But what others did not see was what Kenji gave her: peace, acceptance, and a kind of love that asked nothing from her except honesty. With him, she did not feel pressured to perform, compete, or prove herself. She felt seen in a way she had never known before.
Only ten days after their quiet wedding, Kenji died, leaving Yuki in shock and grief. At first the loss felt unbearably cruel, but over time the small things he left behind—notes, recipes, gardening gloves—became reminders that the value of love is not measured only by time.
Yuki eventually understood that she did not need to explain their story to people who only judged appearances. What mattered was that, for ten brief days, she experienced a rare kind of connection, and that love changed the way she moved through the rest of her life.
