The next morning, Ash - surprisingly - woke up on time for work. He rolled out of bed with a loud sigh, remembering his crying from last night. The young man shook his head, discarding the unpleasant memory of his hot tears stinging his eyes before rolling down his cheeks and burning his skin. He quickly walked into the bathroom and shut the door. He looked at himself in the mirror and groaned loudly, staring at his hair for a while before clicking his tongue and hanging his head, looking down at the sink. He splashed some water on his face and wiped it on a spare towel before stumbling back out.   Once he caught his balance, he walked into the kitchen as he stretched his arms above his head. He glanced briefly at his coffee machine before shaking his head, concluding that if he ingested any caffeine and was even more awake than he already was, it would be an invitation for his head to overthink all of his actions throughout the day. He grabbed an appl

   Ash hastily fumbled to answer the phone until he finally answered it. He cleared his throat into the phone and closed his eyes, sitting up straight on the bed and hanging his head. "Mum?" He called after a few seconds of awkward silence as he furrowed his eyebrows in concentration. The silence continued to envelop the two before a soft sigh was heard on the other side of his phone.    "Ashley." His mother - Jen - began and his breathing hitched in his throat. This was the first time he had heard his mother's voice in four years. He gasped out suddenly and blinked his eyes open, widening them in shock at the woman's voice. He even ignored how she called him by his full name and tried to process just how different her voice sounded. "I-I didn't want to bother you but..." Ash's eyes widened at the statement almost instantly and he shook his head, despite knowing that she couldn't see him.    "No! It's alright." Ash smiled sligh

   Ash walked into his boss's office without knocking, his face still supporting the right smile he had plastered on his face the entire day. Mr Carreiro watched the younger with a raised eyebrow as he waltzed in and plopped himself on the chair in front of the desk. He was genuinely happy that Ash was in a good mood for the first time in a while, but it was an uncommon sight and, therefore, he was curious about what caused him to have a smile on his face the whole day.     "Did you want to talk about something?" Ash questioned, biting into his food and looking at the older man through his eyelashes. Mr Carreiro hummed as an answer to the question and looked away, staring at the wall for a while before Ash spoke again, breaking him out of his daydream and back into reality. "What is it? Is it something serious?" He asked, eyebrows furrowing down ever so slightly in worry. His eyes, however, remained bright and wide. The older of the two looked o