Short Story: Twenty Years in the Mist

I greeted the foggy morning inside the car.
My husband wanted to spend our twentieth anniversary watching the sea of clouds,
so we left the house around midnight and I had been sleeping in the car.

When I woke up, we were surrounded by mist. Just a few meters ahead, it was opaque, as if a curtain had been drawn. The headlights of oncoming cars also shone with a whitish, mild light.
The scenery passing by was a forest, where straight cedar trees without branches formed an orderly green.

“We’ll be there soon.”
My husband spoke without looking away from the road, sensing that I had woken up.
“I thought mountains would be more overgrown.”
The milk tea I took from the cup holder was lukewarm and had grown more bitter.

“Thank you for these twenty years.”
Being thanked by my husband again felt formal, and
a sense of unease flickered more than a sense of ticklish joy.
“Thank you, too.”

I remembered the first time he called me by his surname, and I looked back on how fast those twenty years had flown by.

There were no particular events, and I wondered what normal couples were like. When my husband thanked me again, I bit my lip in sadness, feeling that we had never experienced the kind of trials that lead a couple to confirm their happiness together.

“Thank you for taking care of me as well.”

The scenery remained shrouded in mist, and the car drove along the winding road without our destination in sight.

“Kanae-san.
Today, our rental family contract comes to an end.
At first, I dreamed that perhaps we might truly marry as affection grew over the twenty years,
but thanks to your rationality, we maintained appearances and I have reached my retirement age safely.
With the changing times, homosexuality has finally become recognized by society, and I have decided to live with my partner upon my retirement.
Please, Kanae-san, I hope you find happiness too.”

Lacking advantages in appearance or background and having no experience in dating, I chose the job of a contract wife because I wanted to be near the opposite sex and experience having a family of my own, and the title of a married woman brought credibility to how I was treated.

While taking care of my husband, a small spark of love had sprouted. However, my feelings never reached my husband, who preferred his own sex, and perhaps it was fortunate that I was able to obtain at least the form of a marriage, even if I would have had to give up on it due to old age otherwise, as wrinkles and sagging skin appeared all over my body.

The mist of my life clears. Waiting there was the reality that I, at 71 years old, would be left all alone.

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