If You Touch, You Can't Go Back. ——The Sincere and Cruel Love of a Man Who Won't Confess, Chapter 1

[Synopsis]
Sebastian, who has served as a butler in England for many years, signs a six-month live-in contract with a female business owner in Japan.
"Do not bewilder the employer," "Do not bring personal feelings into it"—under a strict professional code of ethics, the two live together while maintaining a certain distance.
However, in the time spent organizing their daily lives, she changes from an employer to someone he wants to choose.
The relationship, maintained by not touching, begins to quietly crumble as the end of the contract approaches.
A man who believes sincerity means leaving without leaving anything behind, and a woman who cannot say the words to make him stay.
On the night before his return, the two face each other outside the boundaries.
The relationship that was supposed to end if they touched could no longer end without touching.
—Even so, the two make their choice.

[Chapter 1: If You Touch, You Can't Go Back]

That night, everything was supposed to end.
The six-month contract, and the relationship in this room.
To end it without anything happening—that was the purpose of the night.

A well-worn suitcase is placed in the entryway.
In a position where the woman can pretend not to see it.

On the table, there is red wine and two glasses.

The man tilts the wine bottle.
The red quietly fills the glass.

He places the filled glass in front of the woman.

He pours a smaller amount into the second glass.
The liquid level is lower than the woman's glass.
Neither glass has been touched by anyone yet.

The woman says nothing.
The man says nothing either.

Both of their fingers are near the glasses, yet they remain untouched.

Only silence fell quietly between the two.
It was a silence where whoever moved first felt as though they would break something.

—Nothing has happened yet.
It was necessary to keep it that way.

If you touch, you can't go back.
—Even so.
They were no longer far enough apart
to leave without touching.

If not for that contract, this night would not have existed.
It was a contract that, by nature, should never have been made.

Thank you for reading.

From here on, the distance between the two will not change significantly.
However, they will reach a point of no return.

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