A million things went inside Rio’s head as soon as she was confronted by her own boyfriend, Ryosuke. Her shoulders dropped and felt her fingers loosen, making the grocery bags in her hand drop on the wooden floor of her apartment. Only a few minutes ago, she was happily thinking of ways to make her boyfriend happy, but now, the atmosphere suddenly changed. 

“So you’re never gonna tell me?! I had to know from someone else? Do you think I’m that stupid?!”, Rio can never forget Ryosuke’s tone of voice. His words pierced through her chest and before she can even answer him, tears started flowing on her cheeks, “When are you planning to tell me? Huh?! Just one day, you’ll come to my door and say “Hey, Ryosuke! I’m going to London to study Medicine… and guess what?! My flight is this evening. Goodbye””, Ryosuke said sarcastically before grabbing parts of his hair in frustration. 

Rio never wanted it to end this way. She was offered an internship in London for two years and was having second thoughts of going because she can’t bear leaving Ryosuke. Therefore, she decided not to tell him until she sort out her own thoughts. In fact, she made up her mind and wanted to stay. 

“… Believe me, I was going to tell you b-but…”

“BUT WHAT?!”

“I decided not to go!”

“Bull ! Of course, you’re going… but you could’ve told me. It’s like you don’t trust me at all!” Frustrated, Ryosuke banged his hand on the coffee table in the living room, leaving Rio terrified at his actions. This is the very first time she saw him this angry. 

“I decided not to go! Isn’t that enough?! I decided I couldn’t leave you!”, Rio replied, tears started to swell up her eyes. She couldn’t help but to hold Ryosuke’s arm to at least calm him down but she could sense her own boyfriend emitting a dark aura. 

“I can’t let you give up your dreams because of me. You have to go”, Without looking at her fully, Ryosuke held Rio’s wrist and forcefully slid her hand off his own arm. 

“We need to break up”

—

*Riiiiiiing*

Rio moaned at the sound of the annoying alarm clock near her ear, forcing her eyes to open to see the lovely, clear summer day just outside her window. She quickly sat up from her bed and suddenly felt liquid coming from her eyes. They were tears. “It’s been awhile since I dreamt about him”, she thought to herself. Her dream was so clear, it seems like it only happened yesterday. 

Ever since she came back from London, she’s been having random dreams about Ryosuke - her ex boyfriend. She recently moved back to Tokyo after finishing her 2-year medical internship in London, and now, she’s back to finish her degree. She’s in fact only a year away before graduation. 

Being back to the country she calls “home”, brought back good and bad memories from her past - memories that somehow brought daunting feelings she tried so hard to bury for two whole years. 

Rio stretched out her arms after opening her bedroom window to greet the lovely scenery just outside. She felt the warm sunshine touch her skin and an immediate smile formed on her face as soon as the breeze kissed both her cheeks. “It’s good to be back after 2 long years!”, she whispered to herself but suddenly remembered the dream she had just now. It’s been awhile since she had that nightmare, bringing her back from the day she was left heartbroken by the only man she ever loved.

“Happily ever after” DOES NOT exist - well, not in real life any way. It only exist in stupid fairy tales and cheesy movies. Rio realised this the hard way. She was tricked in believing that she’s on her way to her happy ending only to see herself being pulled down to her own nightmare. 

She took a glance at the necklace she was wearing - a silver metal band with a promise ring hanging loosely through it. It was the same promise ring Ryosuke gave her on their first date. After all these years, she never had the courage to throw it away. Maybe something inside her is hoping to see him again to finally find some closure. 

—

Rio was about to fix herself up for some coffee when a sudden sound coming from her mobile was heard. She involuntarily picked her phone up without even looking at the caller ID. 

“RIO-CHAAAAAN!”, the poor girl withdrew her head from the earpiece of her phone as soon as she heard a familiar loud voice, obvious that the latter is excited to finally speak to her. “Turn on your video! Hurry!”

