Lonliness

Mori slumped back in his armchair, his bony figure shrouded by fumes of thick smoke spiraling from his cigarette. As he gazed at the relentlessly pelting rain out of the window, his burdened mind was suddenly overwhelmed with a deep sense of loneliness. A peculiar tinge of sadness surging inside, Mori shuddered and let out an audible sigh. Never before had he experienced such an eerie, vivid feeling.

Loneliness – how Mori resented that dreary word, and yet, it was most precise to describe his emotion at this very moment. Without Eri, his ex-wife, everything seemed meaningless to Mori. Somehow, Eri had left an irreplaceable mark in his fragile heart, a mark that no one could ever make up for. Had it not been for their divorce, today he and Eri could celebrate their wedding anniversary together, strolling along Tokyo’s glorious boulevards and enjoying the mellifluous music of “Greenfield”, their favourite song. Deep down inside, Mori had a heartfelt wish that he could turn back the clock, so that he could once again become a normal police officer leading a simple life with his wife. How he missed Eri’s seemingly inedible yet unforgettable dishes! Several times, Mori intended to ask Eri to return and start everything all over again with him, but his arrogance had always prevented him from doing so. Now that Mori had become such a prominent figure in society, he found it extremely difficult for him to admit his mistake and express his innermost feelings to someone else, even when that someone used to be his beloved soulmate.

Mori had no doubt the divorce had so detrimental an impact on his beloved daughter, Ran. She was growing up, faster than Mori had thought. Soon, Ran would enter college, then later stages of her life, without having a mother to turn to whenever she was faced with a predicament in life or needed a piece of advice. Much as he tried, Mori knew he could never take over Eri’s role in Ran’s life, and neither could anyone else except Eri. He used to...