Rain was falling.
The winter rain was desolate and low in saturation, yet the cold had let up, bringing a kind of romantic nuance.
Leaning against the large window, watching the raindrops hit the glass, I felt like going out with an umbrella and waiting for a person I was longing to see. I had never once hoped for someone to come pick me up or had I ever gone to welcome someone on a rainy day, but suddenly I had such a thought.
The person I was waiting for didn’t need an umbrella. Someone always guarded him from the rain, and the path he walked was always dry. His clothes would never be touched by raindrops.
However, there were times when I wanted to leave the study and go out to meet him, even if it was just for a few steps earlier. On such days, I felt an urge to take an umbrella and shield him from the raindrops over his head.
Having someone to wait for meant having someone to come back to where I was staying.
An Uninvited Guest Epilogue: Welcome
The air, pouring rain instead of snow, was not as cold as I expected it to be, with the cold wave having somewhat receded. Perhaps it was because I was used to a freezing single room without even a heater. I didn’t feel any tediousness in waiting. As I stepped on the stones placed like a stepping bridge in the rain-soaked vast garden, I lost track of time. My steps, avoiding the wet grass and stepping on the stones, felt as precarious as stepping on lotus flowers in a pond. And then, while I was absorbed in wandering through the garden.
“What are you doing here?”
I reflexively looked up at the voice that came through the humid air. I stared blankly at the person who had come close without my noticing. It was the person I had been waiting for. The person I longed to go out with an umbrella and wait for was finally standing in front of me. Though I had met him just this morning, seeing his presence in front of me felt strangely new, and I slowly spoke.
“I wanted to hear the sound of rain.”
It wasn’t a complete lie. The mansion was so well soundproofed that raindrops hitting the windows made hardly any sound. It even felt unfamiliar to hear the sound of raindrops hitting the large umbrella I had taken out alone, refusing the butler’s offer to hold the umbrella for me. It was different from the sound of rain falling on the slate roof of my old one-room house. It was also different from the sound of rain leaking through the ceiling and falling into a small pot. Perhaps it felt more impressive because the sound, so picturesque that I wanted to repeat this so-called outing many times, was a kind of leisure I had never felt before.
However, wanting to hear the rain was not the whole truth. There was something else I wanted to say. I came out because I wanted to wait for you. I came out here because I wanted to meet you a little sooner. But would it be okay to say that?
I was still not used to this. I repeatedly moved my lips but swallowed my words again, hesitating for a long time until his voice cut through the silent air between us a bit quicker.
“You must be really happy about passing the exam, to be doing things you’ve never done before.”
It was natural that I didn’t immediately understand what he meant. It was true that I was doing something I had never done before, but the reason he guessed for my strange behavior was a topic I hadn’t thought about even once today, so I missed the right time to respond. With my gaze fixed on his face, I didn’t catch the passage of time flowing by, which could have been interpreted as an unspoken affirmation.
It seemed that reason was more probable to him. It seemed more plausible to him that I was out and about because I was overwhelmed with the joy of getting into university, rather than because I wanted to wait for him. I could not blame him for his lack of sensitivity. Although he was not someone who was good at expressing himself, the basis for his assumption was ultimately my usual behavior. It only confirmed his prejudice that I was a person incapable of acting on such emotional grounds.
If I didn’t hesitate just because I wasn’t used to it and said that I was waiting for you…
“Let’s get in now.”
His low, calm voice brought me back to my senses. Soon, I regained my sense of exposure to the winter wind. I saw his thin coat, meant for someone who never had to stand in the cold for long. It was unfamiliar to see his hand exposed to the cold wind, a hand that never had to hold an umbrella. I imagined him sending back his secretary who held the umbrella for him, then approaching me, who was walking around the garden unlike my usual self, with an umbrella himself. It made my chest warm, as if spring had sprung there, contrasting with the cold wind that froze my body. As I realized that the rain pounding on the umbrella was getting louder, I was about to nod at his suggestion to go inside, but something I hadn’t noticed earlier caught my eye.
“…You’ve changed.”
The words unexpectedly slipped out from between my lips. Meeting his questioning eyes, I moved my gaze slightly upward.
“Your hair…”
It was a little shorter, almost imperceptible that you wouldn’t notice unless you looked closely. His hair color also seemed a bit lighter than it had been this morning, but I couldn’t be sure because I was seeing him by the light of the unfamiliar garden, not the light of the house where I’d always see him. Perhaps it was just my imagination.
He didn’t react for a long time. He just remained silent, as if he was studying every inch of my face. Maybe he hadn’t changed his hair, but only the humidity from the rain made it look different. A regret for acknowledging something unnecessary started to creep in, fearing my pretense of realizing a change in him would be seen as I had no interest in him. Just as I was about to pull myself together to hurry us inside, he was suddenly standing right in front of me.
Right in front. No, even closer. He was close enough that I could feel his breath.
The strength in my hands weakened, and I couldn’t breathe out of shock. The umbrella fell, rolling on the grass.
Cold raindrops splashed onto my pants, which hadn’t gotten wet despite wandering around the garden, causing my shoulders to shiver. However, the raindrops that should have poured over my head were blocked by another umbrella. Everything stayed tranquil as if nothing had happened. Time stood still, and the silence under the umbrella was as quiet as inside the mansion, devoid of sounds from outside. The only living sensation was the shallow breaths exchanged between our lips.
His kiss was suffocatingly persistent yet meltingly gentle. Despite his cold and blunt nature, his touch and gestures toward me were always soft. Even when his movements were rough from his exhausted perseverance, the warmth was so intense that I felt elated.
My fingertips tingled at the tickling sensation as his tongue encircled mine. Forgetting to breathe, a faint whimper escaped my parted lips before it was sucked back into his lips, and eventually, I couldn’t resist extending my hand to grasp the hem of his shirt. The tip of his tongue slipped between my parted lips and slid smoothly across the roof of my mouth, and my mind went blank, and my legs gave way. Just as I was about to collapse down, a strong arm wrapped around my waist.
“Haa… Haaa…”
I panted. As his hot lips withdrew, air finally rushed into my lungs. As my senses returned from being cut off from the surroundings like in a vacuum, my ears now started to pick up the heavy sound of rain. Yet the sound pounding in my left chest, beating against my ribs, overwhelmed my hearing more than the rain. My fingertips continued to tremble, not calming down as I breathed deeper. Perhaps because I couldn’t avoid his gaze even after our lips had parted, when I noticed his face approaching closer again, it prompted my lips to respond first, anticipating another kiss. Leaning on his arm that firmly supported my waist, I accepted his tender kiss. As his breath flowed into my mouth, my stomach felt ticklish. My feet twitched on the ground. His collar crumpled in my grasp.
As our lips parted again, my eyelids opened. Looking into my eyes, he came closer again and lightly bit my lower lip. Our lips touched and parted again, then his face moved closer again to kiss my forehead this time. Just like I had come out into the rain to wait, longing for the person who left this morning, he also seemed to long for the person right in front of him, showering me with his desperate kisses. It felt so warm, it was undeniable that I was being loved.
Make me feel happy and supported by leaving a comment!
