[Weekly Short-Short Note] If We Could Meet Again Someday - The Old Man's Chest of Drawers

I am a chest of drawers sitting in a 2K apartment where an old man lives alone. As a wedding chest brought by the woman who was the old man's wife, I have a luxurious appearance that doesn't fit this room. The other pieces of furniture from that set were sold when they divorced, and I am the only one who moved into this room with him.

When the old man comes home from work today, he eats a half-price bento from the supermarket and drinks several cans of 9% chuhai. The room is never cleaned, trash is left as is, and it's in a state of squalor. Besides, since he only eats bento, I feel like his nutrition is unbalanced. I want to tell him that this won't do, but my words never reach his ears.

He may be like this now, but back when he was married, he was stylish, healthy, and full of motivation. Since the divorce, he seems to have forgotten how to be stylish and appears to have given up on life somewhere along the way.

While drinking his chuhai, the old man looked at the results of his recent health checkup, let out a sigh, and tossed the papers away roughly. When I peeked at the results, I saw the words 're-examination' written there.

Several months passed while the old man stubbornly refused to go for a re-examination.

The room is still a mess, but lately, the old man hasn't been eating much, nor has he been drinking his chuhai. Having lost a lot of weight compared to before, he seems to be in terrible health.

One day, morning came and then afternoon, but the old man never woke up. I was worried sick about him not waking up. The following afternoon, the police, the apartment manager, and someone from the old man's company arrived. When the police officer touched the old man, he just shook his head silently.

A few days later, the old man's children arrived with people from a cleaning company. The trash in the room was cleared away, and it became clean. Then, the son opened my drawer. Inside the drawer were bankbooks with the old man's name and each of his children's names, and they contained a fairly substantial amount of money.

“Dad, you left money for us.”
“I suppose he wanted to do something like a parent, at least.”

Then, when they opened the bottom drawer, they found a photograph of the woman who had been his wife.

Sometimes, when the old man was drunk, he would open the drawer, hug the photo, and cry. He would call out the name of the woman who was his wife and sob, 'Did you like him better than me? What was wrong with me?'

“What should we do with this chest? It was Mom's wedding chest, right?”
The daughter asks the son.
“Yeah. But we won't use a chest like this anymore, will we?”
“True. It's a waste, but shall we get rid of it?”

Hearing that, I felt a little relieved. The old man has passed away, and I have become all alone. Being disposed of is a little scary, but if I can spend time with the old man again in heaven, that's fine. After spending some time in heaven, I think it wouldn't be bad to meet again as humans next time.

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I'm participating in the weekly short-short note! 💛
This week's hidden theme is 'Old Man's Chest of Drawers'.

It's been a really long time since I last participated!
Somehow, it turned into more of a short story than a short-short.
And the character count is three times longer, haha.

But when I hear 'Old Man's Chest of Drawers,' the first thing that comes to mind is Eisaku Okawa, lol.
I still can't forget him carrying a chest on 'The Best Ten'!!

Thank you for reading until the end today as well♪

#WeeklyShortShortNote
#HydrangeaBoy
#OldMansChest