Rain...

~~~~
March 31st, 2008

The door slided open, and his smiling face greeted her.

"Good morning, I am here to deliver some flowers to a Miss Fukuhara" he told her.

"That would be me, but you can stop pretending, Eiji, your acting really sucks" she teased him.
"Hina, how could you be so rude?!" His mock expression of bewilderment caused her to burst out laughing.

As usual, he was the one who could make her laugh, anytime, anywhere. The only one.

Their light-hearted bantering continued for a while.

Then she noticed his eyes as he looked at the calendar beside the vase in which he had placed the tulips that he had brought for her, on the small table beside her bed, at the little crimson circle around the date 1st of April. The day he would leave her.

"You knew then..." his voice trailed off.

"Of course, how could I not know. It will be your big day after all." she smiled at him.

"I am sorry that I didn't tell you myself." He was a bit flustered.

"It's ok, I am happy for you. Not everyone gets a second chance to fulfill their dream." she tried her best to appear cheerful, but he saw through her pretense, and she knew it too.

Yet sometimes, the price of a dream can be quite high, isn't it?

She knew because she had first-hand experience. That was why she was in this room, that was why she had been here since, how long had it been... maybe 3, 4 years ago.

Since that fateful day, when she was delirious with joy after being crowned national champion for her passion - ballet dancing. For the first and the last time.

~~~~
March 29th, 2004

"Bang!!!" The impact sent her flying, and she landed on the opposite side of the road where her bike had.

"Both her legs have been severely injured, and I am afraid she will have to be on a wheelchair for the rest of her life." The doctor's diagnosis broke her parents' hearts.

He had taken the earliest plane back from Barcelona when he heard about it. He came back the way he left, without her knowing.

And he had stayed ever since. Putting his dream on hold.

He had been by her side all this time, even though she had told him to leave her and go pursue his dream.

But he wouldn't. "Don't worry about me, I am perfectly fine."

In a way, it was true. He was like a nomad, one of those rare souls who could feel at home anywhere. Over there in Barcelona or here in Kobe, he was comfortable. But his close friends knew that his potential was being wasted. And he knew it too.

"At least, you should continue your studies. You cannot work part-time forever." Koji, his best friend since primary school would remonstrate with him.

"I'll continue my studies sometime, just not now."

~~~~
March 1st, 2008

Time waits for no man, though in his case, Time was kind enough to wait nearly 4 years.

Finally, the ultimatum had been issued, “Start school next semester or be expelled.”

He was torn between his dream, and the girl of his dreams. In the end, he knew that he had to leave. It was for both of them.

After all, you cannot really dance in the rain and feel the raindrops if you keep holding on to your umbrella, can you?

~~~~
March 31st, 2008

“I should be going. Have a good rest.” he told her gently.

“I will. Have a safe trip.” She replied with a smile that reminded him of that spring 4,5 years ago.

No goodbyes then, no goodbyes now.

The door slided close, and her last glimpse of him was his expressionless back.

It started raining, as he left the hospital.