The Gardener of the Sleeping Forest: Prologue
Synopsis for the note Creative Awards entry
The perspective of this story alternates between the male and female leads in each chapter.
Hana, a 36-year-old single woman, is intrigued by a gardener she sees on rainy days who acts like a "kindness mugger," but she is satisfied just watching him.
The gardener, also 36 and single, is a hardworking man with a slight complex about his educational background. He secretly has a soft spot for Hana, whom he occasionally sees at the convenience store in the morning, always bowing apologetically to everyone.
As winter arrives, the distance between the two unexpectedly closes. They misunderstand each other, miss their chances, and eventually grow closer, but Hana has a reason she cannot take that final step.
Everyone is afraid to reveal their true selves. After all, no one wants to get hurt.
They keep missing each other, frustratingly so. Please join me in watching over the fate of these adults' love, which is sometimes heartbreaking and sometimes humorous.
This is a story that many readers on X have commented made them cry.
For the entry, the "synopsis" and the URL for each chapter are included only in the prologue and the first chapter.
《Chapter List》
Prologue *Current page
Chapter 5 The Gardener of the Sleeping Forest Chapter 5: The Rose Man / Hana Takamiya | Futagoya Umejintan
Chapter 8 The Gardener of the Sleeping Forest Chapter 8: Rain - Part 1 / Takatora Muromi | Futagoya Umejintan
Chapter 9 The Gardener of the Sleeping Forest Chapter 9: Rain - Part 2 / Hana Takamiya | Futagoya Umejintan
Final Chapter The Gardener of the Sleeping Forest Final Chapter: After the Rain - Part 2 / Takatora Muromi | Futagoya Umejintan
The Gardener of the Sleeping Forest: Prologue
One day, I suddenly realized that those curses were wearing the mask of "I am common sense," pretending to guide me while actually leading me astray.
There is probably no life that can avoid being hurt. However, there is no growth or future in days where one's self-esteem is just passively wasted. All that remains is the figure of oneself, hated and abandoned even by one's own self.
My incompetence and the various forms of harassment I receive from my personality-disordered boss should be entirely separate issues. Yet, as I was constantly belittled day after day, it seems I began to believe that I was a person of no value myself.
That low self-esteem also had a negative impact on my private life. I turned a blind eye to the occasional sense of discomfort I felt toward my boyfriend, and with a mysterious sense of urgency that I was already in my thirties, I had unilaterally pinned vague hopes on him.
And then, on my thirty-third birthday, he proposed to me.
"Happy birthday, Hana. Sorry for making you wait until you became a total old lady. Shall we get married soon? Quit your job; I don't want to do housework."
More than the surprise of the sudden proposal, and more than the anger at his incredibly insensitive choice of words, the shock that he had even forgotten my birthday outweighed everything else. What on earth is my life, anyway?
That night, as I lay in bed unable to sleep, an image suddenly appeared in my mind, and at the same time, the sound of a gong rang out.
It was the scene of Princess Aurora waking up from the ballet 'The Sleeping Beauty'.
Like the princess who received the prince's kiss, I crawled out of bed and wrote my resignation letter in one go.
It was past two in the morning when I tucked that resignation letter into my commuting bag. Rain was hitting the window. It was past six in the evening in Paris. I opened my laptop and contacted my twin brother, Chihaya, for the first time in years, and he showed a smile through the screen, unfazed by the gap in time.
Born on the same day, we first celebrated each other's birthdays, and Chihaya laughed, saying, "In Japan, your birthday was already yesterday, right?"
After finishing talking about our recent situations, I finally told him about the proposal.
"Well, congratulations. Japan has been dangerous lately, so I'm relieved if Hana is going to be with someone. Are you having a wedding ceremony?"
"No, I'm not. It's not about the ceremony; I'm not getting married at all. But I have decided to quit my job."
I answered Chihaya's words with a sharp retort, and as he froze with a look of surprise, I continued to pile on more.
"Today, when he said that to me, I realized something again. A company is something you can quit. And then, after thinking about it carefully, I realized one more thing. Marriage isn't something you absolutely have to do, is it?"
I brushed off Chihaya's frantic attempts to stop me and crawled back into bed, and this time, a sound sleep came in an instant.
The next morning, I woke up earlier than usual, went to work early in a refreshed mood, efficiently packed my things, and slammed my resignation letter onto the desk of the harassing boss who had just arrived.
"Are you an idiot, first thing in the morning? What are you going to do after you quit? If you can't handle things here, you won't be able to make it anywhere else. Or did you find some man to feed you? Ah, women have it easy, don't they?"
The boss, who as always hurled anachronistic insults without knowing the first thing about compliance, must have been certain that I would, as always, silently endure it.
I looked down at my boss, who was snickering, with cold eyes and immediately snickered back at him without missing a beat.
“Is it really so pathetic to live your life resenting women just because your wife and kids left you? Or perhaps you were dumped because you’re a pathetic man? Well, I have plenty of paid leave left, so I’ll be taking my leave forever, starting today.”
The counter-punch I delivered without holding back seemed to have dealt more damage than I had imagined. My harassing boss just stood there, mouth agape like a goldfish. Aggressive people are surprisingly weak when it comes to defense.
As I packed my things and made my lightning-fast exit with a beaming smile, my colleagues in the same department—who usually tormented each other in a tense atmosphere—all sent me off with smiles: some gave me a thumbs-up as I passed, some whispered “Well said,” and others couldn't hide their bubbling laughter.
With that same momentum, I waited for nightfall to go see my lover and tell him we were through.
Princess Aurora’s goal is to be released from that curse and wake from her slumber. A prince’s kiss is, after all, merely a means to an end.
Chihaya started contacting me frequently, worried about me.
“You’re thirty-three, what are you going to do now? I mean, you’re free to get married or do whatever you want. But quitting your job and saying you won’t get married? Of course your family is going to worry.”
The words of my twin brother were very realistic, and they certainly had a point or two. And of course, I knew all too well that he was saying this out of concern for me.
“Thanks for worrying about me.”
“Why are you laughing?”
“Because I’m happy that you’re worried about me, Chihaya.”
Perhaps exasperated by my carefree attitude, Chihaya on the other side of the screen eventually smiled and said jokingly,
“Anyway, I don’t want you to worry alone when you’re in trouble. Don’t be so distant; what were we born together for, anyway?”
Chihaya is, and has always been, my greatest ally. It made me happy, as if we had gone back to the days when we lived together.
—And so, my life took a turn, and three years have already passed.
Where did that confident version of myself from back then go? I, the klutz, remain a klutz as always. My income is unstable, and I have neither an ideal lover nor a wonderful husband. But I live in my favorite town and have gained a life where I can remember my own birthday.
Soon, I will be thirty-six years old.
I am participating in the note Creative Awards.
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Continues to Chapter 1: "The Sleeping Princesses Stand on Their Own"
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