Revised Edition – 24
☑ ◇ Shocking Incident ―
“Ah—oh dear, did I do it again? I’m so sorry!”
Noticing the way my face had gone pale and stiff,
the temple master’s wife quickly apologized.
“To be precise, I was talking about Ren-san’s former wife.”
Honestly, talking to this woman was terrible for my heart.
I waited for her next words with teary eyes.
“Apparently, Ren-san’s wife was… well, the kind of beauty you’d hardly ever see in real life. Truly stunning.”
“Oh, and just to be clear,” she added,
“that’s not something I heard directly from Ren-san—it’s all secondhand gossip.”
“Anyway, even after she married him,
men were constantly flirting with her,
trying to hit on her from every direction.”
“But you know,” she continued with a sigh,
“Ren-san himself is a handsome man too.
So, for a while, just having such a good-looking husband kept those men at bay.”
“Then, about three years into their marriage,
a transfer notice came from his company—he was to be relocated alone.”
Ren-san had wanted to bring his wife along,
and she, too, had wanted to go with him.
But her parents, doting on their only daughter, didn’t approve.
“It’s just a two- or three-year transfer, after all—go alone,”
was basically their attitude.
And so, Ren-san relented, leaving for his new post by himself.
“At first,” she continued,
“he’d come home once a month, or she’d go visit him.
But as his work grew busier and he couldn’t return as often,
she, too, gradually stopped visiting him altogether.”
“Poor Ren-san must’ve been so lonely,” she said, her voice soft with pity.
“But even though he was exhausted from overwork,
I’m sure he kept pushing himself, thinking of her every single day.”
“Then one day, missing his beloved wife too much to bear,
he begged his company for two days off and decided to go home.”
“Just imagine it,” she said, her eyes glistening,
“he must have been so tired, yet he still jumped on the train,
just to see the woman he loved.
Even now, when I think of that, it brings tears to my eyes.”
Um, ma’am… crying there is sweet and all, but could we maybe get to the point?
I thought wryly, trying to hide my impatience as I waited for her to continue.
