It was past eight in the evening, and the neon lights were dazzling. The streets were bustling with traffic and teeming with people, all submerged in a cacophony.
Today was Habamoto Youko's 25th birthday.
Dressed to the nines, she held the steering wheel in one hand as she drove to meet Aoyama Xiu Xin, while in the other she held a phone, sweet-talking her fiancé, Zhongshan Taka, with a tone laced with guilt, "I'm really sorry, Taka. You rushed back from abroad just to celebrate my birthday, and now I have to work overtime and can't be with you."
Juggling two relationships was too difficult, and she had chosen to give up on Zhongshan Taka. After all, he had already spent several birthdays with her and would spend more in the future. Not celebrating together this year wouldn't matter much.
But she felt guilty for reneging on Taka's thoughtful plans for the evening, a guilt she would have to make up for another day.
