"I stood by you, all those years you know..." she said as they sat side by side at the engawa.
It was past one in the morning on a cold winter's night in January. The world was pitch black except for the dim light across the empty street illuminating the snow that glistened sadly throughout the night.
There was a hollow silence in the air. Empty. Desolate. They're not the same people from years ago. They've changed, and time has slowly caught up with them.
She poured sake into a small copper guinomi cup that he gave her ten years ago. The color had changed. It gleamed languidly, somber, and heavy.
She sipped the hot liquor, the warmth invaded her lips as she gazed off into nothingness.
"I knew you did." he finally muttered. The cold air escaped his breath as he sighed. He looked up at the lazy clouds graced across the moonless eternity of the night sky.
"I loved you and you knew it all along. All those years! I wasted my life for you! For you! For this.. this crazy dream!" she laughed angrily.
She knew that the years of hiding, of denying her own feelings, have taken a toll. Her heart couldn't take it any longer. Her soul finally surrendered to reality. He'll never be hers to love, for he's always been someone else's.
The air grew thick between them in some mercurial way for what seemed like forever.
He felt an intense tightness in his throat. His face grew warm. He felt tears welling up in his eyes but held them back with every inch of restraint he had left and sat still.
"I loved you too, Jun." he confessed.
YOU ARE READING
The Painter
RomanceJun was a 21-year-old art student when she first met Ogata, her painting mentor at a famous art college in central Tokyo. He was 10 years her senior, married with two young children, and is a rising star in the Japanese contemporary art scene. Thoug...
