Chapter Text

Prologue

Sometimes I wonder if happiness is just a brief pause between chaos.

A breath.

A moment of stillness that never lasts.

Chapter 1

I spent the last three years pretending everything was okay. Smiling when my boss insulted me, nodding when co-workers whispered behind my back. Telling myself I was lucky to have a job, even as I broke down quietly every night.

But now... it’s done.

Sakura exhaled slowly, a shaky breath that felt like her first real one in years. Her finger hovered for a moment before finally tapping “Send” on the email.

Subject: Resignation Letter

It was over. She was free.

She let herself collapse onto her twin-sized bed in her modest apartment, her heart pounding, but not from anxiety—for once, it was relief.

“I actually did it,” she whispered to herself, a half-laugh escaping her lips.

The silence of her apartment wrapped around her like a warm blanket. She stretched out, hair splaying across the pillow as her favorite Taylor Swift song played softly in the background. The weight of the toxic workplace—the slander, manipulation, the narcissistic boss who used kindness as a weapon—finally began to lift off her chest.

She smiled.

Then—ding.

Her phone screen lit up. A notification from the credit card app.

"Monthly installment for your designer bag is due. Total: ¥87,000."

Her smile dropped. “What the—oh, crap.”

That pink Gucci bag.

The one she bought impulsively after her bonus, telling herself she deserved it, that it was different from all the other pink things she owned.

Because that’s what people called her—Pink Girl.

It wasn’t just because of her hair—she’d been born with pink hair. But somehow, pink had always followed her everywhere: a pink phone case, pink helmets from her days delivering food as a part-timer, pink sneakers, a pink water bottle, pink stationery, pink lipstick shades, even the pair of pink Hello Kitty socks she was wearing now to warm her toes. She even had a pink toaster sitting in her tiny kitchen.

Pink had simply become a part of her—whether she meant for it to or not.

Sakura sat up in bed, hugging her knees. “I really need another job. Fast.”

The phone buzzed again. This time, her mom.

She groaned but picked it up. “Hi, Mom.”

"Sakura! You just got home from work?" her mother asked cheerfully.

Sakura hesitated, eyes darting to the resignation email still open on her laptop. “Yeah… Just got back. Long day.”

"Poor girl, working so hard! Listen, your grandma and cousin Kurenai are visiting this week from Kobe. You should come by! Mirai really misses you."

Her heart tugged at the mention of Mirai, Kurenai’s daughter. Sakura adored that kid—she was like the little sister she never had.

“I wish I could, Mom. But I’m swamped. My boss has me working on so many projects... I don’t even get proper breaks anymore,” she lied smoothly.

"Oh no! Still? That company of yours is crazy. Well, if you can’t come, at least send Mirai a birthday gift, okay? She’s been asking about you every day!"

Sakura nodded, even though her mother couldn’t see her. “Of course. I’ll send her something special.”

Then came the part she dreaded.

"Also, Kurenai says she knows a young dentist. Handsome, responsible. She thought maybe you two could—"

“Mom.” Sakura cut her off. “We’ve talked about this.”

"You’re not getting any younger, sweetie. You’ll be 30 before you know it!"

Sakura closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Bye, Mom.”

She hung up and let the phone fall onto the bed beside her.

“Great. Now I’m single, jobless, and about to disappoint my entire family.”

She sighed and lay back down, pulling the blanket over her face. The glow from her phone teased her again.

On impulse, she downloaded Tinder. “Ugh, why not.”

She swiped through profile after profile lazily—guys holding fish, guys with suspiciously cropped ex-girlfriends, gym selfies, shirtless bathroom pics.

“This is so dumb,” she muttered, tossing the phone aside. “Scammers, cheaters, and catfish—who even finds real love here?”

She turned off the bedside lamp and wrapped herself tighter in the blanket.

“I’m never gonna meet the right guy, am I…”

Then she dreamed…

She wasn’t in her room anymore.

She was wearing a high school uniform.

“What the hell?” Sakura blinked, confused. The world around her shimmered like a VHS tape on rewind.

Suddenly, she was kneeling on the ground.

She looked down—there was ice cream on a pair of polished designer shoes.

“Wipe it!” a chorus of teenage voices jeered from somewhere above.

Her heart pounded. She looked up.

There he was.

That same face. Pale, striking, with jet-black hair and onyx eyes that looked straight through her.

Sasuke.

Behind him stood his usual crew: the red-haired girl with sunglasses practically glued to him, the smug boy with silver hair and a lazy smirk, and the Frankenstein-sized one who stared blankly.

“Do what you have to,” Sasuke said coldly.

Sakura’s blood boiled.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a pink handkerchief—grandma’s gift, hand-sewn. With trembling hands, she began to wipe the edge of his shoe.

Wait.

She stopped.

“NOPE.”

She stood up. Then, without thinking, she yanked his leg, sending him toppling backward.

“Whoa—!”

His friends caught him just in time.

Gasps and boos erupted around her.

Sakura threw the handkerchief at his face.

“Clean your own damn shoes, you donkey booger!”

Laughter. Outrage. Chaos.

“I’m a 28-year-old independent woman, and I’m not afraid of some teenage prince wannabe!” she shouted, arms raised.

“And for the record, I almost did break your leg. Be grateful I didn’t!”

She stomped off, fuming, as the world swirled like a watercolor painting behind her.

Reality Again

Her alarm blared.

Sakura shot up in bed, drenched in cold sweat. It was 11 a.m.

“Crap. I forgot to feed Poppy.”

She scrambled out of bed in her bra and underwear, tugged on a T-shirt and shorts, slipped into house slippers, and darted to the kitchen.

Her tiny white poodle barked impatiently, spinning in frantic circles.

“I’m so sorry, Poppy! Mommy had a nightmare about that stupid guy who used to bully me at high school.”

The dog yapped again.

Sakura poured food into the bowl, then sat on the floor beside her furry companion, heart still racing.

“…Was that really just a dream?”

Because somehow, it felt like something had just… started.

- To Be Continued -