Derek leaned against the wall in the darkness, watching the stage through the gap between the wings.
Has she grown a little...?
They were not acting together, but it had still been a long time since he had performed in the same space as her.
There were only five years between them, yet Natalie felt almost like a daughter to Derek.
She had debuted late, and even when she took the lead role in Killing Smile, she had still been practically a rookie. Which meant Derek had torn into her without mercy.
And she kept up with every bit of it...
He knew that, at least when it came to acting, his personality could be fairly vicious.
But he became even worse whenever he found an actor who grew rapidly under that relentless pressure. Of all the actors he had hounded, Natalie had absorbed his advice more diligently and intelligently than anyone else, and in a short span of time, she had become one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood.
And now she was challenging him.
How admirable.
Then I’ll have to crush her even harder.
A crooked smile tugged at his lips as he kept his eyes on the stage.
His student, who became astonishingly beautiful whenever she acted, was now sharing the stage with the first actor Derek had ever acknowledged as his equal.
What kind of performance would they create?
“Why, why? What kind of man was he?”
“Strange thing number one. He was carrying an umbrella.”
“What? An umbrella?”
The man and woman stared at each other as though struck by an electric current.
While they stood there in silence, the rest of Sophia’s phone conversation with her friend Mika continued over the speakers.
Shhhhhhh—
The sound of rain intensified again.
Sophia pressed a button on her wrist with a beep. A narrow beam of violet light appeared above her head. Then she tilted her head at the man standing a short distance away, opening an umbrella.
“An umbrella? Haven’t those almost disappeared? You can just turn on a cover shield against wind and rain.”
“Exactly. It had been ages since I’d seen such a huge umbrella. But then that man...he stared at me for a while and suddenly spoke to me.”
As though guided by the recorded conversation, the man approached Sophia.
His sun-colored hair was slightly damp and curling, and his gaze was gentle and warm. Faced with such tender eyes from a complete stranger, her expression flickered with unease.
[Good afternoon, miss. My name is Milton.]
At that, both Sophia and the watching audience nearly burst out laughing.
“Miss”?
Even in 2007, never mind 2020, it was far too old-fashioned a word for ordinary conversation.
As Sophia stared openly at the strange man, the audience studied him along with her.
He wore a heavy, old-fashioned suit.
Though aged, the hazelnut-colored fabric had been kept impeccably clean. It looked almost absurdly dated, yet it suited his wheat-colored hair and gentle face.
Every button was fastened, and even his tie pin and cuff links were neatly matched. His appearance was so classic that he looked as though he had stepped directly out of an outdated menswear magazine.
[...And?]
Her voice rose at the end, laden with confusion.
Why had this man spoken to her?
[Excuse me, but...your hair seems to be wet.]
With a slightly awkward smile, the man carefully held something out to her.
It was a handkerchief, freshly ironed, its edges perfectly aligned and folded with care.
The recorded voices returned.
“A handkerchief? People still carry those around?”
“I know. But with him...that kind of neatness suited him so naturally, as though it were simply part of who he was.”
She accepted the handkerchief, dabbed at her wet hair, then returned it to him.
Taking it back, the man made a courteous suggestion.
[Would you...like to share my umbrella?]
She glanced once at the cover shield casting light above her head.
An umbrella...
It was an extremely inefficient suggestion, but...
[...Thank you.]
She stepped beneath his umbrella.
When she tapped her wrist once more, the violet light disappeared.
His umbrella was large.
So large that, despite the heavy rain, neither of her shoulders became wet.
Or perhaps that was because he had tilted the umbrella much farther toward her side.
[My name is...Sophia.]
She looked at him and smiled.
That was their first meeting.
Blackout.
In the darkness between scenes, the sound of another phone call filled the theater.
Mika’s voice was lively and dramatic, while Sophia’s was clear with a slightly sharp edge.
“Sophia! It’s been forever!”
“Mika, what happened with that nice guy?”
“Nice, my ass... Ugh, he was the worst. What about you? That strange man from before—did you at least get his AlphaChat ID?”
“No...I don’t think he knows what that is...”
“What? That’s impossible. Who doesn’t use AlphaChat these days? Then how do you contact each other? Don’t tell me...you text like people used to in the old days?”
“No...it’s just...”
The lights came on as Sophia’s voice trailed away.
Sophia checked the time.
1:58.
This was how she and the man made plans.
At two in the afternoon in front of the clock tower on the next clear blue day.
At four in the afternoon at the bus stop the next time it rained.
When Sophia asked for his AlphaChat ID, the man had tilted his head as though he did not understand. For some reason, she had not asked again.
It had felt as though she should not.
[Sophia!]
Milton entered from the edge of the stage, dressed in a neat polo shirt layered beneath a sweater.
The moment he saw her, his face brightened as though the whole world had lit up, and he waved enthusiastically.
At the sight, even Sophia’s sharp expression softened, its edges blunted by warmth.
[Sophia, have you been well? I missed you.]
[...Yes.]
Faced with his completely unguarded honesty, she flushed slightly and barely managed to pretend calm as she changed the subject.
[Where...where do you buy clothes like that?]
[Uh...why? Do they look strange?]
[They do, but...they suit you.]
At her answer, the man’s eyes curved with delight.
Thump.
Every woman in the studio audience and every female viewer watching at home felt her heart leap at once.
It was the smile of someone overwhelmed by how adorable something was.
Seeing that expression, they all remembered the eyes of whichever former lover had once loved them most fiercely, and had therefore remained in their memory for a very, very long time.