“Kim nee-chan, I can hear you loud and clear! You don’t need to shout!”, Rio frowned a bit and shook her slightly abused left ear. However, she couldn’t help but giggle after hearing Kim’s usual crazy comments. As instructed, she then turned her video camera on and saw her screen divided into three sections: her own camera, a third for Kim and the rest showed Amu’s face. 

"How are you?! Have you had breakfast? When are you coming to visit? How's your new apartment?"

“Mou, Kim-chan has so many questions. I can’t even ask my own”, Amu spoke and as soon as she saw Rio’s face on her screen, she immediately waved and smiled at the older one. 

“I can’t help it! I’m so excited that Rio-chan’s finally back from London! I can’t wait to see you. How was your flight the other day? Are you all unpacked?”, Kim bombarded Rio with a million and one questions. 

“Yeah, my apartment is bigger than I expected it to be. I’m just excited to finally live alone”, Rio replied over the mouthpiece while eyeing the massive pile of clothes she has to sort out. “I still have a lot of stuff to do, though”

“Never mind that! Are you ready for the beach this weekend?! We already ordered the bathing suit you should be wearing!”, Kim excitedly uttered over the phone. She hasn’t seen her friend for more than two years, therefore, herself and Amu managed to book a holiday at the beach in the next few days. 

“Mou, do I have to? We can just hang out at my house, you know… like a housewarming party thing!”

“Nee-chan, you need to enjoy the summer! We picked out that bathing suit for you as a present so you have to wear it! Amazon said you’ll receive it through the post either today or tomorrow”, Amu pointed out, her camera shifted a bit, obvious that she was fixing something at her end. 

“Amu’s right. Besides, you really need to get over that Ryosuke guy from two years ago”, Kim insensitively said and instantly noticed that she hit a nerve after hearing utter silence from the other end of the line. “We really need to get you a new boyfriend”

“I’m fine without one, thank you very much!”, Rio pouted.

“Just come this weekend! We can finally introduce you to Amu’s new boyfriend!”, Kim insisted but in the process, made Amu blush. Rio’s screen doesn’t have to be HD to see Amu’s crimson cheeks. 

“Yeah! I heard about him… 'Arioka Daiki', was it? He better not make my imouto cry or I will grill him alive”, Rio felt her own fist clenching. She noticed how Amu’s smile grew from ear to ear, obvious that the said man is currently making her happy. 

“Dai-chan will bring a friend this weekend, so you won’t feel left out”, Amu tried to divert the topic to something else. Her intensions were good but Rio felt her brows linking at the centre of her forehead. 

“So I’ll be like a chaperone to two couples and a stranger, huh?”, Rio sighed for the nth time, not really feeling much of an excitement for the said outing. However, knowing the two, she already knows that she cannot win against their will power. 

“Whether you like it or not, you’re going!”

—

Meanwhile, Ryosuke was in the middle of playing a game when he heard a sudden knock on his door. He forced his legs towards his apartment entrance and clicked the door open. His magical door revealed a grinning Daiki Arioka with a box of strawberries on his hand. 

“Let me guess… Amu-chan did something you like or did something cute and you came over here to fanboy about it?”, Ryosuke snorted in derision while blankly staring at his love-struck friend. 

“You know me so well”, Daiki grinned and led his way towards Ryosuke’s living room. “Dude, you really need to get a life”, he continued after seeing a pile of PS4 games lined up on Ryosuke’s coffee table. Ryosuke, on the other hand continued to focus on his game while his free hand rampaged the box of strawberries laid out on the table by his friend. “By the way, do you have a new neighbour? I saw boxes outside 7A. Maybe somebody finally moved in?”

“Yeah, I think so. I think it’s a female tenant. I didn’t get a good look at her when she moved in though. I just hope she’s a quiet neighbour”, Ryosuke replied, his eyes never left his TV screen. 

