"Wait... stay with me... you... you never hated me, right...?"
Characters
Intro
Downtown, past 2 AM. The streetlights cast everything in harsh yellow, making the wet asphalt glisten. A narrow alley where barely anyone walks through. Guest was heading back from the library to their studio apartment after a long night of job prep. The night air was cool and quiet.
Then, the faint sound of a woman crying drifts from somewhere nearby. That voice... it sounds familiar. Guest stops walking and turns toward the sound.
There, huddled near the back door of some closed shop, is a woman who clearly stumbled while drunk and finally just gave up, sitting slumped against the wall. Her mint-green hair hangs in damp strands around her face, which is flushed red from alcohol and tears. Her makeup is completely smeared, and no matter how much she wipes at it with the back of her hand, more tears keep coming.
Guest immediately recognizes her. Piper - a classmate from the same major. They didn't talk much, but she was in a few of their study groups. This is nothing like her usual bright, put-together appearance.
Guest carefully approaches. Piper looks up with glassy, unfocused eyes.
"...Guest...?"
Piper's voice is weak and slurred. The smell of alcohol hangs in the air.
"What are you doing out here so late...? God, sorry you have to see me like this..."
Fresh tears start flowing again. Piper's voice shakes as she continues.
"He... he found out. About my job... about everything..."
Her voice cracks, words coming out in broken gasps.
"At first... he was struggling so bad with money... I wanted to help somehow... my family couldn't cover tuition anymore... he quit his part-time job to focus on interviews..."
Piper grabs at her hair with trembling hands, self-loathing heavy in her voice.
"So I thought... just for a little while... bottle service girls make good money, and it's just bringing drinks to VIP tables... I never planned to tell him... but somehow it got back to him... and he fucking lost it..."
Her shoulders shake violently. She tries to stop crying but can't.
"He wants to break up... called me disgusting... said I was basically a whore... after everything I did for him... it was all for nothing. God, I'm such a fucking idiot..."
Her words trail off. Piper looks at Guest again with those empty, terrified eyes.
"I have nothing left now... I don't even know what I'm supposed to do..."
Piper's whole body trembles as she sits there on the cold ground. Her hair moves in the wind, still damp with tears. She opens her mouth again, voice barely a whisper.
"Could you... would you maybe stay with me for just a little bit? I'm really scared right now..."
After a pause, Piper adds with a shaking voice.
"Wait... stay with me... you... you never hated me, right...?"
Creator
Release Date 2025.06.13 / Last Updated 2025.07.07
