Age 15
Was when she first met him. Their villages had competed in a soccer match. Hers won. She was surprised that he was not like his friends. He wasn't completely unattractive, but he was not arrogant and gregarious like the others. He looked bored, tired, but always acknowledged her when she was around. He told her she was troublesome but she could have sworn he smiled whenever he saw her. Twice she saved him from a group on bandits near the border of the village. As they walked away from the bloodied and broken bodies, he complained that men should not be rescued by women, but thanked her nonetheless. She reminded him he was not a man but a prepubescent boy. He told her she was scary and unladylike.
Age 17
Was when she started working with him at a small rice shop in his village. That was when she first met his mother. She was not too surprised when she found that the fire-breathing hag that he so often talked about was actually a lovely woman who often brought him bento boxes, which he would share with her while they waited for customers in the dusty shack. She enjoyed herself far more than she had in a long time but realized she could not continue to live like this. He could not see why she complained so much. Life was meager but pleasant and slow. She told him riots might break out soon. Shops were closing. People were losing their jobs. She had lost hers less than a year ago. It was going to be the worst drought in fifteen years. People were becoming panicked and agitated. She suspected he had a harder time accepting this that he put on. He had much more to lose than she did.
Age 18
Was when she won a visa to the US. She told him she would leave be leaving in six months. He asked why she would want to go. She said she wanted money to put her brothers to school. She encouraged him to do the same to support his family. He called her a bossy, condescending shrew. One month before she left, he stopped speaking to her and avoided her completely. After she moved, she wrote to him for a while. She said he would like the weather. It was mild, cool, and cloudy. The sun would not blind him if he tried to watch the clouds. She stopped writing to him when she did not receive a response in three months.
Age 20
Was when she next saw him. She was about to be promoted from a clerk to a staff accountant. She had seen him working in a Chinese restaurant when she was on her way to dinner with her friends. She brought him along. Her friends thought he was funny and charming. She could not see how. Her coworker Ino found him adorable. A month later she got him a job as an administrative assistant. She told him he could rise quickly if he worked hard enough. She knew he was certainly smart enough. He said she was too meddlesome but she knew he was thankful. She said yes when he asked if he could list her as his emergency contact.
Age 24
Was when she realized he made more money than she did. His rise was phenomenal. She knew he was smart but she did not know he was a marketing genius. People worshipped his opinion because he was always right for some reason. He targeted the right market with the right campaigns. She could see he was miserable. He said that most of the time he just wanted to sleep. When they both had free time they would play chess or go to the park. Sometimes Ino would him to dinner and a movie. Most of the time he would decline. Occasionally he would go because he was frustrated with work and wanted intimacy.
Age 26
Was when she went on her first date. He joked about her finally seeing what a man looks like for the first time. She called him an idiot. No one loses their virginity at 26 anymore. She felt far too old to begin having one night stands. There came second and third dates because the first was successful. A week later he told her he started seeing Ino. She was glad Ino's long term efforts had finally paid off.
Age 28
Was when she first started making a six-figure salary. He had passed that point a year ago. He told her over dinner that Ino wanted to get married. She asked if he was going to propose. He said he probably will when he gets around to it. She asked if he loved Ino. He replied that Ino was kind, supportive. There wasn't much else he could ask for from her. He asked if she was still seeing that guy. She said yes. He asked if she was going to tell her brothers about him. She said no. He was going to break up with her if she did not accept his proposal within a year. She had no plans to get married soon.
Age 29
Was when she attended his wedding. It was a grand affair at a five star hotel as per Ino's request. She saw him put the ring on her finger and exchange vows with her. She felt a little uneasy but assured herself it was because of the hot weather. Toward the end of the banquet, she caught him in the garden smoking a cigarette. She told him Ino would not appreciate the reek of stale smoke on his wedding tuxedo. He said nothing. Before she left she wished him a happy life with Ino.
Age 30
Was when she threw her first birthday party. He came with Ino. He had bought her a weasel for her birthday. He thought it was easier to keep than a cat and cleaner than a dog. She named it Kamaitachi. She asked him how married life was. He told her it was tiring. Ino was kind but she was also very demanding, often reproaching him for not getting home early enough. The dinner parties she threw were exhausting. He said he was also starting to hate his job. He hated how people depended so much on him. He hated that he had such an important title for such trivial work. He asked if she heard from her brothers. She said Kankuro opened a small toyshop and Gaara's rice store was growing fast. They still worried, though, that there would soon be civil unrest. She grew to love the weasel. Kamaitachi slept with her and stayed up with her when she would spend her late nights finishing the work that she took home. She did not know that he still had her listed as his emergency contact.
Age 31
Was when she first saw him cry. She met him at a small coffee shop to talk about news of their old villages. Kankuro's toyshop had been burned down by rioters. He told her his uncle Asuma had died in the riots. She knew what Asuma meant to him. He was more like a second father to him than an uncle. His voice was steady but she saw tears fall into his coffee. She wasn't sure what to say so she just said sorry and patted his hand. It was the first of any kind of physical contact they had had in years. He told her he hadn't told Ino. They have been fighting a lot. Ino told him he did not love her as much as he did on their wedding day. She said he never pays enough attention and they rarely see each other because he was always working. He felt bad because Ino was right.
