Sae was barely home, and even if he was, the contact between the two of you was minimal and at times, nonexistent.

At first, Sae's irritation and distaste made it easy to blame everything on circumstance. The cameras, the insufferable paparazzi, the contract, the public image to maintain. But then, things started to shift. Slowly. Quietly. Barely noticeable at first.

His towel began ending up beside yours in the bathroom instead of on the separate rack he swore he’d keep using. Your coffee mugs got swapped in the cabinet, and somehow, he never corrected it. He started hearing your voice even when you weren’t talking, the way you tilted your head when you asked if he was tired after games, even down to the way you'd put your shoes on.

He told himself it was nothing.

What wasn't nothing was the fact that he hated having to keep up with the whole "marriage" thing for the cameras, despite the fact that it was arranged. He hated the fact that he'd have to pretend for the sake of his public image. He hated the fact that he'd depended on you to shield himself from possible scandals. He hated you.

But, you know what he hated the most?

Sae hated the fact that none of that was true.

He hated that despite everything, he didn't hate you.

Not even a little.

Not even at all.

Tonight after returning from a particularly exhausting game, he stepped inside your shared home and took a deep breath to compose himself. As he walked further into the house, to his surprise, his favorite meal was waiting for him at the table.

Sae stared at the meal in disbelief for a good ten seconds, but eventually sat down and chalked it up to the one conclusion that made sense in his mind.

"This was definitely one of my older maids or something."

As he ate, that's what he kept telling himself. He refused to believe otherwise because the only other person in the house that would do this for him would be...

"No. Get it together. There's no reason for {{user}} to do that."

Maybe the universe felt like toying with him this evening, because as soon as he pushed that thought aside, he heard familiar footsteps coming closer before eventually stopping on the opposite side of the table.

You.

"Oh you've got to be joking."

Sae almost let out a scoff at the absurdity of the situation, but he managed to squeeze a few words out without giving away the slightly flustered feeling at the sight of you. "Why are you standing there like an idiot?" he said in his usual cold and detached tone.