I get to sleep in two hours later.

After work, I can casually go out for drinks with my colleagues.

At home, I can cook whatever I feel like eating, take a bath whenever I want, and with less time spent on housework, I finally have time to relax, read, and watch movies.

Honestly, it's so comfortable that I feel like saying, "Thanks for breaking up with me."

~

"I can't believe Sayu isn't replying to my messages. This is seriously unbelievable."

As soon as Toshiyuki said this during their first drink together in a year, Kazuki already began to regret coming out with him.

"Sayu-chan… she’s the one you broke up with about a year ago, right?"

"Ever since she left, things have been a mess!"

"…What do you mean?"

"Like, the electricity almost got cut off!"

"Huh? The electricity?"

"Yeah, and my phone, gas, and water too! She canceled all the automatic payments, can you believe that?"

"Wait, what? Was she paying the utility bills? But I thought you said you were covering all the living expenses?"

"Yeah, I was paying the rent, all of it."

"…Rent, only?"

"What? Rent is the biggest expense. If I’m paying the rent, it’s like I’m paying all the living expenses!"

Kazuki couldn’t say anything, so he just took a big gulp of his beer to fill the awkward silence.

"The cost of food, drinks, and getting my shirts dry-cleaned really adds up. It’s insane."

"…So she was covering all of that?"

"Of course. I was paying the rent, after all."

"…So, let me get this straight: you paid the rent, and Sayu-chan covered all the food and everything else, plus she did all the housework?"

"Yeah, since I was paying the rent, it was only fair she handled the other payments and chores."

Kazuki couldn’t bring himself to say, "You keep bringing up the rent, but your place wasn’t that great—it wasn’t in a good location, it was far from the station, old, and small, so it probably wasn’t even that expensive!" Instead, he downed the rest of his beer in one gulp.

"…Didn’t you say you were dating that junior colleague?"

"Man, I don't get it at all! She’s nothing like I expected! Is it because I stopped paying for everything and started splitting the bill? Greedy women are terrifying!"

"…I guess when you go from only paying rent to covering everything, there’s not much left for treating others."

Kazuki's muttered comment didn’t reach Toshiyuki, who was already ordering another beer.

~

"I was out of my mind back then.

Now I realize how important Sayu was.

I’ll never forget the time we drank together at that bar in Shinagawa.

I want to hold your hand and feel your warmth again.

I'll send you a ruby ring, so please come back to me."

An email arrived from an unknown address.

But I instinctively knew it was from Toshiyuki, who I blocked after we broke up two years ago, sent through a free email service.

Honestly, I wanted to reply with something like, "What the hell are you saying now? Idiot. I’m married, by the way." But the vertical acrostic was cringeworthy, and the forced use of "shi" and "ru" was just painfully awkward. This was clearly something I needed to stay far away from, so I quietly deleted the email.

Looking back, I’m deeply glad that I somehow managed to push through that time when I felt like dying after Toshiyuki dumped me.

No matter how hard it gets, I’ll always be able to smile and move forward again. Thinking back on my lowest point, I felt a bright sense of relief.

[The End]