About Love: Chapter 7

Previous TOC Next

Upon graduating from university, Haruka-san had moved to Tokyo, where she met someone and fell in love. But her parents had been staunchly against the relationship. They forcibly brought her back home.

It was during his own visit for his grandmother’s funeral that Sasagawa saw her again—his childhood friend, withdrawn, crushed by despair, even contemplating suicide with the man she had been torn from.

Unable to stand by and watch, he offered her a way out. A fabricated marriage. Sasagawa had held quiet feelings for his beautiful childhood friend since high school.

"It was strange—I found it easier to offer a sham marriage than to confess that I loved her. It must have been because I had the excuse of ‘saving her’ to fall back on. I thought that if we got married, she might start to care about me… That maybe, just maybe, she might come to love me. I was a coward for hoping that."

Haruka-san’s parents, overjoyed at their daughter’s marriage, purchased an apartment in the city for the newlyweds. But after the wedding, the only one living in their ‘new home’ was Sasagawa.

Haruka-san had moved in with her lover. He had known it would happen, but still—

"It was hard to bear, after all…" Sasagawa said, smiling bitterly.

Beyond the square doors, a tall man emerged from the crowd. His gaze, unsteady, searched the area. It was obvious he was looking for him.

Asaka raised his right hand. The uncertainty vanished from Sasagawa’s face, replaced by quiet relief as he hurried over.

"Did I keep you waiting?"

"Not really. You were pretty absorbed in that painting. Did you enjoy it?"

Sasagawa nodded enthusiastically.

"Rather than enjoying it, I’d say it was beautiful.

I don’t really understand artistic paintings, but I thought that one was simply lovely."

Sasagawa studied Asaka intently.

"Are you tired?"

It wasn’t so much exhaustion as it was drowsiness. His script had refused to come together last night, keeping him up late.

"Just dozed off a little while sitting there…"

"I’ll drive us back, then."

Sasagawa smiled.

"I’ve been here a few times—got a friend who lives nearby. I’m not the best driver, but I’ve never caused an accident. I’ll drive safely, I promise."

"Ah, but…"

"Are you worried about the car?"

It wasn’t as if he had any real attachment to his cheap secondhand car. But letting Sasagawa drive… something about it made him hesitate.

"It’s not the car—it’s just a junker anyway…"

"I used to drive a Civic, you know. It’s been a while, but I’d like to get behind the wheel again. Would that be a problem?"

He couldn’t tell if Sasagawa was just trying to ease his reluctance, or if he genuinely wanted to drive. Either way, Asaka let him take the wheel.

At first, the unfamiliarity of sitting in the passenger seat of his own car made him uneasy. But true to his word, Sasagawa’s driving was so smooth that it barely felt like the same car. Before Asaka knew it, he had drifted off.

When he woke, the streets outside were familiar. The sky had darkened. Beside him, Sasagawa turned on the right blinker and pulled into a restaurant parking lot.

After shutting off the engine, he let out a quiet sigh.

"Asaka-san."

His voice was soft.

Asaka didn’t respond.

Perhaps taking that as a sign that he was still asleep, Sasagawa pulled out the art postcard he had bought at the museum and gazed at it in the dim light.

He would wait—Asaka was sure of it. Testing that thought, Asaka closed his eyes again. And just like that, he dozed off once more.

About thirty minutes later, he suddenly woke. This time, Sasagawa had fallen asleep as well. It was absurd. What were they even doing?

A laugh bubbled up before Asaka could stop it, and he roughly shook Sasagawa’s shoulder.

◇:-:◆:-:◇

It was unbelievable. When Asaka first heard it, he thought he had misheard. The wedding dress rental shop he always used had double-booked his reserved dress. On the same day, for another wedding.

Normally, Asaka should have been given priority—he had reserved it first. But the other request had come from a major hotel, a long-time client of the shop. They couldn’t refuse.

So the owner had pleaded with him to choose a different dress. The shop had worked with Office Dragée for years. And the owner had apologized profusely.

As unreasonable as it was, Asaka gave up on the dress. But that was only the beginning of the trouble. Desperate, he began searching for the exact same dress elsewhere.

The dress was a work by the designer Kayano Risa—made in Japan. That much he knew. But it was from two years ago, and on top of that, there were very few of them.

Asaka contacted Kayano Risa’s office directly, but they had no stock left. For now, they provided a list of shops that had carried the dress at the time of shipment.

If he couldn’t find a solution, he would have no choice but to apologize to the bride and ask her to choose a different dress. But that was the one thing he absolutely wanted to avoid.

Telling her, Despite your reservation, we couldn’t secure the dress—That would be a blow to their credibility.

Three days of searching for nothing but that dress. Finally, a rental shop in the countryside reached out, saying they might have the same one.

Believing their words—that they would search and get back to him within the day—Asaka stayed at the office, waiting for their call.

But even at 9 PM… even at 10 PM…

The phone did not ring. The office, empty and quiet, felt eerily lonely. Restless, Asaka stood up, then sat down, only to stand up again. He tried working on another client’s script, but his mind kept drifting back to the dress.

With a sigh, he walked to the window and gazed outside. His breath fogged up the glass. It was this cold already, and yet tomorrow would mark the start of March…

Another busy season was approaching. Suddenly, his cell phone rang. The countryside shop had his office number. There was no reason for them to call his cell.

Who would call at a time like this? He glanced at the screen: Sasagawa.

“…Yes, Asaka speaking.”

“It’s Sasagawa. Good evening.”

“What do you want?”

Asaka spoke quickly.

He had no idea when the rental shop might call, and the thought of missing it was unbearable. He wanted to end this call as soon as possible.

“No particular reason… I just wanted to talk for a bit. Can we meet?”

“I’m busy right now. I have to wait at the office for a work call, and I can’t go home until it comes. So tonight is—”

The silence that followed was brief. But even that short pause was enough to irritate Asaka.

“Just for a little while. I’ll wait until your work is done.”

Usually, Sasagawa backed off when given a reason. He never pushed. Yet tonight, he was unusually persistent.

That strangeness only fueled Asaka’s growing frustration.

“I already told you—I’m busy, so it’s not possible—”

The office phone rang. His patience snapped. Nearly shouting into his cell, Asaka cut him off.

“Look, I’ll call you later.”

Without waiting for a response, he hung up. Tossing his phone aside, he lunged for the office receiver.

It was the call he had been waiting for—the countryside rental shop. They confirmed they had the same wedding dress as the one Asaka had faxed earlier.

However, its condition wasn’t great and would require some repairs. It was an unusual design, rarely rented out anymore. But if Asaka covered the repair costs, they were willing to rent it out for an extended period at the standard rate—

At least until the wedding he was organizing was over. After asking for details, Asaka realized that the rental price at the countryside shop was lower than what they had budgeted.

Even factoring in the repair costs, the difference wouldn’t be significant. Without hesitation, he arranged for the dress to be shipped to the office via express delivery.

Two weeks left until the wedding. Asaka counted the days on his fingers. If the dress arrived in two days, even with repairs, it wouldn’t take more than ten.

There were still uncertainties about the condition it would arrive in. But at the very least, it seemed he wouldn’t have to ask the client to change dresses.

For the past three days, he had been so preoccupied with the dress that he could barely eat. Now that a solution was in sight, the tension drained from his body. He collapsed into his chair.

Previous TOC Next