Because You Were by My Side

“Would you consider dating me with marriage in mind?” This story began the day I, Haruki Daisuke, a senior at a national university who had just secured a job offer, heard those words from Manaka Sonomiya, a beautiful coworker I had never spoken to before. There was someone I needed to forget. And Manaka also had a boyfriend she was about to break up with. “I love him. But with him only chasing dreams, we can’t build a stable family,” Manaka said. Manaka’s family had been torn apart by poverty. Not wanting to repeat that sorrow, she confessed that she had chosen me, someone with a stable job, as a potential marriage partner—not the man she loved most. Naturally, I couldn’t agree with ...