[I packed lunch today.]
The man lifted the picnic basket in his hand and swung it lightly.
Sophia had grown fairly accustomed to him by then, yet this time her eyes widened like a young girl’s.
A packed lunch...?
[You made it...yourself?]
[Yes. The weather is beautiful, and I wanted to go on a picnic with you.]
He’s like a magic box.
He smiled gently and offered one arm like an escort.
Sophia slipped her arm through his naturally.
After walking halfway around the stage, he spread out a picnic blanket and began taking things from the basket.
The lunch was colorful and pretty.
But after Sophia took a bite of an egg sandwich with an impressed expression, her face crumpled.
[It’s salty...]
[Uh...salty?]
[Ah! I just bit into eggshell!]
[Oh no. Here...spit it out here.]
The man flailed in panic.
After spitting out the shell, the woman suddenly burst into laughter as though something about the situation were unbearably funny.
They laughed together for a long time, and the sharpness in her expression softened a little further.
As they watched, the audience began to feel something strange.
A modern, urban woman and an old-fashioned, gentle man.
At first, they had seemed so different in atmosphere that they might have belonged to opposite ends of humanity.
But as they spent time together and the woman lowered her defenses, the expression that naturally emerged on her face looked remarkably like his.
Like longtime lovers.
Or family.
[Your birthday is next week, isn’t it?]
[What? How did you know?!]
[I have my ways. Your birthday...would you spend it with me? I really...want you to spend it with me.]
Something in the man’s earnest tone made Sophia nod.
[All right.]
[There’s something I absolutely have to tell you that day.]
At Milton’s words, Sophia sensed that he planned to confess his feelings.
And yet her expression turned faintly troubled.
Strange.
She definitely liked him.
She always counted the days until they could meet again.
So why did the thought of his confession...fail to excite her?
“Maybe you only thought you liked him because he was so unusual and entertaining. If you really liked him, how could the promise of a confession not make your heart race?”
“Our next meeting will already be the tenth. How could I meet someone ten times if I didn’t like him...?”
“You could if you were bored. Anyway, I couldn’t date someone who didn’t make me excited.”
“......”
Shhhhhhh—
It rained.
Milton appeared beneath that enormous umbrella once again.
With a complicated expression, Sophia joined him beneath it.
[Sophia, happy birthday! You don’t look well. Are you sick?]
[No...]
[Sophia, you look beautiful when you smile. I wish you could see only beautiful things and think only happy thoughts.]
[Haha...]
That day, too, he was as gentle and attentive as ever.
At an elegant restaurant, he cut her steak into perfectly neat bite-sized pieces and placed them in front of her.
She watched him blankly and thought that he truly was a considerate man.
Wouldn’t it be right...to choose someone who loved her this much?
[Sophia. Today is your thirtieth birthday, isn’t it?]
[...What? Yes. That’s right.]
[Thank you...for being born so beautiful, and for growing up so well.]
The old-fashioned man opened with an equally old-fashioned preface.
A confession that began with, “Thank you to your parents for bringing someone as beautiful as you into the world.”
Really...
He was classic to the bitter end.
Then came the confession itself.
[Sophia...my Sophia. I love you.]
His words overflowed with such sincerity that she squeezed her eyes shut.
No.
She could not accept such naked honesty with halfhearted feelings.
She had to reject him.
And yet, even though his confession did not make her heart race...why did it fill her chest with such warmth?
[Milton. I’m grateful for your feelings, but...I...um...I’m sorry. I don’t think I can date you.]
[......]
[It must seem ridiculous for me to say this after meeting you so many times. I’m truly...sorry. I really do like you, but for some reason, I don’t feel that I can be with you...]
Rambling in embarrassment, she searched his face anxiously.
Then the man across from her suddenly burst into laughter.
Hahaha—
It was far too bright and joyful a laugh for someone who had just been rejected.
[Milton...?]
[Haha, I’m sorry. You’re just too adorable. Of course. Sophia should meet a man far better than me.]
[...?]
She froze in confusion.
Milton gently tucked the hair at her temple behind her ear and met her eyes.
[Of course, even if Sophia falls in love with another man, I’ll still love only Sophia.]
Her thoughts became hopelessly tangled.
It was fortunate that he was not angry, but did that mean...he intended to become her stalker?
No, they did not even know how to contact each other.
Now that she had rejected him, would she ever see him again?
What if she could not?
If she never saw him again...why did that thought feel so painfully disappointing?
After a meal she could barely remember eating, the two walked beneath the umbrella once more.
Just before they parted, he handed her an envelope.
[What...is this?]
[A birthday present. A handwritten letter. Will you read it when you get home?]
[...Yes.]
Then he asked her one last thing.
[Sophia. May I hold you just once, for the last time?]
Something felt strange.
His eyes looked completely pure, without the slightest trace of ulterior motive.
After hesitating, she gave a small nod.
He opened his arms wide and held her tightly.
Hidden behind the umbrella and the man’s back, she looked tiny in his embrace.
Like a child.
When he finally forced himself to release her, the look in his eyes as he gazed down at her one last time stole the audience’s breath.
An aching tenderness too profound to describe.
An inexplicable fullness.
An immense love.
He pressed the umbrella firmly into her hand, then gave her one final smile so gentle it seemed he might melt away.
And then he ran out into the rain.
[Wait...!]
She looked down at the umbrella and the single letter remaining in her hands.
Then she realized.
He was gone.
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