Mayu is finally back. It took us seven years to reunite, even though we had been married all this time.

   From the beginning, we had agreed we would be the type of couple who couldn’t always be together. Mayu traveled the world as a photographer, while I worked hard for my company’s success. For a long time, we thought we were doing great with our lives and marriage.

   Two weeks after our reunion, the happiness ran out. “Ken-chan, can we break up?” Mayu finally spoke up.

   It’s not that I didn’t understand why she asked that, because I felt it too—the love we once had was long gone. “Honestly, I never cared about your company,” Mayu continued. “I just wish you’d protest more about how we’re never together.”

   “I never really cared about your photography either,” I confessed. “I put up with your absences because I thought I was being a supportive husband. The truth is, I wasn’t brave enough to say how much I wanted you to come home sooner.”

   It used to be easier when there was a distance between us. It helped keep our relationship alive without having to deal with each other too much. But that distance that had connected us was no longer there. “Let’s be together from now on, Mayu,” I said. “Fall in love with me again like you did, and I too will give the rest of my life to fall for you all over again.”

   “You’re saying that now of all times,” Mayu began to cry. “Now, after all these years.”

   I cried too, not sure why. But we cried and cried.