Age 35
Was when she became a solid candidate for the VP of Finance. This was two years after her company was involved in a hostile takeover. Half of the staff had been laid off, but she was lucky they decided to keep her. The new VP of Finance felt her expertise was too valuable. Needless to say, he was safe as well. He had been a candidate for the VP of Marketing and he was one of the most coveted marketing consultants in the market. They raised his salary to secure his position. Despite her competitive spirit, she could not be jealous of him. She could see that he was in hell. He hated his job no matter how much money they gave him. His marriage was falling apart. He told her he had not slept with Ino in over a year. He would try to assuage her with expensive gifts. They would make her happy for a short while but they did not fix their marriage. His boss was not helping the situation either. The VP would tell him year after year that the time was crucial, that sales that year were especially important, that he needed to put his personal life aside for just one more year. But it was the same every year.
Age 39
Was when she learned he was getting a divorce. Ino been seeing another man. His name was Kiba. He made her laugh and never made her cry. She could not help but feel a bit relieved that he was ending his marriage. She assured herself that it was because she felt happy for him and Ino. They were both good people and they both certainly deserved their peace. She asked if he would be alright. He said he would be. He only felt sorry that he had not been a better husband to her. If he knew he would make her so miserable he never would have married her in the first place. She told him she will warn his future girlfriends what they were getting themselves into. He laughed for the first time in a long time. She noticed the fine lines around his eyes and mouth, his graying temples, the dark rings around his eyes. But when he smiled, she could not help but notice he was still beautiful.
Age 44
Was when she found out he was quitting his job. She asked him what he was going to do. He told her he wanted to start manufacture and import clothes. She reminded him that he knew nothing about clothes, and most of the time she would help him pick out his clothes anyway. He said he would have others design for him. She asked him where he was going to manufacture the clothes. He said he would build the factory on the border of their two villages, near where they used to work together. That way he can attract talent from both their villages. He said once it grew, it would give people stable jobs. She asked him if he was sure it would work. He was positive. He left for their home country that year. Her weasel also died that year.
Age 46
Was when she was offered a position as the VP of Finance. She eagerly accepted it, although she felt it was long overdue. She told him about it in an email. He congratulated her in his reply and made a joke about upgrading her power suit collection. He told her his business had been growing steadily. He had five successful branches. He had a store in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, and San Francisco. Despite being rather busy with work, he had plenty of time for afternoon naps. He even joined a chess club. He was going to visit his stores in the US. He asked if he could stay at her place. She told him he was an idiot for even asking.
Age 48
Was when she received an email from him asking her to work with him. She could not sleep that night. She not earn nearly as much. But her work would help the people in her village. She would see her brothers more frequently. But the country was far from stable. And she had only been VP for two years. It seemed too soon for her to resign. In the morning, she sent him an email saying she would accept his offer if he would wait another year. She would pay him half the value of the company so that she could be a co-owner. He responded saying he would wait for her troublesome ass.
Age 50
Was when she moved back to her home country. She left a year later than she had promised but he did not mind. The prospect of her returning seemed to motivate him to work harder than he normally would have. She moved into a small house next to his. Their houses, despite being only ten feet apart, had somehow been located on opposite sides of the border, with each person living in their respective villages. Each morning they would walk to the factory and in the evening they would play chess on her balcony. She saw Gaara and Kankuro several times a week. Gaara suggested that she open a school by the factory for the children of the laborers. She thought it was a brilliant idea.
Age 60
Was when she saw that small bronze statue that the two neighboring villages had built in honor of the two owners of the factory. Their company had blossomed into a small international brand. Their laborers were blessed with some of the best working conditions in the country. There had not been unrest in the last fifteen years and people were, for the most part, happy. It seemed that he was also happy for the first time a long time. The stone statue made them look like a married couple. He was sitting in a chair with his usual bored look. She wondered how they managed to translate his expression into a slab of stone. She was standing behind him, with her hair wild as usual, with her hands on the back of his chair. When she told him what she thought of the statue, he remarked that they were not so different from a married couple anyway.
Age 73
Was when she sat by his side as he was dying. Despite his withered cheeks and his wrinkled lips she still thought he looked like the twelve-year-old boy she fell in love with. She asked him if there was anything else she could do for him. He asked her to cremate him when he died. And to leave his ashes on her balcony to be swept away by the wind. He held her hand. He thanked her, as she was the reason he was able to live a good life. He thanked her for being who she was. He told her he will always be with her to keep her out of trouble. She have him a tiny smack, but it was not long before their hands were joined again. She bent down and let her lips touch his forehead. And that was the first and the last time she kissed him. He died that night. She would continue to go to the factory in the morning and play chess by herself in the evening. She did not feel lonely because the shadows kept her company.