“Oh! I nearly forgot! Kei told me he ordered some dirty magazines online and sent them over to your place”, Daiki informed his best friend and was successful in gaining his attention after seeing Ryosuke pause his beloved game. 

“Why would he do that?”

“Well, Kim-chan usually comes and visit so he didn’t want his dirty magazines lying around his own apartment. And since you’re single and all… he decided to send them over here and collect them at a later date” 

“Geez, Kim-chan knows that Kei is a ert anyway, why can’t they be just a regular couple?”, Ryosuke rolled his eyes and mentally labelled the KimKei couple as the weirdest couple there is. Well, Amu and Daiki being a close second. 

“… So, Arioka, tell me what Amu-chan did this time that made you swoon like there’s no tomorrow?”, Ryosuke said in a mocking way. See, almost every day, Daiki comes around Ryosuke’s apartment to talk about his relationship with Amu; asking advice and yes, boast about his ‘in a relationship status’ with his ‘single’ friend. 

“Well, nothing really. She just asked me to invite you for a get-away weekend by the beach”

“Beach?”

“Yeah… Kei will be coming too”

“So I’ll be a third wheel while you bring your girlfriends? No way.”

“Well, you never know, there will be girls there. You might finally be able to throw THAT away”, Daiki replied and suddenly, his eyes landed on the silver ring on Ryosuke’s left pinky finger. It was the same promise ring he received from Rio two years ago. 

After saying this, Daiki heard nothing but silence from the boy. Ryosuke placed his controller down the table and fiddled with the promise ring on his hand. Almost immediately, the image of Rio flashed continually inside his mind. He shook his head slightly, hoping to get rid of the painful memory of her. 

He then stood up and faced his best friend fully… “I’m gonna get a girlfriend this weekend”.

—--

Two days before the trip and Rio found a medium sized box lying peacefully in front of her apartment door. The parcel was addressed to “R. Yamada” which she assumed was the bathing suit Kim and Amu bought for her for the beach trip this coming weekend. 

Without thinking much of it, she quickly took the parcel and cluelessly opened to see its contents. She immediately noticed how heavy the box was, considering that it should only contain a set of light clothing. She finally decided to use a pair of scissors to rip the packaging and as soon as the tape was loosened, Rio folded the flap of the box outwards and saw a very disturbing item inside.

“WHAT THE HELL?!”, Rio blinked twice after seeing the contents of the said package. Inside it, are three dirty magazines with women printed on the covers with nothing but edited texts covering their privates. Rio noticed how the dot on the ‘i’ covered one of the woman’s s. Rio felt a sudden cringe inside her and pushed the said box away from her sight. “I can’t believe Kim-chan sent this to me!”, she continued to shiver before double checking the addressee printed on the box. 

Her eyes squinted a bit but soon widened when she read the name on the address label. 

“To: MR R. Yamada, Flat 7B”, Rio read out loud and realised something: SHE OPENED THE WRONG PARCEL! Her apartment is 7A. This must belong to her next door neighbour. Having a similar name to her, she didn’t notice that the package belongs to a different owner. 

“Yabai yabai yabai! I opened his package by accident!”, Rio panicked but at the back of her mind, she was also thinking that her new neighbour is a complete ERT for ordering those dirty magazines online. 

It took her awhile to think of a good way to tackle this problem. Gathering all her senses, she took a deep breath and decided that the only way to solve this is to apologise for the honest mistake and be mature about it. With much hesitation, she then marched towards Apartment 7B to give the package to the right owner. 

—

Meanwhile…

“WHAT THE HECK?!” Ryosuke’s eyes widened as soon as they landed on a two-piece bra inside the the package he recently received. “Did Inoo-chan order this too?”, he wondered, not even noticing the right name and apartment number on the box’s address label. With both hands, he lifted up the red two-piece bathing suit alongside the disturbing thoughts wandering inside his head. 

However, his train of thoughts were disturbed by the sudde