A couple of years had passed since that night, but the memory of it is forever present in the man's brain. He constantly wonders if the woman who had called him is doing good, or if she needs someone like he did. Or if she thinks about him as much as she's in his mind.
  He even thinks–sometimes, he catches himself thinking, if the encounter had changed her as much as it changed him. It's been years, but he can still remember every detail of all that happened. From the slight breeze of the air conditioning, to the exact places where his nails dug into his skin.
  Her words being the most prominent thing, they continue to resonate. She caused so much light to enter his life, and he feels guilty that he never got to thank her for being there for him. Because of her, Sabo–one of his brothers–is getting ready for college. He hasn't gone yet, despite graduating from high school a few years ago, because he was worried about the black-haired male. Even if he is the eldest one out of them.
  Due to her support, he finally showed Sabo that he's capable of being left alone and that the blond has nothing to be afraid of. Sure, it's mostly mental strength getting him through most days still, but he's gotten better at faking. He knows that he needs to stop bringing people into his problems, and the best way to do that is to act like nothing is wrong. It's pretty shocking that some days, he does such a good job, he forgets all the problems himself.
  Plus he has a paid therapist, who's practically forced to listen and pay attention to his issues. Yet, he feels as if he only hears the same things the woman already told him. And this causes him to wonder what she'd look like if he ever saw her. If she'd have a kind face, or something more hardened to what she's experienced. He wonders where she's from, obviously the same country because she spoke the same language, but he wants to know how far away she is.
And it's not exactly like he can just look up the area code that her number gave him. He doesn't even know the number that called him, and he feels it would have been an invasion of privacy if he'd checked any further than he did. Five whole years have passed. Five... long... agonizing years.
  Since it's so long since the call, it's a given that he wouldn't recognize her voice even if he heard it, "Excuse me, can you move? I'm ready to get home, and as much as I hate to say it, this is the only working elevator currently."
  "Of course!" he turns around, holding his hands up and stepping out of the shorter woman's way. Her orange-hair swaying slightly due to the draft. "Oh, it's just you, Nami."
  "Who else would it be? I don't get paid a second after two, so I'm out," she folds her arms over her chest, moving closer towards the cool, metal doors, before she notices something wrong with the man. "Are you feeling okay, Ace? You look off."
  "I'm fine," he nods his head, smiling while he swallows a lump in his throat. "Is it just me, or is it hot in here?"
  She rolls her eyes before she takes a step towards him, grabbing his tie, and unraveling the knot before retying it, "You're always hot, and you never look like this, so tell me what's bothering you."
  "I doubt you even want to know... and if you do, you'll probably think I'm insane," he sighs internally as she takes a step back and presses the down button to summon the elevator, but when she glares at him he stiffens, knowing he should tell her something. "You know when I... when those events happened a couple of years ago...?"
  "Everyone knows, Ace," she folds her arms again, but the look on her face becoming worried. "We were all there, Luffy couldn't stop crying. You guys didn't come to work for months. I honestly thought that you'd both be fired. Are you doing okay...? If you ever want to talk about it..."
  "I already have someone to talk about it to... and it's not very helpful. Plus, you'll probably charge me an arm and a leg anyway," he forces a small laugh, but that only causes Nami to furrow her brows. "I'm doing fine. Thanks for worrying about me."
"You know that I wouldn't charge you an arm and a leg right? Just... half of them," she gives him a half smile as the doors to the elevator pop open, her eyes look into the small room before back at him. She walks in and, presumably, presses the button to the first floor. Before the doors close she looks right at Ace, "But seriously, if you ever need someone to talk about it... I'm here. We all are."
He turns around as the doors close completely, "Thanks, Nami. I appreciate the sentiment."
The black-haired man goes to his cubicle and goes to take his seat on the ebony chair pushed into his desk. Before he can sit down though, arms wrap around his body and he can smell the scent of some kind of meat mixed with barbecue sauce. Luffy. His other brother, the youngest, he's actually Ace's blood cousin but they're closer to being brothers.
"Ace! Guess what?! Guess what?!" the black-haired man-child jumps up and down, before letting go of the embrace and goes to stand in front of his older brother; excitement evident on his face, he's so excited that he just continues without even waiting for Ace's response, "We're getting new co-workers! They're going through training right now! Isn't this exciting? Who knew that this company could be expanding the way it is! Isn't Shanks awesome?!"
Ace just nods, someday Luffy will take over this company. That's why he's here, but why is Ace here? Because it's a job that pays him? He had such bigger dreams than this when he was younger. What happened? You're nothing but a tool. He closes his eyes. His last job. He thought that he could do it, but it only failed. He's not meant to run a company. He's nothing, and he means it, nothing like his father. He at least ran a huge company and set standards for every company to strive to.
Everyone here is only here to accomplish something else. They're working to get skills that will help them with their dreams later on in life. But... he's only here because he needs a job. He doesn't have a dream anymore. If only he could go back and change things about what he did and how he did them. Maybe then, he wouldn't be stuck here, working this dead-end job.
"We learned this while you were at lunch, so, the rest of the department and I decided that we'd host a party! You have to come, alright?!" the younger male tilts his head as he waits for his brother's response. "Are you doing okay?"
"I'm fine," Ace pulls out his chair and takes a seat, booting up his computer. "When is this party? I've got a therapist appointment every week for the rest of the month."
"We don't know yet... but what day are your appointments on? I'll make sure to avoid it! Oh! Look at the time! I need to work!" he looks at the clock before he runs off to his own cubicle. "Email me! I want to see you there!"
A small smile forms onto Ace's lips as he logs into the system. Luffy makes it worth coming to work. Even if he doesn't know what he wants to do anymore... as long as he come support his brothers with their dreams... he can be happy.
The rest of the day goes by uneventfully, he saw the training class a couple of times as he passed by them on his breaks. There's not that much people that they decided to take on this time, but it's not like they were really expecting to hire people right now anyway. Luffy decided to host the party the day after Ace's next appointment, just so that he could talk to him about at the party in person.
He probably only feels that way because he knows that Ace tends to hide his true feelings about things, unlike Luffy. He's an open book. Not only that, but he's an open book that turns its own pages for you. It's strange to think, but definitely seeable when you meet him. He never attempts to bury things deep, he's one-hundred percent independent so he doesn't worry about his emotions burdening people. But Ace, he relies on people. Too much for his own good. If he breaks, if he shows weakness, he'll only cause others pain.
He gets in his car, taking a deep breath before pulling out of the parking lot and driving away. It's just another typical day in the life of Ace. There's nothing he did different today. He packed the same lunch, ate at the same time, talked to the same people, and drove the same way to and from work. Just what is wrong with him? Why does he feel so horrible about today?

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