Another Time, Another Kiss - Chapter 12

Each day of the seventeen years passed before both Kotoko and Naoki met each other again and each day that passed brought about changes in them. Now that they’ve met, they were no longer the Irie Naoki and Aihara Kotoko who used to live under the same roof and yet, something still remained unchanged.

“Aren’t you going to answer my question?” Reiko asked when she received no response from her husband, who was driving them home from a funeral which she did not want to attend.

“What question?” Naoki threw it back guiltlessly, his eyes fixed on the traffic ahead.

“Just drive your car and think of whatever you want.” Reiko ended the usual solo conversation with a frown and looked away from her husband. Always, she could feel a little knife twisting in her heart whenever Naoki did not bother to prompt.

What was the worthiness of her words? Did they serve their purposes during all those countless converstions that they had shared all these while? Reiko wondered painfully to herself.

Always silence…deep silence all around between the couple and perhaps that was the only reason why they could still be an item.

***
FLASHBACK

“Why are you leaving?” Reiko paused, hesitating as she scanned Kotoko’s face, in search for the actual reason rather than a standard one. “Naoki is not getting transferred, what's the point in doing that?”

“People grow up.” Kotoko said with a forced cheerfulness. “I think it’s about time for me to stop behaving so childishly and…” Kotoko shot Reiko a quick glance, who was staring at her too.

Despite hating Kotoko down to the core ever since the day she painfully understood the fact that Naoki would never be hers, she wanted to know what made Kotoko gave up her ‘dream’. The question loomed sky high, above the two girls.

“…move on.” Kotoko actually finished her sentence with a smile, a smile so sensible that Reiko couldn't help but just stare at her in amazement.

***
The car was abruptly stopped and brought Reiko back from the ‘airport’ seventeen years back.

“Why are we stopping here?” Reiko almost yelled when she noticed Naoki unbuckling his seatbelt. “You take the car.” Naoki muttered without any further explanation and got himself out of the car.

“Irie Naoki!” Reiko’s face grew red with anger and quickly stepped out from the car. “Where are you going?” Reiko screamed out as loud as her lung would allow her to, but Naoki just wandered further and further away from her.

Dark mascara streaked Reiko’s cheeks. Her bright red lipstick was smeared. Her hair, customarily worn on her head like a perfect hat, was mused and displaced. She had strolled into Naoki’s life with a vision of perfection and now, she appeared a broken mannequin.

To be continued…